Serious error message when trying to load a saved game

[MsV0912]

Help please I keep getting a message when trying to open a saved game/town: "a serious error has occurred the application has to be shut down". There are no error codes, this happens just before the saved game would normally open. I've had two support emails from EA with lists of suggested fixes none of which have resolved the problem. We bought and installed the game through Origin about a week ago and only have two expansion packs which came as a bundle there is no custom content as we have hardly had a chance to play it yet... Ive opened the saves folder and there are no bad save files that I can see. It seems to open a new game fine but when it comes time to save there was an error message, we then tried using save as which worked but we have not been able to open the saved game since. We have a PC laptop with Windows 10, Ive tried running in compatability mode and Win XP service pack 3 gets selected by default

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@MsV0912  This computer would probably have run the TS3 base game and Late Night okay when it was new.  Its graphics card is in the database, and is listed as low-medium, and its processor is slower than is ideal but not terrible.  However, laptops wear out more quickly than desktops, so I don't know how this one's performance would be now.  You could try the game and see, but don't be surprised if it doesn't run well, or at all.

You should see the option to put Origin in offline mode in one of the dropdown menus in the upper left corner of your screen.  I can't check the exact path in Windows right now, as I'm on a mac, but for me, I just click Account and select Go Offline.  Do this before you press play, so that the launcher's ads and store content don't load—they take extra RAM too.

[puzzlezaddict]

@MsV0912  You don't need to run TS3 in compatibility mode; it works fine in Windows 10.  The most common cause of the "serious error" message is having your game folder (the one in Documents\EA) open while you're loading the game.  Please make sure this is closed before you launch TS3.

Please also make sure that the game folder isn't being stored in OneDrive.  Windows 10 loves to move everything in Documents to cloud storage, but TS3 can't properly read its files there.  I imagine that the syncing process might cause the game to crash while loading the data from your save.

Another possibility is that this save was somehow corrupted.  You can try making a new save—no need to spend much time on it; this is just for testing—and quitting and reloading.  If this new save works, you might just have bad luck with the old one.

If you can't reload the new save, or something else goes wrong, please run a dxdiag on your computer and attach the results to a post (use the Browse button).

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

[MsV0912]

Hi thanks for your reply I'm not sure if I've attached the DXDIAG file correctly. One drive has not been set up on this machine, the game folder is definitely closed on launch and once I receive the serious error message even starting a new game just gives the same message. Also the extra town that came in the expansion pack is missing from the list of choices. Another odd thing is when I quit out of the game it doesn't fully shut down but remains on in the back ground not responding until I end task in the task manager.

[MsV0912]

I will try opening the game next and selecting a new game first without trying to open the saved game

[MsV0912]

Ive tried uninstalling/reinstalling the entire game through the origin site as well as fully uninstalling all Origin content but Ive not tried uninstalling the Sims game from the pc using add/remove programs, could this possibly reset something that is damaged or corrupt?

[puzzlezaddict]

@MsV0912  You can uninstall through Origin or using Windows tools, but either way, you need to use a tool like Piriform's CCleaner (free download) to clean your registry afterwards.  Neither typical method of uninstalling will reach these registry entries.

Just so you know, you need to download expansion and stuff packs separately from the base game.  If you didn't see Late Night or High-End Loft Stuff in the Origin download queue, then neither would be in your game, and Bridgeport wouldn't be available to load as a new town.

However, neither of these points has anything to do with the main issue, namely that your computer isn't really strong enough to run TS3.  Your graphics card isn't even in the database, your processor is weaker than the usual recommendation, and you only have 4 GB RAM.  Whether this hardware would run even the base game is kind of a tossup.

If you want to try, though, install the base game only, then restart your computer, login to Origin, put it in offline mode, take your computer completely offline before launching the game.  Don't open any other apps, not even a browser window, so that your computer has as much memory available as possible.  You may need to turn your graphics options down to low; if it works, you can try turning a couple up to medium, but always keep water and high detail lots on low.  Also turn off memories and the hidden object interactive loading screens.

If none of this works, then unfortunately, there's probably not anything else you can do to get TS3 to run on this computer.  The game just does not adapt well to underpowered hardware.

[MsV0912]

I created a new game and it saved successfully, I quit then opened the game again and when trying to load the new game got the same serious error message it is strongly recommended that you restart the application. Also the town of Bridgeport is not in the town options even though it was when we first installed the game, both expansions are selected.

[MsV0912]

Ok I understand, I ran a free specs test on the machine before buying the game and it only brought up the Windows 10 possible compatibility issue the rest was ok, Sims 4 tested us as being underspeced on CPU Ghz so I went with 3. I'll try running it with base game only and see what it does. Can we download the game to another pc if its uninstalled from this machine?

[puzzlezaddict]

@MsV0912  When a town doesn't load, that means the pack isn't loading, but it was clearly installed correctly the first itme around.  The most obvious culprit would be the pack selector in the launcher (the tab is called "extra content" or something like that).  Packs can frequently uncheck themselves when you're not looking, and sometimes they look like they're checked but still don't load properly.  Some players have taken to unchecking and rechecking all the boxes each time they load the game, just to make sure everything loads.

The specs EA lists for TS3 haven't changed since the game was released, which means they're the specs to run the unpatched base game.  Even without packs, the base game has many more features than it did in 2009.  When recommending a computer to run all packs on high settings, we recommend these specs:

2.4 GHz processor, i7 for a laptop (i5 is fine for a desktop), or AMD equivalent.  Not U- or Y-series.

6 GB RAM, though 8 GB is better

Nvidia 950 or 1050 in a desktop, or 960m or 1050 ti in a laptop, or AMD equivalent

hard drive with at lesat 512 GB total storage, to hold program files, saved games, and custom content

If you're only going to run Late Night (and High-End Loft Stuff. which adds almost nothing to the game's demands), you wouldn't need such strong components.  I'd expect a 2.0 GHz processor, again not U- or Y-series, to be fine.  4 GB memory might be as well, although it would be tight; you'd want to close all other apps and play while offline.  A weaker dedicated graphics card would struggle very much with Pets, Seasons, Into the Future, and Island Paradise, but Late Night wouldn't present any issues.  Integrated cards may or may not handle LN, depending on their strength.

As for storage, the key is that you can keep at least 35-40 GB free at all times.  The game's program files will take about 10 GB, but the size of your game folder, with your saves and installed content, could be much larger.  Still, it's the easiest issue to manage, since you could store other data on an external drive if you really needed to.

You could always post a dxdiag on the other available computer if you want an idea of how TS3 would run.  And you can install on as many computers as you want, without uninstalling on this one.  Since you run the game through Origin, you can only play on one at a time, but Origin doesn't care how many installs you have.

[MsV0912]

This is an app 9 yo laptop specs