Sims 3 Crashes to Desktop with No Error Message!

@tbluitt2326  That's plenty for now, but the next time you get a crash, I'd love to see everything, just so I can take a look.  In the meantime, you can disable Origin's helper service.  Click the Origin dropdown menu, then select Application Settings.  Under Application (the first tab), scroll to Start-up options, and turn off the helper service.

I don't think the last Event Viewer entry means anything special, other than that TS3 crashed, but I'll ask for a second opinion on that one.

Have you had any crashes since you started watching RAM use?  I hate to keep going back to that, but until it's ruled out, I don't want to recommend any more drastic measures, like a clean driver install.  Incidentally, it's a good thing that you're on an earlier version of Windows, since Acer hasn't updated the drivers for your laptop in over a year.  It did occur to me (and someone else I asked) that the timing is suspicious.  I know you have a more recent version of the Nvidia driver, but it's from Nvidia directly, and your computer might run a bit better with the version Acer made to go with your specific hardware.  Plus, the Intel one is actually older than Acer's newest posting.  Anyway, it's just speculation, but the crashing could be due to the two drivers not being in sync.

Again though, the much simpler issue would be the game going over its memory limit, and solving that has nothing to do with a clean driver install.

@puzzlezaddict  It crashed again. This time it was in the middle of a save, and when I was pulling up task manager. I noticed the disk hit 3 MB and I got 100% disk before it closed itself out. :\ Good thing I am now in the habit of saving frequently. I also went back to my game with CC. 

I was given the same Error (Event ID 1000) and noticed another one under the Applications tab. 

Log Name: Application
Source: Windows Error Reporting
Date: 6/15/2019 7:35:36 PM
Event ID: 1001
Level: Information
Keywords: Classic
Description:
Fault bucket 107878438552, type 1
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: TS3.exe
P2: 0.2.0.32
P3: 568d4bac
P4: TS3.exe
P5: 0.2.0.32
P6: 568d4bac
P7: c0000005
P8: 0050ff61
P9:
P10:

Attached files:
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER84D2.tmp.mdmp

These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_TS3.exe_8b6d3cdd2f533ad78bcbec864cdac67eec9b6_4df59a0a_01bc9e94

I think it also means it just crashed. 

@tbluitt2326  Okay, the 100% disk usage is bugging me.  Do a clean boot (I think I linked it before) and play that way for a while.  Let me know if you get another crash, and again keep an eye on the Task Manager.

@puzzlezaddict So, for the clean boot, I need to enable my NIVIDA features to play the game but I don't know how to enable just that and not the rest of it, and do I disable my virus protection or leave it? 

@tbluitt2326  Disable your antivirus.  With "Nvidia features," are you referring to GeForce Experience?  Leave that disabled too.  TS3 doesn't need it and often runs better without it.

@puzzlezaddict yeah, that was what I meant, when I disabled all of it TS3 wouldn't run. It said I didn't have a drive. 

@tbluitt2326  Again, strange.  Try only enabling your antivirus, not GFE, and see if that helps.  If not, you should be able to manually open GFE as well.

@puzzlezaddict I got it to work. Not sure what happened the first time around. It crashed in the clean boot. The disk didn't spike to 100% this time but it was still high, and RAM wasn't above 1000 MB. The game does freeze up before it crashes, but only sometimes. 

@tbluitt2326  Okay, on the advice of the Windows expert, we'd like to see the Windows dump file(s) related to this crashing.  Open a File Explorer window and copy this into the address bar:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp

and find the file labeled "WER84D2.tmp.mdmp.  If you can't attach it to a post, upload it to a free filehosting site and link it here.

@puzzlezaddict The folder was empty...Should I play until it crashes again? I had to restart my computer to reactivate Windows Search...And should I still be in Clean Boot or do I go back to normal? 

@tbluitt2326  The crash dump was deleted when you rebooted your computer.  Instead of searching, open a File Explorer window and type (or copy and paste) the path into the address bar.

And yes, please do another clean boot and play until it crashes.

@puzzlezaddict The folder is still empty even after I pasted it into the search bar and the game crashed again with no restart. 

@puzzlezaddict Also the crashes happen more frequently the more I play the game (Or attempt to). It went from crashing 4 hours into the game to 5 minutes. 

@tbluitt2326  Okay, I think it's time for a clean install of your graphics card drivers.  Here's how to do it:

First, download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1750

You can download fresh drivers (start with Intel VGA) here:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7571?b=1

Next, take your computer completely offline—disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord—and double-click the DDU.exe.  Take note of where the file will land, and click Extract.  If it's easier, you can copy the path and then paste it into the address bar in a File Explorer window.  Open the folder and then Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you'll get a message that you're not in Safe Mode.  Click OK, then go to Options and enable Safe Mode dialog.  Here's a screenshot of what your options should look like:

Close options, and the DDU, and then open the DDU.exe again.  For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).  Once you login, you'll see this:

Choose GPU in the dropdown menu (step one), then Intel (step 2) if it's not already showing.  Then click Clean and Restart (step 3).

Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the driver install .exe in custom mode. Select "perform a clean installation" and install ONLY the GPU driver and the PHYSX software.

Reboot after the install, and then repeat the process for the Nvidia VGA, also from the Acer site.

Reboot again, and then you can start testing the game.  If it crashes, look for a dump file again, and please run another dxdiag.

(Also, thanks again @holger1405 for the tutorial, with pictures and everything.)

@puzzlezaddict Thanks for all of your help so far! 🙂

Sorry, but I got a few questions about uninstalling my drivers. 

1. Do I download the drivers before I even begin uninstalling them?

2. What drivers exactly do I download? All of them? 

3. What do you mean by password? Do you mean to my laptop? 

Sorry if the questions are dumb, but I just wanted to make sure before I started the process and screw something up. 

@tbluitt2326  It's always better to ask before rather than after.

1. Yes, download the drivers first.  When you do the clean uninstall, you'll be offline, and you want to stay that way before going online again.
2. Download only the video driver you're about to install.  Among the 16 that Acer offers, there's one from Intel, and one from Nvidia, both listed as VGA drivers.
3. I mean your computer's password.  Some people use a PIN associated with their Microsoft account instead, which won't work.

nvm i think I found the drive to install...

@puzzlezaddict Ok, so I got confused when reading the instructions and messed up when installing the drive. I just had clicked it and installed it normally. Should I uninstall and reinstall again?

Also, what do you mean by ‘custom’? Is that under properties?

@tbluitt2326  Yes, you should redo the install, this time using the Display Driver Uninstaller that I linked in the instructions.  The point is that your current driver(s) may be corrupted, and it's best to remove all traces of them before installing the new ones.  A regular uninstall doesn't do this, hence the need for DDU.

The custom setting should show up when you're reinstalling the drivers.  I actually don't know if the drivers you download from Acer allow for a custom mode, although I would think so.  At any rate, when you open the installer, look for a tab that says "custom," and click on that.

@puzzlezaddict Their was no custom tab. It went straight into installing with no option to customize how...I did use the drive uninstaller you linked above the first time and the second time. I just got confused when you mentioned ‘custom mode’ to install the drive. 

Edit: intel didn’t have the tab but NIVIDA did. Sorry about all the questions. I’m going to play and see what happens.

@puzzlezaddict It crashed 3 minutes in even after uninstalling and reinstalling drives. There was still no dump files. I also notice black lines appearing when the game first opens (before first loading screen) which started appearing during the clean boot and hasn't gone away since. I attached the new DxDiag to this comment. 

Could it be my laptop temperature? Task manager didn't show me much since the crashes seem to have no correlation to what's happening there. I asked the same question on another forum and someone noticed that my windows 10 needed to be updated...

I noticed a common error in event finder that appears when I play the game. 

Error: 10016

This application-specific permission settings does not grant local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID.

@puzzlezaddict Any advice on what to do next? 

@tbluitt2326  Sorry for the delay; I wanted a consult, as this is kind of at the edge of my abilities to help.

(@holger1405 you're wonderful, as always, thank you so much.)

Anyway, it does sound like the driver install didn't go so well, and hopefully tweaking the process (see above) will help.

You already have DDU downloaded, but go ahead and redownload fresh drivers from Acer.  (You can trash the old ones.)  Be sure to get both the Intel and the Nvidia VGA drivers now, since you'll be offline until you finish the process.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7571?b=1

Take your computer completely offline (again, disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cable).  Double-click on Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you should get the message that you're not in safe mode.  (If you don't, go to options and enable safe mode dialog, as before, close DDU, and reopen it.)  For launch options, choose Safe Mode, and then click Reboot to Safe Mode.  Once you login, you'll see this again:

Choose GPU, then Nvidia, then click Clean and Restart.  Your computer will restart in normal mode.  Launch the DDU again, reboot into Safe Mode, and repeat the above steps, but this time, choose Intel instead of Nvidia in step 2.

After your computer reboots into normal mode, still offline, you can install the Intel driver, then reboot, and then install the Nvidia driver and reboot again.  For the Nvidia driver, choose a custom install again, and only install the driver an the PHYSX software.

If it helps, you can print this out, since you won't be able to go back online and have a look until you're done with the whole process.

When you're done, try TS3 again.  It's best to remove your TS3 game folder from Documents\EA before you test, just to be thorough.

@puzzlezaddict Thanks for getting back to me, I uninstalled and reinstalled my drives again. The post was easy to follow and understand. 🙂 

Unfonrtanetly there was still no change. My Game crashes barely a minute in. I had deleted the Sims 3 folder and re-downloaded all my CC and put back my mods and saved game and sims after reinstalling the drives. 

I was even playing around in another sims 3 vanilla game on another account on the same laptop, and it didn't crash, but the moment I put even a little CC in the game, it eventually did. I also updated Windows 10 and turned off Game Mode as another forum suggested, but it made no difference.