The Sims 3 64 Bit Keeps Freezing

[Atheist_Monk]

@puzzlezaddict Game has never crashed on me. The higher settings just cause a hang of 10-40 seconds (seriously) every 30 seconds - 1 minute. Sometimes its just hanging, 3 seconds of play to more hanging.

Windowed mode makes no difference.

I have the base game and nightlife.

Ive played in the default base game world and the nightlife world, forgive me for not knowing the names off hand. (same problem in each world.

I do not use mods or CC.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Atheist_Monk  Great, thanks so much for the info.

[Atheist_Monk]

@puzzlezaddict So I upgraded to Big Sur and now when lighting is on high the game is unplayable. It flickers like mad or just shows a black screen. I'm just gonna shelve this for a few months. EA doesn't seem to have any official concern now that the game "launched". I don't think this is an issue the community can resolve.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Atheist_Monk  I have no idea whether this issue will get addressed, but I do know that EA is keeping an eye on the issues reported here.  The question will be whether the problem has a simple enough fix.  If it took reworking the graphics engine, that would probably be too much work, but perhaps there's an easier intervention.

I understand why you might not want to keep working on this, but if you felt like experimenting, you could try editing some of the values tied to the lighting setting in graphicsrules.sgr.  It may be that one particular value is the issue, and you could set it to low while leaving the others as is.  To be honest, I'm not totally sure editing graphicsrules has an effect anymore; it seems like something else in the game is overriding at least some of the settings.  At any rate, it doesn't hurt to try.

To access graphicsrules, find the Sims 3.app wherever you installed it.  (The default is the user Applications folder.)  If you see a Sims 3 Pack folder but not the base game .app, hit cmd-shift-. (period) to show hidden files and folders.  Right-click on the .app and select Show Package Contents, and from there open:

Contents > Resources > The Sims 3 [right-click, Show Package Contents] > Contents > Resources

Make a copy of graphicsrules.sgr for safekeeping, then open it and cmd-F to search for "lighting" without quotes.  You'll land here:

option LightingQuality
    setting $Low
        prop $ConfigGroup ShadowMapSize 1024
        prop $ConfigGroup RenderShadowsEnabled false
		prop $ConfigGroup InteriorLightProbeCount 3
		prop $ConfigGroup LowDetailLightmaps true
		prop $ConfigGroup ShadowColorFormatWorkaround $intelShadowColorFix
		prop $ConfigGroup HighRezTranslucency false
    setting $Medium
        prop $ConfigGroup ShadowMapSize 1024
        prop $ConfigGroup RenderShadowsEnabled true
		prop $ConfigGroup InteriorLightProbeCount 8
		prop $ConfigGroup LowDetailLightmaps false
		prop $ConfigGroup ShadowColorFormatWorkaround $intelShadowColorFix
		prop $ConfigGroup HighRezTranslucency false
    setting $High
        prop $ConfigGroup ShadowMapSize 2048
        prop $ConfigGroup RenderShadowsEnabled true
		prop $ConfigGroup InteriorLightProbeCount 20
		prop $ConfigGroup LowDetailLightmaps false
		prop $ConfigGroup ShadowColorFormatWorkaround $intelShadowColorFix
		prop $ConfigGroup HighRezTranslucency true

You can change the settings under High one at a time to see whether anything makes a difference.  Like I said though, I'm not sure it will; it's just worth trying.  I'd do it myself, but so far, I haven't had this issue.

[mangogirl10]

@resinator11 I'm having this issue as well

[toyotacamri98]

Hi so I turned my game into window mode and turned down all of my settings, and it totally worked. I am wondering if I can exit window mode or to keep it from freezing it has to stay in the window mode. Thank you!

[puzzlezaddict]

@toyotacamri98  You can certainly try playing in fullscreen mode again.  It's best to use an aspect ratio that matches your screen, e.g. if its resolution is 2880x1800, use an in-game resolution with a 16:10 aspect ratio.  You'll also get better performance with a lower resolution overall.  Feel free to experiment a bit.

[Qissaucegod]

Im having a similar problem where I load a game and I play for around 5-10 minutes then my game will freeze. My games volume will continue( like the clicking sounds and world surrounding noises) to play but, my screen will be frozen and my mouse will have a spinning rainbow. I waited around 5 minutes to see what would happen and it was still frozen. I entered window mode and my world started glitching back and forth from the frozen screen and the unfrozen screen 

[AngelSingz]

@Qissaucegod I've been having this exact problem since last October. I haven't been able to play then game at all. And i noticed that if i try to start a new game in a different world the screen with the loading bar just starts glitching and jumping so i have to force quit (sunset valley is a good example) but when it's Starlight Shores it loads fine but then after a few minutes of game play I experience the same thing you just described. It's so upsetting because I miss playing this game.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Qissaucegod and @AngelSingz  Please post the full specs of your Macs: everything under About This Mac except for the serial number.  Please also list the packs you've installed.