Clean out Your Downloads
Don't make that face. We all have downloads just sitting on our hard drives collecting virtual dust. Delete the walls, floors, and skins you don't use. Cleaning out your game by itself should help tremendously. Download an object viewer and get that wallpaper folder organized. You'll be happy with the results.
Mark Folder Read-Only
Don't ask me why but making The Sims folder read-only decreases load time a lot! It cut my load time in about half. The best part - it only takes a few seconds to do.
Here's How:
- Open Windows Explorer
- Browse to The Sims Folder - Default is c:\program files\maxis\the sims\
- Right Click on 'The Sims' folder
- Choose Properties
- If checked, uncheck Read-Only and click Apply.
- Then recheck read-only and click Ok.
- In steps 6 and 7 when asked to apply the settings to all folders choose yes.
Far Files
Far files are basically a collection of iff files in one large file. The game can read the far files faster. Far files are relatively easy to make. Before you start making far files, make sure you have a plan on how you want to group your files. You could group by site, type, or just lump them together as they appear in the download folder.
Far Programs: SE Object Manager and FarOut
Set Compatibility for Windows 98
Windows XP features the option to set your programs to run as being compatible with Windows 98, NT 4, 2000, and ME. Microsoft claims this will help compatibility issues. I haven't had problems running Windows 98 games with Windows XP, so I cannot confirm this. But just this once let's believe them.
How to:
- Right Click on "The Sims" icon, and choose Properties
- Click Compatibility tab.
- Choose Windows 98/ME from drop down menu.
- Click Okay
Put Objects in Sub-Folders
Some of you may have been doing this from the very beginning. Not me. My downloads folder use to be a disaster area. I just put all the objects under downloads, and called it good. Get yourself organized and speed up load time by sorting (site, type, etc.) your objects into sub-folders within the main downloads folder. This may take some time depending on the number of objects you've accumulated, but it should help at least a little.