The Sims 3 crashing and freezing [ Edited ]

[Mattalou]

I have recently brough The Sims 3 and I have spent the last four hours trying to fix the crashing issues I am having with it. I will try to provide all the infomation I can to get as much help as I can.

I downloaded it digitally through Origin.

The graphics will glitch on the Sim being created and the options windows will sometimes turn black.

The game will also sometimes freeze completely and will not respond to Alt Tabbing nor Alt F4

The game will sometimes crash fully leaving me with the screen going black and Windows telling me it has crashed and is looking for a problem.

What I've tried

I ran in in a window

I ran it at the lowest graphical options

I ran it with compatability mode Windows XP Service Pack 2, Disabled visual themes and Disabled desktop composistion

I tried the above all at the same time

I added the correct files to the DEP that I was told to

I have tried waiting for the Sim's clothes to fully load before editing them

Required Information

• What is your operating system

Windows 7

• At what point does your game crash ? Any regularities ?

When trying to create a Sim

• How long can you usually play ?

5 mins, never been able to actually create a Sim

• Which EP/SPs do you have installed ?

Not sure what EP or SPs are, this is just The Sims 3 and nothing else with it

• Are you using custom content and mods in your game ?

No

• It's also good to include your DxDiag

Not too sure what you want to see and been as there is a 20,000 character limited, see links below:

http://puu.sh/2w0nz

http://puu.sh/2w0pJ

I hope all of this is helpful and useful, it would be nice to get a fix for this game as it cannot be returned due to EA's policy of digital copies of their games. So it'd be nice to not have wasted £29.99 on this game.

[crinrict · Accepted solution]

Thanks for all the details. 

If you also have a chip on your motherboard, the game might have troubles recognizing the card itself (which is entirly the fault of the game)

Here's a guide on that: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=481768

And here's how to check if it recognizes the card: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Getting_new_graphics_cards_recognized_by_the_game

If you are willing to try a third party tool, there's a tool called crash log analyzer (just google). It isn't a magic tool that helps solve all issues but it can give you some indication in which direction you should look.

[Mattalou]

DIdn't know I had to run the 64-Bit DxDiag and I ran out of time to edit my post, whatever that means, so here are the right screenshots

http://puu.sh/2w0x6

http://puu.sh/2w0B9

[crinrict]

Your specs look good and thanks for the detailed info. Helps a lot.

Question though: Do you have also a chip in that computer or only the Nvidia card ? Is it a laptop or a desktop ? How much disc space do you have left ?

Does it just crash in CAS or in the game as well (use a pre-made Sim to find out) ?

[Mattalou]

• Do you have also a chip in that computer or only the Nvidia card ?

Could you be more specific on this question? The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 is a graphics card and I am running my PC off of that and not the on board chip if that is what you are asking.

• Is it a laptop or a desktop ?

It is a desktop PC

• How much disc space do you have left ?

1.02 Terabytes

• Does it just crash in CAS or in the game as well (use a pre-made Sim to find out) ?

It crashed first of all before I got to pick a premade Sim, then it crashed second time when tried running through the tutorial, then it crashed a third time when I set all the graphical options back to the lowest and put it in a window, then it crashed a 4th time when I also set up the compatability options again.

When it crashes, the screen turns black and I get the window pop up that tells me The Sims 3 has crashed and is checking for a solution.

[crinrict · Accepted solution]

Thanks for all the details. 

If you also have a chip on your motherboard, the game might have troubles recognizing the card itself (which is entirly the fault of the game)

Here's a guide on that: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=481768

And here's how to check if it recognizes the card: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Getting_new_graphics_cards_recognized_by_the_game

If you are willing to try a third party tool, there's a tool called crash log analyzer (just google). It isn't a magic tool that helps solve all issues but it can give you some indication in which direction you should look.

[Mattalou]

I installed the Crash Log Analyzer and it turns out it did not recognize my graphics card. So I followed the guide to add it, though it was VERY complicated to understand, but I did it and from the guide it appears I now have The Sims 3 recognizing my graphics card.

The only problem now is that the Crash Log Analyzer is telling me I need to have 4 GB of RAM when I have 8 installed... any ideas?

Screenshot of the Crash Log Analyzer

http://puu.sh/2wVZ3

Screenshot of My Computer Properties

http://puu.sh/2wW35

[crinrict]

Is it still crashing ? 

Your system is 64 bit, right ? It just means that the game has used up all memory but there's not much one can do about it since Sims is only a 32 bit application.

Did you ever actually got to play the game ?

[Mattalou]

Is it still crashing ?

Yes it crashed.

Your system is 64 bit, right ?

Yes this is a 64 bit version of Windows.

Did you ever actually got to play the game ?

Yes, but again like before only about 5 minutes before it crashed.

[crinrict]

Can you choose copy to clipboard in the crash log analyzer and post the whole thing ?

[Mattalou]

          Processor Name: AMD A6-3670 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
  Processor Architecture: AMD64
      Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (1023.69 MiB)

Games Installed: The Sims™ 3 (1.50.56.021017)
 Custom Content: Yes (1 found)

[UNKNOWN] 09/04/2013 17:08:17
     OS Version: 6.1.7601
       TS3 Path: F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe
    TS3 Version: 0.2.0.188
  Installed RAM: 7.98 GiB
    TS3 Free VM: 3.85 GiB / 4.00 GiB
     Crash Type: ACCESS_VIOLATION writing address 0x0000000c
  Crash Address: 0x004e568c "F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe":0x0001:0x000e468c

[UNKNOWN] 09/04/2013 17:10:05
     OS Version: 6.1.7601
       TS3 Path: F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe
    TS3 Version: 0.2.0.188
  Installed RAM: 7.98 GiB
    TS3 Free VM: 3.85 GiB / 4.00 GiB
     Crash Type: ACCESS_VIOLATION writing address 0x0000000c
  Crash Address: 0x004e568c "F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe":0x0001:0x000e468c

[UNKNOWN] 09/04/2013 17:12:47
     OS Version: 6.1.7601
       TS3 Path: F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe
    TS3 Version: 0.2.0.188
  Installed RAM: 7.98 GiB
    TS3 Free VM: 3.85 GiB / 4.00 GiB
     Crash Type: ACCESS_VIOLATION writing address 0x0000000c
  Crash Address: 0x004e568c "F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe":0x0001:0x000e468c

[UNKNOWN] 09/04/2013 17:14:36
     OS Version: 6.1.7601
       TS3 Path: F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe
    TS3 Version: 0.2.0.188
  Installed RAM: 7.98 GiB
    TS3 Free VM: 3.85 GiB / 4.00 GiB
     Crash Type: ACCESS_VIOLATION writing address 0x0000000c
  Crash Address: 0x004e568c "F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe":0x0001:0x000e468c

[INSUFFICIENT MEMORY] 09/04/2013 18:00:14
     OS Version: 6.1.7601
  Installed RAM: 7.98 GiB
    TS3 Free VM: 419 MiB / 4.00 GiB
     Crash Type: ACCESS_VIOLATION writing address 0x00000010
  Crash Address: 0x004aa017 "F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe":0x0001:0x000a9017

[INSUFFICIENT MEMORY] 09/04/2013 18:06:37
     OS Version: 6.1.7601
  Installed RAM: 7.98 GiB
    TS3 Free VM: 482 MiB / 4.00 GiB
     Crash Type: ACCESS_VIOLATION writing address 0x00000ab8
  Crash Address: 0x00567708 "F:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe":0x0001:0x00166708