attack of the error code 16

All's I know is, at simtropolis.com setting the affinity to 1 is the go-to solution for Sim City 4 crashing, and it works. Search that forum for 'affinity' and you'll find mainly the user rsc204 giving it out many times over the years, and all the technical explanations for why. 

At the time Sims 3 was all the go, my machine was plenty good enough, especially for the price. 

SUNBXDDYis it an online thing? Are you connected to the online system in-game? Is level 5 in skills a time when you're about to be awarded badges? Have you got memories turned on and they're publishing to your wall and your friends are liking and responding? I seem to vaguely remember error 16 being something to do with being connected to the online thing. I think, perhaps it is ok to connect once you're in the game, but its bad to be connected before you go in and in the launcher. Something like that.

Level 5 in skills triggers one of the memories. If your memories are automatically getting published or you're clicking on for them to be published to get the pop-up out of the way, the online connection and process might be causing a problem. Try getting into a habit of saving the memory to scrapbook instead, and if you really want the memory on your wall later you can publish it from your scrapbook. There might be a 'do this always' box ... ?