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resinator11's avatar
5 years ago

The Sims 3 64 Bit Keeps Freezing

I‘m having the same problem as others, with the rainbow loading circle, where the game freezes every 30 seconds or so and I can’t do anything except move my mouse - not even adjust my volume or force quit. The game resumes after about 30 seconds to a minute. The game runs pretty smoothly except for this issue, which is sad because this issue makes the game almost unplayable. But other than that, everything’s pretty smooth! Still waiting on two new expansions I bought to get the entitlement, but I bought them like the day before release last week. Also, the exchange isn’t working for me :/ but those aside, I‘m most concerned about the game itself running. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

19 Replies

  • Atheist_Monk's avatar
    Atheist_Monk
    5 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict So I upgraded to Big Sur and now when lighting is on high the game is unplayable. It flickers like mad or just shows a black screen. I'm just gonna shelve this for a few months. EA doesn't seem to have any official concern now that the game "launched". I don't think this is an issue the community can resolve.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    5 years ago

    @Atheist_Monk  I have no idea whether this issue will get addressed, but I do know that EA is keeping an eye on the issues reported here.  The question will be whether the problem has a simple enough fix.  If it took reworking the graphics engine, that would probably be too much work, but perhaps there's an easier intervention.

    I understand why you might not want to keep working on this, but if you felt like experimenting, you could try editing some of the values tied to the lighting setting in graphicsrules.sgr.  It may be that one particular value is the issue, and you could set it to low while leaving the others as is.  To be honest, I'm not totally sure editing graphicsrules has an effect anymore; it seems like something else in the game is overriding at least some of the settings.  At any rate, it doesn't hurt to try.

    To access graphicsrules, find the Sims 3.app wherever you installed it.  (The default is the user Applications folder.)  If you see a Sims 3 Pack folder but not the base game .app, hit cmd-shift-. (period) to show hidden files and folders.  Right-click on the .app and select Show Package Contents, and from there open:

    Contents > Resources > The Sims 3 [right-click, Show Package Contents] > Contents > Resources

    Make a copy of graphicsrules.sgr for safekeeping, then open it and cmd-F to search for "lighting" without quotes.  You'll land here:

    option LightingQuality
        setting $Low
            prop $ConfigGroup ShadowMapSize 1024
            prop $ConfigGroup RenderShadowsEnabled false
    		prop $ConfigGroup InteriorLightProbeCount 3
    		prop $ConfigGroup LowDetailLightmaps true
    		prop $ConfigGroup ShadowColorFormatWorkaround $intelShadowColorFix
    		prop $ConfigGroup HighRezTranslucency false
        setting $Medium
            prop $ConfigGroup ShadowMapSize 1024
            prop $ConfigGroup RenderShadowsEnabled true
    		prop $ConfigGroup InteriorLightProbeCount 8
    		prop $ConfigGroup LowDetailLightmaps false
    		prop $ConfigGroup ShadowColorFormatWorkaround $intelShadowColorFix
    		prop $ConfigGroup HighRezTranslucency false
        setting $High
            prop $ConfigGroup ShadowMapSize 2048
            prop $ConfigGroup RenderShadowsEnabled true
    		prop $ConfigGroup InteriorLightProbeCount 20
    		prop $ConfigGroup LowDetailLightmaps false
    		prop $ConfigGroup ShadowColorFormatWorkaround $intelShadowColorFix
    		prop $ConfigGroup HighRezTranslucency true

    You can change the settings under High one at a time to see whether anything makes a difference.  Like I said though, I'm not sure it will; it's just worth trying.  I'd do it myself, but so far, I haven't had this issue.

  • toyotacamri98's avatar
    toyotacamri98
    5 years ago

    Hi so I turned my game into window mode and turned down all of my settings, and it totally worked. I am wondering if I can exit window mode or to keep it from freezing it has to stay in the window mode. Thank you!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    5 years ago

    @toyotacamri98  You can certainly try playing in fullscreen mode again.  It's best to use an aspect ratio that matches your screen, e.g. if its resolution is 2880x1800, use an in-game resolution with a 16:10 aspect ratio.  You'll also get better performance with a lower resolution overall.  Feel free to experiment a bit.

  • Qissaucegod's avatar
    Qissaucegod
    5 years ago

    Im having a similar problem where I load a game and I play for around 5-10 minutes then my game will freeze. My games volume will continue( like the clicking sounds and world surrounding noises) to play but, my screen will be frozen and my mouse will have a spinning rainbow. I waited around 5 minutes to see what would happen and it was still frozen. I entered window mode and my world started glitching back and forth from the frozen screen and the unfrozen screen 

  • AngelSingz's avatar
    AngelSingz
    5 years ago
    @Qissaucegod I've been having this exact problem since last October. I haven't been able to play then game at all. And i noticed that if i try to start a new game in a different world the screen with the loading bar just starts glitching and jumping so i have to force quit (sunset valley is a good example) but when it's Starlight Shores it loads fine but then after a few minutes of game play I experience the same thing you just described. It's so upsetting because I miss playing this game.

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