Sims 3 64-bit keeps crashing [ Edited ]

[Silver3970]

SIms 3 64-bit keeps crashing. I'll be in game, playing with no problems then all of a sudden the game suddenly closes and the Apple report pops up. Nothing freezes or anything, it just closes.

This is what pops up for me:

Process: The Sims 3 [50437]
Path: /Users/USER/*/Sims3Launcher.app/Contents/MacOS/../Resources/The Sims 3.app/Contents/MacOS/The Sims 3
Identifier: com.ea.mac.thesims3.game
Version: 1.0
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2020-11-23 18:15:13.424 -0700
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.15.7 (19H2)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: 9921A62B-73B1-BB74-34D2-5E6B98A03C31

Sleep/Wake UUID: E77851F9-B721-47B3-9B51-DA84A3E2C9F5

Time Awake Since Boot: 760000 seconds
Time Since Wake: 420 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 41 AudioSystem

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000010
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Signal: Segmentation fault: 11
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0xb
Terminating Process: exc handler [50437]

External Modification Summary:
Calls made by other processes targeting this process:
task_for_pid: 2
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by this process:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by all processes on this machine:
task_for_pid: 525808
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0

VM Region Summary:
ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=679.6M resident=0K(0%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=679.6M(100%)
Writable regions: Total=1.0G written=0K(0%) resident=0K(0%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=1.0G(100%)

VIRTUAL REGION
REGION TYPE SIZE COUNT (non-coalesced)
=========== ======= =======
Accelerate framework 128K 1
Activity Tracing 256K 1
CG backing stores 176K 2
CG image 36K 8
CoreAnimation 84K 13
CoreGraphics 8K 1
CoreImage 8K 2
CoreUI image data 352K 7
Dispatch continuations 8192K 1
Foundation 4K 1
Image IO 28K 7
Kernel Alloc Once 8K 1
MALLOC 75.6M 56
MALLOC guard page 32K 6
STACK GUARD 56.2M 56
Stack 22.8M 56
VM_ALLOCATE 948.7M 267
VM_ALLOCATE (reserved) 36K 1 reserved VM address space (unallocated)
__DATA 32.1M 337
__DATA_CONST 129K 5
__FONT_DATA 4K 1
__LINKEDIT 389.8M 8
__OBJC_RO 32.3M 1
__OBJC_RW 1908K 2
__TEXT 289.8M 335
__UNICODE 564K 1
mapped file 84.3M 20
shared memory 636K 15
=========== ======= =======
TOTAL 1.9G 1212
TOTAL, minus reserved VM space 1.9G 1212

Model: MacBookAir7,2, BootROM 195.0.0.0.0, 2 processors, Dual-Core Intel Core i5, 1.8 GHz, 8 GB, SMC 2.27f2
Graphics: kHW_IntelHDGraphics6000Item, Intel HD Graphics 6000, spdisplays_builtin
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x802C, 0x4D5435324C3531324D3332443250462D3130
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x802C, 0x4D5435324C3531324D3332443250462D3130
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x117), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.111.1 AirPortDriverBrcmNIC-1615.2)
Bluetooth: Version 7.0.6f7, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en0
Serial ATA Device: APPLE SSD SM0128G, 121.33 GB
USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus
USB Device: BRCM20702 Hub
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Thunderbolt Bus: MacBook Air, Apple Inc., 27.2

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@Silver3970  The relevant mods for overall game stability are ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and MasterController; Traffic is also helpful in Bridgeport.  They're all from NRaas, and while I can't link mod download pages directly, google should know exactly what you're looking for.

ErrorTrap will do its job without any player interference and doesn't really have any player options.  Overwatch and Traffic will both work on default settings as well, although you can tweak them to your liking.  MasterController doesn't do anything unless you run a command, but it's quite useful for reseting stuck sims or broken objects.  For NRaas mod commands, you can always click City Hall or an in-game computer and select NRaas > mod name > etc.

The elevator issues are addressed to some extent by Overwatch, which will reset elevators during its nightly cleanup.  This happens by default at 5 am in urban worlds, including Bridgeport, but feel free to change the time if you want.  (NRaas > Overwatch > Settings > Set Alarm Hour)  The cleanup covers everything from vehicles and stereos to various kinds of sim data that can get corrupted.

At least in the beginning, you may want to disable its auto reset of stuck sims (NRaas > OW > Settings > Stuck Check Auto-Reset > False; but leave Stuck Check itself set to True), so you can instead find them and figure out why they're stuck.  When Overwatch finds a stuck sim, it will give you a notification, and you can click on the portrait in the notification to center on the affected sim.  If sims keep getting stuck in the same location, you'll know where you need to do some editing.

For NPC areas in apartments, the main issue is that resident sims appear behind the NPC-only doors and then can't use those doors to get out and become stuck.  There are a few different approaches, one of which is to put the NPC areas on an upper floor, so residents won't ever appear within those rooms.  There are lots of tutorials available that explain how to build or edit apartments in Sims 3 much better than I could, but the basic premise is that you remove the NPC room markers and doors and make the area public or part of the lobby.

It's also a good idea to run a MasterController Town Reset (NRaas > MC > Town Options > Reset Everything) every few sim-weeks, or if you notice the game slowing down.  This does literally reset everything in the world, so it can take a few minutes to run.  You can exempt the active household from a reset (NRaas > MC > Settings > Include Active Lot in Reset Everything > False) if you don't want your own sims affected.

It may take some time to find all the problem locations and edit them to your liking, but it can also be kind of a fun project to remodel the world as you see fit.

If you have questions about any of this, please feel free to ask.  Or you could ask on the NRaas site, where there are still a number of active players who know a lot about the mods and also a lot about Bridgeport.  So if you're not sure what to do about a particular location, someone may have useful insight to offer.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Silver3970  Please let me know what world you're playing in, which packs you have installed, and, if you have the Pets EP, whether the active household has any pets in it.

Please also attach your deviceconfig.log to a post; it's in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3.  (You'll need to manually open the folders; the file won't show up in a search.)  You can delete your user and computer names, about 25 lines down, but there's nothing else in that file that can identify you.

[Silver3970]

I'm in Bridgeport. I have Nightlife & the high-end loft pack, University, & Seasons. I have Riverview installed. I have some other stuff I bought on the exchange as well such as the Diva and Divo pack.

DeviceConfig copy.log

[puzzlezaddict]

@Silver3970  Your Mac is actually below the minimum requirements for the 64-bit version of Sims 3: specifically, the graphics chip is weaker than the minimum.  That doesn't mean you can't play, just that the game might not always be stable.  Seasons can add significantly to the demands on the graphics chip as well, particularly during inclement weather.

However, the issue here may be Bridgeport.  While it's not as broken as Isla Paradiso or some custom worlds, it does have routing issues, and sims can also get stuck in elevators or in the NPC rooms on the first floor of apartment buildings.  Stuck sims can cause crashing when the game engine tries and fails to reroute them, over and over, and eventually can't keep up with other demands.

I'm not saying this is the cause of the crashing, only that it could be, and it can cause crashes on more powerful systems than yours.  It's also something you can mostly fix, and without getting a new computer.  If you're interested in trying to address these issues, let me know how much work you'd like to do to try to edit the world, and whether you'd want to use mods.

[Silver3970]

@puzzlezaddict You're amazing! Yes, I'd do anything to fix my game. Thank you so much for your help and yes, I'll install mods to help fix it.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@Silver3970  The relevant mods for overall game stability are ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and MasterController; Traffic is also helpful in Bridgeport.  They're all from NRaas, and while I can't link mod download pages directly, google should know exactly what you're looking for.

ErrorTrap will do its job without any player interference and doesn't really have any player options.  Overwatch and Traffic will both work on default settings as well, although you can tweak them to your liking.  MasterController doesn't do anything unless you run a command, but it's quite useful for reseting stuck sims or broken objects.  For NRaas mod commands, you can always click City Hall or an in-game computer and select NRaas > mod name > etc.

The elevator issues are addressed to some extent by Overwatch, which will reset elevators during its nightly cleanup.  This happens by default at 5 am in urban worlds, including Bridgeport, but feel free to change the time if you want.  (NRaas > Overwatch > Settings > Set Alarm Hour)  The cleanup covers everything from vehicles and stereos to various kinds of sim data that can get corrupted.

At least in the beginning, you may want to disable its auto reset of stuck sims (NRaas > OW > Settings > Stuck Check Auto-Reset > False; but leave Stuck Check itself set to True), so you can instead find them and figure out why they're stuck.  When Overwatch finds a stuck sim, it will give you a notification, and you can click on the portrait in the notification to center on the affected sim.  If sims keep getting stuck in the same location, you'll know where you need to do some editing.

For NPC areas in apartments, the main issue is that resident sims appear behind the NPC-only doors and then can't use those doors to get out and become stuck.  There are a few different approaches, one of which is to put the NPC areas on an upper floor, so residents won't ever appear within those rooms.  There are lots of tutorials available that explain how to build or edit apartments in Sims 3 much better than I could, but the basic premise is that you remove the NPC room markers and doors and make the area public or part of the lobby.

It's also a good idea to run a MasterController Town Reset (NRaas > MC > Town Options > Reset Everything) every few sim-weeks, or if you notice the game slowing down.  This does literally reset everything in the world, so it can take a few minutes to run.  You can exempt the active household from a reset (NRaas > MC > Settings > Include Active Lot in Reset Everything > False) if you don't want your own sims affected.

It may take some time to find all the problem locations and edit them to your liking, but it can also be kind of a fun project to remodel the world as you see fit.

If you have questions about any of this, please feel free to ask.  Or you could ask on the NRaas site, where there are still a number of active players who know a lot about the mods and also a lot about Bridgeport.  So if you're not sure what to do about a particular location, someone may have useful insight to offer.

[Silver3970]

Okay, so I think I figured out why it keeps crashing. I created a new household and everything was fine until my sim had twins. I can play other households just fine and interact with MY household through theirs, but when I try switching to my original household, the game closes. Any fixes, maybe?

[puzzlezaddict]

@Silver3970  Do you use custom content?  Bad cc can cause this kind of issue.  If you do have cc, please try loading the household in a clean folder.  Move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts, open the launcher to spawn a clean folder, and copy the Saves folder from the old Sims 3 folder to the new one.  (Right-click on the folder and select Copy, then right-click in the new Sims 3 folder and select Paste.)  Don't move over any other files.  Since you're copying your saves, you can freely experiment on the new copies while the originals remain intact.

Load the save in the new folder and switch to the household that's been giving you trouble.  If you can play them without issues, you'll need to sort through your custom content until you find the problem file(s).  If you need help with this, please let me know whether you have .Sims3Pack- or .package-based cc, or both.

[Silver3970]

You're amazing and I think I'm in love with you. Thank you so much!

[dolcefied]

I do not use cc at all and my game still does the exact same thing. My game runs fine for about 40 minutes then crashes without lag unexpectedly.