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tcr1991's avatar
tcr1991
7 years ago

Error when launching The Sims 3 on Mac

I initially was having the problem some Mac users were having where several of the Sims 3 expansion packs would not download thru Origin, I used a workaround found here on the forums and I now have The Sims 3, Late Night, Ambitions, Seasons, Pets, University Life, World Adventures, Showtime, Generations, Island Paradise, Diesel Stuff, High End Loft Stuff, Town Life Stuff, and Outdoor Living Stuff downloaded and installed. When I had just the base game and Generations installed (it was the first expansion I installed) the game launcher would pull up fine. Since then I have downloaded and installed the rest of the expansion and stuff packs. Now when I select the The Sims 3 icon in applications, it pulls up the Island Paradise icon and then before the game launcher pops up a pop up comes up and says "An unknown error occurred." after hitting close the program closes. I've tried multiple times and restarted my computer but the error keeps popping up. I searched the Answer HQ forums for a solution and I found several threads talking about Mac users having this problem with Mac OS High Sierra and newer and there was a video to go into the package contents and copying the files that were giving them trouble and paste it in the contents of whatever icon pops up when you try to launch the game. I'm posting the link to that thread and video https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-3-Unknown-Error-in-El-Capitan-Sierra-High/... In this thread the games that were giving most people problems are Late Night, Ambitions, etc.. My question is should I do this solution in the linked video to just one game or several? I'm attaching screenshots of my Mac's specs and the error message that pops up when I try to launch the game. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

! 

mac
technical issues

1 Reply

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    7 years ago

    @tcr1991  I replied to your other post, but now that I've read this one, it's easier to be more specific.  Now you should have an alias for each installed pack in Applications.  Additionally, files from each pack need to be in the package contents folder for IP; the path is shown in the video you've found.  You can check to see what's there before you start moving anything, but the likelihood is that you'll have to add the files for those same three problem packs.

    I want to reiterate too that purging memory is going to be critical with the packs you have installed.  In fact, depending on your style of play and your graphics settings, you may be close to or over the RAM limit as soon as you load a new save.  Pets and Seasons are especially demanding, but having this many EPs is going to require a lot of memory no matter what else you do.

    https://bluebellflora.com/resetting-ram-during-gameplay/

    Additionally, the version of Isla Paradiso that comes with the pack is so poorly made as to be almost unplayable, even on the strongest systems.  You can download an edited version made available by a player named ciane, copy the fixes she described yourself, or use the features of IP in a different world.

    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/811253/removing-ip-lag

    If you find that the RAM cap is too limiting for you to play properly, the only real solution is to play in Windows, either on another computer or via a partitioned hard drive (Bootcamp).  I did this myself in the spring, and the game runs so much more smoothly than it ever did in mac OS.  The only drawback is having to boot into Windows temporarily.  I don't know if you'd be interested in this approach, or if you have the 256 GB+ free storage to accommodate the partition, but if you ever decide you're interested, it's not all that difficult a process.

    Edit:  I'm keeping this post and removing the duplicate in your other thread, since the subjects are a bit different.  It's never a problem to add to your own thread, or to start a new one, but we try to consolidate or remove double posts as much as possible.

    Second edit:  I'm moving your post to the Sims/mac section.

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