Pretty sure this shouldn't be happening considering the money I just put down. My sims 3 just crashed on me while I was playing on a brand new desktop that is WAY more than capable of handling the game. So frustrated right now.
What was the point of purchasing a brand new PC? This game was literally the only reason I went and upgraded. I'm so sad right now. At least I made a point to save every sim night so I only lost 3/4 of a day.. but still. If this keeps happening should I return my new PC? There was seriously NO point to investing now.
ETA: I guess I'm just wondering if I should be worried or something.. sims 3 did crash on my laptop.. but that was because the laptop barley met the requirements. This PC is far beyond what is required.. and it crashed. So does that mean something is wrong? Just super annoyed and worried.
/endrant
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A few things that none of us can change:
- This game is delicate.
- It was released in 2009, which means the game engine was being designed almost 10 years ago. It will run on 2017 computers, but it can often need some help in these newer environments.
- This game is delicate. Oh sorry, I already said that. Old or new, the fact is that the EPs and patches were slapped onto the game without much in the way of optimization so under the hood, for lack of a better way to put it, things are a mess and being held together with cello tape and string. Better hardware will cut through much more of the mess once it's helped along in the beginning, but the game will still crash occasionally. And I can't imagine only saving once per sim day, more like once per every couple of sim hours. That's just me though, I can't usually plow straight through a sim day without taking very frequent breaks so as not to trigger a migraine when playing a game this immersive, so those breaks are where the saving happens.
So let's, if we could, learn more about this new PC. Most important would be processor, RAM, graphics, hard drive. Or you could provide us with a full dxdiag report so we can get the full picture. You would have to paste the full report into multiple responses by sections as it would be far too long to fit into one, or use pastebin.com and provide a link. Also please mention how many and which EPs you have in play.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information
There are all kinds of things we can suggest to improve TS3's performance and stability, though perfect it's never going to be, but it would be better if we knew what you were working with there.
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This is exactly what I purchased right here:
canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?item_id=111616&cPath=570_7_1203_1448
And in terms of EPs - I'm playing with 5: Seasons, Generations, Ambitions, Late Night and Pets.
If you need more info let me know.
Once again, for like the tenth time this week, thank you @igazor
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Most important thing to address is that graphics card, and this is not really optional. Unless its frame rates are capped, a GTX 1060 will run wild on TS3. Unlike TS4 and other more modern games, TS3 does not have a built-in fps limiter. If the frame rates are allowed to run higher than the refresh rate of your monitor (most are 60 Hz, so 60 fps but some monitors can run higher), that will lead to lag, graphics glitches, screen tears, crashes, and over time can burn out your graphics card as it ends up running far harder than it needs to for no reason. The excess frame rates that your monitor cannot possibly interpret are the equivalent of digital noise.
Checking your actual frame rates in-game is easy. Ctrl+Shift+C to bring up the cheats console, then type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the displayed frame rate should never go above 60 (or whatever the refresh rate of your monitor is). To make the displayed rate go away, cheats console again and fps off (enter).
Here are illustrated instructions on using the Nvidia Control Panel to set up vertical sync and cap the fps rate. Note that this method only works in full screen mode. You will need to set up a profile for the correct executable as indicated, that's TS3.exe for Patch 1.69 but TS3w.exe (with the "w") for 1.67, and set Vertical Sync to "On" or "Adaptive."
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/15940743/#Comment_15940743
(look under the first spoiler)
If the Control Panel method doesn't lock things in, or if you require windowed mode, then we move on to the next tool which would be Nvidia Inspector.
You also might want to take a look at your drive space. If the game is installed on and your Documents folder (where the user game folder with content and saves are) is on the SSD, which I expect would be the C Drive, you have limited space there at 240 GB. That's not unworkable, but over time and with a lot of content and saved games, it can get tight. Both the game and Windows will need at least around 35 GB of free space to work with at all times. If the game or your Documents folder are on the much larger regular HDD (probably D), then this is probably a non-issue.
Moving beyond that, most players find that very long running game sessions (in real time I mean, not sim time) where they are playing constantly will begin to degrade after long hours of play. In addition to needing to be saved (Save As is recommended), the game needs to be quit completely to the Desktop or Origin occasionally and restarted. Very frequent trips to and sessions where you are changing things in CAS or Edit Town will require saves and restarts even more frequently.
And then, again once the above things are addressed, we have this page full of Game Performance tips at NRaas in case you are not familiar with it.
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Tips+For+Better+Game+Performance
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Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: TS3.exe
Application Version: 0.2.0.32
Application Timestamp: 568d4bac
Fault Module Name: TS3.exe
Fault Module Version: 0.2.0.32
Fault Module Timestamp: 568d4bac
Exception Code: 80000003
Exception Offset: 004cc0f6
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: c23c
Additional Information 2: c23cf1af396eb2c9fcfae1f66c9e74ac
Additional Information 3: 1359
Additional Information 4: 1359c2523c05a61fe560f375b25dd5fc
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http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/893122/thread-for-new-members-to-post-their-sims-3-game-issues#latest
How to run a dxdiag: https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information
You would have to paste the results into multiple posts over there as the report would be far too long to fit into one, or use pastebin.com (no need for an account, the free version is fine) and provide a broken up but readable link to it.
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And also it crashed on me again when I tried to save.
ETA: apparently I'm using the intel graphics. How do I switch? I'm obviously assuming I should?
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If you set up the Nvidia Control Panel for the game's executable, the correct .exe as described above, then there should also be an option to always use the high quality graphics card (or something like that). Or is what you are saying that there is no Nvidia Control Panel and no card present?
I can't provide a direct screen shot of that option because I don't have dual and my card is AMD, not Nvidia. Maybe @SimplyJen can help us here?
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And please don't apologise @igazor, you are incredibly helpful. It's my lack of tech skill showing here and causing the issue haha.
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But when I check to see if I have the driver installed, it showed me this:
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This is a photo of the my port, @igazor (I'm tagging you just to make sure you're getting notifications - if you want me to stop I totally will )
And the port labelled "dvi" on the left there is the one I'm currently using. Oh dear - does this mean I need to purchase a new monitor? I grabbed one around the house that wasn't being used.
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@phoebebebe13 ??
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CPU Vendor: GenuineIntel
CPU Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz
CPU Family: 0x6
CPU Model: 0x2a
CPU Stepping: 0x7
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 3093 Mhz
4 logical processors
4 physical processors
HyperThreading: Unsupported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Unsupported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported
AES: Supported
AVX: Supported
CMPXCHG16B: Supported
LAHF/SAHF: Supported
PrefetchW: Supported
Operating System Version:
Windows 7 (64 bit)
NTFS: Supported
Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0
Video Card:
Driver: AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series
DirectX Driver Name: aticfx32.dll
Driver Version: 15.200.1062.1004
DirectX Driver Version: 8.17.10.1404
Driver Date: 8 3 2015
OpenGL Version: 4.5
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
DirectX Card: AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series
VendorID: 0x1002
DeviceID: 0x68b8
Revision Not Detected
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 1440 x 900
Desktop Resolution: 1440 x 900
Primary Display Size: 20.00" x 12.52" (23.58" diag)
50.8cm x 31.8cm (59.9cm diag)
Primary Bus Type Not Detected
Primary VRAM: 1024 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x
Sound card:
Audio device: Speakers (2- High Definition Au
Memory:
RAM: 16343 Mb
P.S. sorry I'm piggy backing on your post but I can't go else where to do it.
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http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/893122/thread-for-new-members-to-post-their-sims-3-game-issues#latest
I also asked how many and which EPs you have in play and what happens leading up to these crashes, if there is any pattern or not. Will add to that, does it matter which world you play and does the crashing happen if you start a new (test) game in a known to be gentle to play world like Sunset Valley, Riverview, or Twinbrook.
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@KatyJay88 It looks like you're plugging into the motherboard instead of the dedicated card so the computer is using the integrated Intel graphics. This is where you should plug in:
Very common mistake to make when hooking up a monitor with a dedicated graphics card. I'll be shutting down my PC to go to bed but I can respond via tablet for a little bit tonight if you still can't pull up the control panel.
S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
Switched plugs, no adapter required, and instantly the fps went up. Now it hovers around 60. @igazor you mentioned that is too high, correct? I followed the instructions for the Nvidia control panel, and added sims3.exe and switched vertical sync to "on". Am I ok now? Or will my fps speed be damaging?
Also - checked my monitor settings and 60 is the highest. Eep. Will it crash on me?
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My own game fluctuates between 35 and 60 all the time, but my card isn't as new or as powerful as yours so in my case that's to be expected. It's all fine, though.
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- Windows search Display Settings
- Advanced Display Settings
- Display adapter properties
- Click the Monitor tab
You should see your monitors refresh rate. If it's set at 59 Hertz, you can assume your monitors refresh rate is 60.S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
Dear @igazor and @SimplyJen
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S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/