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Random crash to desktop, possible cause and possible solution

rensdesimrensdesim Posts: 26 Member
edited September 2014 in PC - Technical Discussions
When I was reviewing the game I created a new save game with a new family (actually downloaded from Gallery because it was created at gamescom) and at first everything seemed fine. Until crashes started to happen

The Story
The first few simdays nothing special happend until I was trying to make friends at the goth's house. After clicking an interaction the game crashed, I restarted the game (no auto save happend) tried another social interaction a few simdays later on a sim walking by, again a crash to the desktop. I was thinking this was due to my sim being energized and doing interactions. But for the sake of testing I tried doing no social interactions with other sims than the wife.

But about five simdays since the time I started again, the game crashed again, this time I wasn't interacting with anything. I restarted the game again, now after 3 simdays the game crashed again, without interacting.

The Pattern
So as a developer I started to look for a pattern and I soon found one.

All the crashes happened during day time, there were no noticable glitches or bugs before the crash and the crash happened at random times.

The (possible) Cause
I then came up with what was possible the cause of the crash, Sims spawning for walking by in the neighborhood. They possible crashed the game because they had bad clothing or something.

The (possible) Solution
I decided to use manage households to remove all households that said they weren't in the world (since sims in the world will probably have no bad clothing). I did this and I've now played for 12 simdays straight without a crash. If I get a crash I will update this post.

PC Information and Game information
Since the cause is probably not related to hardware I have minimum specifications here, if the devs want a full DxDiag I can supply that with the save file that crashed (I backed it up before removing the townies).

OS: Windows 7 SP1 Professional 64Bit
CPU: Intel core i7-4790K at 4.0Ghz
GPU: Nvidia GTX 770 2GB
Resolution: Fullscreen at 1920x1080 with 60Ghz monitor
Ram: 16GB

Game settings: Ultra, with uncompressed textures on
Game type: Collector's Edition, with all the Sims 3 reward DLC.
Mods installed: Yes, but only one that removes the highlight (edit's a DATA file, which shouldn't be the cause)

Comments

  • ceejay402ceejay402 Posts: 24,507 Member
    Good stuff I'll keep track, try resetting data docs perhaps something is corrupted there, you could start with pulling out my documents/ electronic arts/ sims 4/ tray
  • lovesstormslovesstorms Posts: 17,794 Member
    So you removed the households from your "manage household" area who you haven't put into your world? That's very interesting. I have definitely had quite a few crashes and it does seem to be during the day. I also have CC, but just a few pieces of clothing and a few of the mods that everyone else seems to have. Currently, I only have a couple. I made them separately and then eventually they moved in together. So, they are separate in my "manage households". I will definitely take them out and see what happens. Thanks for the idea! :)
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  • rensdesimrensdesim Posts: 26 Member
    Yep all of them I didn't have a relation with (the once I had a relation with seemed fine when I called them over). Those I all removed and for the people wondering, the game those generate new sims if you remove them.

    Update: I'm now 15 Simdays without a crash :)
  • luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,617 Member
    rensdesim wrote: »
    Yep all of them I didn't have a relation with (the once I had a relation with seemed fine when I called them over). Those I all removed and for the people wondering, the game those generate new sims if you remove them.

    Update: I'm now 15 Simdays without a crash :)

    Cool! I was worried I'd end up with too few Sims in the world if I removed some of those.
    EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
  • rensdesimrensdesim Posts: 26 Member
    The devs should pick this up, I have now lived 35 simdays without a crash! So I guess the above solution is really working!
  • lovesstormslovesstorms Posts: 17,794 Member
    Wow! I had approx 50 households NOT in the current world. I just deleted all of them, so now we'll see how this game play goes. It always crashed at least every few hours (my time), so this will be an interesting test. :)
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  • Lady_ElurinLady_Elurin Posts: 129 Member
    edited September 2014
    I have no idea who the OP IRL is but I have to give you a standing ovation. I contacted EA about this issue and they said my video drivers needed to be updated, then found out there was an issue with my video card updating. Contacted AMD and they told me it was a Microsoft issue, contacted Microsoft who told me I needed to pay them $100 before they'd help me fix an issue they'd caused. My day has NOT been fun.

    Then I saw your post (and since I've tried all the other recommendations), tried it. OMG!!! Today is the first day I've been able to play my game without it crashing every 30 minutes. OMG!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was about to give up and wait a week or two (frustrated) until they'd figured it out. But you've saved me from that. Thank you so much!!

    BTW: I didn't pay Microsoft the $100. Had a hacker friend fix the problem.

    I'm so happy! You don't understand! Thank you!
  • buntahbuntah Posts: 5 New Member
    I believe you are onto something here. My game has been randomly crashing about every 1/2 hour to an hour since I started playing a week ago. Today I followed your instructions and I've now been playing about 4 hours without a crash!! I hope EA is reading this forum cuz I think you have solved a BIG problem for them! Thank you so much for sharing ... I would never have figured out this workaround.
  • rensdesimrensdesim Posts: 26 Member
    @lady_elurin sounds familiar, I don't even call my local support anymore. They tell you to upgrade your drivers and literally hang up even when calling for Mac problems. Since then I have been either chatting with US support, fixing problems myself of getting help from Crinrict's help blog (I reported this crinrict as well).

    I did mention this thread to the SimGuru's on twitter and Lyndsay said so forwarded it to the test and engineering team so hopefully it is fixed in the next update. I think the real cause is a hidden CAS part that is still in the game from a development version and is missing special details added to the game later on in development. Causing the crashing when trying to load/render that part on a random sim walking by.

    The issue might reappear after some time when a random sim is made again using that CAS part so it's always safe to save (hah!) a few times especially after major milestones in game.
  • lovesstormslovesstorms Posts: 17,794 Member
    So, I played last night for 4 Sim days and never had a single crash. I was able to actually exit the game because I was done. :) Thanks so much! I'd say this definitely worked and hopefully, they can figure out a way to fix this issue. I am VERY thankful it wasn't my mods, which is what I was worried it was. :mrgreen: Thanks again, rensdesim!
    Origin ID: lovesstorms
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  • Lady_ElurinLady_Elurin Posts: 129 Member
    rensdesim wrote: »
    @lady_elurin sounds familiar, I don't even call my local support anymore. They tell you to upgrade your drivers and literally hang up even when calling for Mac problems. Since then I have been either chatting with US support, fixing problems myself of getting help from Crinrict's help blog (I reported this crinrict as well).

    I did mention this thread to the SimGuru's on twitter and Lyndsay said so forwarded it to the test and engineering team so hopefully it is fixed in the next update. I think the real cause is a hidden CAS part that is still in the game from a development version and is missing special details added to the game later on in development. Causing the crashing when trying to load/render that part on a random sim walking by.

    The issue might reappear after some time when a random sim is made again using that CAS part so it's always safe to save (hah!) a few times especially after major milestones in game.

    I made a post somewhere that said that some of the sims would turn rainbow colored if you put on certain clothing or have certain hairstyles. Maybe it's all tied together. Either way, thank you, thank you. You're the best!
  • NerakNerak Posts: 6 New Member
    Omg. I'm having exactly the same problem but despiste my english is reasonable I couldn't understand how do it. It would be possible to explain step by step please?
    Thanks a lot
  • anafaria101anafaria101 Posts: 2 New Member
    Hello. I have the same problem, but I don't have households "not in the world". I've been playing with an household from the gallery.
    Thanks
  • luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,617 Member
    Hello. I have the same problem, but I don't have households "not in the world". I've been playing with an household from the gallery.<br />
    Thanks

    Everyone has households "not in this world" -- i.e., they are part of your game but don't live in assigned houses. You can find them via Manage Worlds > Manage Households.
    EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
  • Sims4Chick_2014Sims4Chick_2014 Posts: 10 New Member
    My game has been crashing but it only happens when I try to play online or use the gallery.
  • rensdesimrensdesim Posts: 26 Member
    I will try to update this post tomorrow with (dutch) screenshots but here is a small step by step tutorial.
    1. Play the save that seems to crash. Make sure the game stays paused.
    2. (Optional) Open the relationship panel for each sim in the household, if it contains a sim you have romance or (high) friendship with remember their face, you might want to skip deleting those.
    3. Open the "pause" menu (press esc)
    4. Choose manage worlds from there
    5. In the next screen go to the top right and choose "manage households" (the family icon with the pencil)
    6. Choose "unplayed households"
    7. Now from the dropdown menu choose "not in this world"
    8. Now click every household, if the sim is not familiar from the relations, choose to delete them. If one is familiar but has another unfamiliar sim in the household, try splitting the household and removing the unfamiliar one. Repeat this step until you only have the housholds left you have a relation with or non.

    Note: Removing a household will of course remove all relations with that household for all households in the same.
  • lovesstormslovesstorms Posts: 17,794 Member
    Hmmm...so I had deleted those 50 households, but when I went back into the same saved game, I noticed all those households were back. So, they regenerate. :\
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  • Avi2011Avi2011 Posts: 1 New Member
    Does somebody have the solution to the Sims 4 Crashing?

    Problem signature
    Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
    Application Name: TS4.exe
    Application Version: 1.0.677.20
    Application Timestamp: 540a88b9
    Fault Module Name: TS4.exe
    Fault Module Version: 1.0.677.20
    Fault Module Timestamp: 540a88b9
    Exception Code: 80000003
    Exception Offset: 00cb0451
    OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.768.2
    Locale ID: 1033
    Additional Information 1: 0234
    Additional Information 2: 4ce2c84408c8ff7bae6a09afd34305a7
    Additional Information 3: 92a4
    Additional Information 4: bed44363a6b588424680283515f03aa1

    Extra information about the problem
    Bucket ID: 491799218
  • buntahbuntah Posts: 5 New Member
    > @lovesstorms said:
    > Hmmm...so I had deleted those 50 households, but when I went back into the same saved game, I noticed all those households were back. So, they regenerate.

    Oh yes ... they definitely regenerate ... so at this point I have to delete them everytime I open my game, before I start playing ... if I don't do that, the game starts crashing again; if I do, the game works fine. So, this is definitely just a workaround until EA fixes this problem with a patch, but from what I see here, they have been made aware of it, so hopefully that will happen soon.
  • buntahbuntah Posts: 5 New Member
    > @Lady_Elurin said:

    > I made a post somewhere that said that some of the sims would turn rainbow colored if you put on certain clothing or have certain hairstyles. Maybe it's all tied together. Either way, thank you, thank you. You're the best!

    I've also seen the rainbow colored sim in CAS, but only if I enter CAS by clicking on a dresser in the game and choosing "Plan outfits" ... so, until EA fixes that one, my workaround is before I enter any household, I go into Manage Households from the neighborhood screen and click on the household I am going to play and edit their outfits in CAS from there (of course, this is AFTER I delete all the "not in this world" sims.

    I hope EA fixes this soon cuz I have to do so much from outside of the household before I can even enter it and play!
  • anafaria101anafaria101 Posts: 2 New Member
    edited September 2014
    > @luthienrising said:
    > anafaria101 wrote: »
    >
    > Hello. I have the same problem, but I don't have households "not in the world". I've been playing with an household from the gallery.

    > Thanks
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > Everyone has households "not in this world" -- i.e., they are part of your game but don't live in assigned houses. You can find them via Manage Worlds > Manage Households.

    Hi. You're right, I was looking in the wrong place.
    However, I deleted all of those households, but 10 minutes of gameplay later, the game crashed again... :(

    Update: played for 30 minutes in offline without crashing.
    Post edited by anafaria101 on
  • temptinggalltemptinggall Posts: 21 New Member
    is it possible that my game crash to the desktop because I have to high graphic and screen options?

    I'm now slow testing what is causing the problem. I'm not good at computers knowledge so this is why it takes me so much time.

    So fist of all I began playing with these maxis options and the graphics was pretty poor so I wanted to experiment a bit. I changed view to high to see the neighborhood, and then max some of the others for sim, and objects I guess. But then it started kicking me out of a game. So I went back to previous options and only max the view,I chose the easiest way I guess because I heard from someone that I had to update my video drivers, and I got scared about updating them, I'm not good at computers and have XP so it makes it even harder to update.

    It was working pretty fine. But then there were different problems. Game was crashing to desktop when using gallery so I though that's the problem a turned offline in game. It was working pretty fine but after a long playing I experienced some frizzing and lagging. I just though maybe it's because the computer is tired or something- yup I know how it sound , pretty funny, but yeah. Then I started to check this forums and see what is going on with that game is it just me or maybe not? Then I saw sooo many people having same problems. So I though it's not a problem with my computer being a bit weak for that, or old video drivers, the game is not stable yet . So I maxed all setting again, chose the biggest settings for screen and kicking out of the games started again.

    So I am wondering if the settings are really the problem? Or it's that horrible not updated drivers, or game need a lot of fixes, or should I just do what you all did and remove all those sims "not in world"? Can anyone help me with that? :)
  • peachysimsspeachysimss Posts: 10 New Member
    edited September 2014
    Going to try and see if this solution works. These constant crashes are really bugging me. I'll also try running the game in offline mode, or whatever.
    @temptinggall I would try what the post says and try deleting the sims not in world. I have yet to try it, but I'm hoping it will work. I updated my drivers, and the crashing still persisted, so it made no difference for me. Considering it's a brand new game, it's going to need a lot of fixes.

    UPDATE: Still didn't work for me. Hmmm. This is frustrating.
    Post edited by peachysimss on
  • NerakNerak Posts: 6 New Member
    Thanks for the step by step but unfortunatly it didn't work for me.
    I've delete all unplayed households, come back to my save family and crashed.
    Now all households are back.
    :(
  • Lady_ElurinLady_Elurin Posts: 129 Member
    buntah wrote: »
    > @Lady_Elurin said:<br />
    <br />
    > I made a post somewhere that said that some of the sims would turn rainbow colored if you put on certain clothing or have certain hairstyles. Maybe it's all tied together. Either way, thank you, thank you. You're the best!<br />
    <br />
    I've also seen the rainbow colored sim in CAS, but only if I enter CAS by clicking on a dresser in the game and choosing "Plan outfits" ... so, until EA fixes that one, my workaround is before I enter any household, I go into Manage Households from the neighborhood screen and click on the household I am going to play and edit their outfits in CAS from there (of course, this is AFTER I delete all the "not in this world" sims.<br />
    <br />
    I hope EA fixes this soon cuz I have to do so much from outside of the household before I can even enter it and play!
    I hope the rainbow sims are corrected too. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed it. Perhaps the people who this little work around isn't working should check all their sims to make sure they're not wearing the bugged clothing or hair, which will cause it also. That might be what's causing the game to crash as well. I noticed that the sims changed to rainbow but then when I clicked on it and onto something else, it would look normal. Then when I clicked on it again, it would be rainbow. People might have to play around with their sims a little to see. Unfortunately EA didn't give the hair or clothing titles or names so it's hard to tell which ones they are.
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