Sims 3 Keeps crashing on mac while travelling

@nham23

I think the problem may be that your graphics card is struggling to run the game with all the EPs you have installed. Seasons and Pets in particular can cause issues. Try uninstalling them to see if it helps with smoother gameplay. Lower your graphics settings too.

I didn't think about that as such. I'll give the lower settings a try. I have been purging my memory too which does seem to help. I was fortunate enough to get both of my sims to university at last. The only trouble I had was as soon as I got them into the dorms I couldn't seem to save the game due the error code 12. It wasn't like I was playing for a long time anyway. I just sent them straight away after my game loaded.

@nham23

It's always worth purging RAM straight away after you've loaded your household. Try travelling to University then 🙂

Well I did lower my graphic settings which didn't seem to work as I thought it would. I did eventually manage to get my sims to university and save the game. I did purge my ram throughout the saving and low and behold it worked. I've even been able to save and quit the game as well. Thanks for the advice. If I have any more trouble then I'll let you know. I did however turn off interactive loading whilst traveling as well to be on the safe side.

@nham23

Great 🙂

The Sims have been crashing my computers for years, I had it on two PCs then got a high powered Mac and it still makes my machine

run hot, only shows text rather than graphics its a sad pain, unless someone makes a good simulation game that doesn't murder our

computers we're out of luck. What I honestly think it needs is dedicated RAM for the graphics card which I will not shell out the money

for. 

If you find out any info please let us know.

@waywardsojourn

If you have a high powered Mac then surely it has a dedicated GPU? The high end 15" MacBook Pro, most of the iMacs and the Mac Pro all have dedicated graphics.

The problem with TS3 is Cider. EA used it to 'wrap' the Windows version of the game so the game thinks it is running in Windows instead of OS X. The maximum amount of RAM the game can utilise is 2Gb, as opposed to 4Gb for Windows users. Because of this you have to regularly purge RAM during gameplay to avoid crashes, lagging and the dreaded Error 12. Doesn't matter how much RAM you have in your Mac, the game will use a maximum of 2Gb.

If you Boot Camp your Mac and install Windows on it you'll notice the difference in gameplay. It's amazing (and you're using the same hardware).

Well that's until I got the point of returning home after my sims graduated. Now I can't return home without the exception raised bug just as the loading bar moves to the halfway point. So now my sims are stuck at university! I just don't know what is up with this game? One minute my sims are able to travel without a problem and now they can't even return home!😠

@nham23

That's the RAM issue again. And your graphics card struggling. Travelling is a very intensive part of the game as the game engine has to close one part of the game (the place you're leaving) and compute everything for the place you're travelling to. Not just your Sim but all the other households, weather if Seasons is installed, loads of variables. Cider only makes it all worse.

If you want to play a smoother game you should seriously consider Boot Camping your Mac and installing Windows. So many Mac Simmers have done it. It's a shame to have to do it but sometimes is the only answer.

Yeah you're right there. I have bootcamp and windows on my macbook anyway so all I gotta do is just install the sims 3 on there. It does seem like a pain though to go through the whole installation process all over again and start a fresh sim(s). Especially when I've got them so far and created such a pleasant world for them too. I just hope that if I install the sims 3 on bootcamp I can take my sims save(s) from here to there. Can you do that? Or will I have to start from scratch?