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polkaabear's avatar
polkaabear
6 years ago

Question about Graphics Card

Hi,

I’ve gotten so much help here over the past, so I figured asking this question here would make sense too. Currently, my luck with the Sims 3 isn’t the greatest, but it’s gotten much better with my new laptop and by making sure that I have no conflicting cc.

However, I get random crashes and it can be in CAS or live mode — just random, really. My FPS is 59-60 still, and I recently bought all of the SP’s except Katy Perry. With that in mind, I was confused as to why I continued getting the crashing even coming to the conclusion that it could be bad third party cc that I couldn’t see was bad. I was starting to remove that cc so that I could start a fresh new save when I looked at a discussion on the forums that mentioned outdated graphics cards. I decided to look at my graphics card for updates, and saw that I needed fifteeen drivers to be updated, including my Nvidia and the integrated intel driver.

So, could it be that my random crashing is coming from my outdated drivers or should I still consider my cc as the main issue? Or both?

I’m currently updating my graphic drivers using pro driver easy with hopes that it will help. I heard that it was a good tool to use.

I should also mention that this recent crash was prompted after I was in and out of CAS back to back since I wasn’t happy with my sim’s outfit or hair. When I went into CAS on one of the last goes, the screen was black but I still saw the circle and the creating a sim box when loading into CAS, if that makes sense. I figured I was getting that because I was in and out of CAS though.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
  • igazor's avatar
    igazor
    6 years ago
    It is impossible to answer this question, but one's graphics card drivers should always be up to date so as to take recent Windows updates into account. It is impossible to rule out the drivers as a possible cause of the problems otherwise.

    But no matter how up to date your drivers are, or how powerful your card and system are, there are limitations to this game on RAM and video memory. When the game runs out out of usable resources, you have hit a hard limit and will face a crash or Error 12 upon trying to save. Repeatedly going in and out of CAS or extensively long and complicated Edit Town sessions can trigger this for any of us.
  • polkaabear's avatar
    polkaabear
    6 years ago
    Okay, that make sense. I have read on the error 12 some and understand how that works. The game can only take so much pushing before it can take no more which is understandable for any program.

    I guess what I was trying to convey was that prior to that crash, the game seemed to do it at any moment without CAS, edit town and at any length of period normally after twenty minutes though not every session. For example, I went to France, played through three days, and returned home without any crashing, so I thought everything was fine.

    Though, it’s been more of my good luck lately to have several sessions prior of much longer play time and successful saves and exits that made me believe differently, so it’s not common, just random. That’s what was so confusing at first :s

    I figured the crashes had some sort of correlation at first.

    I also assume that it’s never a bad idea to make sure that my drivers are updated at all times just as a possibility so I’ll keep both of your answers in mind the next time I play.

    Thanks for the help!
  • igazor's avatar
    igazor
    6 years ago
    Alpine and other beautiful custom worlds of its size and complexity are too large a world for the game engine to handle for most of us. Although it does require a strong system to play on properly, it's not strictly our systems that don't like it. It's either going to balk, sputter, crash, and/or Error 12 on you right at the outset or it's going to wait until you get all comfortable with it in an ongoing game with the sims in the world progressing through their lives as you wanted them to and then do the above. Not sure it's really any better that the issues arise a bit later rather than right away. Honestly I would just set that world aside or perhaps use it as something to admire and maybe emulate some of its areas in other worlds, but on a much smaller scale.

    Certainly by all means delete the cache files, this should be done on a somewhat regular basis anyway -- this means the five files on the top level of the TS3 user game folder in Documents, not necessarily any of the others. But I'm afraid I don't recognize this issue when it comes to EP content unless also you have CC that is only meant to look like the content and that is what is getting in the way. If all else fails, you may need to consider removing and then reinstalling Showtime, but it may not work out any differently the second time.
  • polkaabear's avatar
    polkaabear
    6 years ago
    I thought the same. I’ve already uninstalled it and probably won’t be playing that world anytime soon due to those issues. So jealous of those that can play that beautiful world, but I’ll be fine without it. :)

    I’m currently checking out storybrook county and Anne arbor to see how those work out for me. I just enjoy being able to accomplish a lot in one world, but if my game disagrees, I’ll listen more than I did then and just stop pushing it.

    As for the showtime thing, it was rather random. I could see it in my edit town for those who had those missing items, but if it’s not hurting my game or causing any other noticeable issues, I’ll leave it alone until I absolutely need to use those clothing items and decide to reinstall like you suggested.

    As of right now my computer is currently catching up to all of this sudden updates that I’ve given it (updates as far as the beginning of this year), so my drives are scanning and repairing themselves. None of those are game related, just me rambling.

    I don’t know when I’ll get back in game, but thank you for all the help again. :)
  • polkaabear's avatar
    polkaabear
    6 years ago
    @igazor You're a genius with this game, I'm convinced!

    Literally, after I sent my reply, I went into game and when I tried to save — error 12 hit me! I'd never actually gotten it before, and with my older laptop way below requirements, I didn't get it then. This game really doesn't pick favorites, that's for sure. :# I'd just moved my sims to the world alpine county and after reading some discussions, it seems that the world is just too large for my system to handle.

    It's a shame too since it was really beautiful. I was looking for worlds that involved the city, showtimes venues and also a bit or suburbs for my singer to start a family, so I thought Fairhaven might be a better choice? If that doesn't work, then I'll probably stick to the expansion worlds. :)

    p.s I don't want to spam or anything (not sure what is considered spamming), so I apologize for the bombarding of messaging, but I get straightforward, helpful information here.

    It's a small issue, but there are items, specifically from showtime (i don't notice this from other ep's), that appear blank on my sim when I click them. Like, two pairs of shoes, two shirts and two or three pants from showtime don't show on my sim. Instead, when I click them, for an example a pair of shoes, my sim will have no feet.

    I was wondering if this could be fixed by just deleting the caches?

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