@hannahwhite99 Open Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\CurrentGame, and delete any files you find inside. That folder should always be empty unless the game is actually running and a save is currently loaded, but sometimes it doesn't get cleared out when the game crashes.
If that doesn't help, move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents\EA and try to launch the game, which will create a clean folder with no content. Let me know whether it helps. You can always add your existing content to the new folder later, but the first step is getting TS3 running again.
It's also a good idea to restart your Mac each time the game doesn't work. And don't bother opening Origin—just double-click on the Sims 3 icon in Applications\The Sims 3, or on the icon for your newest pack by the date EA released it.
Thank you, I restarted it and it worked however now it’s crashing what shall I do about that?
@hannahwhite99 Delete the five cache files in your Sims 3 game folder in Documents\Electronic Arts. They should be deleted regularly anyway, and while you're troubleshooting, delete them every time you quit the game. For reference, they are:
If that doesn't help, please test a new save and let me know whether it crashes.
Still crashing I deleted all of those files, it restarted the Mac whilst I was playing. Anything else I could do?
@hannahwhite99 Was that in a new save, or in your existing save? Please test, in Sunset Valley, Riverview, or Twinbrook, if you haven't already.
If the new save still crashes, please move your entire Sims 3 game folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop. When you launch the game, a clean folder will be created with no content. Don't add anything to it yet, just test in Sunset Valley or Twinbrook (Riverview wouldn't be installed) and let me know what happens.
If you still get crashes in the clean folder, please make sure iCloud isn't set to automatically sync the contents of Documents. You can disable iCloud or just tell it not to sync; it's easy enough to manually back up your files to the cloud when you want.
https://bluebellflora.com/2017/02/06/sims-3-and-sims-4-not-loading-save-games/
If none of this helps, please list the specs of your Mac, as described here:
Please also list the packs you've installed.
