The Sims 3 crashing due to "Insufficient Graphics Capability"

[puzzlezaddict]

@NandaCeloCillo  I would delete all the registry entries for a given pack just to be on the safe side, but you can experiment if you want.  As long as you have backups of each section you're messing with, you can always restore them if necessary.  But don't delete the entire Sims(Steam) folder in either location; I think that might prevent you from launching the game at all.  Or it might not; like I said, I'm judging this method by other people's reports, as I don't have the skill set to do anything worthwhile in CAW.

Your laptop is always going to struggle a bit to run Sims 3, so I wouldn't be surprised if you saw the occasional crash even when you were being careful.  Switching quickly between Map View and street view can be rough too—that crashed my game a month or two ago, and I have a gaming PC that has no issues running Sims 3.  (That's one of four or five Sims 3 crashes I've had in three years on this computer.)  So I wouldn't consider that a sign of trouble, just a reason to move the camera more slowly and deliberately.

As for whether the Smooth Patch is contributing, that depends on how your processor is handling the load.  You can get a rough idea in the Task Manager's performance tab, which shows the load per CPU core.  Sims 3 can only use two cores or threads, but given the way Windows shifts the load and the lack of precision in the Task Manager's reporting, you might see a high load on all four cores.  The important question is whether any cores are actually running at or close to 100%.  If they are, try lowering the Smooth Patch's TPS to 200 or 300, which should still be a significant improvement over the vanilla game but not as taxing on the CPU.

And yes, more-progressed saves are more demanding than new ones, but I think the bigger issue may be that you added back your old Sims 3 folder with its existing custom content.  In your place, I'd stick with the new folder and add cc to it slowly, testing to make sure all the content works fine.  But if you'd prefer to use the old folder and sort through your content there, that's also a valid approach.

[NandaCeloCillo]

@puzzlezaddict  Thank you so much for all your input, you've literally helped me soooo much!

I'll definitely try lowering the TPS on the smooth patch and keep the new Sims 3 file. I'll probably also settle for lowering my graphic settings bit by bit and see how that goes.

If I encounter further problems, I'll probably make a new thread. I'll also see how things go with disabling packs and using CAW.

Once again, thank you!