S3SS Version 1.1.0 is out!
Hellooooooo
New update! Big Update!
Changelog would be quite big, so here's a brief list of new stuff. I've also fixed a few bugs and other issues that I've probably forgotten about. The latest version, as always, can be downloaded here: https://github.com/sims3fiend/Sims3SettingsSetter/releases/latest
New patches:
RefPack decompression optimization (Steam): This is the biggest one and probably the most impactful overall. This is a complete rewrite of the games .package file decompressor. Should result in faster loading screens, less stutter, etc. This was a huge effort, I may do a proper full technical writeup on just this later.
Mimalloc alloc replacement (All): Replaces sims 3 crusty memory allocator functions with mimalloc for better memory management and performance.
Timer + Thread optimization patch remake (Steam, some parts will be made usable by EA/other versions tho maybe idk): this is essentially an entirely new thing from the previous version, reduces time resolution to 1, and optimizes critical sections w/ tiered spin counts to make the game hopefully smoother/faster/cpu gooderer
CreateFileW Random Acccess (All). hints the random access flag for CreateFileW calls, should improve I/O performance
GC_stop_world() (steam) very minor patch, I might remove this idk probably should be in experimental
Experimental patches:
Adaptive thread waiting (All): Trades CPU usage for lower frame time variance, hopefully creating a smoother game. This one also took ages and unlike refpack is probably a lot less impactful for most users
WorldCache file size uncap (Steam): Removes the 512mb limit on Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\WorldCaches files which should resolve some of the thrashing issues (game writes to cache, cache full, game kicks object out, game writes to cache, cache now full again, etc.)
Resolution spoofer (All): Allows spoofing up to 6k resolution for downsampling, makes the game look crispy and nice, really huge difference. You will need a UI scale mod otherwise it'll be tiny. I am looking at a way of doing this that wouldn't require that.
I've also added a borderless fullscreen toggle in QoL. You may need to use this instead of other borderless mods as IIRC I did some special handling.
Huge thanks to all the testers over in LazyDutchess' discord channel who helped me both come up with some of these patches and test them ♥
This will probably be the last update I make to S3SS in terms of patches, I think I've kind of done all I care to do. I am going to move over the mono side of things and to making actual mods and maybe some optimizations for that side as well. I'll also try making all tunables accessible in the S3SS UI via Mono Patcher hopefully reasonably soon. And also maybe a code cleanup but.... nahhhhh
I'm also not really concerned with E12 anymore, using dxvk with something like d3d9.textureMemory = 600 (don't set it too low or you'll lag, needs to be just high enough that it's hit during heavy load/use, not every frame) basically stops it from ever happening unless you're doing something really wrong. If e12 is a concern for you and you're not using dxvk, I would recommend you try it out.
As always, feel free to contact me if you run into any issues, preferably Discord as I'm pretty bad at responding on Tumblr
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