I'm Getting Really Tired of This -

PrincessMajestic

I really can't stand it anymore. I love the game, but the bugs have driven me mad and I'm sick of it. The community is nice, but the SimGurus are less than helpful. I can't play my game for five seconds without it crashing. I was really excited to make content to post on the exchange, and I did, but now I can't, nor can I play my families. My game continues to crash to desktop and a lot of people are having the same problem. I don't think I'm willing to wait until the end of the month for an update.

anit1983

My game is doing the same thing. It's driving me mad. Sometimes it crashes multiple times in one day. Other times I can play for a while with no problems. It all seems totally random. It's not from CC or mods, I've checked all of that. The next patch needs to focus ONLY on fixing the crash to desktop. That should have been the first thing they fixed IMO.

Nichaedemus

Hi,

Some new information has just come in:

From Symanteco:

I am pleased to report that setting my HIGH DETAIL LOTS number to 4 instead of something higher ended my crashes to the desktop and save errors crashing also.

I hope this works for you also, because i have been stressing about this for over a month. TODAY, I actually played the game for several hours, hopping all over the city from one house to the next, downtown, uptown and everything in between and not one crash!

Before setting high detail lots to 4 i was crashing every 30-45 minutes or as soon as I went downtown or played a house in a high density residential area. now - not a single crash.

I also uninstalled EADM, but I am not yet sure if that was contributing to the problem.

Set you high detail lots to 4 (REGARDLESS HOW POWERFUL YOUR COMPUTER) and tell us how it went.

Why not give this a try? More information can be found at this link:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/15/79541.page

Simberella

I feel your pain!

PrincessMajestic

Nichaedemus wrote:

Hi,

Some new information has just come in:

From Symanteco:

I am pleased to report that setting my HIGH DETAIL LOTS number to 4 instead of something higher ended my crashes to the desktop and save errors crashing also.

I hope this works for you also, because i have been stressing about this for over a month. TODAY, I actually played the game for several hours, hopping all over the city from one house to the next, downtown, uptown and everything in between and not one crash!

Before setting high detail lots to 4 i was crashing every 30-45 minutes or as soon as I went downtown or played a house in a high density residential area. now - not a single crash.

I also uninstalled EADM, but I am not yet sure if that was contributing to the problem.

Set you high detail lots to 4 (REGARDLESS HOW POWERFUL YOUR COMPUTER) and tell us how it went.

Why not give this a try? More information can be found at this link:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/15/79541.page

That would help if I could get past the beginning loading page without crashing...

FamilyDude1111

From what I'm seeing the forums it seems that people with HIGH-END machines tend to have way more problems that others with moderate machines. I'm running it with 2.0ghz, 1.5 gb ram, old 256mb video card and even on Vista it's running fine - cept for music bug which people are encountering no matter their system specs.

Strange really

DarkAmaranth1966

I see that too (2.0 gHz, 2 gig, 256 GPU) but I did test the lot thing and that did get me the saving errors, a soft crash and a hard crash when I maxed it. I'm fine at 4 or fewer so no big deal but it may explain the live mode crashes.

PrincessMajestic

My computer is not high end at all. It's an XP and it isn't even made for gaming, but it used to work perfectly fine. I never got a crash before this new patch.

snagge

My game crashed before the patch (it only happened when i tried to start it the day the patch was released and i couldnt start the game at all untill i installed the patch), but since the patch it hasn't crashed, but the game has been working SOOOOO slowly. There are heaps of more bugs.
I uninstalled my mods and it helped a bit but so many things are working weirdly since. It's really sad.
Why would EA mess up our games like this?

Also the new was said to fix things it hasn't fixed for me...

chennywolf

It tickles me how everyone is so quick to blame EA. Yes, there are a few bugs and EA is absolutely working on fixing them. What everyone needs to do FIRST is this ...

1.) Do you meet the minimum requirements? If not, you will probably run into issues.

2.) Are your drivers up to date? Not sure? Look on the website for your driver! Are the out of date? Update them if so!

3.) Are your game settings set to HIGH? Well, if your machine can not handle it, then you will need to turn them down! You do NOT need everything maxed out to have a fun and aestheticlly pleasing game.

4.) Are you downloading mods (hair, tools, decor, etc..)? If so, remove them from the game and see if that fixes it. Then stop downloading them. Mods are one of the big reasons people are having game issues.

5.) Is your problem with story progression (baby boom, sims disappearing, so on..)? Go under your options and turn it off. EA is working on improving the Story Progression feature.

I think if everyone would be patient you would see EA making fixes, adding content, improving gameplay. Programming takes time. The game has only been out for 2 months. Try looking for your own solutions as well. Sometimes the fix is your machine, your mods, your settings ... not the game. There are many people on here that are more than happy to help you resolve issues, especially when you post your DxDiog for them. So my biggest advice to all ... relax, be patient, and start at the beginning (you) before you dismiss the game. I think you might just be suprised at what you find out.

suicidespat

Seems the only help EA is willing to provide is asking for a dxdialouge and telling people to update their drivers. The 1.3 patch busted the game, no 2 ways about it. Awesomemod fixes the pathfinding issues and indiestone story prog is FAR superiour to EA's pathetic implementation, but with or without one or both of those I get the inevitable invisible, frozen, select 2 at a time sims everytime I "kick out" YA children. Guess we will have to wait for the modders to fix things (after EA breaks them) as usual...EA should be paying some of those guys for all the help they have been(when EA was unwilling, or unable) to the community throughout the life of this series...And NOW they want us to rush out and buy an expansion a week after breaking the game?(looking forward to all the issues ppl will have after they install THAT)..Just when you think things can't get worse! :shock:


Don't get me wrong I love the whole series but they could at least TRY to help (and no..."update your drivers" is not a solution when the game ran fine pre-patch...I'm sorry but that's a HUGE cop out!)

Haiden

Ah hem! My system is good for games I play plenty other more demanding games than TS3 with no problems....specs take a look

---

System Information

---

Time of this report: 08/02/2009
Machine name: HAIDEN-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.lh_sp2rtm.090410-1830)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Asus
System Model: System Asus M2N68
BIOS: BIOS Date: 10/22/08 16:49:46 Ver: 08.00.14
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (2 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
Memory: 4070MB RAM
Page File: 1096MB used, 5291MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

---

Display Devices

---

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9800 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0622&SUBSYS_82B71043&REV_A1
Display Memory: 2289 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1009 MB
Shared Memory: 1279 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: HP 1902 HD 19" LCD
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver Version: 8.15.0011.8618 (English)
DDI Version: 10
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 6/10/2009 06:03:00, 7611904 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4562-11CF-5952-BCA201C2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0622
SubSys ID: 0x82B71043
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C

See plenty good enough, all drivers are up to date yet since the patch...bad sound and wall tool grabber arrow thing appearing in live mode...explain that....hardware, I dont think so....new 1.3 patch...yes its the problem

TingTing

chennywolf wrote:

It tickles me how everyone is so quick to blame EA. Yes, there are a few bugs and EA is absolutely working on fixing them. What everyone needs to do FIRST is this ...

1.) Do you meet the minimum requirements? If not, you will probably run into issues.

2.) Are your drivers up to date? Not sure? Look on the website for your driver! Are the out of date? Update them if so!

3.) Are your game settings set to HIGH? Well, if your machine can not handle it, then you will need to turn them down! You do NOT need everything maxed out to have a fun and aestheticlly pleasing game.

4.) Are you downloading mods (hair, tools, decor, etc..)? If so, remove them from the game and see if that fixes it. Then stop downloading them. Mods are one of the big reasons people are having game issues.

5.) Is your problem with story progression (baby boom, sims disappearing, so on..)? Go under your options and turn it off. EA is working on improving the Story Progression feature.

I think if everyone would be patient you would see EA making fixes, adding content, improving gameplay. Programming takes time. The game has only been out for 2 months. Try looking for your own solutions as well. Sometimes the fix is your machine, your mods, your settings ... not the game. There are many people on here that are more than happy to help you resolve issues, especially when you post your DxDiog for them. So my biggest advice to all ... relax, be patient, and start at the beginning (you) before you dismiss the game. I think you might just be suprised at what you find out.

While I some what agree being patient is a good thing towards a newly released game, that still doesn't change the fact that this current 1.3 patch has a high possibility of not working as intended.

1) Error reports continues to increase in this forum day after day regarding to patch 1.3. Most of those errors encountered were from high end machines, which should be more than enough to meet sims 3's system requirements.

2) Out dated graphic card drivers could cost graphical glitches while playing video games, but not always. Nvidia used to be consistent in releasing excellent drivers that increase the overall performances of their cards, however with their recent trend, their newer drivers seems to have more problems than their older versions. It has been reported by many, even after they updated to the latest driver, the game still crashes after patch 1.3.

4) There are plenty of individuals that never installed any mods whatsoever still crashes to desktop, encounter sound loopings, or new in game glitches after patch 1.3.

5) How is this not EA's fault? They programmed and created this AI story progression which is full of bugs before and even after patch 1.3.

Bad patches being introduced happens more often than one would believe, especially in MMORPGs. Just look at Warhammer Online. A while ago they released a big patch that caused more CTD (crash to desktop) reported than ever had before that defective patch. At least with Warhammer Online, their development team acknowledged they are working on the issue and seems to found a problem spawned from their end of the patch.

One thing I agreed with, programming takes time, so maybe the Sims 3 development team should spend more time testing new patches or expansions prior to release?

TashaG

Here's one for those that say "stop blaming EA.":

I purchased the game knowing that it wouldn't rum smoothly on my computer
because it meets the very min. requirements. I got to play the game on and off for a few days and then went to download some custom content. Not stuff people have uploaded, but the stuff I was able to get from the store with my *woohoo* 1000 points (which is a friggin joke btw) and behold!!!! My sound quits working. I work on it for two days trying to figure out what the problem is to no avail. I eventually uninstall the game, reinstall it, play it no problems. Just to be sure, I downloaded the stuff I had before and guess what?? NO SOUND!!!! Aha! Custom content messed it up. Uninstall/reinstall, game runs perfectly fine. 3 weeks later the new patch comes out. Alright, I'm not having any trouble but whatever. Guess what?? The game won't load! I Finally get game to load, game crashes. Game loads and I am playing, game crashes. Imagine that!!! WOW! All of these things that I have obtained from this website have made my game crash!

I have now manually uninstalled the game, and am running on the first version. I don't even have the 2nd patch installed. Game runs great!!! My only problem now (which isn't a huge deal anyway) is getting more memory and new graphics card so the game will run super smooth!

So yes, I say EA is to blame because the minute that patch came out, this forum was lit up like the christmas tree in rockefeller center! They need to tell everyone to uninstall the game and put up the 2nd patch until they can fix this mess. Obviously 1.3 isn't doing the job!

Checksky3

I used to get crashes randomly after a few times playing the game. It would run perfect for 2 days then start crashing like crazy. yesturday I lowered how many detail lots from 6 to 2 and so far I have not experienced another crash. My computer can play games like crysis on max settings perfectly, so for those computers that are way above specs like mine you should true to lower how many detail lots you load even if you know it can handle it. Hopefully EA will fix this crashing issue soon but for now we just need to be patient, im sure they are working hard to fix all these bugs and glitches.

Edit- It crashed on me again after 20 min of game play, so it works but it is onlt a temporary fix.

Nichaedemus

Hi PrincessMajestic,

You mentioned having crash issues when starting up the game. You can check out this link for a possible solution, which talks about using a different monitor display:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/61407.page;jsessionid=05F4F47E7DA9BC5306D50931C5EEE9BF.015060

Some users have reported success by setting their processor affinity to a lesser setting. That is, when using a multi-core CPU such as quad-core and forcing the game to use only 1 or 2 cores. More information can be found at this link:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/81825.page;jsessionid=A99F89ED5D55D5EF6D02C29E4EE847AB.015062