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Chloe20039's avatar
Chloe20039
3 years ago

Sims 3 suddenly crashing

I’m new to the sims 3 and I’ve only ever played sims 4. I’ve been playing the sims 3 now for about just over 2 weeks, and the last two days I’ve noticed it’s been crashing and it’s never done this before. So far the most it’s crashed during one play of the game is twice, but I’m a bit concerned because it’s never done this before. No error message comes up either, it will simply close the game and returns to the desktop Home Screen. I restart the game and it could either do it again at some time or not at all. It also does it at random times when I’m playing the game. For example I could be an hour or more into the game and it does it, or I could be 20 minutes into it etc. does anyone have an ideas about why it could be doing this? The most recent pack I’ve installed it’s pets, and I did install some cc before this started happening. However I deleted some anyway because I wasn’t using some of it. Could it be bad cc? I’ve altered all my settings so that they’re on medium or low as well. This problem has literally come out of nowhere so I’m very confused. Other than the occasional crashing of the game, it runs perfectly fine! I’ve also go seasons and generations as well. Any ideas would be helpful! Thanks! 

*it’s crashed about 4 times total now, and I’ve played it earlier on and had no trouble. It’s very random when it happens. I’m also on laptop* 

pc
technical issues

3 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @Chloe20039  There are a lot of reasons Sims 3 might crash, most of which are entirely fixable, but it's first necessary to narrow down the source of the issue.  So please let me know which packs you have installed, which world you're currently playing in, and whether you use mods and which ones.  I'd also like to know how you installed your custom content.

    Please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post:

    https://help.ea.com/en/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

    And let me know whether you've taken any steps to limit your in-game framerates as well.  If you haven't, I can help with that.

  • Chloe20039's avatar
    Chloe20039
    3 years ago

    The file should be attached to this reply. The packs I have are seasons, generations and pets (which I only recently installed about a week ago).I'm currently playing in sunset valley with the same family I've been playing since getting the sims 3. I also don't use any mods at all. I've got some cc items, but not much at all and it's mostly hairstyles and not clothes. I get my cc from the sims resource because it's the easiest page i've found to get cc and i haven't had any problems before this. I did edit the screen refresh rate yesterday because i noticed it was on default, and i changed it to my laptop frame rate which was 60 HZ. I think this has made a slight difference in general because the game seems a little more quicker in gameplay. I have wondered if it could be the graphics card as well. Thanks!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @Chloe20039  I do think the issue is most likely your laptop's hardware.  The graphics chip is not fast enough to properly run Pets or Seasons, and that alone is enough to explain the crashing.  But your computer also has only 4 GB RAM installed, which isn't generally enough for those packs either, especially when paired with a long-running save.  Your processor is under the requirements for those packs too, but I would guess the graphics chip and RAM are the limiting factors here.

    Your dxdiag does list a couple other errors that are worth addressing just in case they're contributing.  First, please disable Game Mode and Game Bar, both under Windows Settings > Gaming.  Please also reinstall DirectX 9, as described here:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/SIMS-3-GAME-WON-T-LAUNCH-WINDOWS-10/m-p/10711778#M247861

    For the issues relating to Pets and Seasons, there are a few steps you can take to limit the demands the game places on your hardware.  I don't know that this will be sufficient to prevent the crashes, but they may help enough to make the game playable.  For Seasons, disable rain, snow, and hail, all within the game options.  Having snow on the ground is fine; it's the snowing that causes issues.  You can set the snow depth with a cheat if you want: enter testingcheatsenabled true , then shift-click on the ground and select Seasons to see the options.

    For Pets, if you're willing to use mods, add NRaas Register and disable strays and wild horses.  These animals can get stuck on community lots, forcing the game engine to work harder to reroute them, and horses are quite demanding to render.  The same is true of long-haired dogs, so try avoiding those.  You can find info on the relevant mod settings here:

    https://www.nraas.net/community/Animals

    Normally I'd suggest adding NRaas StoryProgression too, just to prevent inactive households from adopting pets.  But SP is a heavy mod, and with your computer already being low on RAM, running SP would probably do more harm than good.  But if too many inactive households are adopting pets and you can't get rid of them quickly enough, SP running on very very slow settings might help.

    It's fine to experiment with different settings and workarounds, for example not getting rid of your own household's pets but limiting the rest in town.  The point is to get the game stable enough for your needs, however that's accomplished.

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