Fix for memory crashes on Sims 3

katykat2101

Hi everyone,

I'm posting this here in the hopes it helps someone else! I was getting awful crashes every 20-30 minutes rendering the Sims 3 almost unplayable. Every time I got an error message saying that the game was using too much memory and it had to close the programme.

I tried everything. Reinstalls, updated everything, cleaned up my hard drive, de-fragged, no CC or mods, altering settings to System and graphics card. Nothing worked. When I posted here, I was told it was probably just my laptop that couldn't run it, but the thing is - my laptop has 8GB of RAM.

From doing hours of scouring the internet, I found a fix that finally worked. The problem is the Sims is set up not to use more than 2GB RAM but basically any larger lot will blow that out the water. So, if you have a PC/laptop with 6GB RAM or MORE this should work for you.

I found it on Cloudwalker Sims' Tumblr and the link is here: http://cloudwalkersims.tumblr.com/post/63397207980/if-you-have-more-than-4-gb-of-ram-you-can-give

Now, I tried this first with my Sims 3 file and it didn't work. You need to go into every single EP and SP. Not all of them will have the Sims3 ReadMe, but in any that does, you need to change the Memory Usage Limit.

Once I did that, it's worked perfectly and I can finally play again. So just wanted to share here in the hopes it solves someone else's problem too.

hucker4

That is incorrect. If you look closely in the configuration file, the default is TWENTY. It's 20, followed by 6 zeroes. That has to mean 20GB, not 2GB.

igazor

While it's true that the solution linked to above is actually no solution at all and this post shouldn't have remained unchallenged, so to speak, it should be noted that it was posted over five years ago and the OP hasn't been back on the forums since then.

TS3 on Windows will reach for and use up to just short of 4 GB of RAM all on its own if the RAM is available as of Patch 1.17 released alongside of Late Night many years ago. There are no possible settings that can make a 32-bit only application use more than that. But to be fair, players who were/are having issues and desperate to make their games run better sometimes tend to not listen to reason.

hucker4

igazor wrote: »

While it's true that the solution linked to above is actually no solution at all and this post shouldn't have remained unchallenged, so to speak, it should be noted that it was posted over five years ago and the OP hasn't been back on the forums since then.

TS3 on Windows will reach for and use up to just short of 4 GB of RAM all on its own if the RAM is available as of Patch 1.17 released alongside of Late Night many years ago. There are no possible settings that can make a 32-bit only application use more than that. But to be fair, players who were/are having issues and desperate to make their games run better sometimes tend to not listen to reason.

That's a pity. My current game is using 1.3GB. I have 16GB of RAM. In previous games (usually running for a long time with 8 Sims), lots of crashes occur. I never checked the memory usage back then but it may have been hitting the 4GB limit and screwing up. I guess there's nothing I can do. I have Sims 4 aswell, but it's absolutely rubbish compared with Sims 3 for playability.

igazor

A game that is using that little RAM (by comparison) when so much more is available is either running a small or lightly populated world, not many EPs, or it just hasn't yet progressed to the point where more is needed. The goal when that time comes is to monitor RAM usage at least occasionally to make sure things are staying within range. Overly complicated lots, large households especially with lots of pets, and high town populations will all contribute to higher RAM usage as will some CC and mods that call for more game resources. It is certainly possible to keep things where RAM usage doesn't spike too high over time; I've been playing the same ongoing game for coming up on eight years now and with care and tending to, along with disallowing the online features of the game such as they are, it all remains fine (for me). The danger zone for most of us will be somewhere above 3.3 or 3.4 GB, some will have issues a bit sooner than that.

You mentioned that you do use some NRaas mods on another post. The ones specifically designed to improve game performance would be Overwatch, ErrorTrap, Register, Traffic, to an extent GoHere, Traveler if any form of world travel is to in play, and MasterController for an occasional Reset Everything run from City Hall every few sim weeks. We have more game performance and RAM usage saving tips available here, if you are not familiar with this page:
http://www.nraas.net/community/TIPS-FOR-BETTER-GAME-PERFORMANCE

And yes, there are many games that run better, more smoothly, or require less tending to than TS3 does. But if they are not games that we enjoy or even care to play, the comparison does become a bit useless.

hucker4

What do I do if I see RAM usage exceeding 3GB?

I'm using very basic NRAAS stuff. I've disabled cars (I'm playing a world which is more suited to walking and running), and I've got a couple of mods to allow nudity and stop Sims getting upset if they both enter the bathroom at once, but nothing spectacularly RAM consuming.

igazor

Leveling off at or just above 3 GB is fine for a large or complicated world/household. It's when the routine leveling off place, after the game clock has been running smoothly for a short while, is into the danger zone that one needs to take action.

This shouldn't be happening all at once, though. If the game is running routinely at 1.3 GB on one day, and the next day that same ongoing save is at well over 3 GB, then something has changed in between -- content or sims have been added or something different is happening to suddenly call for that much in the way of resources so suddenly. Usually the usage at which a long-running ongoing game levels off rises very slowly over time.

And then back to the game file maintenance tips. Run Save Cleaner or the equivalent when the size of the actively being played nhd file begins to bloat. Clear caches. Disallow the game's online features, as well as the interactive hidden object startup game, do not log in at the Launcher or in-game levels, clear out and disallow scrapbook memories or control them with a mod. All of these are mentioned someplace on the Tips page I linked to.

And of course in any event do a Save (As), quit the game entirely to the Desktop (or Origin), and relaunch it to see if that helps first. The game leaks RAM like a sieve, so very long running sessions in terms of real life hours, especially those without Save or Save As being run on a regular basis, will tend to keep increasing on RAM usage.