The Sims 3 64-Bit Keeps Crashing on Mac

I made a new save, and it did not crash! I backed up my old save. Could it be something with my old save?

@krabby_pattiess  Yes, the issue could definitely be your old save.  How much does the save itself matter to you (as opposed to the sims or houses)?  If you'd like, we can go through a number of ways to try to salvage it, including using mods, but you may or may not find it worth the effort.

The first thing you can try is using the backup copy instead.  Inside the Saves folder is a folder for each save plus another folder that contains the data from the second-to-last time you saved.  This is the game's automatic backup.  So you might have folders named SunsetValley.sims3 and SunsetValley.sims3.backup.  Rename the save and remove the .backup extension (e.g. SunsetValley1.sims3), and that save will be available to load from the Main Menu.  If you can play this save forward, and you can also save your progress, then just keep doing so; you'll have lost some progress but hopefully not too much.

If this doesn't work, let me know whether you'd like to pursue this further, including whether you use mods or are willing to try some.  There are also interventions that don't require mods, and we can try those regardless, but you'll have more options if mods are on the table.

I don't mind starting over tbh, idk if my starter sim from that family will work. I will try with the backup copy. I am not seeing my old save in game

@krabby_pattiess  The starter sim should work fine.  The file will be in ... The Sims 3 > Library, and its name will be a very long string of random characters.  You should be able to tell the files apart by their timestamps though, at least if you remember more or less when you created that sim.

I'd definitely suggest making backups going forward.  I use "save as" and rename the save at least once a sim-day so I'll never lose too much data.  I eventually delete the older backups, or at least most of them, when I know I won't need them, but when space isn't a concern I can get lazy about that too.

I found my sim. Can I delete the extra sims 3 folders? I have like 4 of them. 

@krabby_pattiess  Make sure that the Sims 3 folder you're currently using has all the content you want to keep, as in, you see that content when you load the game.  Then yes, go ahead and delete the other folders.  If you're not completely sure you've found all the relevant files, I'd suggest putting them in the trash but not emptying it for a few days just in case you later realize you're missing something you wanted to keep.

Hey @puzzlezaddict thanks for helping others, I hope you can help me with my issue. I have the same problem with the crashing of the sims on mi Mac, I tried updating and fixing the game through Origin but nothing helps, I can play for a bit and let me save the game but usually it just cracks whenever I'm building, playing with my sims or editing the world. I usually play on Riverview but this also happened on the world of Late Night.  

This are the specifications of my Mac:

macOS Monterey 

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017)

2.3 ghz Intel Core i5 

8GB 

Graphics Intel Iris Plus Graphics 240 1536 MB 

I have these expansions and accessories: Late night, Generations, Island Paradise, Seasons, Diesel, Master Suite, City Living, World Adventures, Showtime, University Life and High-End Loft. I do have some things from the store installed on my game. I really hope you can help me, I even tried play on window mode but didn't word either. 

@nakdsims  Try turning down the Lighting and Tree Detail options to the minimum.  Do so at the Main Menu, then quit to desktop before loading the save.  If that works, you can try raising one of the settings again by one level and see how it goes.

Hey @puzzlezaddict thanks for the response! I do what you said but it didn't work so well, my game keeps crashing ☹️ i tried restarting the RAM like other posts said but it didn't work either, do you have any other suggestion that can help me? thanks again!

@nakdsims  Please test in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Play while your computer is offline as well; you can sign into Origin and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi before pressing Play.

Don't add anything to the new Sims 3 folder: no mods, no store content, nothing at all, at least not yet.  Just start a new save in Sunset Valley and let me know how it runs.

Your current saves and other content will be intact in the Sims 3 folder you moved but temporarily not read by the game.  That can be addressed later; for now, the point is to test the game in a completely vanilla state.

I'm having the same problem. I can play a new save for a few hours but then it starts crashing within three minutes of starting play. I uninstalled, reinstalled, started a new game, same thing. Play for a couple hours (which means a large part of it is build/buy, not active play) and then crashing. I have a small amount of cc and mods installed, but it happened when I didn't have any cc installed too (since I've run this experiment twice). I've turned down graphics to the lowest settings and it hasn't helped. This has happened in Monte Vista and Twinbrook, so I'm assuming it will in other worlds as well. Help?

My specs:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)

Monterey 12.5.1

2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 1536 MB

I have the following packs installed: Late Night, Seasons, Generations, Island Paradise, Ambitions, Into the Future, Showtime, University Life, World Adventures, Movie Stuff, Outdoor Living Stuff, Town Life Stuff.

@shgmclicious  Does this still happen if you play while your computer is offline?  Do you use iCloud, and if so, is it full or close?  Do you use an antivirus or perhaps a cleaner app, and which one(s)?

@nakdsims  I'd also like to know whether you use an antivirus or cleaner app, ahd whether iCloud is close to full.  It shouldn't matter when your computer is offline, but perhaps the way iCloud works has changed a bit since the last time I poked at it.

@puzzleaddict 

omg I was always accustomed to playing offline but I think you're right that that was the key--turns out I had been forgetting to turn off my wifi, and now it's fine (also installed nraas overwatch again, but I bet it's the offline thing. Such a duh moment I can't believe I forgot! 

@nakdsims  Definitely don't buy extra storage just for Sims 3.  The questions here are whether your iCloud drive is full enough to prevent any more data from being uploaded, or whether the syncing itself is the problem.  That's why I suggested trying to play while your computer is entirely offline: no internet connection means no syncing.

For now, I'd suggest playing in Sunset Valley, Riverview, or Twinbrook, and definitely not Isla Paradiso, which is the most unstable EA world.  Keep lighting and tree detail at the minimum settings, don't add any custom content (store stuff is fine), and keep your computer offline while the game is running.  And save often.  If things are stable, you can try changing one detail at a time, for example raising a graphics setting or going back online, to see whether the crashing comes back.

If the game is still crashing even when you do all of the above, I don't really know what else to tell you except to save frequently.  The one other thing you could try is playing in a new admin account, one not tied to your Apple ID and therefore not tied to iCloud either.  There's no reason I see that it could help in your particular case, but you might get lucky.

Hi! 
Could you maybe help me too please?

Since I installed University and World Adventures I’m having problem with the game to crash. I’m also using a old Mac. 

I started a new family in one of the new towns, and the game worked most of the time. Sometimes when I try to travel the game crache. But now something happened and I can’t travel anywhere or move to university without the game crashing. 

Do you know anything I can do? 

Thanks in advance! 

@Moberger93  If you're willing to try a few mods, add NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, Traveler, and Register, all listed here with descriptions and download links:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-Common-Game-Fixing-Mods-Hero-Approved/m-p/9838855#M244208

If you're not interested in mods at this time, please let me know whether your sims can travel in a new save.  I'm not saying you need to abandon the current one, only that this is a useful test.  Please also list the full specs of your Mac: everything under About This Mac including the OS and except for the serial number.

Hi @puzzlezaddict - thank you so much for all your support! EA should pay you! 

Hoping you may be able to help me. My sims 3 crashes when saving. I think I pretty much have tried everything. Have only got it going again by using back up files but it always ends up happening again which is kind of making it unplayable (losing progression). 

Details

macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H2026)

2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

16 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4 GB

Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

Sims 3, World Adventures, Island Paradise, Late night, Generations, University, Ambitions, Seasons, Pets. 

NRaas Error Trap, Overwatch, Master Controller, Master Controller cheats

Not much CC, just a few houses that have worked consistently. 

Have repaired in Origin, removed all CC and mods, deleted Caches, deleted the version.tag, deleted missingdeps.idx, running in windowed mode on lowest graphics. Tried reseting town using the master controller. Have tried save, save as and save and quit. Uninstalled/reinstalled. All done separately/together in steps trouble shooting. Nothing gets save to work, other than restoring an old save. 

Only thing I can think of is the activity monitor is saying sims is using 17GB memory and the physical memory is 16GB. And I am not sure what to do to get the memory down. 

Anything I am missing please let me know, any of your help would be most amazing! Even if I have to restore an old save, how do I prevent it from happening. 

@SamCollings  Just to clarify, is it only the one save that's crashing when you try to save, or any save you play?  How much memory does this save use right after you load it, once the game clock has run for a few in-game minutes?  How many vehicles is Overwatch cleaning up each night, if you know, and what world are you playing in?

@SamCollings  Isla Paradiso is the most unstable of the EA-made worlds, so much so that its unedited version causes problems on pretty much any system sooner or later, and usually sooner.  A player created an edited save that addresses most of the issues and uploaded it for others to use:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/811253/removing-ip-lag

You could try ciane's save, or you could copy her edits into your own save and see whether it helps.  She does go somewhat overboard, at least relative to what high-end systems can handle, for example I don't think you'd need to remove the fog around the hidden islands.  But this at least gives you an idea of the problems the world has and what you might do about them.

Overall, you should be able to play on ultra graphics settings, even in IP.  It's worth turning down water and high-detail lots a bit since those are the most demanding on the game engine, but on your hardware, there might not be much benefit to lowering any other settings.  Your graphics card would simply render more frames per second, at least up to a point, as each individual frame required fewer resources to render.

One other thing that might help is disabling automatic graphics switching while you play.  Here's how:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202043

Be sure to only play with the laptop plugged in as well.

World Adventures is actually one of the mildest expansions in terms of the demands it places on the game.  The travel transition is fragile and breaks easily, and each world that gets simulated increases the size of the save file, but the presence of WA itself doesn't really cause issues.  So go ahead and add it back if you want.  If you'd like your sims to travel, just add NRaas Traveler.

I would also add Register regardless of your other decisions.  IP the expansion brings resorts, and with that come resort workers, sometimes far too many of them.  (I once saw the number get into the thousands in someone else's save.)  Register should keep a lid on things, hopefully.

Sims aging shouldn't cause crashing or other performance issues, and nor should your sims having a few items in their inventories.  A few hundred items could be a problem, so just keep the number manageable.

For the new save, try using MasterController to give Linda Scott a few days off from work (NRaas > MC > Sim > Intermediate > Career > Days Off).  She starts out pregnant but without any days off, and she doesn't have a valid work outfit, so the game can hang or even crash when she tries to spin into her work outfit.  Other guides will tell you to delete the Scotts, but that's not necessary; the problem will be resolved once she has the baby.

hi do you think you can help me!? ik this is old but it's like my last resource. ive been trying to play for HOUrs. my mac just don't run the sims. it starts, and let's me play till the part where you select a world. then it just crashes. i have a macbook pro sequoia 15.5

processor. 2,3ghz intel core i7 graphics intel iris plus graphics 1536mb memory 16gb idk if that helps