July 2020
Hello -
I am experiencing crashing in my Sims 3 game. I have recently installed it on my new computer this weekend.
I don't have many mods/CC (folder is 540 MB). The only mods are from nraas to help performance.
Can anyone assist or advise how I might fix this issue? Looked for help on sims forum and was advised it's most likely just the game's shotty behavior - but I wanted to reach out to see if anyone else had any other advice. Much appreciated - thanks!
Solved! Go to Solution.
July 2020
@m3wlissa The crash logs themselves are almost always useless, but the dxdiag and config.log are much more helpful. The first thing I see is that your GPU is rated as a 1, and somehow Matched but not Found, neither of which would happen by default. So it looks like you tried to get the card recognized, but it didn't work. While this isn't likely to be the issue, it could be in theory, since you might have your graphics settings a lot higher than the game thinks is appropriate.
I can help you get the card recognized, if you want. For now though, please restore the original .sgr files. Or, if you don't have them, repair the game in Origin: open your game library, right-click on the Sims 3 icon, and select Repair. This should revert both files to their original form.
Most of the Sims 3 crashes in your dxdiag reference DirectX 9, which the game uses. So try reinstalling it. There's no need to uninstall anything; just download the installer from Microsoft and run it, then restart your computer.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=8109
If that doesn't help, disable Corsair's iCUE software, which has also been crashing, and test.
If that doesn't help either, please temporarily unplug your second and third monitors. Sims 3 does sometimes run fine on a multiple monitor setup, but not always, and this is an easyt test.
July 2020
@m3wlissa The crash logs themselves are almost always useless, but the dxdiag and config.log are much more helpful. The first thing I see is that your GPU is rated as a 1, and somehow Matched but not Found, neither of which would happen by default. So it looks like you tried to get the card recognized, but it didn't work. While this isn't likely to be the issue, it could be in theory, since you might have your graphics settings a lot higher than the game thinks is appropriate.
I can help you get the card recognized, if you want. For now though, please restore the original .sgr files. Or, if you don't have them, repair the game in Origin: open your game library, right-click on the Sims 3 icon, and select Repair. This should revert both files to their original form.
Most of the Sims 3 crashes in your dxdiag reference DirectX 9, which the game uses. So try reinstalling it. There's no need to uninstall anything; just download the installer from Microsoft and run it, then restart your computer.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=8109
If that doesn't help, disable Corsair's iCUE software, which has also been crashing, and test.
If that doesn't help either, please temporarily unplug your second and third monitors. Sims 3 does sometimes run fine on a multiple monitor setup, but not always, and this is an easyt test.
July 2020
Thanks so much! I believe I have correctly installed the DirectX 9, but I'd also like to get my graphics card recognized. I tried to follow a few tutorials but I am still not getting it to recognize.
July 2020 - last edited July 2020
Actually, found this cool little mod to do it for me on Nexus.
July 2020
@m3wlissa Does the game work now, with the card recognized? I'd also be curious to see what the mod did, if you'd be willing to post another deviceconfig. (I actually only need to see the 15 lines between "Graphics device info" and "Options," if you'd rather copy and paste them into a reply.) By the way, please remove the mod link itself: links to third-party downloads aren't allowed on this site.
If you didn't get an error when reinstalling DX9, then it worked in all likelihood. Windows almost always complains when something doesn't run to completion.
July 2020
Yes - I think applying these two fixes did the job! I've been playing for about 3.5 hours with no crashes (saving as I go).
I'm not finding the text you're looking for, so I will attach the file here.
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your suggestions here - I've been wanting to play TS3 for a long time, and was hoping my new computer would make it possible. Thanks again!
July 2020
@m3wlissa Yeah, the GPU recognition mod definitely did its job. In case you're curious, these are the important lines, in bold:
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
Name (database): GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER [Found: 1, Matched: 1]
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1e84, Board: 139e10de, Chipset: 00a1
Driver: nvldumd.dll, Version: 27.21.14.5148, GUID: D7B71E3E-5DC4-11CF-7267-90331BC2D635
Driver version: 5148
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 2048MB
I'm glad to hear the game is working well now. Saving as you go is still a good idea, because Sims 3 can be difficult all on its own even without any computer issues. Even better would be to use "save as" periodically to rename the save, so if you ever need to, you can revert to a slightly older save and only lose a bit of time. I use "save as" at least once a sim-day, and I keep the last 4-6 saves and delete the older ones when I know I don't need them.