Sims 3 crashes when loading save
This happens with me aswell. When I try to open sims 3, i get all the way to loading my family up, when it crashes the whole game. Why is this happening?
edited title after splitting thread. -puzzlezaddict
Forum Discussion
15 Replies
@CopperBruiser788 I've split your post into its own thread because your issue is different. If you had the same problem as the original poster, the game wouldn't load past the launcher.
At any rate, can you load a new save? Please test and let me know either way. Please also post a screenshot of any error message you see when you load your main save. It's fine if you don't get one; I just need to know either way. I also need to know whether you use mods or custom content, which is fine as well but has to be taken into account.
@puzzlezaddict I tried to load a new game and it does make it to make new people. I have not tried playing a new game yet.
There is no error message, it just closes the game completely.
I have no mods or custom content.
@CopperBruiser788 Try loading the backup copy of the save. Go into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Saves, and you'll see a folder with your save's name plus another one with the same name and a .backup extension, for example SunsetValley.sims3 and SunsetValley.sims3.backup. Change the name and delete the .backup, e.g. SunsetValley1.sims3, and that save will be available to select at the Main Menu. Let me know whether it loads properly.
If it does load, I'd suggest using "save as" and renaming the save, again, so the former backup stays intact should you need it again.
@puzzlezaddict I tried this just now. Now I can¨t log in to my account on the sims 3 either, and also it has not changed the outcome. It still crashes after a little while when loading the family.
@CopperBruiser788 I'm not sure there's anything you can do here, unfortunately. There's an outside chance that this is related to your computer and not the game itself, and to test that, try playing immediately after restarting your computer, with nothing else running and while your computer is offline. You can sign into the EA App, if that's what you use, and put it in offline mode, then disconnect from the internet before pressing Play.
The inability to sign in may be tied to maintenance on the EA side—I can't bring up the Store site right now. It's unrelated to your issues loading the save though.
@puzzlezaddict That also does not work.When it crashes with no internett it appears an error on the EA app that there is no internett connection and to play a game that does not need it.
But it still crashes at the exact same point as before.
Does this mean that my PC is not strong enough, or that there is something wrong with it?
This same thing has been happening to me I am able to load up a new game but cant play a saved game. Although I do play with mods and CC I was not having an issue with this as a I was playing the game normally the night before and wasnt able to launch the game after a few hours. if you eventually figure out how to fix this could you please list/note down what it was that worked?
@CopperBruiser788 I think it's more likely that the problem is your save, not your computer. I can take a look at a dxdiag if you want; just run one and attach it to a reply here.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
There's also one more approach you can try. Create a new save in the same world as your current one, save your progress, and quit. Open the Saves folder, then the folder for your new save, and delete the .nhd file. Copy the .nhd file from your affected save into the new save's folder and see whether the new save now loads. If it does, you'll actually load your old save, just with (temporary) metadata from your new one.
Saves can sometimes get corrupted, and it's more common when not using the standard NRaas mods that help game performance. Unfortunately, by the time the save won't load at all, it's usually too late to do anything about the problem. This is why it's critical to keep backups, not just the one the game makes but your own that you create as you play. The simplest way is to use "save as" to rename the save: the original will remain intact under its old name.
If you'd like to know more about the mods that can help protect saves from corruption, please start here:
The error from the EA App about being offline is normal when a game crashes. It's not the cause of the crash, just a quirk of the App itself.
@ixiexz Please try to load your save without your custom content and without any mods except those from NRaas, if you use them. You don't need to save your progress; this is just for testing.
I went on Mod The Sims and followed the directions of "Ghost sdoj" in this discussion. I was able to make my game work by deleting my most recent saved folder for the family that I was trying to load up and replaced it with the old save folder from before my most recent one by renaming the folder. This allowed me to pick up where I left off in my saved game, I'm not really sure what happend or if my folder/file was corrupted but it seemed to work for me.
@ixiexz That's exactly what I described in post 4 of this thread. Glad you got it fixed, and please keep manual backups in the future.
