Forum Discussion

1 year ago

Solved

Sims 3 keeps crashing

Hi everyone! I've been playing The Sims 3 for over 15 years, but ever since the switch to the EA-app, my game keeps crashing. It was fine for a while, but when I open my saved game it opens at 12:30 (Sim-time) and closes at exactly 14:00 every single time. I've tried emptying my cache, repairing the game, and using a copy of the save, but none of this helps. Does anyone know what could help?

I am using the 64-bit game on a Macbook Pro (I've never had any problems with this). Here's all the info about my Macbook that could be useful:

Video Card: Apple M2 Pro

CPU: Apple M2 Pro

CPU Speed: 3.7 GHz

RAM: 16GB

OS: MacOS 14.4.1

Free Disk Space: at least 500GB

Total Video RAM: 16GB

mac

technical issues

puzzlezaddict
1 year ago
@NickyKoppert2710 Thanks for all the info. This issue is unlikely to be related to the EA App, which has no influence over how Sims 3 runs other than allowing it or not. Still, if you want, you can put the App in offline mode before launching the game.

When a save consistently crashes at exactly the same sim-time of day, the problem is almost always a specific event happening at that time. For example, a sim might be spinning into a corrupt work uniform; some work shifts start at 3 pm. There are other possibilities too, but I'd start there since 2:00 is precisely the time sims would be pushed to work for a 3 pm start time, and not much else of note is regularly scheduled for that time.

If you want to do a quick and dirty test, delete the bistro, diner, theater, and any other rabbithole that includes a work shift that starts at 3. All sims in these careers will lose their jobs, and any sims already on the lot will be reset home. You don't have to save your progress; the point is to see whether the game crashes at 2 again.

Please also let me know whether you use mods, or if not, whether you'd be willing to install a few for troubleshooting purposes.

3 Replies

puzzlezaddict
Hero+
1 year ago
@NickyKoppert2710 Thanks for all the info. This issue is unlikely to be related to the EA App, which has no influence over how Sims 3 runs other than allowing it or not. Still, if you want, you can put the App in offline mode before launching the game.

When a save consistently crashes at exactly the same sim-time of day, the problem is almost always a specific event happening at that time. For example, a sim might be spinning into a corrupt work uniform; some work shifts start at 3 pm. There are other possibilities too, but I'd start there since 2:00 is precisely the time sims would be pushed to work for a 3 pm start time, and not much else of note is regularly scheduled for that time.

If you want to do a quick and dirty test, delete the bistro, diner, theater, and any other rabbithole that includes a work shift that starts at 3. All sims in these careers will lose their jobs, and any sims already on the lot will be reset home. You don't have to save your progress; the point is to see whether the game crashes at 2 again.

Please also let me know whether you use mods, or if not, whether you'd be willing to install a few for troubleshooting purposes.
NickyKoppert271
1 year ago
Thanks! Turns out it was the culinary career at the bistro that was causing problems. Does this mean I can't use the culinary career anymore?
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
1 year ago
@NickyKoppert2710 The issue may be the bistro lot, in which case you can delete it, save, quit, reload, and replace it. Or it may be one of the sims in that career spinning into a broken outfit. There's an easy way to test this with mods, specifically NRaas MasterController, if you use it or are willing to install it. Click on City Hall and select:

NRaas > MC > Sim > Intermediate > Career > Days Off

Choose Career as the filter, then Culinary, and you'll see a list of sims in the career. You can try giving a day off work to one at a time, and whichever one stops the game from crashing is the issue. You could force them into a different career (MC > Sim > Intermediate > Career > Choose Job), or promote/demote them or make them quit (Level and Quit, respectively).

Without mods, you could still temporarily switch households and manually choose new careers for any affected sims. Or you could delete the bistro and diner, which will remove the option to work in the Culinary career at all, making all these sims unemployed. Replacing the lots will allow sims to join the career again but won't restore previous employment or levels.