Sims 3 Crashes to Desktop with No Error Message!

@tbluitt2326  Is this how you're trying to get a dxdiag?

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

If so, and it's not working, then you have bigger issues on your hands than just the Sims 3 crashing.  If you happen to have dual hard drives, the first thing to check is how much free storage you have on the presumably small C drive, where Windows is installed.  Without enough space to maneuver, Windows itself will have all kinds of problems.

If this isn't the case, let me know whether you can get a dxdiag to run, and I'll start making suggestions.

@puzzlezaddict  I got it to run. I was attempting something else and of course, it didn't work. I only have one drive and it is HDD with 630 GB of not being used. 

@tbluitt2326  So then, can I see the dxdiag?

@puzzlezaddict  I attached it to the original post. 🙂 

@tbluitt2326  Serves me right for just hitting refresh.

Anyway, you have a couple of errors related to OneDrive.  It's possible that it's trying to sync your game folder while you play, and that's causing the crashes.  Try disabling it to see whether it helps.  Also, I take it you've confirmed that TS3 is using your Nvidia card, rather than the integrated chip?  You can check the deviceconfig inside your game folder to confirm; the GPU entry starts about 30 lines down.

Since you're keeping an eye on the Task Manager, do you happen to know how much RAM TS3 is using when it crashes?  It's a 32-bit app, so if it goes over ~3.7 GB for even a moment, it can crash without warning.  This could be an issue if you're spending a lot of time in CAS or Edit Town, or just if you're playing in the wrong world.  Some are too large or complicated to stay under the RAM limit for long; others are broken and overstress the game engine with routing errors.  Let me know where you're playing, and if you still get crashes, please test with a clean game folder (pull your existing one out of Documents\EA) in a well-made world like Sunset Valley or Twinbrook.

Disabling OneDrive would be a a convenient and simple solution, which is why you should try it first.  RAM use can be managed in various ways.  If neither of these is the issue though, you might have a corrupt graphics card driver or some other system error.  Let me know if you're still seeing crashes, and I'll post instructions for checking your system files, and for a clean driver install.

@puzzlezaddict I never signed into OneDrive, so I have no idea why it's trying to access files it shouldn't need too. I can't uninstall it I can only 'hide' it. And to do that I would have to make an account. 

TS3 is using my NIVIDA. 

At the moment I am playing in the Pets expansion town but the improved version with routing fixes. Current expansions are Generation, Ambition, Supernatural and Pets. I will try to do the vanilla game again and see if it still crashes. 

By RAM do you mean the memory? I will make sure to keep an eye on it. 

I will report back soon. Thanks for the help! ^^

@puzzlezaddict Played Sims 3 vanilla two hours almost three yesterday and today with no crash, but since I have gone four hours with Sims 3 loaded with CC and store content before, I don't think it proves much. :\ 

I also noticed when I do play the more stable worlds, It takes a few days of playing before I get the random crash (I think). And since the crashes are random, it's hard to 'trigger' it. 

I tried to keep an eye on RAM but the moment I minimize sims 3  it instantly starts to do down. I never saw it go over 3000 MB, at it's highest it at 2000 MB. 

Do you think getting an SSD will help my problem? I think while I play at some point it gets overloaded and my computer shuts Sims 3 down. 

@tbluitt2326  If OneDrive is set to launch at startup, it could be throwing errors even without an account to access.  Go to Settings > Apps > Startup and disable it, no sign in required.

To check RAM use, you can put TS3 in windowed mode on the fly without minimizing it; the option is with all the other graphics settings.  If it's not going over 3 GB, then you're fine in the vanilla version, but you'll still need to check when you go back to your existing game folder and saves.  And you're right, playing in SV is only a limited test, but it's still good to get a baselline reading for memory use.  Then you can try SV with all your mods and cc, then your current save.  No need to play for several hours this time—30 minutes should be enough to see RAM stabilize.  If it's too high in your current save, or if it keeps rising for longer than half an hour, you can suspect a temporary spike as the cause of the crashes.

An SSD doesn't prevent crashes or make the game more stable overall.  What it does is cut down on the time needed to save as well as load anything, from the game itself and your save to CAS, Build/Buy catalogs, Edit Town, and travel transitions.  I'm thrilled with how quickly things load on my SSD and would probably be very frustrated waiting around for an HDD, but it's more a quality of life improvement than anything else.  Still, that might be worth it to you.

Having said all that, I asked someone about a couple of items in your dxdiag,

and given the nature of the TS3 errors, it's a good idea to run a couple of cleanup routines on your computer.  Here's how:

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

If everything is fine, then definitely have a look at the memory use in your current save, and let me know what you see.

If you get any crashes without RAM use going anywhere near the ~3.7 GB limit, try a clean boot, just to see if there are any background apps interfering with TS3.

I know it's hard to test with a game that doesn't crash reliably, but maybe it's best to just play normally for awhile and not worry about what's happening behind the scenes, other than memory use.  If it crashes with a clean boot, that's helpful to know; if it doesn't crash after several play sessions, that's also helpful, and in the meantime, you've been enjoying your game.

@puzzlezaddict  This was the message: Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations. I was given no errors. 

I  disbaled cloud from startup. 

And I am about to run Sims 3 in Windows mode (Still vanilla since re-downloading over 3,000 CC takes a while) to see how much RAM it uses. 

And what do you mean by Clean Boot? Does that mean to restart windows somehow? 

At the moment I have most of the packs installed just to see if the crash will happen sooner, and it's running really smooth without CC. It takes less than 10 minutes to start up the game and play it. I was wondering if an SSD would start up the Sims 3 just as fast even with CC? 

@tbluitt2326  A clean boot is where you disable almost all programs on startup, thus testing whether some background app is causing the problem.  Here's how to do one:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

But honestly, given how irregular and unpredictable the crashes are, I'm still thinking it's better to start by monitoring RAM use in the Task Manager to see if that's the cause.  If not, then the clean boot is next.  If you do see something in the event viewer, I'd like to see that too.  I didn't ask before because they're often useless, but they do usually report an out of memory condition correctly.

And yes, it's definitely a good idea to run most or all packs, since your goal is presumably to be able to play with all of them.