0x00000000006E4AC1 error for The Sims 3

@aodoherty  The PC tech section is probably the better place for this post, since you're playing in Windows (regardless of how), so I've moved your post.  But no one's going to get upset about which Sims section people post in.

The error, if it's accurate, is basically saying that the game tried to reference an invalid memory address.  That can happen for any number of reasons, including a corrupt save or a program running alongside the game that's not working as it should.  The fact that a new save works fine makes it more likely that the existing save is corrupt, but it's still possible that there's another issue.  So please test without Windowed Borderless Gaming or the Steam overlay, still in a clean folder, just to see whether your save loads normally there.

If the save throws the same error, try loading a backup, either one of your own (if you've made any) or the automatic backup the game itself keeps.  In the Saves folder, you'll see a folder with the name of your save and a .backup extension on the end.  So if your save is Isla Paradiso, the main save folder will be Isla Paradiso.sims3 and the backup will be Isla Paradiso.sims 3.backup.  Delete the .backup extension and change the save name (e.g. Isla Paradiso test.sims3), and you'll be able to load that save from the Main Menu.

I posted something about the text issue on the Sims forums, but I'll repeat it here: try editing options.ini to make the game window shorter.  The line you want will look something like this:

resolution = 2560 1440 0

If you change the 1440 to something like 1360, still in windowed mode, the issue may disappear.  You'll know the window is short enough when you see a bit of space above the Taskbar and below where the game window ends.

The XCPT files in your user data folder are crash logs, probably not useful at all, unless the game happened to run out of memory.  But that's unlikely when you're currently loading a save that ran fine the last time you played, unless you happen to have a number of other apps running on your computer at the same time, in which case Sims 3 might not have access to enough RAM.  Otherwise, the crash logs don't say anything useful; the error you posted is much more illuminating.

Thanks a lot. First, I've tried everything I could do yesterday. I tried all you suggested but I couldn't save it. Even it caused endless loading over 10 mins with backup save. The weird thing is that I changed the sims 3 folder name to the sims 3-1. Then I added 'ts3w' into Steam library. Then, I moved my saved game into the newly created sims 3 folder, then I got the dark main menu as I already mentioned. After that, I removed ts3w from Steam, then quit it. I changed the resolution to 1920 1200 again, then quit the borderelss thing. I trashed the new sims 3 folder created by steam, then I re named the sims 3 -1 to the sims 3. Then I tried to load my town, then keep crashing on the way. So..maybe I better trash it.  It's ok I can re-build all the relationship with other sims and lost career level by cheat. 

The 2nd issue, yes I posted about the borderless issus on sims forum and that's me.

1920 1200 was my previous game resolution. I've been playing on this for a long time. But I always feel a bit sad that full screen windowed mode is not supported for the sims3. I always play the sims 4 on windowed full screen mode. I loved this feature. Yeah that's why I started using the bordless gaming. I checked the 2 resolution, 2560 1440 and 2048 1536. They still show broken fonts in game. There's only way to play the game. I don't need anything, just keep playing as what I've been playing for a long time. OH god..I feel a bit disappointed in this feature. ☹️

I'll post one more shot here for 2048 1536. 

Even I hid my task bar. The font show perfectly here but as you see, I don't think I can handle this. UI is way too down below. I will try to change the computer display resolution and try again.

@aodoherty  I'm not suggesting you change the resolution of your screen, just the in-game resolution, by directly editing options.ini.  That way you can choose exactly the resolution you want without having to rely on the game itself to supply it for you.

The dark Main Menu is a separate issue from the save, and we can try to troubleshoot that too, but it's easier to address one problem at a time.  Too many variables introduce too much chaos, and it becomes difficult to figure out what's going on.

@aodoherty  That's fun.  So the game doesn't like you choosing a custom resolution.  What happens if you choose a lower resolution, in windowed mode, then drag the screen to the size you want it?  I'm not sure this would work either, but it's easy enough to try.

I tried 1920 1000

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Hold on please. I need to try again because it seems to work now.

No..I don't think it works.

1. Write 2560 1200 in option ini, then save

2. click the sims 3 and it runs in 1024 768

3. I pick the 2560 1440 in the main menu option

4. then it just goes back to the previous 2560 1440 resolution

5. I check the option ini file, then I see '2560 1440 0' instead of '2560 1200 0'(customized resolution)

@aodoherty  When you change the resolution in-game, that changes the resolution listed in options.ini as well, so that's not surprising.  I want to try some things myself, and I've been meaning to experiment a bit on my own install—I planned to do that tomorrow.  (It's Saturday night here.)  So let me get back to you when I've tried a couple of approaches.

In the interim, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post, for reference.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

I've done. thanks.

@aodoherty  I'll get back to you on the other details, but before I go to bed, I wanted to say that your DPI settings may be an issue:

User DPI Setting: 143 DPI (148 percent)
System DPI Setting: 144 DPI (150 percent)

Sims 3 doesn't respond well to nonstandard DPI scalings.  I understand why with your screen you might want to use a setting of 144 rather than 96 (which would be 100%), but 143 might cause problems.  So try changing the 143 to a 144, restart your computer, and see whether it makes a difference.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5990-change-dpi-scaling-level-displays-windows-10-a.html

Thank you. I changed DPI to 144, then..

bit better but still doesn't work. ☹️