@Silverdroid If there were a way to force an Origin install back to 1.67, someone would have discovered it by now. There isn't, though, which is why so many players have rebought the game on disc or through Steam. But I have to echo igazor here and say that the performance issues you're seeing are almost certainly due to running IP on a computer without an adequate GPU, not patch 1.69. The most resource-intensive packs really do put a lot more strain on insufficient hardware than the base game ever did. For reference, I originally played TS3 on this 2010 macbook pro, which ran the base game and Ambitions without any problems other than the 2 GB RAM limit. But I never dared to install any of the more demanding packs, and my old laptop would have probably destroyed itself trying to run them.
In your place, I'd uninstall everything, reinstall all your packs besides IP through Origin, and see what kind of performace I could get. I know it's not what you want to hear, but igazor really does know what he's talking about. Plenty of players have tried to run TS3 on underwhelming computers, and every experience is slightly different, but there's really no way for you to get peak performance out of this laptop.
(Sorry for making so many posts in a row, but I can't edit posts as a new member apparently)
I just booted up The Sims 3. Only the base game. Version 1.67.
I turned all the graphics settings up to the max, just to see how well my laptop would handle it.
On 900p resolution, the game always ran between a solid 40-100 fps. It never dipped below 30 and ran super smooth. Lots loaded in in split seconds, and only loading new lots caused little microlags. Scrolling and rotating is buttery smooth.
On 1080p it was almost the same, except the FPS stayed between 25 and 75 all the time. Still playable and looks gorgeous. Scrolling and rotating is also buttery smooth.
Then I installed 1.69, disabled all expansions, and ran the same test.
I only tested on 1080 with maximum settings in this run. The FPS were mostly between 50 and 60. It also ran buttery smooth. Yet, loading times have increased and lot loading in has a lot more lag and dips to 20-30fps. The lots also load in significantly slower.
Now I enabled all expansions except Island Paradise and tried again.
Loading times were a bit longer than on the previous test (30 seconds). FPS on home lot stayed between 30 and 40. Scrolling and loading in lots dropped FPS from 10 to 20. The lots load in significantly slower. Playing in the town center never hits more than 30 fps. But I would still consider it playable, since scrolling and rotating on the home lot is still smooth.
Now with all my expansions, another test.
Loading times stayed around the same (30 seconds to load the save). FPS on home lot stayed between 30 and 40. Scrolling and loading in lots dropped FPS below 10. Lots load in horribly slow, the town center never exceeds 20 fps. Unplayable.
All tests have been conducted without mods, on maxed out settings and on the Sunset Valley Map.
I think I have found the culprit: Island Paradise. Time to disable it. What a waste of money that expansion was. Too bad, I love beaches and islands :(
The game ran a tad better on 1.67 than it did on 1.69, but I still have to see how it runs when I put my save files and CC back in.
Seems like my machine is actually capable of running this game. But it will surely probably slow down a lot while progressing. We will have to see. I would still like to try all expansions on 1.67, but I don't have a disc drive or any discs.
Until then, I guess I will just play The Sims 3 on 1.69 It isn't as horrible as before anymore. I still hope EA maybe decides to do a cleanup of The Sims 3 in the future, though :/
Again, thanks a lot for the help, and I will still appreciate any tips you guys have!
@Silverdroid - Your IP purchase might not have been a total waste if you can use it on a more capable system sometime in the future. Again sorry to have to keep pointing this out, but your current system is not more powerful (by TS3 standards) than the all of those you have described from the past. That i5 in particular with the Radeon HD 5670 doesn't sound that far behind the system I am still playing on and I have all 11 EPs in play. Even if TS3 were the only game in the world to utilize the metrics that we assign to it, afraid it is what it is.
Will also point out that in 2009 when the game launched, there were not four and a half years of patches slapped onto it and the current operating systems were Win XP and Vista. Today's versions of Windows take a much heavier toll on the hardware, there is really no comparison.
As you have IP out of the picture (for now) and something that sounds a lot closer to a workable game, it would be remiss of me to not direct you back to the same NRaas page that @puzzlezaddict already mentioned for tips on improving and maintaining game performance. http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Tips For Better Game Performance
@igazor After I conducted my testing, I proceeded to uninstall Sims 3 once again (just to have the cleanest file status possible) In the meantime, I stripped my CC down to less than 150 files.
I also installed the following mods: - NoIntro - ErrorTrap - MasterController - Overwatch - Register - Traffic - Traveller
After the game has installed (for some reason it's taking ages right now - probably EA is sick of me downloading gigabytes of data onto my hard drive, I will also reasonably turn down Graphics settings, turn off interactive loading screens, story progressions, scrolling, etc., and optimize the performance in-game. I will also disable Thumbnail saving, memories and lessons. Anything else?
I hope I can run the game smooth this time - and most importantly, strip down on game slowdown by a lot.
Thanks again for all your helpful tips and have a nice weekend!
> @mynamejen said: > Hello again, anyone know if there is a way to open multiple files at once with Sims3Pack custard?
Do you mean installing multiple packs at once? If yes, drag them all into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Downloads. Then go into the launcher and install them from the "Downloads" Tab.
Custard is a tool for inspecting the components of and cleaning sims3packs prior to install. I take it that the player is trying to open and inspect more than one sims3pack at a time, not trying to install any of them.
hi there ive had the sims 3 for 3 years now but around 5 months ago my computer smashed i got a new one but ever since re downloding the sims 3 again ive had the notifacation 'no surrported graphic card detected' im not sure what to do ive re installed my game an i also mave high end lot stuff and late night expation pack can anyone help :'(
hi there ive had the sims 3 for 3 years now but around 5 months ago my computer smashed i got a new one but ever since re downloding the sims 3 again ive had the notifacation 'no surrported graphic card detected' im not sure what to do ive re installed my game an i also mave high end lot stuff and late night expation pack can anyone help
Can we get a dxdiag report on this computer please, so we can see what you are working with? You could send it up to Pastebin.com and provide a broken up link, use h.t.t.p.s. or something like that for a prefix, so we can read it.
So, I recently installed the Sims 3 back onto my new laptop with all of the expansion packs. I have quite a lot of CC, but I'm not sure if that is what is causing my issues. I am sure that with how much CC I have that it could be slowing it down, but I'm not too concerned with that because I understand that a lot of CC can slow the game. I mean, I would like it to be faster, but if the CC is the cause (without it being corrupted), I understand and won't worry about it anymore.
I have fps on and I am clocking in at 60 in the world map, around 15 to 30 when zooming back down, and about 40 something when I'm rotating the screen. At the most movement of all of those combined, the lowest is somewhere around 12 to 25 before it climbs back up.
I'm in a custom world called the Wild West Revisited. While I'm playing, my game will crash out of nowhere without any warning. I know that this is weird because it doesn't give me any message saying the usual 'The Sims 3 has stopped working' message. Instead, it just quits. The last time before it happened a few minutes ago, I had gone out of the game pressing the windows key to change a song on the internet. I saw on my taskbar the origin symbol flashing which normally indicates something requires my attention in order for the taskbar to become invisible. I went up to the taskbar and saw that my Sims 3 game was no longer there (which meant it'd crashed without warning me... again -_-).
At first, I thought that the Sims 3 was just being strange and possibly getting used to the setup? Or even that it had to be the cause of me having Chrome open? However, now that I'm seeing how constant this issue is, I know that there is something wrong now. I don't recall having Chrome open on one of the times it crashed, but I have yet to really test this. I don't like how unstable the results are, never knowing when it will crash.
I used to be really good at figuring things like this out about the Sims 3 game but then I moved to the Sims 4. I just got back into 3 because of nostalgia and all those mushy feelings, so I really dislike that I feel like a 'noob' at the moment. Haha, nonetheless, I'm here for help because I desperately need it. I researched online and learned that it could be many reasons as to why this is happening, but I'd like to be for sure that I'm taking the right precautions and not messing anything up anymore. So, please, any advice would be very, very helpful.
@INDIABOL Perhaps a good place to start is with a dxdiag. You can post it in pastebin (the free option) and provide a broken-up link here—insert some periods or spaces so that it's not recognized as an active link.
I'm not familiar with the custom world you're using, but it's possible that it has routing issues or other problems that are causing the crashes. It's also possible that the world is just too large and requires too much RAM to maintain. When the game goes over its RAM limit, it can crash without warning. You can check your RAM use in the Task Manager; anything over 3.5 GB for the game is in the danger zone.
A useful test would be to pull your entire TS3 game folder out of Documents and onto your desktop. When you launch the game again, a clean folder will spawn with no content. Try playing for a while with a new save in a well-made world like Sunset Valley, and see whether you still get any crashes.
Also: If you want to open other programs while playing, it's best to go to Options and put the game into windowed mode rather than directly minimizing it with the Windows key. Doing the latter will cause the occasional crash even absent any other issues.
I'm not for sure if this is how it's done, so please correct me if this is wrong.
It is a high chance that it could be that. There was a post from the original poster where there were similar issues with the people who played in the world. The person stated that they fixed it, so I didn't read too much into it. However, it is a big world and there have been reports of routing as I've witnessed myself, so I believe that it could possibly be that too. I will definitely try the suggestions that you gave and report back what I see.
I should also mention that an hour ago I ran the crash analyzer and three times out of four did it suggest that I was playing a corrupt save with only one crash being because of my CC. I ran Sims 3 dashboard to check those results and I didn't have any corrupt CC, only conflicts. Those conflicts can be because of merged packages, I thought? I wasn't for sure so I didn't do anything for that yet.
A few minutes ago, I was playing a few minutes ago with the same save and managed to get lagging down very well with the occasional hiccups. I have all of the recommended Nraas mods and used overwatch and register to minimize immigrants, tourists, and animals. I thought that it was going well and even though that I'd solved my problem (I did the DEP thing), but I left the game for a few seconds and was disappointed to see that my game had crashed again. I can shorten how much I leave my game to check things, but I know that it's crashed right in front of me even with it open.
Anyway, I'll try the suggestion and report back what I come up with. Thanks for taking the time out to help me :smile:
It needs to be said that your system is not really strong enough to carry the whole game on high settings. Your processor is U-series, for ultra-low power, so it's weaker than its stats would indicate. You have a graphics card that is decent but under the recommendations for max graphics settings. Since you have Pets—the most demanding EP—it's a good idea to turn down your settings, particularly reflections and high detail lots, as those are huge resource hogs. Whether this alone is enough to manage the crashing may come down to your playstyle and which worlds you use.
Some people do get a satisfying experience on hardware like yours, but there are compromises that need to be made. You didn't mention which other packs you have, but Seasons is the next-most demanding, followed by IP and ITF. It might not be a good idea to run all of these at the same time, although it's possible you could make it work. But any world that's problematic on high-end systems is probably going to give your computer fits. Sunset Valley, Riverview, and Twinbrook will be comparatively easy on your system.
The crash logs are mostly junk, and the crash analyzer doesn't help a whole lot. It's still a good idea to keep an eye on RAM use though, as going over the limit is a very common cause of crashing in TS3. It's also best to avoid running many other apps alongside the game, as you have only 8 GB RAM installed. That's more than enough for TS3 and a couple of browser windows, but it can still get used up quickly.
As far as your cc is concerned, I'm not the right person to tell you how to sort out the conflicts. But some people here are well-versed in the subject; perhaps one of them will show up.
And you probably have it under control, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask whether you had NRaas ErrorTrap and Traffic installed. MasterController is quite useful as well for its ability to reset everything from a stuck sim or object to the entire world at once. You may also find this NRaas site useful, if you haven't come across it already:
@puzzlezaddict Yeah, I thought I'd done good with finding specs that would fit for my Sims 4 playing, but I hadn't thought of the Sims 3 at the time. I realized I didn't have the best specs after reading posts with my exact computer, so I lowered my settings once I realized. I have all the expansion packs, no stuff packs and a lot of CC. My graphics settings are all set to medium besides sim details and effects that make the sim look really good.
My draw distance is at a four, and the reflection is on the scale reflection for mirror and waters. I do have advanced rendering on, but without this, the grass is a complete blur. I know that it runs faster, but I couldn't focus on that when the ground texture looked so awful. As soon as I took my settings down from high to medium, there was relief on lagging. The crashing has started occurring only now, but I didn't play for long amounts before because I was so focused on the lagging so I wasn't in my game for a long time to see if there would be crashing.
I haven't tested the second theory, but I can see that when I have the apps, Chrome, Origin, and task manager open, including the game, the highest the ram manages to get is 2.1 GB. I tested this in the same world and I'm typing this now as it's running, but I don't trust it, lol. It happens every time I get comfortable, so there is no pattern. Only random crashes.
I will try moving my sims to a new save that is one of those three towns, and see how it goes. I will also exit out of my browser and shut down other things that I have open, so I have a better chance of keeping my game running without any crashes.
@puzzlezaddict First I have to say, playing in the pre-made worlds are still gorgeous. It's a great feeling when the lag and freezing become so minimal that you remember to have fun enjoying all of the experiences of the game again. I almost forgot how great the game was, so thank you for recommending Riverview, it plays wonderfully. It made me realize just how laggy that world I was playing in actually was. The horses were stuck in impossible to navigate terrain, and people had to be reset in their homes. I didn't even have all of the furniture and clothing that the creator placed in the game. I bought it to make the appeal better, but I couldn't get over how the quality of the game didn't improve.
It's not a good first world to choose. I seriously thought that my laptop was that underpowered. I'd tried downloading the game and uninstalled because it was laggy at first. I came back after a few more months for another try, and after really getting back into those nraas mods, my game slowly improved with each note that I took to get my computer to the generic tips that all Simmers do to avoid main issues.
Overall, the world had a lot to load in general so I was worrying over lagging instead of really enjoying the game. Plus, that world wasn't my preference like I thought it'd be. At least not like Riverview is for this particular storyline :)
I wonder how my computer would handle Bridgeport or Starlight Shores? If I can't use custom cities, I'd like to be able to use those to some extent though probably not heavily. I can get used to not using large custom worlds easily, it's fine. Also, yes, I have both the traffic and error trap mod installed.
Back to the issue, sadly, my issue did resurface in Riverview. The gameplay was smooth and as responsive as it'll get with how much CC I have, so I was really happy with that. However, after about thirty minutes of gameplay with things closed and it crashed.
I was at a loss as to what could be crashing it so randomly, so I tried one of your other suggestions which was to consider taking my mods out. It was then while I was looking through my mods folder that I realized that I had a mod (which I can't say on the forums) that could be a potenital cause. It was updated through a 3rd party, which I assume isn't by the original creator, so I focused on that.
I removed that large mod from my game, shut down everything (internet, origin from view, and task manager) and started my game back up to test for a difference. During this gameplay in my new save, I had my sims travel everywhere on the map, treating it like a casual day without concern. I saved every twenty minutes, but I think it was longer though I can't be sure.
Anyhow, I ended up going for an entire two hours! I had to save and then quit the game because I actually grew tired of the game instead of the game growing tired of me, haha. I even wanted to test if it would force close with other apps in the background, so I opened up the internet, windowed out of my game a few times to mess with things, walked away for about five minutes and when I came back, my game was still open. Of course, it ran smoother with everything closed out while the Sims 3 was open, so I'll opt for that experience instead.
So, I want to say that things are looking really good right now. I don't know if the problem is solved for sure. All of my hope has been slammed down each time my game force closed on me, but I'm still holding onto hope. That mod wasn't really that important, so I can really live without it if it really was the reason. I'll test this a little more tomorrow to see if the results vary, but so far, this is the longest that I've been able to play the game. Thank you so much!
@INDIABOL I'm really glad to hear that your game is running so much more smoothly now. Two hours of uninterrupted gameplay is a great outcome for anyone playing TS3. It sounds like that custom world really was just more trouble than it was worth. If you do start seeing lag or other issues again, you can try turning down your water effects to mirror only, which is my setting whenever I'm not taking screenshots, and high detail lots to 2. Both will reduce the load on your system.
I'm not sure which mod you're referencing, as there are a number that can't be mentioned here, but if it wasn't one of the NRaas ones, then I'm not surprised. There are plenty of talented modders out there, but some of them could be careless, and others stopped updating their work before the last game patches were released. So it can be difficult to sort out the problem, unless, of course, you have a sneaking suspicion about one mod in particular. (Nice work finding it so quickly.) That's the beauty of the clean folder test—you remove everything and then start adding back content a bit at a time to see if the game still runs. In the future, you can always bring mod questions to NRaas or MTS as well, as both sites still have active communities of experienced mod and cc users who can help you sort out your issues.
If you're looking for more worlds, the EA version of Bridgeport has some problems that might make it hard on your computer. A player named Ellacharmed fixed the issues and provided her version for download over at MTS. In fact, she's done great work on several worlds, so her offerings are a great place to start. If you want to play Isla Paradiso, don't even bother with the EA version, as it's so broken as to be basically unplayable without major editing. Another player—ciane—did all the repairs necessary and offers a download of her work as well. (She has also listed the edits she made, for those who'd prefer to fix the world themselves.) If you're looking for something specific, you could always ask for recommendations in the General Discussion section, once you get a few more posts and become a full member.
One other feature that you might enjoy is that with NRaas Traveler present, your sims can vacation in any world installed in your game folder. It's always best to quit and then reload immediately before traveling, as the travel transition is delicate no matter how capable your system. Even if you only plan to send your sims to WA worlds, Traveler is still a must.
Last thing: I'm not sure if you're doing this already, but it's a good idea to use "save as" and rename your saves so that you have backups on hand in case anything goes wrong. Even the best managed games on the most powerful systems can run into trouble, and often it's easier to just revert to a prior save than to sort through the glitches, if they're even solveable. I keep around 4-6 saves at a time in my game folder (and a few important ones backed up elsewhere) and then I delete the older ones when I'm sure my game is still healthy.
Again, I'm really happy to hear that your game is performing well again. When TS3 runs smoothly, it's a beautiful and incredibly engaging experience, and there's a reason so many of us are still playing it today, nine years after its release.
im having the problem in game that every time I try to send gifts it says Sorry, you must wait 24 hours to send more gifts, today is Aug 30th 2018 I haven't been able to send gifts since sun Aug 26th anyone that could please tell me how to fix this I would appreciate it greatly
Hello guys, sorry but im new and i cant post a thread so i need to know if the game may run on GTX960, I5 4460 and 8gb RAM without huge loading screens and such (played before on amd athlon x3, 4gb ram and gtx 960 and it barely loaded in 30-35 mins), also what packs do u recommend to install (i have almost all) in order to keep the game stable
Hello guys, sorry but im new and i cant post a thread so i need to know if the game may run on GTX960, I5 4460 and 8gb RAM without huge loading screens and such (played before on amd athlon x3, 4gb ram and gtx 960 and it barely loaded in 30-35 mins), also what packs do u recommend to install (i have almost all) in order to keep the game stable
I am having an issue which is infuriating me! Every time I start The Sims 3, my FPS indicator tells me my FPS is well above 200! Yes, I have searched for solutions to this issue, but to no avail. I have a fairly updated laptop intel i7 7700HQ NVIDIA GTX 1060 vid card. I have enabled VSYNC and enabled Triple Buffering as well. Yet it's still up there in the 200s and my poor CPU is overheating now.
@moxy3d You're absolutely right that this issue needs to be addressed. If you're using Nvidia Control Panel and it isn't working, the next option is Nvidia Inspector (free download). Control Panel doesn't always work, and never works in windowed mode, but Inspector usually does the trick. If not, there are other options like RTSS that might help.
Here's a visual of the proper settings for the two Nvidia tools (under the spoilers):
Comments
In your place, I'd uninstall everything, reinstall all your packs besides IP through Origin, and see what kind of performace I could get. I know it's not what you want to hear, but igazor really does know what he's talking about. Plenty of players have tried to run TS3 on underwhelming computers, and every experience is slightly different, but there's really no way for you to get peak performance out of this laptop.
(Sorry for making so many posts in a row, but I can't edit posts as a new member apparently)
I just booted up The Sims 3. Only the base game. Version 1.67.
I turned all the graphics settings up to the max, just to see how well my laptop would handle it.
On 900p resolution, the game always ran between a solid 40-100 fps. It never dipped below 30 and ran super smooth. Lots loaded in in split seconds, and only loading new lots caused little microlags. Scrolling and rotating is buttery smooth.
On 1080p it was almost the same, except the FPS stayed between 25 and 75 all the time. Still playable and looks gorgeous.
Scrolling and rotating is also buttery smooth.
Then I installed 1.69, disabled all expansions, and ran the same test.
I only tested on 1080 with maximum settings in this run. The FPS were mostly between 50 and 60. It also ran buttery smooth. Yet, loading times have increased and lot loading in has a lot more lag and dips to 20-30fps. The lots also load in significantly slower.
Now I enabled all expansions except Island Paradise and tried again.
Loading times were a bit longer than on the previous test (30 seconds). FPS on home lot stayed between 30 and 40. Scrolling and loading in lots dropped FPS from 10 to 20. The lots load in significantly slower. Playing in the town center never hits more than 30 fps. But I would still consider it playable, since scrolling and rotating on the home lot is still smooth.
Now with all my expansions, another test.
Loading times stayed around the same (30 seconds to load the save). FPS on home lot stayed between 30 and 40. Scrolling and loading in lots dropped FPS below 10. Lots load in horribly slow, the town center never exceeds 20 fps. Unplayable.
All tests have been conducted without mods, on maxed out settings and on the Sunset Valley Map.
I think I have found the culprit: Island Paradise. Time to disable it. What a waste of money that expansion was. Too bad, I love beaches and islands :(
The game ran a tad better on 1.67 than it did on 1.69, but I still have to see how it runs when I put my save files and CC back in.
Seems like my machine is actually capable of running this game. But it will surely probably slow down a lot while progressing. We will have to see. I would still like to try all expansions on 1.67, but I don't have a disc drive or any discs.
Until then, I guess I will just play The Sims 3 on 1.69 It isn't as horrible as before anymore.
I still hope EA maybe decides to do a cleanup of The Sims 3 in the future, though :/
Again, thanks a lot for the help, and I will still appreciate any tips you guys have!
Will also point out that in 2009 when the game launched, there were not four and a half years of patches slapped onto it and the current operating systems were Win XP and Vista. Today's versions of Windows take a much heavier toll on the hardware, there is really no comparison.
As you have IP out of the picture (for now) and something that sounds a lot closer to a workable game, it would be remiss of me to not direct you back to the same NRaas page that @puzzlezaddict already mentioned for tips on improving and maintaining game performance.
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Tips For Better Game Performance
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
I also installed the following mods:
- NoIntro
- ErrorTrap
- MasterController
- Overwatch
- Register
- Traffic
- Traveller
After the game has installed (for some reason it's taking ages right now - probably EA is sick of me downloading gigabytes of data onto my hard drive, I will also reasonably turn down Graphics settings, turn off interactive loading screens, story progressions, scrolling, etc., and optimize the performance in-game. I will also disable Thumbnail saving, memories and lessons. Anything else?
I hope I can run the game smooth this time - and most importantly, strip down on game slowdown by a lot.
Thanks again for all your helpful tips and have a nice weekend!
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
> Hello again, anyone know if there is a way to open multiple files at once with Sims3Pack custard?
Do you mean installing multiple packs at once? If yes, drag them all into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Downloads. Then go into the launcher and install them from the "Downloads" Tab.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
How to run one: https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information
This is assuming Windows, if you are on a Mac that would require a different conversation.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
So, I recently installed the Sims 3 back onto my new laptop with all of the expansion packs. I have quite a lot of CC, but I'm not sure if that is what is causing my issues. I am sure that with how much CC I have that it could be slowing it down, but I'm not too concerned with that because I understand that a lot of CC can slow the game. I mean, I would like it to be faster, but if the CC is the cause (without it being corrupted), I understand and won't worry about it anymore.
I have fps on and I am clocking in at 60 in the world map, around 15 to 30 when zooming back down, and about 40 something when I'm rotating the screen. At the most movement of all of those combined, the lowest is somewhere around 12 to 25 before it climbs back up.
I'm in a custom world called the Wild West Revisited. While I'm playing, my game will crash out of nowhere without any warning. I know that this is weird because it doesn't give me any message saying the usual 'The Sims 3 has stopped working' message. Instead, it just quits. The last time before it happened a few minutes ago, I had gone out of the game pressing the windows key to change a song on the internet. I saw on my taskbar the origin symbol flashing which normally indicates something requires my attention in order for the taskbar to become invisible. I went up to the taskbar and saw that my Sims 3 game was no longer there (which meant it'd crashed without warning me... again -_-).
At first, I thought that the Sims 3 was just being strange and possibly getting used to the setup? Or even that it had to be the cause of me having Chrome open? However, now that I'm seeing how constant this issue is, I know that there is something wrong now. I don't recall having Chrome open on one of the times it crashed, but I have yet to really test this. I don't like how unstable the results are, never knowing when it will crash.
I used to be really good at figuring things like this out about the Sims 3 game but then I moved to the Sims 4. I just got back into 3 because of nostalgia and all those mushy feelings, so I really dislike that I feel like a 'noob' at the moment. Haha, nonetheless, I'm here for help because I desperately need it. I researched online and learned that it could be many reasons as to why this is happening, but I'd like to be for sure that I'm taking the right precautions and not messing anything up anymore. So, please, any advice would be very, very helpful.
https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/HOW-TO-DxDiag-PC-Only/m-p/1049584/thread-id/47181
I'm not familiar with the custom world you're using, but it's possible that it has routing issues or other problems that are causing the crashes. It's also possible that the world is just too large and requires too much RAM to maintain. When the game goes over its RAM limit, it can crash without warning. You can check your RAM use in the Task Manager; anything over 3.5 GB for the game is in the danger zone.
A useful test would be to pull your entire TS3 game folder out of Documents and onto your desktop. When you launch the game again, a clean folder will spawn with no content. Try playing for a while with a new save in a well-made world like Sunset Valley, and see whether you still get any crashes.
Also: If you want to open other programs while playing, it's best to go to Options and put the game into windowed mode rather than directly minimizing it with the Windows key. Doing the latter will cause the occasional crash even absent any other issues.
I'm not for sure if this is how it's done, so please correct me if this is wrong.
It is a high chance that it could be that. There was a post from the original poster where there were similar issues with the people who played in the world. The person stated that they fixed it, so I didn't read too much into it. However, it is a big world and there have been reports of routing as I've witnessed myself, so I believe that it could possibly be that too. I will definitely try the suggestions that you gave and report back what I see.
I should also mention that an hour ago I ran the crash analyzer and three times out of four did it suggest that I was playing a corrupt save with only one crash being because of my CC. I ran Sims 3 dashboard to check those results and I didn't have any corrupt CC, only conflicts. Those conflicts can be because of merged packages, I thought? I wasn't for sure so I didn't do anything for that yet.
A few minutes ago, I was playing a few minutes ago with the same save and managed to get lagging down very well with the occasional hiccups. I have all of the recommended Nraas mods and used overwatch and register to minimize immigrants, tourists, and animals. I thought that it was going well and even though that I'd solved my problem (I did the DEP thing), but I left the game for a few seconds and was disappointed to see that my game had crashed again. I can shorten how much I leave my game to check things, but I know that it's crashed right in front of me even with it open.
Anyway, I'll try the suggestion and report back what I come up with. Thanks for taking the time out to help me :smile:
It needs to be said that your system is not really strong enough to carry the whole game on high settings. Your processor is U-series, for ultra-low power, so it's weaker than its stats would indicate. You have a graphics card that is decent but under the recommendations for max graphics settings. Since you have Pets—the most demanding EP—it's a good idea to turn down your settings, particularly reflections and high detail lots, as those are huge resource hogs. Whether this alone is enough to manage the crashing may come down to your playstyle and which worlds you use.
Some people do get a satisfying experience on hardware like yours, but there are compromises that need to be made. You didn't mention which other packs you have, but Seasons is the next-most demanding, followed by IP and ITF. It might not be a good idea to run all of these at the same time, although it's possible you could make it work. But any world that's problematic on high-end systems is probably going to give your computer fits. Sunset Valley, Riverview, and Twinbrook will be comparatively easy on your system.
The crash logs are mostly junk, and the crash analyzer doesn't help a whole lot. It's still a good idea to keep an eye on RAM use though, as going over the limit is a very common cause of crashing in TS3. It's also best to avoid running many other apps alongside the game, as you have only 8 GB RAM installed. That's more than enough for TS3 and a couple of browser windows, but it can still get used up quickly.
As far as your cc is concerned, I'm not the right person to tell you how to sort out the conflicts. But some people here are well-versed in the subject; perhaps one of them will show up.
And you probably have it under control, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask whether you had NRaas ErrorTrap and Traffic installed. MasterController is quite useful as well for its ability to reset everything from a stuck sim or object to the entire world at once. You may also find this NRaas site useful, if you haven't come across it already:
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/TIPS+FOR+BETTER+GAME+PERFORMANCE
My draw distance is at a four, and the reflection is on the scale reflection for mirror and waters. I do have advanced rendering on, but without this, the grass is a complete blur. I know that it runs faster, but I couldn't focus on that when the ground texture looked so awful. As soon as I took my settings down from high to medium, there was relief on lagging. The crashing has started occurring only now, but I didn't play for long amounts before because I was so focused on the lagging so I wasn't in my game for a long time to see if there would be crashing.
I haven't tested the second theory, but I can see that when I have the apps, Chrome, Origin, and task manager open, including the game, the highest the ram manages to get is 2.1 GB. I tested this in the same world and I'm typing this now as it's running, but I don't trust it, lol. It happens every time I get comfortable, so there is no pattern. Only random crashes.
I will try moving my sims to a new save that is one of those three towns, and see how it goes. I will also exit out of my browser and shut down other things that I have open, so I have a better chance of keeping my game running without any crashes.
It's not a good first world to choose. I seriously thought that my laptop was that underpowered. I'd tried downloading the game and uninstalled because it was laggy at first. I came back after a few more months for another try, and after really getting back into those nraas mods, my game slowly improved with each note that I took to get my computer to the generic tips that all Simmers do to avoid main issues.
Overall, the world had a lot to load in general so I was worrying over lagging instead of really enjoying the game. Plus, that world wasn't my preference like I thought it'd be. At least not like Riverview is for this particular storyline :)
I wonder how my computer would handle Bridgeport or Starlight Shores? If I can't use custom cities, I'd like to be able to use those to some extent though probably not heavily. I can get used to not using large custom worlds easily, it's fine. Also, yes, I have both the traffic and error trap mod installed.
Back to the issue, sadly, my issue did resurface in Riverview. The gameplay was smooth and as responsive as it'll get with how much CC I have, so I was really happy with that. However, after about thirty minutes of gameplay with things closed and it crashed.
I was at a loss as to what could be crashing it so randomly, so I tried one of your other suggestions which was to consider taking my mods out. It was then while I was looking through my mods folder that I realized that I had a mod (which I can't say on the forums) that could be a potenital cause. It was updated through a 3rd party, which I assume isn't by the original creator, so I focused on that.
I removed that large mod from my game, shut down everything (internet, origin from view, and task manager) and started my game back up to test for a difference. During this gameplay in my new save, I had my sims travel everywhere on the map, treating it like a casual day without concern. I saved every twenty minutes, but I think it was longer though I can't be sure.
Anyhow, I ended up going for an entire two hours! I had to save and then quit the game because I actually grew tired of the game instead of the game growing tired of me, haha. I even wanted to test if it would force close with other apps in the background, so I opened up the internet, windowed out of my game a few times to mess with things, walked away for about five minutes and when I came back, my game was still open. Of course, it ran smoother with everything closed out while the Sims 3 was open, so I'll opt for that experience instead.
So, I want to say that things are looking really good right now. I don't know if the problem is solved for sure. All of my hope has been slammed down each time my game force closed on me, but I'm still holding onto hope. That mod wasn't really that important, so I can really live without it if it really was the reason. I'll test this a little more tomorrow to see if the results vary, but so far, this is the longest that I've been able to play the game. Thank you so much!
I'm not sure which mod you're referencing, as there are a number that can't be mentioned here, but if it wasn't one of the NRaas ones, then I'm not surprised. There are plenty of talented modders out there, but some of them could be careless, and others stopped updating their work before the last game patches were released. So it can be difficult to sort out the problem, unless, of course, you have a sneaking suspicion about one mod in particular. (Nice work finding it so quickly.) That's the beauty of the clean folder test—you remove everything and then start adding back content a bit at a time to see if the game still runs. In the future, you can always bring mod questions to NRaas or MTS as well, as both sites still have active communities of experienced mod and cc users who can help you sort out your issues.
If you're looking for more worlds, the EA version of Bridgeport has some problems that might make it hard on your computer. A player named Ellacharmed fixed the issues and provided her version for download over at MTS. In fact, she's done great work on several worlds, so her offerings are a great place to start. If you want to play Isla Paradiso, don't even bother with the EA version, as it's so broken as to be basically unplayable without major editing. Another player—ciane—did all the repairs necessary and offers a download of her work as well. (She has also listed the edits she made, for those who'd prefer to fix the world themselves.) If you're looking for something specific, you could always ask for recommendations in the General Discussion section, once you get a few more posts and become a full member.
One other feature that you might enjoy is that with NRaas Traveler present, your sims can vacation in any world installed in your game folder. It's always best to quit and then reload immediately before traveling, as the travel transition is delicate no matter how capable your system. Even if you only plan to send your sims to WA worlds, Traveler is still a must.
Last thing: I'm not sure if you're doing this already, but it's a good idea to use "save as" and rename your saves so that you have backups on hand in case anything goes wrong. Even the best managed games on the most powerful systems can run into trouble, and often it's easier to just revert to a prior save than to sort through the glitches, if they're even solveable. I keep around 4-6 saves at a time in my game folder (and a few important ones backed up elsewhere) and then I delete the older ones when I'm sure my game is still healthy.
Again, I'm really happy to hear that your game is performing well again. When TS3 runs smoothly, it's a beautiful and incredibly engaging experience, and there's a reason so many of us are still playing it today, nine years after its release.
Thank you, Jennyqkush
https://forums.thesims.com/en_us/discussion/comment/16708066/#Comment_16708066
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https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16708867/#Comment_16708867
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
Please any help will be appreciated.
Here's a visual of the proper settings for the two Nvidia tools (under the spoilers):
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301