Sims 3 constant crashing - steam

[gwendaisy8]

Hello. 

Last month I bought a new pc that had specific specs to run well in sims 3 but I’ve still had constant problems. I’ve noticed my memory almost always goes over 40% in a short amount of time. My game has also recently been crashing every 10 minutes to an hour of gameplay.

I’m getting quite frustrated because the whole purpose of buying this expensive pc was so I could play my game without issues and stream on twitch, but I can’t do either. 

it’d be great to hear from someone who understands all the stuff. 

[roberta591]

@gwendaisy8 

please post your computer's dxdiag - how to collect dxdiag data then attach the txt file to the paper click iin the lower right of the forum response window. If the computer is new it could be over heating. New computer frequently need updated drivers. Could be defective components. An under rated power supply comes to mind. Does the computer crash only when playing the game? Does the computer crash at a certain point or is the crash random?

[gwendaisy8]

I've attached the dxdiag file. Also it only crashes when I am playing sims but that is also the only thing I do on this computer.

[gwendaisy8]

The crashes are also random

[puzzlezaddict]

@gwendaisy8  Your dxdiag shows a few different errors that could be related to the crashing.  First there are Windows errors, so please run a couple of basic checks on your Windows system files:

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the button to check for updates.  If any install, restart again afterwards.

Next, install the newest graphics driver from Nvidia.  Don't use GeForce Experience or an updater app; download and install it manually from here:

https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/183939/en-us

Run the installer as an admin: right-click on the download and select "Run as administrator."  Choose the custom route and click the box to perform a clean install.  Restart when it's done.

Finally, uninstall and reinstall the VC++ 2005 x86 runtime, which Sims 3 uses.  Your dxdiag shows a couple of errors related to that runtime, and while the issue might be the game itself, it's easy enough to reinstall the runtime and best to cover your bases.  Hit Windows key-i, select Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables, click on the 2005 version, and select Uninstall.  You can get a  new copy from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26347

You only need the x86 version, not the other two.

Please also let me know whether you've taken steps to manually limit fps when playing Sims 3.  If you haven't, and you'd like help with the process, let me know.  Even if you have, be sure to check in-game with the cheat fps on ; an fps counter will appear in the upper right corner of your screen, and it should never go above 144, the refresh rate of your monitor.

And check how much RAM Sims 3 itself is using while you play, both right after you've loaded a save and the game clock has started running and after about 20 real-time minutes of play, if you can get that far.

[gwendaisy8]

Ok so I did all this and nothing. 

It had been working the past couple days so I thought everything was fine and then today, it keeps crashing in the loading screen. I can’t even get into the game. 

that’s when I decided to try all these things you mentioned plus I reset my whole sims folder and still it crashes in the second loading screen. 

I have no idea what to do. 

Also the message I got from that sfc scan thing was that everything was working fine. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@gwendaisy8  When you reset the Sims 3 folder, did you add anything to it before testing?  I'm curious whether you could load a new save with none of your existing content present.  If you haven't tried it already, please do so now.

If the game still crashes, please try again, this time playing while your computer is completely offline.  You don't need to sign into Steam: just launch the game directly from TS3W.exe, which by default is located here:

Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\common\The Sims 3\Game\Bin