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KendraKat's avatar
KendraKat
Seasoned Newcomer
7 days ago

Sims 3 crashing every. single. time.

Hello! So, I play sims 3 on my MacBook Pro (2020). It worked fine for months with mods and without mods and then all of a sudden one day as soon as I loaded into my save, every time I turned the camera it would crash. It then progressed to not even loading any save at all. It would load completely through the two loading screens and then once the game noise starts, it crashes. I've deleted all my mods and cc, cleared all cache many many times, repaired my game, changed settings, and even reinstalled the game and it's still the same. Sims 3 is my favorite sims game so this is very frustrating to me. This is my last resort so if any one can help me or has any ideas, please reply!! Thank you so much.

4 Replies

  • KendraKat​  Does the game crash if you try to load a new save in Sunset Valley?  Please test and let me know.  And if it does work, save your progress, quit, restart your computer, and see whether you can still play that new save without crashing.

    I'm not saying your main save is toast, only that if this is a wider issue, there's no point in trying to recover the save until the underlying problem is addressed.

    Please also list the full specs of your Mac: everything under About This Mac including the OS and except for the serial number.  And list the expansion packs you've installed as well, and the world in which your current save takes place.

  • KendraKat's avatar
    KendraKat
    Seasoned Newcomer
    7 days ago

    My main save is in the Isla paradiso world. My extension packs are seasons, pets, into the future, university, world adventures, showtime, late night, island paradise, generations, ambitions, and high end loft stuff. I tried a new save and it actually worked but I don't think I've tried to make a new save since before I took all the mods out so that's on me haha. Maybe my old saves are just corrupted? My specs are MacOS Sequoia version 15.4.1 with 2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, intel Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB, and 16 GB memory. I don't mind not recovering my saves, I just don't want this to happen again if I can prevent it somehow.

  • KendraKat​  Isla Paradiso is the most broken of the EA worlds, and it's not close.  The problems aren't the kind that cause save corruption, exactly, but problems can pile up to the point where the save is basically unplayable.  It's why people always recommend playing in a fixed version of IP, or fixing the world manually, rather than using the default version.

    For now, try loading your save with only NRaas mods, if you use them, nothing from any other source.  If the save won't load, try the backup.  Inside Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Saves, you'll see a folder with the save's name and another folder with the same name plus a .backup extension, for example IslaParadiso.sims3 and IslaParadiso.sims3.backup.  Change the name and delete the .backup (e.g. IslaParadiso1.sims3), and the save should be available to select at the Main Menu.

    Long term, these are the mods I and many others suggest for the overall health of your saves:

    Sims 3 - Common Game Fixing Mods - Hero Approved | EA Forums - 8291748

    Aside from that, running a MasterController town reset (NRaas > MC > Town Options > Reset Everything) every six to eight sim-weeks is helpful, and in some worlds it should be done more often, especially if you're noticing performance dragging somewhat.  You can exclude the active lot under MC's Settings if you don't want your own sims reset.

    There's no way to completely prevent save corruption, unfortunately.  But what you can do is keep backups of your main save, a few at any given time, so that you can revert if and when you run into problems.

    If you'd like help fixing up IP, let me know, whether it's in your current save (if it loads) or in a new one.

  • KendraKat's avatar
    KendraKat
    Seasoned Newcomer
    6 days ago

    Thank you so much for all your help! I'll definitely make note of all your tips and tricks :)

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