Whenever my game crashes I use the Crash Log Analyzer to see what (most likely) the issue was, and 9/10 times it was a 'ran out of memory' issue. That answer can be caused by many things though, in my case (I play in borderless window) when I would switch the window to another program a few times and then tried to save the game, it would almost always crash. So now when I play, I just don't switch windows or tab to another program and haven't had any crashes. But for others the answer isn't so easy to find.
I asked this question on Twitter and Reddit - you can read the responses if you'd like, and I wanted to ask the same thing here just to see if game crashing is an issue for you and when it happens and if you know a specific reason why it's happening.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Sims3/comments/vnr9wd/how_often_does_your_game_crash/
Comments
Since I started using NRAAS solely for game framework affecting mods and utilizing workarounds within NRAAS for various necessary things I need done in Sims - pretty much 75% of all stuff that are accomplished by other mods can be done through NRAAS if you dig hard enough in the NRAAS menu.
So I’ve cut out most other third party mods that affect gameplay controls and found an alternate way through NRAAS.
Now the only other third party mods I use are stuff that cannot be replicated by NRAAS and add new gameplay options.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
but there was few build and cas crashes in row before and after the pronouns update and my game has been running bit wild since mws
think the crashes were all after using gallery tho so theres that
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free
PoppySims Archive
InnaLisa Pose Archive
Devolution of Sims - a once customisable open world sandbox which has become a DLC Party catalog in a shoebox
I ♡ Pudding
Well, you're lucky because on the rare chance that my game crashes, it's because of this. To get it back, you can supposedly push F5 but that has never ever worked for me and I lose everything I did *cry*
Free Toddler and Kids Items | 100% FREE store items| Missing Store Stencils
Yeah it's a pain in the bum, especially if you haven't saved. There is a fix for it outlined here - https://fleurdeprairie.tumblr.com/post/87089812065/i-have-always-cried-every-time-someone-told-me
But it only works intermittently for me, so sometimes I lose everything I've done. There are odd occasions that even task manager wont fix it, because I can't even tab out of the game, I have to reset the PC. Thankfully those kinds of episodes are very far and few between 🤣
PoppySims Archive
InnaLisa Pose Archive
Devolution of Sims - a once customisable open world sandbox which has become a DLC Party catalog in a shoebox
I ♡ Pudding
I voted "once every few weeks", but it's rare. I always have the Resource Monitor running on a second screen, so I have an idea how much memory the game is using at every moment in time. This also means I know when to make my final save before I have to restart the game to get to a lower memory baseline again.
That said, I have crashes once in a while. It may happen if I have a big household, especially if the household members are doing stuff on different lots, stuff I told them to do, and then I go and switch between them all the time to give them new orders. That way, the game is loading different lots all the time, and it certainly doesn't like that if done too often. A specifically crash-prone situation is when a sim finishes an instrument performance with lots of spectators. The instrument animation has to stop, the game then waits for any potential incoming tips from the crowd, and then the animation to put the instrument into the inventory has to play. It's better to keep my fingers off keyboard and mouse during that time.
Another more common crash reason is turning the camera while all sims in a big household are busy doing stuff. Bonus points if the camera lands inside a wall and doesn't know what to show. Turning the camera on a tiny lot with lots of sims that have trouble routing is also an issue. Bonus points if that lot is next to a mountain or high building and the camera has to go up and down.
That said, all of these instances are relatively easy to avoid. I know I have to give the game time to finish something it's computing, and crashes usually happen if I forget that for a moment. Which is, as mentioned, rare.
It's really a crime this game was made on a 32-bit engine... If more ram was able to be used 99% of issues people have would never happen.
The second crash was when I'd built a new house and spent a lot of time recoloring floors and wallpapers as well as messing with the general layout. I probably should have quit when I was done, but I didn't feel like it; I did however save my build progress, so not much harm done.
The third crash was when I switched rapidly between map and street views. I'd pressed the wrong UI button and tried to undo it, and the game was unhappy. But that's unusual too: I've done that before without any negative consequences.
@Pary If you click crtl-alt-delete and select Sign Out, you should be booted to the Windows sign-in screen, no need to force-restart.
TS4 Sims in TS3
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
Ooh I honestly never even thought of that, I just mash the reset button Thanks, I will do that next time!
PoppySims Archive
InnaLisa Pose Archive
Devolution of Sims - a once customisable open world sandbox which has become a DLC Party catalog in a shoebox
I ♡ Pudding
The reason was because my old PC I played on had an outdated graphics card. I got a new PC last Christmas- 2021 but haven't played 3 much due to lack of ideas.
HillyPlays
P.A.C.E- Positive Attitude Changes Everything
Always annoying when I have spent an hour decorating...
HillyPlays
P.A.C.E- Positive Attitude Changes Everything
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
I've seen quite a few people this as their reason too, most of my crashes came from this as well. Does anyone have a reason why minimizing the game then bringing it back up causes such a jump in ram usage that it causes a crash?
I've never had this happen. It's really odd that some people frequently have crashes due to the same issue while others don't.
And that UI disappearance is really a pain! Still can't seem to learn to save as often as I should when building.
Yes, it's odd. I have another strange problem that others don't. I can't use cars by Fresh Prince, because they either corrupt or crash my game. I have no idea why.
The last time it happened was several weeks back while playing Twinbrook, and I had someone dancing inside an upper floor room of a skyscraper. I used testingcheatsenabled true to go into Build/Buy to change a radio station on one of the Wall Speakers to a custom station I made using Broadcaster. Once I tried to go back to Live mode, the game crashed without an error message. It's happened before due to this, though.
Nevertheless, unlike my first year of playing The Sims 3, it now rarely crashes due to suspect custom content. Most of the time, the crashes are due to "out of memory" errors while traveling if I have played for too long without restarting before beginning the travel process. More rarely, it may crash if I travel from a certain map if a memory leak occurs during the travel process, and RAM usage maxes out as a result.
If we're talking farther back than yeah it has randomly crashed before. I play Skyrim and that is a game notorious for it's random crashes so I kind of gotten used to it. This is why I have a ton of saves because you never know when the game decides for you that's it done and crashes.