Sims 3 crashing on new gaming laptop

@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.

@puzzlezaddictand here's today's

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N3QpEmv7u6ktTQqjbhXlgKSVAnzsnio8/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gkYx1i0Y16PFjsyaCiewnq4hKpjXs-Lh/view?usp=sharing

@Harriet13  Sorry, again, for the late reply.  It's been one of those weeks.  Or maybe one and a half of those weeks.  Anyway.

The crash dumps again mention DX9, or two of them do.  Since you already reinstalled DX9 and .NET Framework 3.5, the next step is to do a clean uninstall and reinstall of both graphics drivers.  Be sure to uninstall the Nvidia driver, then the Intel driver, and then install the Intel driver before the Nvidia one.  The point is to never have the Nvidia driver installed if the Intel driver is not also present.  Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3300

Download fresh copies of both the Intel and Nvidia drivers from HP:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/omen-15-ek0000-laptop-pc-series/32827267/model/34766871?sku=3F854EA

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 launch 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; make sure the box in red is checked:

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:

In the blue box, choose GPU, then Nvidia if it's not already showing.  Then click Clean and Restart (red box).

When the computer has restarted, repeat the process, except choose Intel rather than Nvidia in the blue box.

Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the Intel driver install .exe as an admin: right-click and select "Run as administrator."  Restart again, and do the same for the Nvidia driver.

Reboot one final time, go back online, and see whether the game works normally.

Since things have died down to some degree now, I should be able to answer you sooner from now on.

@Harriet13  The software linked is very reliable and has been used by at least tens of thousands of people, if not more.  I recommend it quite often, and the only issues I can remember were when the new drivers someone had downloaded wouldn't install.  So while I can't promise that there's no way using DDU would break your computer, it shouldn't, and it's certainly more reliable than trying to clean uninstall your graphics drivers yourself.

@puzzlezaddict Hi there!

I'm sorry it's been such a long time since I messaged you, I hope you are keeping well! Life got in the way as usual and meant that I just wasn't able to dedicate my time to this in the way I would like to (mixed with my nerves about uninstalling/reinstalling drivers!).

I just went to look at the drivers I need to reinstall and out of the list, I wasn't too sure about which Intel/Nvidia drivers I need to download. If you could advise I'd appreciate it!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14fhdKe0PkBUBYXnuSF4I_iIAU539bLYT/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KaiAucaKr7yUU17DpnEYSZA3bSoS03sU/view?usp=sharing

@Harriet13  Is Sims 3 still crashing?  Since it's been a while, I'd like to see a new dxdiag before making any more suggestions.  I'd also like to see a crash dump, that is if the game is crashing.  Click Windows key-R and copy and paste this:

%LocalAppData%\CrashDumps

When you enter, you'll see a list of .dmp files.  If one of them is from Sims 3, please upload it to a third-party filehosting site (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and link it here.

If there is no Sims 3 .dmp file, you can enable them:

• 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 (whether you can play at all or not)
• 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.

While testing, please play in a clean Sims 3 user folder, just so that there aren't any complicating factors.

@puzzlezaddictHey! Still crashing all the time!!

DXdiag attached. Added a few crash dumps, not sure if that's helpful but maybe there's a common theme:

Latest: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zY3q9pZo0MkE3z07bu9Jz3lfaOSaMMNB/view?usp=sharing

Yesterday:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vzsNtyx7rs_SvLB4HRJLRBwdmyOLjzHy/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oIhHIhuFVQswBqZ9Z-IyqbihI1BPb5Qn/view?usp=sharing


I'm also not sure if it's worth noting, but I played CyberPunk on this PC and a bit of TS4 and haven't had any crashing problems with either. I'm sure it's because they're newer games and this is a new PC, but may be relevant.

@Harriet13  All three crash dumps contain essentially the same information: Sims 3 crashed with an access violation, specifically an invalid pointer read, and the faulting module was d3d9.dll, a component of DirectX 9.  Cyberpunk doesn't use DX9, but Sims 4 does, so it would be strange, although not impossible, for an issue with DX9 or the components of the graphics driver that interact with it to show up in Sims 3 but not Sims 4.

Still, the error is obvious, and the first thing to do is to run the DX9 installer, again.  Try the one within Sims 3's program files.  Unless you changed the default install location in Origin, the full file path will be:

Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\install\DirectX

Right-click on DXSETUP.exe and select "Run as administrator."  Restart your computer when it's done, and let me know if it throws an error.

If that doesn't help, do you run MSI Afterburner or Rivatuner Statistics Server while you play?  If so, please close these or any other similar apps and test.  Make sure they're not running in the background; you can check the Task Manager's background processes list.

If that doesn't help either, I'd need the actual link to the driver download page for your laptop.  The screenshots don't have all the relevant info, for example the version numbers for most of the drivers.  Again, the page doesn't have any info about your personal computer, just the model you bought, but I can't be sure I'm looking at exactly the right page unless you link it for me.

Finished the DXSETUPe.exe Didn't get any error messages! 

I don't run anything else when I'm playing Sims 3, I've honestly never even heard of MSI Afterburner or Rivatuner Statistics Server! I'm not computer savvy in the slightest!

Here's a link to the drivers page:

OMEN Laptop - 15-ek0005na Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support 

Now that I've reinstalled DirectX9 as instructed, I'll play a little and see if I get another crash and send you the relevant DXDiag and Crash Dump.

Thanks again for your help!

Hey @puzzlezaddict 

Today's crash dump and DXdiag are attached!

Crash Dump:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sB6fhRmdekJpPdMCUx6scT7HlwlRBCme/view?usp=sharing

DXdiag: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14QuOg_j3iavm_WHllN-LjChh-z-nqYRQ/view?usp=sharing

@Harriet13  The crash lists yet more DX9 errors, but since you've already tried to address them in the usual ways, the issue is more likely to be your graphics driver.  I mentioned the process back in November, but it looks like you never tried it, but there really isn't anywhere else to go from here, at least until the drivers have been replaced.  I'll post the instructions again, since the download links have changed a bit.

Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3450

Download the Intel graphics driver dated November 16, and the Nvidia graphics driver dated November 17, from the HP download page:

https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/selfservice/omen-15-ek0000-laptop-pc-series/32827267/model/34766871?sku=3F854EA

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 launch 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; make sure the box in red is checked:

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:

In the blue box, choose GPU, then Nvidia if it's not already showing.  Then click Clean and Restart (red box).

Repeat the process, except now choose Intel for the GPU.

Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the Intel driver as an admin: right-click on the download and select "Run as administrator."  Restart your computer and do the same for the Nvidia driver.

Go back online and try to play.  If you get another crash, let me know (another crash dump would be helpful), and I'll ask for a second opinion.