Trouble with 'Sims 3 stopped working' and Error code 12s «12...Next Go

coco

My game is in a lot of trouble at the moment. Recently I had my sims over in China for a while. I had the aging and travel time off and things were going smoothly. But all of a sudden when I come back to Sunset Valley my game seems like it's on the edge of breaking down.

First of all, I'm up to week 67 in a 10th generation game. I get 10 fps average and I have tons of cc with every expansion installed (pets disabled by mods). On high settings too. I know these all add up and take a toll but I know my computer and it's performed well considering. When I come back from China, using the Traveller mod, I can barely play half an hour now. I did manage to get through a few days but I know something's not right when I'm not going into CAS, Build/Buy or even leaving the lot and I'm getting error 12 after like 10 minutes of play. I've been getting plenty of 'Sims 3 has stopped working' messages mostly when saving but a couple times in CAS too.

This is obviously a memory issue but my first thought was that something went wrong on the return back from China, and so I reverted to a save before they left and continued playing. It still performed the same way

Here's what I've tried to do in the meantime with no results:
- Clear out caches.
- Clear conflicted and duplicate cc with the dashboard.
- Cleared out tags and SNAPs with s3pe.

What I don't want to do:
- Lower graphical settings.
- Get rid of all cc.

Just a note, that I run MasterController, StoryProgression, ErrorTrap, Overwatch, Relativity, Retuner, Traveller, Saver.

Here is my dxdiag

Here is my latest crash report

I guess the question here is, and I think I know the answer, has it just got to the point where my computer can't handle it? Will getting another computer solve the problem or do you think it's unpreventable? What sort of desktop pc do you recommend? Price is not an issue.

Or is there something else I can try?

igazor

This is one of the few examples in the world where the crash log, together with the dxdiag anyway as by itself they usually tell us nothing, actually gives us some useful information.

The first issue to address is that your C drive is critically low on available space. Out of 128 GB (I think? There's some extra overhead going on there), you have 16 GB free. Clearly your TS3 game is installed on D, but I can't tell where your TS3 user game folder in Documents with your content and saves really resides -- is it on C or has that been redirected to D as well? Regardless though, Windows does not have enough free space in which to maneuver. Without even doing much within the game, it's running out of what it calls virtual memory, which can be a function of no drive space for the operating system to work with--nothing to do with RAM, you have plenty. If it's not the user game folder hogging up the space, what else have you got on C, besides Windows of course, that you can shift elsewhere? I would say you want at least 35 GB free on C, more would be better but might be difficult to manage on such a small drive.

The secondary issue is that your graphics card is not really strong enough to carry the game and 10 EPs well and on high graphics settings/high resolution. But if it has served you well up through 10 generations thus far, let's gently set that aside for the moment. This is a desktop and not a laptop, right? We might return to it later to see if a graphics card upgrade is feasible for that system.

As for the mods, the one thing I am not seeing mentioned is a MasterController Reset Everything run from City Hall (or Base Camp for a WA world that has no City Hall). Perhaps you are doing that routinely anyway, meaning like every 6-8 sim weeks or so per world. But the C drive space is much more important to address first and if the current issue is affecting both your homeworld and other worlds, it's not likely to be the need for this alone that is causing it.


Edit: I've just noticed a recent post of yours on another thread mentioning a high population level on your homeworld and your having trouble gaining re-entry there from China. That shouldn't affect gameplay while still in China, but how high a population are we talking about? On City Hall, NRaas > MC > Demographics > Population > "X" to dismiss the filter. The most important stat on that screen is Residents, unless you see Homeless or Service Sims reaching astronomically high levels.

coco

I gave it another go, this time I went in and deleted a lot of things from each of my sims and the family inventory. I didn't even play two seconds, not even long enough for the Nraas pop up, try to save and immediately get error 12. This can't be right? I didn't leave the lot or anything.

So I went back again and changed some of the graphics settings. I didn't want to initially but now it's running at 20-30 fps and so much smoother. There's a few jagged lines but it's not too bad. I've saved twice and no errors so fingers crossed.

This is what I changed from maximum:

• Edge smoothing: Low
• Lighting and shadows: Medium
• Tree detail: Medium
• Draw distance: Medium
• High Detail Lots: 2
• Texture Detail: Medium

igazor

That's kind of where I would expect the game options need to be on a GT 630 video card and with carrying 10 EPs no matter how strong the rest of the system is, even though you have been able to manage better in the past. But...erm, about that C drive and homeworld population again or are those your next intended things to look at?

coco

@igazor Sorry I didn't see your first reply. Usually it sits around 20GB free, once I move some older saves onto my D drive. The game's program files are installed on my D drive but my save files etc are on the C drive. It really does take up the whole thing. I've moved everything else out apart from the odd Word files. That's why I'm so glad to have a big backup drive. Is it possible to shift the user game folder into another drive? I've never been able to work it out.

Yes, it's a desktop. I'm aware it's not a great card. My computer is only a few years old though, I think I got ripped off honestly.

Resetting Everything was the first thing I did as straight away something didn't feel right right.

Here are the demographics:
Households: 51
Residents: 126
Service: 77
Homeless: 0
Tourists: 378

Tourists seem very high but I doubt there's actually that many of them walking around because I sure haven't seen them.

Thanks so much for your help by the way
I hope to get a new pc by the end of the year.

Edit: The only other thing in my C drive is TS2 Ultimate Collection which is 1.6GB, TS4 is 135MB and a couple other folders which have less than that. A while ago I figured how to disable my pc's hibernation state and I got about 10-15GB back so believe me it used to be so much worse.

igazor

LOL, yeah that is quite a few tourists you have there. That can't really be causing the virutal memory, no drive space related issues if they never appear on screen (imagine if they all came over to visit you at the same time!) but it's not really expected either. Do you not have NRaas Register in play? Tourism is controlled by that mod and you can set a more reasonable cap on them, like maybe 10 or 15 or the level you really want. Or 0 even (meaning set Allow Tourists to False) to get rid of them all hopefully within a sim day or two and then set a more reasonable level.

A Resident population of 126 for most worlds is just fine. Some of mine go well into the 200s, not that I would recommend that for everyone.

On the full C drive, well that would explain how this happened. And at high graphics options, your game is going to try to reach for more virtual memory at times, but that's a function of Windows and it's going to try to use more C drive space for it than you could possibly have to work with while the game is running and has an extra copy of itself inserted into the Current Game folder, again all taking place on C.

I would suggest moving your user game folder out of Documents to your Desktop or some other location temporarily so it doesn't get messed up in the process and then redirecting your entire Documents library to the D drive. This shouldn't be difficult to do, but I don't have a Win 10 install near me so I can't give you screenshots of my own. This is the first hit I got on Google, though.
http://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-change-the-location-of-user-folders-in-windows-10

Maybe other here can tell you how they've done it, in case that doesn't work as expected.

From a Windows expert on MTS:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=5276232#post5276232

(look for post # 35, not the earlier ones where some of us were "arguing" about other things )

coco

I forgot that I do indeed have Register. The maximum is set at 10... yeah thanks for stabbing me in the back, game! I'm thinking that some of the tourists are remnants from my sims holidays via Traveller. They have been to Isla Paradiso, Monte Vista, Bridgeport and China and some of these sims still show up in the relationship panel.

Thanks for the link. I did look into this kind of thing a long time ago but it seemed risky. I'll have a look at it and let you know how I go.

coco

@igazor I linked my whole Documents folder to my D drive and now I have 35.6GB free. I'm not sure how that works but I'm not complaining!

I hope this makes a difference. What you were saying before about it being too full makes sense for the random crashes, I hadn't thought of the size of the CurrentGame folder either. I just don't know why it's happening now all of a sudden. I might nudge the texture detail up a bit since I like taking pictures.

Edit: There seems to be a small pause every few seconds. Is that a due to moving the files? I'm hoping it will go away but it doesn't seem to be. Maybe it can't read my D drive as fast and that's what's causing it? (I have no idea)

igazor

I'm a little surprised you haven't managed to recoup more than that but of course I don't know how large your entire game folder is. Did you get rid of any extra copies of your game folder on C and empty the Recycle Bin? Have you tried rebooting since freeing up the space?

From what I could see on your dxdiag, both drives are internal. There shouldn't be any noticeable difference in read/write time between the two. The D drive on a setup like this isn't really your backup drive, it's where usable data not directly related to Windows and programs are meant to go. A backup drive would more typically be an external one. But the very worst case is that you could always put things back the way they were before (wouldn't really recommend that though).

igazor

Wait a minute, I misread something. Sorry!

Your C drive is a Solid State Drive (SSD). I didn't realize this until I looked up the model number just now. So yes, your game folder and the program both on D would run more slowly only because you are no longer getting the benefit of either being on the SSD. But the SSD is too small to really accommodate either as we have been saying. We always advise players with a small SSD to not put anything other than Windows and what really needs to be alongside of Windows there.

There may not be a solution here other than to dial back expectations of how well things are going to perform unless you really do want to put your Documents folder back on C and find another way to conserve space on it. Or get a larger SSD, but that wouldn't be cost-effective if you are planning to replace the entire computer soon. Drats, again sorry about that but I just didn't recognize the brand name of the C drive at first.

coco

I could get rid of a couple more saves that would give me a few more GB. I'm constantly emptying my recycle bin. It was starting to lag badly but got a lot better as soon as a few of the sims and kids went to school and work. I imagine when they come home again or if I go to a populated place the lag will return. I will test this for a day or two and if I don't like it I can always revert it back.

I'm playing at the moment, surprisingly when I drift around the town there isn't any noticeable lag. It's performing fine with 6 people at the performance park.

The only other thing I can do is delete all my custom music (nooooo ) or merge more package files which is more realistic. But it's not like I'm going to save that must space. All my programs are stored on my other drive so I might just have to deal with it as you say.

Just so I get this straight a SSD isn't bad it's just the size of it which is causing me problems? Is my D drive an SSD as well? I really appreciate your time by the way. Even if I don't have a solution per se, I am actually able to play. Chances didn't look so good this morning, or this week, I've been trying to figure this out all week. So thank you!

Edit: My game folder at the moment is 16.6GB, with my save folder 7.80GB. If I bring that down to one save as I usually do it's 1.3GB.

phoebebebe13

@coco SSD is faster than a regular HDD hard drive. Your computer would have a small SSD to boot windows and other programs quicker but it is too small for gaming on. Your second hard drive would be HDD. The sims 3 loads allot quicker on an SSD hard drive but you need a larger SSD to put the sims 3 on. 250 gb would be the minimum to game on but 500 gb would be better.

coco

@phoebebebe13 Thank you for clearing that up. 500gb would be amazing with a high end video card too.

Sorry if I could just ask you while you are here. Since I'm from Australia I'll probably go with these people but it's not easy to read. msy.com.au/SYSTEMS/INTELAMD-Pro4.pdf

If I go with a 500gb ssd and a hdd, what would you recommend for memory and video card?

phoebebebe13

@Coco. I am going to send you a PM. User chesterbigbird is a computer build expert , is in Aus and can help you with computer upgrades.

coco

Thanks, I appreciate it

phoebebebe13

Your very welcome

igazor

Just to answer the prior question, your current C drive is the small SSD and your D drive is much larger but a standard HDD. This is a very typical configuration as SSDs are so much more expensive than the standard HDDs although they are (very) slowly coming down in price. There are many other ways to configure things, though.

TS3 runs mostly from RAM, so hard drive access becomes relevant on startup, saves, caching, world travel transitions, and when reading things like CAS and Build/Buy catalogs. Generally the game doesn't perform or lag that much differently on one over the other when it's not doing these specific things but you're kind of on the edge there with your 10 generation game and current video card so every little bit might be making a difference.

Many of us don't even have SSDs, my simming computer currently does not. So you certainly aren't alone in playing from an HDD entirely as you now are.

And yes, that company's flyer is making my eyes glaze over as well. You are in good hands here when it comes to picking out a new system.

phoebebebe13

@coco we have been trying to get @igazor to get an SSD. He would love the sims 3 allot more with much quicker loading times

I play on SSD and could never go back to HDD. What a difference playing this game on SSD makes

igazor

You guys might not believe this, but I only just as of a month ago finally began merging my package based CC. I feel so...behind the times. Well, that and my simming computer is holding up well but it's coming up on six years old now. I wasn't even a TS3 player yet when I got it, so this was hardly something I could have taken into consideration back then. A Mac with a large enough SSD that long ago would have cost me a million simoleons and you know that I am still firmly entrenched in the Mac ecosystem (except when playing the game, of course).

I'll get there, in my own good time.

coco

What's not to love about it (aside from the price lol). I didn't like the initial lag but it seems to be gone, maybe it just takes some time for the pc to read everything idk. Sorry for the late reply my sims just had a baby! Something that I've been aiming for all week

Holy cow I'm getting 50 fps in CAS. This is unheard of for my game! I once had a whole 2 fps before.

phoebebebe13

@igazor Mac is still like a million simoleons to get a larger SSD I see people in the Mac section with only 250 gb with a new Mac.

@coco congrats on your new sims baby and your fps

Katie123

I get the same error message saying that sims has stopped working and it wont load one of my familys i havent done anything different?
annoyiiinnnggg

it wont even let me start to play the game

igazor

Katie123 wrote: »

I get the same error message saying that sims has stopped working and it wont load one of my familys i havent done anything different?
annoyiiinnnggg

it wont even let me start to play the game

The OP on this thread had a properly working game for a long while then ran into problems when their hard drive became too full to load and run the game properly -- she had two hard drives but it was running from one that had very limited space. Would that match your situation?

Is it only one saved TS3 game that refuses to load? You may have a "bad" save there, is there a prior save you can revert to?

If it's more than just one saved game being stubborn, we would need to know what kind of computer specs you are playing on and how many EPs (and which ones) you have in play in order to help determine if there something wrong or that needs adjustment with your hardware.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information
(this is assuming you are on Windows and not Mac)

Katie123

@igazor

thanks for you fast response

my c drive isnt full, i have 1.81 tb of space free.

with sims 3 i have only just been using custom content so i assume its that that's ruined it? maybe my pc isnt good enough to run it, i would lower the graphics if i could get on it lol. Also i recently (yesterday) downloaded a world to my game maybe that has something to do with it?

i dunno what EPS is lol


DXDIAG: i have no idea how to make it a url to post on this forum? any help please

---

System Information

---

Time of this report: 10/16/2017, 18:06:23
Machine name: KATIE
Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit (6.3, Build 9600) (9600.winblue_ltsb.170914-0600)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: To be filled by O.E.M.
BIOS: F5
Processor: AMD A10-7850K APU with Radeon(TM) R7 Graphics (4 CPUs), ~3.7GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 7106MB RAM
Page File: 2527MB used, 5730MB available
Windows Dir: C:\windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.03.9600.17415 64bit Unicode

igazor

EPs are Expansion Packs. The heaviest hitting ones are Pets and Seasons, followed by IP and ITF.

I think we're going to need to see the entire dxdiag report in this case, not just the beginning of it. You can post it into multiple responses here (we know it's a very long report) or use pastebin.com and provide a link to it.

But it could also just be that you have one bad save. Can you start up a new game or load up a different save? If you suspect CC is causing the failure, perhaps you could remove whatever it was you most recently added? An installed world that you aren't actually playing in isn't likely to affect other saves.

Katie123

@igazor when i open the launcher to TS3 it says script error?