After months of reading threads and trying out all different sorts of options, I finally found a solution! My game used to quit unexpectedly or freeze after about 15-30 minutes of game play, sometimes less. I have several expansion packs, just an FYI. Here is what worked for me:
1. Run in windowed mode the whole time you play. (hit command+enter to go into window mode)
2. Before you play your game, go into HD>Users>(your user)>library>preferences>The Sims 3 preferences and delete all the files/folders in this folder.
3. Next, delete .cache files in Documents>EA Arts>The Sims 3
4. Repair your disk utility permissions once a week-- Go to Applications>Utilities>disk utility and click "repair disk permissions" you'll need to restart your computer after this is finished before you launch the sims 3
5. Make sure your game is patched! Google iPatcher for sims 3 mac and download.
6. This is the MOST IMPORTANT tip in this list, it is kind of a pain in the butt, but not as much as your game constantly crashing. Open up terminal on your mac. If you can't find it, go to the spotlight search bar on the top right hand side of your computer and search for it. When it pops up, type in "purge" (no quotations) unless you have the Yosemite update, then you'll need to type in "sudo purge" (no quotations) and hit enter. Once you do this it will ask you for your user/administrator password. Type this in and hit enter. (On my terminal, I can't see while I'm typing the password---it looks like it's not working, but it still does. So if this happens to you, just type slowly to ensure you get it right) This is purging your ram, or opening up more space, for the game to run on, which seems to be a common problem with Cider; the computer runs out of ram while the game is in play. I do this about every 15 mins just to be safe lol. After trying this, I played for literally 6 hours straight with NO lags, no crashing, and no freezing! It did just crash on me after about 8 hours total gameplay, but I forgot to purge my ram for about 35 mins and I'll take after 8 hours than after 20 mins.
Hope this helps anyone that is still having this problem!
Happy Simming 🙂
