The Sims 3 Freezing
Hi. I got a PC several months back that runs Windows 11. I downloaded and played The Sims 3. It worked for a month, but then had some issues with EP items not showing up in build/buy mode, even if th...
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@choochb123 As a test, please try playing in a clean user folder: move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and the game will spawn a new folder with no content the next time you launch it. Don't add anything to the folder yet; just start a new save and see how it runs.
If the game crashes again, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
It did not work. The game worked a little longer in live mode but crashed again.
I attached the dxdiag
Weirdly, I did not change the quality settings. Right after I posted the game unfroze and started playing as normal. Maybe the game is sensitive to higher graphics? I also did not download all of my EPs and content from the store.
@choochb123 With your hardware, you should be able to play on ultra graphics settings. However, the game engine doesn't handle high values for water and high-detail lots very well; I and many other players keep these at "mirrors only" and 2, respectively. Other than that, you should be fine.
I would suggest updating the driver for your graphics card though. The Sims 3 errors in your dxdiag are a type often related to the graphics driver, and yours is almost a year old by now. Try the newest WHQL driver from May, not the newer optional version.
- @puzzlezaddict I did both of those things. It still freezes. I have it at low settings too. Any other thoughts? I appreciate the help.
@choochb123 Just checking, but are you testing in Sunset Valley? It's best to use SV, or Twinbrook if you have Ambitions installed, as these are the most stable EA-made worlds.
Have you taken steps to manually limit your in-game framerates? Your graphics card is fast enough to generate unnecessarily high fps while runnung Sims 3, and the game doesn't have its own fps limiter. With an AMD card, I'd suggest using RivaTuner Statistics Server, which does need to be running while you play. I described how for someone else here:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Budget-desktop-for-Sims-3/m-p/11775025#M252095
Among other things, playing on low settings can exacerbate fps-related issues since the graphics card has less work to do per frame and can therefore produce them even faster.
You might also get better performance if you use the GPU add-on utility hosted at NexusMods. (Third-party links aren't allowed on this site, but google should know.) The tool edits a few other values in graphicscards.sgr, which seems to help with AMD cards. If you don't like the results, just repair the game, and the changes will revert.
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