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mavka13's avatar
mavka13
New Novice
2 months ago

Frequent crashing and freezing (Mac)

Hi everyone. 

I recently purchased Sims 3 along with the pet expansion pack (the base game came with the Late Night expansion pack and High-End Loft stuff) through the ea app. Ever since I've gotten it I've been experiencing crashing and freezing. I've tried a few different things such as moving the sims folder from document to desktop, and repairing the game through the ea app worked for a while, but then eventually it crashes or freezes randomly. There doesn't seem to be anything in particular that causes it to freeze, it happens pretty randomly and without warning. Any help would be greatly appreciated, because it's getting pretty frustrating. 

In case it's relevant - I have no mods or custom content installed 

Thanks in advance for any replies. 

5 Replies

  • mavka13​  What world are you playing in, and does the game run better in Sunset Valley?  Are you using any mods or custom content?  It's fine if you are; I just nee to know.

    Please also list the full specs of your Mac: everything under About This Mac including the OS and except for the serial number.

  • mavka13's avatar
    mavka13
    New Novice
    2 months ago

    Hi,

    The game crashes and freezes in both sunset valley and the city world. 

    No mods or custom content at all. 

    Specs:

    MacOS Sequoia version 15.4.1

    Processor: 1.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i3

    Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB

    Memory: 8 GB 3733 MHz LPDDR4X

    Thanks!

  • mavka13​  Please switch the Lighting and Tree Detail graphics settings to the minimum.  Do so at the Main Menu, and quit to desktop before loading a save.  Test in Sunset Valley first.

    However, the issue may be the Pets expansion, either by itself or in concert with Bridgeport (the Late Night world), which is not set up for pets.  Pets doesn't run well on your class of graphics chip, and while there are workarounds to help some, there's no good fix.

    If turning down the graphics settings doesn't help, you may need to uninstall the Pets expansion entirely.  To do this, simply remove the EP05 folder from [install location] > The Sims 3 Packs.  The default install location is Applications > EA Games.  Test a new save in Sunset Valley to see how it runs, then test Bridgeport if SV is fine.

    If you really want to play with pets, there are mod-related ways to cut down on the number of animals in the world, which may or may not be enough to get the game to work.  Let me know if you want to try, and I'll write out some suggestions.

  • mavka13's avatar
    mavka13
    New Novice
    2 months ago

    The game has crashed a few times, but much less now that the graphic settings have been changed. I tried Bridgeport and it crashed once, but was mostly ok. I haven't tried to put animals in the world, though. I'd really hate to have to uninstall pets, as it's more or less the reason I wanted 3 in the first place, as I heard their pets expansion was better than 4's. Genuinely a shame, as I'd actually enjoy it if not for the crashing! I was even going to get generations as well, but at this point the whole thing seems like a waste of money.

    I'd like the name of the mods, if possible, though I may just live with the occasional crash. I suppose it is what it is.

    Thank you so much for all of your help!

     

  • mavka13​  Sorry for the late reply; I haven't had time to answer posts for the last few days.  NRaas Register allows you to control (or remove) the stray pets, wild horses, and deer and raccoons in the world, and keep them gone.  I would highly recommend this, especially for wild horses, any time your sims are not actively interested in adopting the horses.  Their routing is awful and they're difficult for the game engine or underpowered graphics chips to render.  Combine that with the funky routing in Bridgeport, and it's a recipe for disaster.

    The only mod I know of that disables pet adoption for inactive households is NRaas StoryProgression.  You'd have to change the settings, and additionally, SP is something of a heavy mod.  But you could also run it on the slowest setting, and slow down the cycles further, to limit its impact on the game.  It wouldn't affect your main household at all on default settings.

    Horses and long-haired dogs are harder to render than short-haired dogs and any cats, so you could also let that guide your decision making.  And having a couple pets in your active household but keeping them out of inactive households, or severely limiting the population, will improve things somewhat even if it's not really a fix.  So you could try to find a balance between performance and keeping the features you want.

    I would also suggest picking and choosing where your sims have pets, or certain types of pets, for example maybe they only have a cat or two in Bridgeport but raise horses in Appaloosa Plains or Riverview.  The more space the better.  This isn't critical, just another way to help the game run better.

    Finally, the Pets Need Less Space mod can help a lot in tighter spaces.  It's newer and hasn't been tested nearly as much as other mods I recommend, but there aren't any problematic reports I've seen.  I use it myself and have noticed no new issues, plus it shouldn't cause problems based on what it modifies.

    https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=682926

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