@puzzlezaddict thank you so much for your help, I was able to get pets running smoothly! Now my family's cat is the only pet in the world but that's fine with me haha!
barely even a day later and I've got a new problem. I was logged out of the EA app for some reason, and now it says "download" where it used to say "play" for sims 3. When I launched through origin, all of my store-bought content was gone. It said "some objects could not be loaded" and my sims' outfits have been changed, the buildings I have in my bin from lunar lakes or hidden valley are messed up, but in the launcher it says that everything is installed correctly. Should I repair the game? uninstall and reinstall? thanks!
Hi everyone! Longtime player first time poster. I just bought World Adventures (finally) and I have the strangest glitch in Egypt. You know the red flashing glitch people often get when going up a floor in a particularly lavish house? Something that looks like that has been crashing my game in Egypt when one of my sims visits another household. As soon as my sim goes to enter their house, when I'm about to see inside, the screen flashes red and the game crashes to desktop. It happens at any NPC household and changing graphics settings and reseting all the sims has done nothing to stop it. This makes completing adventures impossible, since half the stuff in Egypt is in other homes' basements! This didn't happen in France or China. I'm on a 2019 iMac playing the 64-bit through Origin. Any tips? Anyone else experienced this?
@Cat_LinManuel There's no point in uninstalling and reinstalling the game, if that's what you meant. The program files generally don't get corrupted, or if they do, you have bigger problems than your store content not working.
What you can try is deleting the SigsCache folder in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3. A couple players have reported that that helped with disappearing store content.
If that doesn't make a difference, move this entire Sims 3 folder to your desktop, open the launcher to spawn a clean folder, and download and reinstall your store content in small batches of no more than about six items or sets at a time. Worlds are large files and should be handled separately, not in a batch with anything else. Then you can move your saves and any other content you want to keep from your old Sims 3 folder to the new one. Here's a description of everything in your user folder, so you know what to preserve:
Test the content in a new save to make sure it's all showing up, and then you can load your main saves and make sure they're working too. If you saved with the content missing, you'll need to use a backup save or add back the items manually.
@MelatiVisaPoints Among the graphics options you changed, did you try enabling the Object Hiding setting? That's the one that helps the most with red flashing. You'd need to change the setting at the Main Menu and quit to desktop before loading a save to get the full effect.
The red flashing also appears less often if the camera is zoomed in, so you may be able to work around it.
If that doesn't help, delete options.ini (in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3), which will reset all your in-game settings. At the Main Menu, turn down everything to low, disable Advanced Rendering and enable Object Hiding, quit to desktop, and then see how your save runs. It'll look pretty bad, but as long as you don't get red flashing, you can selectively reenable the settings until you get something good enough to play with while you get through the adventures.
@puzzleaddict thanks for your response! I tried adjusting the settings like you suggested, but the game still crashes the second an NPC household's walls open up. It doesn't crash under any other circumstances, including rendering while exploring tombs! I'm totally lost here.
I'm new to Sims 3 (played it briefly when it first came out but don't remember a danged thing). I've been trying to get my created Sims to save in the Saved Sims folder (the one in Sims 3 in documents) but cannot figure it out. Two of them show up there but the others are only in the bin. I'm pretty sure there's a simple explanation - I'm clicking the wrong thing or something - but I could sure use a little guidance. Thank you!
@Gwenleah When you save a sim within Create a Sim (or Create a Household), it saves as a file in SavedSims. When you save the household after exiting CAH, it saves the household to your bin and creates a corresponding file in the Library folder. If you save a household from Edit Town, that household also goes into the bin.
If you'd like to save an existing sim as a SavedSim file, you can do so by entering CAS with that sim. There are mod-related ways to do it, or you can bring up the cheats console (crtl-shift-C) and enter "testingcheatsenabled true" without quotes, then shift-click on the sim and select "Edit in Create a Sim." Once CAS loads, click on the three dots under the sim's portrait on the user interface, then click the folder icon.
When you want to load a saved sim, enter CAS and click the button on the user interface that shows six silhouettes of sim heads. You can then filter by age and gender, or click the snowflake icon to bring up only your own creations.
@puzzlezaddict okay, here goes! macOS Big Sur version 11.6.4 iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) Processor 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3 Memory 8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 Graphics Radeon Pro 555X 2 GB
I have World Adventures, High-End Loft, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Supernatural, Seasons, and University Life installed.
I haven't tested every lot, but so far it's at least 20 Riverview Place, 40 West Riverview Place, 7 Marketview Place, 1 Quarry View Place, and the Criminal Headquarters.
I uninstalled all mods, even NRAAS, when this started to happen. I have a lot of sims 3 store content, but none placed in Egypt. No other custom content.
The good news: I tried playing out of fullscreen with graphics all the way down and zoomed all the way into my Sim when they try to visit homes, and that allowed me to get into a few without crashing. The game still crashes about half the time, but it doesn't flash red anymore.
Please someone help me. I just got a new computer a month again and finally got to downloading the sims 3, but it's not working. I know there is a problem with Generation 12 cores, but mine is a Gen 11. I hope this is not the issue
Anyway, I downloaded the game from origin, and am able to go the launcher, but when I click play the game goes black and then closes itself. Please, I brought this PC to play the sims, and now feel like I've just wasted a lot of money.....
I have a GE 76 Raider Computer Intel Core I7 Nvidia Geforce Gen 11
If that doesn't help, I'd like to see a dxdiag from your laptop. Hit Windows key-R, enter "dxdiag" without quotes, let the scan finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can upload it. As a new member, you may not be able to attach it directly to a reply, but if not, you can use a free filesharing site, for example pastebin.com, and drop a link to it here. You may need to break up the link with spaces.
> @puzzlezaddict said: > @aliciarune Try manually installing DirectX 9, as described here: > > https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/SIMS-3-GAME-WON-T-LAUNCH-WINDOWS-10/m-p/10711778#M247861 > > If that doesn't help, I'd like to see a dxdiag from your laptop. Hit Windows key-R, enter "dxdiag" without quotes, let the scan finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can upload it. As a new member, you may not be able to attach it directly to a reply, but if not, you can use a free filesharing site, for example pastebin.com, and drop a link to it here. You may need to break up the link with spaces.
Hi puzzleaddict, thank you for replying. I will try this method and get back to you
Sadly, this didn't work. I click play from the sims 3 launcher and it does go to the black screen, but then it just shuts. I'm not even getting any error messages.
Hello, I have a question pertaining to s3pe. Is there a way to change the time spent doing certain interactions using this package editor? (i.e. changing the time it takes a Sim to write a love letter or eat a meal). I already have NRAAS' Relativity installed, which is helpful with adjusting overall game time, but not time spent on specific interactions.
I hope someone can help me — I have no shadows or directional lighting in my game! I've spent two days trying to get this to work and am tearing my hair out at this point. This is a fresh install of Sims 3 base game on a fresh install of Windows. No mods. New save. Graphics options set to max within the game. My specs:
Following tutorials, I was able to get the card added to GraphicsCards and GraphicsRules.sgr, and DeviceConfig says it's matched and found, but it hasn't added shadows to the game.
Hi, I am trying to play sims through Origin via parallels because the sims 3 64 bit for mac was just ridiculously laggy.
However, now, after I press the play button on the launcher the maxis loading screen will work but then it goes to a black screen. I have to use ctrl + alt +delete to close it. However, when I did a factory reset, it loaded. What does that mean?
I've used the sims3Dashboard to find duplicate CC and deleted them.
Another note, one of my saves in the main menu, the background of the picture is black, is that the sign of a corrupted save?
Its intended purpose is to edit the game's .sgr files to get graphics cards recognized, but it also includes edits that fix the missing shadows on newer AMD cards. Or at least those edits work for last-gen AMD GPUs; let me know whether it works for you as well.
@AnimeFairi I don't think anyone on this site really has the skill set to help you with this question. You'd be better off asking at Mod the Sims, where as I understand it, a few users do have modding knowledge. You could also ask on the NRaas site.
What I can say is that you should be able to change the time it takes to eat a meal with Retuner. For example:
Not all actions can be modified this way. Relativity can also affect how long it takes to fill (or deplete) a particular motive, so if you don't find what you're looking for in Retuner and the action is supposed to fill a motive, for example showering or sleeping, try looking through Relativity settings. However, for something like writing love letters, I'm guessing you might need a standalone mod.
@Raiiven That means that something in your user folder is preventing the game from loading. Try moving your files from the old Sims 3 folder to the new one a few at a time; whenever the game stops loading, you'll know that one of the last files you moved is a problem, and you'll need to split the last batch and retest until you find out which one. Not all files need to be transferred, and in fact it's better to leave behind those that the game will regenerate as needed. For a more thorough explanation, please read this:
The black background on your save thumbnail is nothing to worry about on its own. If you see other signs of trouble, then it's worth investigating, but the thumbnail itself can look weird for strange reasons or no reason at all.
> @puzzlezaddict said: > @rosesims555 Try using this utility from NexusMods: > > https://www.nexusmods.com/thesims3/mods/106 > > Its intended purpose is to edit the game's .sgr files to get graphics cards recognized, but it also includes edits that fix the missing shadows on newer AMD cards. Or at least those edits work for last-gen AMD GPUs; let me know whether it works for you as well. > > @AnimeFairi I don't think anyone on this site really has the skill set to help you with this question. You'd be better off asking at Mod the Sims, where as I understand it, a few users do have modding knowledge. You could also ask on the NRaas site. > > What I can say is that you should be able to change the time it takes to eat a meal with Retuner. For example: > > https://www.nraas.net/community/post20032#p20032 > > Not all actions can be modified this way. Relativity can also affect how long it takes to fill (or deplete) a particular motive, so if you don't find what you're looking for in Retuner and the action is supposed to fill a motive, for example showering or sleeping, try looking through Relativity settings. However, for something like writing love letters, I'm guessing you might need a standalone mod. > > @Raiiven That means that something in your user folder is preventing the game from loading. Try moving your files from the old Sims 3 folder to the new one a few at a time; whenever the game stops loading, you'll know that one of the last files you moved is a problem, and you'll need to split the last batch and retest until you find out which one. Not all files need to be transferred, and in fact it's better to leave behind those that the game will regenerate as needed. For a more thorough explanation, please read this: > > https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html > > The black background on your save thumbnail is nothing to worry about on its own. If you see other signs of trouble, then it's worth investigating, but the thumbnail itself can look weird for strange reasons or no reason at all.
Thank you so much! It was actually the nointro.package that was stopping my game. But now I am having trouble with the edge scroll. It isn't working even when checked in fullscreen mode. It is affecting my ability to build.
Does anyone have an idea what I can do? I've been through so much trouble trying to get this to work. I'm playing on parallels windows 11.
@Raiiven I'm surprised that nointro was the issue: it's one of the most widely compatible mods and people use it for testing for exactly that reason. But maybe yours got corrupted or something.
For edge scrolling, I've found that sometimes I need to disable the option, then reenable it, for it to work. It's listed in (I believe) the third or fourth tab under Options, along with memories, interactive loading screens, lessons, and a few other settings.
If edge scrolling still doesn't work, you can try deleting options.ini, in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3. If that doesn't help either, try out the various viewing modes listed here to see if edge scrolling works in any of them:
I'd think Full Screen View Mode would be the only working option, although it's worth trying all of them. Otherwise, placing your cursor at the edge of the game window would also mean placing it at the edge of the Windows window, and Parallels could expect that that meant you wanted to switch out of using the virtual machine and back to the host, i.e. from Windows back to macOS.
If you can't use edge scrolling regardless of your Parallels settings, you'll need to use the right-click to center feature.
I just lost my entire Sims 3 documents folder. I luckily have a backup of my save file but everything else such as my mods and screenshots are gone. While my game was saving, it crashed so I'm thinking that is the issue. Is there anyway to recover my folder or is it all gone?
Comments
What you can try is deleting the SigsCache folder in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3. A couple players have reported that that helped with disappearing store content.
If that doesn't make a difference, move this entire Sims 3 folder to your desktop, open the launcher to spawn a clean folder, and download and reinstall your store content in small batches of no more than about six items or sets at a time. Worlds are large files and should be handled separately, not in a batch with anything else. Then you can move your saves and any other content you want to keep from your old Sims 3 folder to the new one. Here's a description of everything in your user folder, so you know what to preserve:
https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html
Test the content in a new save to make sure it's all showing up, and then you can load your main saves and make sure they're working too. If you saved with the content missing, you'll need to use a backup save or add back the items manually.
The red flashing also appears less often if the camera is zoomed in, so you may be able to work around it.
If that doesn't help, delete options.ini (in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3), which will reset all your in-game settings. At the Main Menu, turn down everything to low, disable Advanced Rendering and enable Object Hiding, quit to desktop, and then see how your save runs. It'll look pretty bad, but as long as you don't get red flashing, you can selectively reenable the settings until you get something good enough to play with while you get through the adventures.
I'll take a look in my game and see how the lots behave for me.
Thank you!
If you'd like to save an existing sim as a SavedSim file, you can do so by entering CAS with that sim. There are mod-related ways to do it, or you can bring up the cheats console (crtl-shift-C) and enter "testingcheatsenabled true" without quotes, then shift-click on the sim and select "Edit in Create a Sim." Once CAS loads, click on the three dots under the sim's portrait on the user interface, then click the folder icon.
When you want to load a saved sim, enter CAS and click the button on the user interface that shows six silhouettes of sim heads. You can then filter by age and gender, or click the snowflake icon to bring up only your own creations.
macOS Big Sur version 11.6.4
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019)
Processor 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3
Memory 8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Graphics Radeon Pro 555X 2 GB
I have World Adventures, High-End Loft, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Supernatural, Seasons, and University Life installed.
I haven't tested every lot, but so far it's at least 20 Riverview Place, 40 West Riverview Place, 7 Marketview Place, 1 Quarry View Place, and the Criminal Headquarters.
I uninstalled all mods, even NRAAS, when this started to happen. I have a lot of sims 3 store content, but none placed in Egypt. No other custom content.
The good news: I tried playing out of fullscreen with graphics all the way down and zoomed all the way into my Sim when they try to visit homes, and that allowed me to get into a few without crashing. The game still crashes about half the time, but it doesn't flash red anymore.
Thanks again!
Anyway, I downloaded the game from origin, and am able to go the launcher, but when I click play the game goes black and then closes itself. Please, I brought this PC to play the sims, and now feel like I've just wasted a lot of money.....
I have a GE 76 Raider Computer
Intel Core I7
Nvidia Geforce
Gen 11
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/SIMS-3-GAME-WON-T-LAUNCH-WINDOWS-10/m-p/10711778#M247861
If that doesn't help, I'd like to see a dxdiag from your laptop. Hit Windows key-R, enter "dxdiag" without quotes, let the scan finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can upload it. As a new member, you may not be able to attach it directly to a reply, but if not, you can use a free filesharing site, for example pastebin.com, and drop a link to it here. You may need to break up the link with spaces.
> @aliciarune Try manually installing DirectX 9, as described here:
>
> https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/SIMS-3-GAME-WON-T-LAUNCH-WINDOWS-10/m-p/10711778#M247861
>
> If that doesn't help, I'd like to see a dxdiag from your laptop. Hit Windows key-R, enter "dxdiag" without quotes, let the scan finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can upload it. As a new member, you may not be able to attach it directly to a reply, but if not, you can use a free filesharing site, for example pastebin.com, and drop a link to it here. You may need to break up the link with spaces.
Hi puzzleaddict, thank you for replying. I will try this method and get back to you
https://pastebin.com/iXpB1i6m
CPU: Ryzen 9 3900 @ 3.8 Ghz
GPU: Radeon RX 6900 XT, 16 GB
Ram: 32 GB, 3200 mhz
Windows 10
Following tutorials, I was able to get the card added to GraphicsCards and GraphicsRules.sgr, and DeviceConfig says it's matched and found, but it hasn't added shadows to the game.
However, now, after I press the play button on the launcher the maxis loading screen will work but then it goes to a black screen. I have to use ctrl + alt +delete to close it. However, when I did a factory reset, it loaded. What does that mean?
I've used the sims3Dashboard to find duplicate CC and deleted them.
Another note, one of my saves in the main menu, the background of the picture is black, is that the sign of a corrupted save?
Thanks!
https://www.nexusmods.com/thesims3/mods/106
Its intended purpose is to edit the game's .sgr files to get graphics cards recognized, but it also includes edits that fix the missing shadows on newer AMD cards. Or at least those edits work for last-gen AMD GPUs; let me know whether it works for you as well.
@AnimeFairi I don't think anyone on this site really has the skill set to help you with this question. You'd be better off asking at Mod the Sims, where as I understand it, a few users do have modding knowledge. You could also ask on the NRaas site.
What I can say is that you should be able to change the time it takes to eat a meal with Retuner. For example:
https://www.nraas.net/community/post20032#p20032
Not all actions can be modified this way. Relativity can also affect how long it takes to fill (or deplete) a particular motive, so if you don't find what you're looking for in Retuner and the action is supposed to fill a motive, for example showering or sleeping, try looking through Relativity settings. However, for something like writing love letters, I'm guessing you might need a standalone mod.
@Raiiven That means that something in your user folder is preventing the game from loading. Try moving your files from the old Sims 3 folder to the new one a few at a time; whenever the game stops loading, you'll know that one of the last files you moved is a problem, and you'll need to split the last batch and retest until you find out which one. Not all files need to be transferred, and in fact it's better to leave behind those that the game will regenerate as needed. For a more thorough explanation, please read this:
https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html
The black background on your save thumbnail is nothing to worry about on its own. If you see other signs of trouble, then it's worth investigating, but the thumbnail itself can look weird for strange reasons or no reason at all.
> @rosesims555 Try using this utility from NexusMods:
>
> https://www.nexusmods.com/thesims3/mods/106
>
> Its intended purpose is to edit the game's .sgr files to get graphics cards recognized, but it also includes edits that fix the missing shadows on newer AMD cards. Or at least those edits work for last-gen AMD GPUs; let me know whether it works for you as well.
>
> @AnimeFairi I don't think anyone on this site really has the skill set to help you with this question. You'd be better off asking at Mod the Sims, where as I understand it, a few users do have modding knowledge. You could also ask on the NRaas site.
>
> What I can say is that you should be able to change the time it takes to eat a meal with Retuner. For example:
>
> https://www.nraas.net/community/post20032#p20032
>
> Not all actions can be modified this way. Relativity can also affect how long it takes to fill (or deplete) a particular motive, so if you don't find what you're looking for in Retuner and the action is supposed to fill a motive, for example showering or sleeping, try looking through Relativity settings. However, for something like writing love letters, I'm guessing you might need a standalone mod.
>
> @Raiiven That means that something in your user folder is preventing the game from loading. Try moving your files from the old Sims 3 folder to the new one a few at a time; whenever the game stops loading, you'll know that one of the last files you moved is a problem, and you'll need to split the last batch and retest until you find out which one. Not all files need to be transferred, and in fact it's better to leave behind those that the game will regenerate as needed. For a more thorough explanation, please read this:
>
> https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html
>
> The black background on your save thumbnail is nothing to worry about on its own. If you see other signs of trouble, then it's worth investigating, but the thumbnail itself can look weird for strange reasons or no reason at all.
Thank you so much! It was actually the nointro.package that was stopping my game. But now I am having trouble with the edge scroll. It isn't working even when checked in fullscreen mode. It is affecting my ability to build.
Does anyone have an idea what I can do? I've been through so much trouble trying to get this to work. I'm playing on parallels windows 11.
For edge scrolling, I've found that sometimes I need to disable the option, then reenable it, for it to work. It's listed in (I believe) the third or fourth tab under Options, along with memories, interactive loading screens, lessons, and a few other settings.
If edge scrolling still doesn't work, you can try deleting options.ini, in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3. If that doesn't help either, try out the various viewing modes listed here to see if edge scrolling works in any of them:
https://www.parallels.com/blogs/switch-between-mac-windows/
I'd think Full Screen View Mode would be the only working option, although it's worth trying all of them. Otherwise, placing your cursor at the edge of the game window would also mean placing it at the edge of the Windows window, and Parallels could expect that that meant you wanted to switch out of using the virtual machine and back to the host, i.e. from Windows back to macOS.
If you can't use edge scrolling regardless of your Parallels settings, you'll need to use the right-click to center feature.
I just lost my entire Sims 3 documents folder. I luckily have a backup of my save file but everything else such as my mods and screenshots are gone. While my game was saving, it crashed so I'm thinking that is the issue. Is there anyway to recover my folder or is it all gone?