Mac Mini w/ OS X Yosemite

[MzThycke]

I've been having issues with crashing as well. I uninstalled & reinstalled still the same problem with freezing then ultimately the entire game crashing. My Mac Mini is brand new just purchased in February 2015. I really think that with the Sims 4 dropping there won't be any support for the Sims 3 on Mac. Funny there isn't a Sims 4 on Mac either.  

[caspinwall]

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@MzThycke wrote:

I've been having issues with crashing as well. I uninstalled & reinstalled still the same problem with freezing then ultimately the entire game crashing. My Mac Mini is brand new just purchased in February 2015. I really think that with the Sims 4 dropping there won't be any support for the Sims 3 on Mac. Funny there isn't a Sims 4 on Mac either.  

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Hello

The Sims 4 is now available for Mac. See here: http://www.thesims.com/en_GB/mac

As far as The Sims 3 goes, it is true that there is not likely to be any further support. I don't know how well the game plays on Mac Mini. How much RAM do you have in that? I've posted some Tips below that may help you in general with crashing/freezing on Mac OS X.

Caspin

Tips for Mac simmers

Unfortunately a lot of TS3 players encounter problems when playing the game on their Mac. These can include crashing and freezing. A lot of these issues can be avoided or at least improved by the following measures.

Firstly, manually reset your RAM while playing. See BluebellFlora's guide on how to do this: http://bluebellflora.com/the-sims-3-on-a-mac/resetting-ram-during-gameplay/

I restart my computer before I play TS3. Close down other things that are running in the background. The memory used as seen in Activity Monitor is at about 3GB after the restart. If I open the Launcher it goes up to around 11 GB (that's all I've done - just opened the Launcher!). At this point I reset the RAM. Then I hit play and get through the opening sequence. I then press cmd-return to put the game in windowed mode from time to time while playing (and always before saving or using CAS). That way I can keep an eye on the memory and reset RAM if necessary. Being in windowed mode also allows you to close the game using force quit if it freezes up - it's better to crash the game than your whole computer.

Second tip is to save frequently. I save at least once per sim day. Use the option to Save or Save As, rather than the combined Save and Quit.

Make sure you are patched up to date. The 1.63 patch included fixes for Mac simmers that did actually improve the stability of the game on our operating systems, so it is well worth updating to at least that level. The current patch is 1.67.

The game runs better if you switch off the memories system and disable the in-game Store and social features.

For general advice, information and tips on how to play TS3 on a Mac, read BluebellFlora's guide here: http://bluebellflora.com/how-to-play-the-sims-3-on-a-mac/

[MzThycke]

I have 8GB more than enough. I've done all the things listed & still have issues with crashing. I do save more often so I dont lose all my progress. Its frustrating as hell though I can't play for more than 1hr without issues.

[caspinwall]

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@MzThycke wrote:
I have 8GB more than enough. I've done all the things listed & still have issues with crashing. I do save more often so I dont lose all my progress. Its frustrating as hell though I can't play for more than 1hr without issues.

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I'm not sure what more I can tell you. I have 16 GB RAM and I still have to purge it manually to get the game to run properly because of the way the game was made for the operating system. Although 8 GB RAM should be enough, the fact is that the game can only access 2 GB but chews through a lot of memory because of inefficiency - you can see this happen if you keep Activity Monitor open - the longer you play, the higher the 'used memory' will go and eventually it will run out and crash.

There can be other reasons that the game might freeze and crash, however. The more expansion packs or installed content you have, the bigger the demand on the game. There's also the advantage of using some mods to clean up the game and keep in running more efficiently, but too much CC can bloat the game and cause it to run less well.

The website I linked to - BluebellFlora's site - has various sections with advice for Mac simmers so it would be worth reading those through to see if you can maximise your chances of playing the game for longer.

Good luck!

Caspin