Re: Re: sims 3 64 bit & metal keeps crashing?

Hi! So I just test played the game and it froze around 3-ish AM (the longest time its been able to go), but its not a specific time because yesterday it froze around 12AM. My sims are just sleeping, showering, eating and watching TV during that time. However I don't know of anything that is suppose to happen at any of those times in other households. Im playing in Sunset Valley (I only have generations installed right now) and I don't have any mods or custom content. Also, thank you for splitting my post! 

The only reason I suggested updating my Mac is because of this post - https://www.reddit.com/r/Sims3/comments/jt0vi0/macos_big_sur_and_64_bit_update/ 

But yeah, I'm not too sure if it will fix the issue or not :/ I'm hoping the sims team will update the 64 bit incase that's the issue but I haven't heard of any news. I'm really not too sure why it keeps doing it, I've also tried deleting my cashe files and uninstalling the sims 3 but nothing has worked so far. If you have any suggesting that would be amazing! 🙂 Thank you for helping with this! 

@tianasarah2003  There have been a couple of cases where updating from Catalina to Big Sur has helped with crashing issues, but the underlying problem may have been corrupt system files.  (The new OS means a fresh install, so no more corrupt files.)  I don't think that Sims 3 necessarily runs any better in Big Sur than it does in Mojave.

When the game crashes and you reload, can you get past that same in-game time in your next play session?  That would suggest that the issue is probably not anything happening at that time in-game, although it's always possible.

Please also attach your deviceconfig.log to a post; it's in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3.  (You'll need to manually open the folders; the file won't show up in a search.)  You can delete your user and computer names, about 25 lines down, but there's nothing else in that file that can identify you.

I'll upload the deviceconfig.log now and I'll test to see if I can play longer on that same save and tell you that on another message. 🙂 

So I played it again on the same save file, and this time it didn't even get to night time before freezing, it got up to 5:35PM. Also, I found that my screen does freeze (lag) a bit before freezing fully forcing me to force quit. Hope this helps a little. 

@tianasarah2003  Before you do anything else, please delete everything in CurrentGame, inside Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3.  That folder should always be empty unless you're actually playing, but sometimes the files inside don't get deleted when the game crashes.  Please also delete the five cache files in the same Sims 3 folder; these should be deleted regularly anyway, and every time you quit while you're troubleshooting.  For reference:

• CASPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache.package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package

Try playing while your computer is offline.  You can sign into Origin and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or unplug the ethernet cable.

If that doesn't help, try turning lighting down to the minimum setting; it's helped a few other people with your graphics chip.  It may also help to play in windowed mode.

If these steps don't make a difference, please start a new save and see how it runs.  I'm not saying you need to abandon your current save, just that it's a useful test of whether the issue is the save itself or something else on your computer.  You can just start the game clock and let the sims go about their business, then see whether the game crashes again.

Whenever your game does crash, please touch the bottom of the Mac and the section between the keyboard and screen to see how hot it is.  Excess heat can cause crashes even without any other issues.

Thank you for your suggestions! I have to go to work now but after that I'll try them all out and get back to you on if anything worked! 🙂 

So, I deleted everything in CurrentGame + the Cache files. I even tried making a new household with just one sim to see if that was the problem, but before I could even make a sim it froze on the loading screen to 'create a sim.' That's never happened before so I'm not sure what to make of it. 

I'll just tried offline mode to see if that made any difference but I couldn't even select the 'create a sim,' ' households,' etc options, it froze on the map. How do I get onto windowed mode? Is it just like a setting that I need to select in the sims 3 settings? 

Also, my Mac isn't hot and it also didn't have any of the fans on to cool it down 🙂 Thank you again for helping.

@tianasarah2003  To switch to windowed mode, hit cmd-return (enter) at the Main Menu or once a save is loaded.  If that doesn't work, open options.ini (in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4), search for fullscreen, and set it to 0 rather than 1.

If that doesn't help, please move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Don't add anything to it yet; just see whether the game still crashes.

Hi! So I tried the windowed mode first and it was working fine until I went onto a higher speed and then it froze. I'm now going to try moving my entire Sims 3 folder and see if that makes any difference. I also disabled the interactive loading screen but that didn't seem to do anything. 

Edit: I tried moving the Sims 3 folder and that didn't do anything either, I tried to make a new household but again, it froze before it got onto the actual 'create a sim' screen. Hope this information helps at all, but it's alright if there's nothing else to suggest, I'll just have to wait for them to update it or contact the sims team somehow. 🙂 

@tianasarah2003  Just to cover all the bases, it might be worth downloading an app that reads the temperature of your processor.  Even though you've said your laptop doesn't get hot, what you've described is exactly what would happen if overheating were a major issue.  There are plenty of apps out there, but one popular one is iStat, from Bjango.  It offers a free trial and reads pretty much all available sensors.  Or you could try Macs Fan Control, which is free and should report CPU temps by core.

While testing, please use a clean folder and try the other steps (reducing the settings, playing offline) as well, just to see ho wthe game runs in an ideal environment.