Forum Discussion

ba30f90b1f244f8's avatar
2 years ago

The sims 3 keeps spontaneously crashing on my brand new MacBook Pro

 Hello,

 Yesterday I purchased and installed the 64-bit version of the Sims 3 through Origin along with a few packs and, every time I launch the game it keeps crashing spontaneously, no error message or anything. I don't have anything else running in the background, nor any mods or custom content installed. It crashes before I can even complete creating a sim. Also, I don't know how relevant this is to this issue but, for some reason, my sims eyelashes are just blocks of color instead of individual hairs even though the sim detail is set on high. Another thing I have noticed is that the pointer keeps switching from the Sims 3 blue pointer to the regular Mac pointer seemingly on its own, while playing. Otherwise the game seems to be running smoothly until it inevitably crashes. The packs I have installed are: Seasons, Ambitions, Supernatural, University Life, Late Night expansions and High-End Loft stuff. Thank you in advance.

MacBook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022) 

Chip: Apple M2 (8-core)

Memory: 16 GB

Graphics: Integrated 10-core GPU

MacOS: Ventura 13.4.1

14 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    1 year ago

    @mazeikaite  Sims 3 isn't so broken as to be impossible to play, even in macOS, but it does have issues that need to be managed.  Do you have any sense of what was going on when the game crashed this time?  For example, what time of day was it, what were your sims doing, what else was on-screen (deer, wild horses, whatever), and so on?

    Pets and strays can cause problems when trying to navigate stairs too, which is a problem in any world but especially in Appaloosa Plains.  So it would be helpful to test in Sunset Valley, first with Pets still installed, and later without it.  To uninstall Pets, simply drag the EP05 folder out of the "The Sims 3 Packs" folder, wherever it is on your computer: Applications, Users > your username > Applications, or Applications > EA Games.

    The point is, if you can get the game running in a more or less stable manner, you can manage the features that cause problems.  For example, you might find that you need to limit wild horses and deer, which is simple with a mod.  Or you might need to remove the Pets expansion entirely, while the other content is fine.

  • my game kept crashing every 4 minutes, fixing the game in the ea app is very useless because it doesn’t work (for me atleast), i have a very old save so i understand why it crashes. But if you guys have NRAAS mods installed, delete them if you are okay playing without them. This helped for me and my game started to run normal again.. i guess this really depends on your game, my game starts running normal if i remove mods, but your game may start to run better with mods. Try it out 🙂)

  • hannahwhite99's avatar
    hannahwhite99
    1 year ago

    Hello, 

    I am having the same issues where my Mac suddenly crashes after playing it for 30-45 minutes or so. I have the 64 bit version and play via the EA app, I have tried playing in offline mode and the game seems to crash quicker than being in the normal online mode. 

    I have an account where I just play the sims and that only nothing else is running in the background and it isn't logged into Apple ID. I have also moved the sims 3 folder onto the desktop. I'm just trying to see if anything else would work to stop the game from crashing, is there a solution to this problem yet?

    Here is what my Mac is running on:

    Big Sur

    iMac (mid 2014) 

    Processor: 1.4 GHz Dual-Core Inter Core i5

    Memory: 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3

    Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5000 1536 MB

    I used to play the 32 bit version before I updated my Mac, I had all the expansion packs and it never used to be a problem but since I'm playing the 64 bit version though the EA app it seems to crash a lot. 

    I hope this makes sense? 

    Thank you, looking forward to hearing from you 🙂

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    1 year ago

    @hannahwhite99  Your Mac is under the minimum requirement for 64-bit Sims 3.  That doesn't mean you can't play, as you've seen, but the game may not be stable.

    What world(s) are you playing in, and what expansion packs do you currently have installed?  Does it help to turn Lighting and Tree Detail (in the graphics options) down to the minimum settings?  Please do so at the Main Menu, then quit to desktop before loading a save.