Expansion packs- slow game down?

[the_bass]

yeahh I was thinking about getting the university one because it looks a bit fun but does it make the game go slower? In the original sims the expansion packs made it pretty slow sometimes.

[Mirelly]

The answer is yes, if you are playing at, or close to, the minimum system requirements. If you have a GB of ram and a graphics card with at least 64MB of separate video memory then you ought to be be able to play the expansions with few problems.

[mEtAlHeAd]

Dunt slow me down :P

[suitemichelle]

Downloads also slow the game...

[Mirelly]

I feel Michelle's comment needs a little clarification.

* Downloads slow down the loading of the game
* Downloaded furniture and objects may be very complex in shape (high vertex/face/polygon counts) and these require more graphical processing power or time ... either of which may slow your game down
* Downloads use up computer memory (RAM) and this will slow your game down
* A large number of downloads will slow down the use of catalogues because of the need for the game to keep loading new items to show the player: so shopping, CAS, Body Shop, and build/buy mode can be affected with slowdowns

On the positive side. There are a growing number of custom objects (furniture) with very low face/vertex counts. These items are plainer in appearance than their Maxian counterparts and place less of a burden on the graphical display. In theory one could build up a collection of such simple furniture to facilitate play on a computer that is at the minimum requirements.