Sims 3 crashing on new gaming laptop
Hi everyone, I've just splurged on a brand new gaming PC after running Sims 3 on my Macbook (mid 2010) for 10 years. While the gaming quality is excellent and feels like I'm playing a brand new game...
Forum Discussion
Hey @puzzlezaddict thanks for all your help so far and sorry I haven't come back to you sooner, I haven't been able to play as much in the last week.
So initially all of your guidance worked amazingly. no crashes whatsoever - and then the other day my game started crashing again. The only difference is that because it had been running fine I reloaded Story Progression into my game - so I wonder if it could have been what triggered it perhaps? Needless to say, I've taken that mod back out but am still getting crashes.
I re-did your initial step as well as checked for all updates on my computer. I haven't uninstalled Origin "The Hard Way" again but I can if you think that's still part of the issue!
I also fixed the issue with my NVIDIA control panel telling me it's not enabled, so set my frame rate to 70fps now.
Here is the latest DXDiag:
Here is "Restore Health"
Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Try the new cross-platform PowerShell https://aka.ms/pscore6
PS C:\windows\system32> DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.572
Image Version: 10.0.19042.572
[==========================100.0%==========================] The restore operation completed successfully.
The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\windows\system32>
Here is "sfc /scannow"
Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Try the new cross-platform PowerShell https://aka.ms/pscore6
PS C:\windows\system32> sfc /scannow
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
@Harriet13 It looks like your system updated to the new Windows build: your first dxdiag listed builld 19041, and this one says 19042. While the new build may be quite similar to the old one, it's possible that it doesn't (yet) get along with the graphics drivers written for 19041. Do you have the option to revert? If so, it's worth trying.
StoryProgression is a heavy mod, and it can be even heavier if its overall speed is too fast or if you use a large number of add-ons. When adding it to your game, it's best to start with just the base mod, set the speed to slow or snail, and see how the game runs; then adjust from there.
If you can't or don't want to revert to an earlier Windows build, another approach is to try playing in a clean user data folder. Move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content. Don't add anything to this folder yet; just start a new save and see how it runs. This wouldn't help at all with a system (driver or Windows) issue, but it's also possible that something in your user data folder has been corrupted and is causing the crashing, and this is a quick test to find out.
Hey @puzzlezaddict thank you again for such a speedy response!
So I actually already tried removing the save files from the game and going off a completely new save, but it didn't change anything unfortunately. I'll give it another go though, just in case.
I will have a go at reverting the update to see if that changes anything also!
I also have attached a new DXDiag from a new crash last night, as in between me messaging you and your response by computer updated (again). I'm not sure if that's useful to you at all but figured I'd include it anyway.
I'll get back to you if anything changes!
Thanks again
@Harriet13 The new errors are the same as the old, and the drivers for the graphics cards are both the same too. But that's no surprise. And just to clarify, I didn't mean that you should remove only your saves; removing the entire Sims 3 folder is much more effective because it covers a number of other potential issues as well.
Let me know how the rollback goes.
@puzzlezaddict gotcha, that's great to know.
Yeah I re-read what you sent and have moved the Sims 3 file entirely out and am playing a totally clean version as we speak. I'll let you know how that goes. If I get a crash I'll do the rollback.
Thanks again!
@Harriet13 bearing in mind that RTX cards aren't on the support list for TS3 meaning it can't find a gpu that gives you the unrecognized video card error you would need to manually add your RTX gpu to the config list for TS3 : Note here is a Youtube video link that can help you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnclXKySQ5w&list=PLBW0vNiY7a4K-XT1s3TBJ0S9_e2zKH4YZ&index=2 This is an offsite link but safe to view
@puzzlezaddict so I played the entirely clean game and I didn't get a crash - so I'm guessing that must mean there's a corrupted file in the original ones I placed on my desktop?
Thanks again, especially for your super quick replies.
- @TheSuperWolf100 Thank you for this! I will give it a watch in the morning đ
@Harriet13 your welcome đ
@Harriet13 Yes, in all likelihood the issue is something in your old Sims 3 folder. If you need help sorting out what it is, let me know.
By the way, you absolutely don't need to get your graphics card recognized, and not doing so is extremely unlikely to cause any crashing. Having a recognized card can help around the margins, and if you want to try it, let me know; I'll post instructions for how to add your card to the game's database. If you do edit the two .sgr files, it's a good idea to make backups beforehand, just in case something goes wrong with one of the edits.
Also, unlike the instructions in the video, you don't need Notepad++ for the edits; the regular Notepad works fine.
Hey @puzzlezaddict so I unfortunately take it back - the clean file just crashed âšī¸ guess it's not a corrupt file afterall
@Harriet13 honestly, welcome to the club. I believe 90% of crashes are because of the game being 32 bit. I've tried EVERYTHING... nothing will help but a 64 bit patch
@Darens-Stuff ugh, don't tell me this I bought a new gaming comp for the express purpose of running it.
Everything was running fine at one point so I'm hoping there's a specific issue I can find đ
- @Harriet13 oh pity, you should've bought a Mac then! (LMAO)
yeah, my Sims 3 was running amazing even in Alpine County about 2 years ago, but now I am coping with all these crashes. Thinking about it, my game was 1.67 back then, and I hadn't done no modifications of game files except adding my GPU to the database. Maybe I have to try that again. @Darens-Stuff a MAC was what I was running prior to this PC and it had plenty of crashes - not sure it's the brand that's the issue. I hope you get your issues sorted
don't you know? a 64 bit version of the game is releasing in a matter of hours only for MacOS Catalina
@Darens-Stuff that's great for MAC users but I'm not on a mac now and my old one doesn't even have catalina đ
me too, I bought the 2020 Macbook Air just recently for university and then returned it with change of plans. Now I'm back to my Razer Blade and trying to figure out a way to Hackintosh this PC to play the 64 bit Sims 3.
- @puzzlezaddict so after going back over our convo, I believe that I updated my computer on the day you first started replying to this post after doing the Windows-R scans and just before uninstalling Origin the hard way - so I'm not 100% sure it was the update that did it. However, after the game crashing again even though it's a completely new Sims 3 file I'm definitely willing to try rolling back if you think that that's the issue. I feel like we're starting to run out of options!
@Harriet13 We can wait on the rollback for a bit, at least until we get more information. Please check your in-game fps, again, just to make sure it's still stable at whatever limit you imposed. Start a new save in Sunset Valley, in a clean folder, and let me know how long it takes to crash, as well as what you were doing in-game when it crashed.
Please also set your system to generate a crash dump and upload it, that is if you get one at all. Here's how:
- Hit the Windows key, type "command prompt" in the box, right-click on Command Prompt in the search results, and select Run as Administrator
- In the window, paste "reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\devenv.exe" /v DumpType /d 2 /t REG_DWORD" without the outside quotes into the box, and enter
- Launch Sims 3 and wait for it to crash, however long you can play
- After it crashes, wait for any crash dialogs to finish
- Then hit Windows key-R and paste "%LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps" without quotes into the box, and enter
- Upload the last .dmp file to a free filesharing site, and link it here
- When you want to undo the auto crash log dumps, open Command Prompt as before, paste "reg delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps" /f" without the outside quotes, and enter.
By the way, we're not running out of options, not yet. There are at least two more steps I'd like to try if there's nothing useful in the crash dump, and if we don't get anywhere with those either, I can ask for a second opinion.
- @puzzlezaddict You're so helpful, thank you so much. It's getting pretty late where I am but I'll get the crash dump to you ASAP.
- @Harriet13 Could you please send me a DXDIAG? https://help.ea.com/en/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/ I'm gonna go deeper to see why your game crashes
@TheSuperWolf100 There are multiple dxdiags in this thread already, and we've been over everything in them already. I think a crash dump will be more illuminating, and if it's not, there are other ways of gathering more detailed information than what a dxdiag lists.
@puzzlezaddictSo, no crash in the new save file just yet but wanted to note a new development is that I'm getting intermittent sound issues. The sound totally stops (except for background like cars and wind/waves) then will come back, then go again. Perhaps something to do with the audio issues you saw in my first DXDiag?
Edit: I tried to save and quit and the game totally froze. No crash but I couldn't even open task manager. No crash dump as a result of me shutting down manually I assume! However, after checking the crash dump file I have a whole host of files in there, including one from yesterday:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ajuih-ddWGETRFz4JfdsAtyUGOrXW_fC/view?usp=sharing
@puzzlezaddictToday's Crash Drump:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AdUhWGvZ8g2cqPXAhnpW2aaUOlINsLWz/view?usp=sharing
I was placing a counter at the timeSecond crash dump of the day:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rEmbvIMzmG2sAxGYQ1jTIuxwm7Uj53hh/view?usp=sharing
@Harriet13 I'm sorry for the late reply. I've been swamped for the last couple days and haven't had any time to be in Windows, and I never bothered to download your files on my very incompatible Mac. But now that I've tried, I can't see any of the links: they all ask me to sign into my google drive, which of course isn't your google drive, so I don't have access.
- @puzzlezaddict No need to apologise, I appreciate the help whenever you're able to give it.
You should now have access:
1st crash yesterday:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AdUhWGvZ8g2cqPXAhnpW2aaUOlINsLWz/view?usp=sharing
2nd crash yesterday:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rEmbvIMzmG2sAxGYQ1jTIuxwm7Uj53hh/view?usp=sharing
