Sims 3 Keeps Crashing, Repeatedly
Hi All! 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 ...
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@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):
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/manage-virtual-memory-paging-file-in-windows-11.8618/#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.
Hello @puzzlezaddict,
Thank you so much for this advice. Here is the result of the Terminal scan:
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag. /End
Unfortunately, I did end up having another crash. I followed your advice, and here is the result of the Reliability Monitor:
Faulting application name: TS3.exe, version: 0.2.0.32, time stamp: 0x568d4bac
Faulting module name: TS3.exe, version: 0.2.0.32, time stamp: 0x568d4bac
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x001907f7
Faulting process id: 0x0x354C
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1DA10C8557E0610
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3.exe
Report Id: d907c410-e859-4a74-bc88-0905a54fe0d7
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
@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.
Hello @puzzlezaddict,
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.
