I wanted to reach out, because you guys have been able to help me in the past.
My issue is that starting about a month ago, I was getting back into the Sims 3 after a short break. I'm very familiar with the game, and prior to this period I've been able to play great on my current computer no problem, with all four of the expansion packs I own and mods installed, despite it not necessarily being a gaming PC. Now, however, my game will repeatedly crash almost every time I play the game, at random moments in the game that my computer used to handle terrifically. I've tried removing all my mods, playing with fewer packs, and uninstalling and re-installing the games multiple times, but nothing's been able to help or fix this problem. The only thing I can think might've changed would be my computer updating, but I'm not sure how that could render Sims this difficult to play. Any help would be wonderful, I know this game is an old person but I absolutely love Sims 3 and I would love to be able to get back into it like I used to. Thank you so much in advance!
@TheRaddestCrow How long does it typically take before the game crashes, and is there any pattern at all to what's happening on-screen at the time? You removed mods, but do you have any custom content, and if so, did you try removing that too?
Please also run a dxdiag and attach it to a post, for reference.
There isn't really a pattern to when the game crashes, sometimes it'll be 8 minutes or it'll get to 30 minutes before it crashes, and the on-screen actions are just typical game play like scrolling over the town or even just watching my single sim in their house. I also lowered my graphics settings in-game, but the crashes still persist at the same amount. I don't use any custom content, so I don't think that could affect it
@TheRaddestCrow Your dxdiag doesn't list any Sims 3 crashes, just a number of generic Windows update errors. (The dxdiag only lists the last 10 errors.) So it's best to clean those up first. Please run a couple of basic checks of your Windows system files:
Hit Windows key-X
Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes, and enter
The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator)”
Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes, and enter
Post the message you receive here
Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the box to check for updates. If any install, restart again afterwards.
For the Sims 3 crashes themselves, I'm wondering whether your computer might be running out of memory while you play. The game can only use a little shy of 4 GB, Windows uses just over 2 normally, and you have 8 installed, but background processes can increase overall RAM use significantly. That's even more true if Windows is trying and failing to update. I also notice that your laptop's page file is not particularly large and almost all used; the page file is where extra data gets dumped when it doesn't fit in RAM.
Point is, please increase the page file size. Here's how (option three):
Set the minimum to 16000 and the max to 16384. Your laptop has more than enough storage to accommodate the extra 5 GB.
If you get another crash, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor. Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day. Today is on the right.
Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent Sims 3 crash, specifically after you've done the steps I listed. If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here. If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.
@TheRaddestCrow This crash is an access violation, probably not related to the computer's overall memory use and definitely too generic to be much use here. But at least it rules out some obvious common causes.
Please list the packs you currently have installed and the world(s) where you've been playing. Please also let me know if you've done anything to cap framerates, use the Smooth Patch or another utility that changes the game but isn't a classic mod, or altered the game's program files in any way.
Could you please explain what an access violation is? I'm glad it rules out the common causes, but I'm just curious.
The packs I currently have installed include Pets, Seasons, and Supernatural. I also have Generations but I removed it in case it was causing too much strain, and the only world I have running is a Moonlight Falls town.
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with capping framerates, I didn't know if that was something I could do because I don't have an Nvidia graphics card.
The only utilities mods I have installed are Nraas' Overwatch and Story Progression, and I'm not completely sure what a classic mod is. All mine are from Nraas and the Nointro one included when setting up the Mods folders. Would the Smooth Patch aid in fixing this issue?
Thank you so much for your help, I appreciate it deeply.
@TheRaddestCrow Let's start with the easy answers. What I meant by a classic mod is just one that goes in Mods > Packages. There are other types of mods that go elsewhere, for example HQ mods are really edits to the graphicsrules file in the game's program files, with the intent to force higher-quality graphics settings than the game would allow under normal circumstances. If you haven't messed with the program files, you're fine.
The Smooth Patch would be an example of a nonstandard mod, as its main component goes in the Bin folder within the program files, not in Packages. I don't think it would help here.
I would recommend adding NRaas ErrorTrap as well for the overall health of your save, plus MasterController for its set of convenient commands.
Limiting fps can be done on any system. I'm not sure whether it would help with your crashing issues, but it's simple enough to try. Download RivaTuner Statistics Server (from guru3d.com; it's free), install it, add TS3.exe (without the W) to the list, set the fps cap to 60, and restart your computer. Open Revo again, since it needs to be open in order to work, and see whether it helps. You can set it to start with Windows if you prefer. It won't have any effect on any program for which you don't set an explicit limit.
However, I think the issue might be the Pets expansion. It's the most demanding pack by a significant margin, and it causes crashing on lower-end systems even when the player does everything else right. If you don't want to stop playing with pets overall, try avoiding horses and long-haired dogs, not only in your active household but overall in the world. For the dogs at least, you can take them into Create a Pet and change their coats. To get rid of the wild horses in the world, you'll need NRaas Register.
Finally, an access violation is when an application tries to access memory in a manner that is not allowed. This can be attempting to read, write, or execute at a memory address that doesn't support that function, or at a protected address the application isn't allowed to access, or something like a null pointer where the attempt itself isn't in a valid format. Windows detects the problem and kills the application.
The point here is not only that there are many types of access violations but that they can happen for an even larger number of reasons. So knowing that an access violation has happened isn't particularly helpful unless you're a developer testing or debugging the application.
@TheRaddestCrow Just to be sure, did you add ErrorTrap from the actual NRaas site, or from somewhere else? If you're not sure, please delete your copy and download a fresh one to confirm you have a fully-updated version.
Additionally, does the game shut down at the Main Menu itself, or only once you've selected a save and try to load it? If the latter, can you load a new save? Does it help (currently) to play with your computer offline? You can put the EA App in offline mode and then disconnect from the internet before loading a save.
Please also test with and without RivaTuner running. I've never seen a case where it prevents Sims 3 from loading properly, but given that this is the most recent change you've made, it's only proper to test without it again.
I added the most recent Errortrap from the Nraas site, so unless there are multiple copycats it should be the correct mod.
The game now shuts down when trying to load a selected save. This is with both Errortrap and RivaTuner running, just Errortrap, just RivaTuner, and with neither. I am not able to get past the save loading screen with this current world, so it may be in relation to this save, but I'm not completely sure.
Thank you for your time, I wish this had a more clear-cut answer.
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