The Sims 3 crash inside CAS without error message

[YFloover]

I'm not entirely sure for how long I've had this problem, but I think it's at least two months. My game crashes while in Create A Sim. It has happened a lot lately and is bothering me a lot since creating a sim is what I like to do the most in The sims. 

I get no error message, everything freezes for a second and the music turns off before it goes black and finally I end up with my desktop being shoved in my face. It doesn't happen every time but more than enough for it to be a burden. Usually it crashes around 20-30 minutes in, but it has also crashed after only 5. For a while I thought it only happened while I was making outfits but now it has also happened when I was choosing personality traits. It has never crashed outside of CAS. It has also only happened when creating female sims, but it is very likely that that's because I mostly create female sims. It has gotten to the point where I save my sims to the bin every few steps so that in case it crashes I won't have lost them, but I forget to do that quite frequently. 

More info:

I use Windows 10 pro

I play via origin using these packs:

Supernatural

Late Night

Ambitions

Pets

Seasons

University Life

Generations

No stuff packs

I use a few mods like TimeShifter, PosePlayer mod. I use some NRaas mods, such as MsterController, aswell. I also use quite lot of custom content, all of it comes from The Sims Resource. From what I can tell all the mods and the custom content I use are safe, but I'm definitely no expert. 

I have no other issues with The Sims 3, apart from the occasional lag when I do stuff a little bit too quickly. 

I have attached DXdiag info.

I'm willing to provide more info if needed. But it would be appreciated if instructions are very clear and if possible I would like a step by step how to get the needed info. I get confused very easily and the fact that I'm not tech savvy at all probably doesn't help...

Thank you for your time and help!

[puzzlezaddict]

@YFloover  Most of the Sims 3 errors in your dxdiag are access violations, meaning the game tried to access a memory address in a way that is not allowed, and Windows crashed the application.  This can have a number of different causes, including poorly made custom content, so it's not always obvious what the problem is.

To that end, start with the basics: clear Origin's cache, restart your computer, and repair the game: open your Origin game library, right-click on the Sims 3 icon, and select Repair.  If you've taken steps to get your graphics card recognized, please put aside copies of the two .sgr files before repairing, so you can put them back later—the repair will return those files to their original form.  Leave the files in their default condition for now though.  Having an unrecognized card shouldn't exacerbate the crashing, and it's easier to troubleshoot with fewer factors to account for.

One of the errors in your dxdiag mentions a component of the 2005 VC++ runtime, which Sims 3 uses.  So it's a good idea to uninstall it and install a fresh copy from Microsoft.  Hit Windows key-i, select Apps, and scroll down to where the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables are listed.  You want the 2005 x86 version; ignore the x64 version if you have it, or the versions from any other years.  Click on it and select Uninstall.  Then you can download a new copy from Microsoft here:

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

You only need to install the x86 version, not the others.  Restart your computer before testing.

If you get another crash, please test in a clean user data folder.  Move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Don't add anything to this folder yet, not your saves or sims and definitely not your custom content; just spend some time in CAS and see whether the game crashes.  Let me know either way.

It should also be noted that your dxdiag lists a few crashes of Alicia.exe.  I don't know how to troubleshoot the game, if you're playing it, but if you're not currently, you'll want to uninstall it completely.

[YFloover]

I did the first things you suggested and still crashed so I removed the The Sims 3 folder and it seems like it worked. It was on for over an hour without any issues at all. I believe that means that it's some custom content that's at fault here, right? What should my next steps be? I would prefer to keep playing with custom content as it enhances my interest in the game a lot.

[puzzlezaddict]

@YFloover  The next step would be testing your custom content to see what's causing the crashes.  If you can remember what categories of clothing or hair you were using when the game crashed, you might be able to narrow it down, for example maybe looking at YA female formal outfits causes crashes, so you can exclude any outfits for males or children.  But if there are multiple bad items, it may be more difficult to find the cause.

Whether you can narrow things down or not, the 50/50 method may speed things up, at least for .package-based content: test half your custom content, and if it's fine, test half of the remaining half.  If the game crashes, split the batch you just added in half and test that.  Continue until you've narrowed down the source of the problem.  If there's only one bad file, it shouldn't take that long to find it, for example a thousand cc items can be sorted this way in ten tests.  If there are multiple files, it would take longer, although not necessarily twice as many tests, since you can still set aside any batch of cc that doesn't cause problems.

For cc installed in .Sims3Pack form, it's a bit more complicated, since you need to test the entire bundled .dbc file (in DCCache) at once.  There's no way to split its contents.  Method by Mell, on this page, may help, with the twist that instead of examining the .dbc files one at a time in the launcher, you're testing them one at a time in-game, at least at first.  You can uninstall any problem items through the launcher once you've identified them.

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/tutorial-how-to-get-rid-of-unwanted-custom-content.html

[1107005]

Hey so I have the same problem but I have absolutely no cc ... I've tried so many different things but it still crashes 

[puzzlezaddict]

@1107005  Please move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Don't add anything to it yet; just see whether the game crashes in CAS again.

If it does, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

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

[1107005]

Thanks so much. It worked , it's still lags but atleast it doesnt crash , so once again thanks