Sims 3 crashing on new gaming laptop

@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.

@Harriet13  your welcome 🙂

@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 ☹️ 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 😞

@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

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/the-sims-3-64-bit-amp-metal-release/td-p/8631090/page/75

@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 🙂

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.

@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.

@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 time

Second 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.

@Harriet13  Alright, I finally got some quality time with the debugger, and with the rest of this thread.  First, for every step you try, please test in a(nother) clean Sims 3 folder.  Don't even add mods, and definitely not an existing save.  You can keep the same clean folder if you want, from now on, but if and when you do get a crash, be sure to go into Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\CurrentGame and delete anything in that folder.  There should never be any files in CurrentGame unless you have a save loaded and are playing, but it often doesn't get emptied when the game crashes.

Please also delete the five cache files in the Sims 3 folder every time you quit, that is if you're keeping the same clean folder rather than just trashing it with every crash.  For reference, the files are:

• CASPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache,package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package

The first thing to do is to reinstall DirectX 9.  The second crash dump mentioned a component of DX9 as at fault, and Sims 3 uses it.  You don't need to uninstall anything; just download the installer from Microsoft and run it.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=8109

While you're at it, uninstall and reinstall .NET Framework 3.5; Sims 3 uses it as well.  Hit Windows key-R, enter "appwiz.cpl" without quotes, and in the File Explorer window that shows up, click "Turn Windows features on or off."  You'll see this:

The very first entry is .NET 3.5.  The box will already be filled (or you wouldn't be able to play Sims 3), so click it to uninstall.  Once the uninstall process has finished, restart your computer.  Then repeat the above, but this time clicking the box will reinstall.  Restart again before playing.

And just for good measure, so you don't waste more time than necessary with crashes, please clear Origin's cache and run another Sims 3 repair.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/

When testing, please play in Sunset Valley or Twinbrook.  These (along with Riverview) are the most stable EA worlds and therefore the least likely to randomly crash for in-game reasons that have nothing to do with your computer.

Finally, please also confirm that your fps is locked into the limit you chose.  You don't have to keep a close eye on it; just check a couple times to make sure it's not running wild again.

By the way, the error in the first crash dump basically said Sims 3 crashed because it reached for code it shouldn't have.  That can be an issue with the game files themselves (hence the repair) or with one of the resources the game uses, and it's often difficult to pinpoint which one without some experimenting.