World Adventures crashes back to The Sims 3

[suecorn13349]

The game has been playing properly until a few days ago when it started 'crashing' in the middle of playing World Adventures.  It goes back to The Sims 3 and all the World Adventures play is lost.

[puzzlezaddict]

@suecorn13349  I've moved your post to the Sims 4 PC tech section.

What do you mean that when you say your game "goes back to The Sims 3"?  When it crashes, do you get any error messages?  Please post a screenshot or copy and paste the message(s) here.

[suecorn13349]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply!  I am still having problems!   I did get an error message once, it said it was 'error 12', but I couldn't find out what that was, or how to fix it.   In the end I deleted 'World Adventures' and then reloaded it hoping that would sort it, but it hasn't - aargh!   The game crashes when I play 'World Adventures', or else it will not save the game and I lose the whole lot, not just the 'World Adventures' bit.   I have four games, the base game is The Sims 3, then I have 'Nightlife', 'World Adventures' and finally 'Pets'.

I'd better tell you that I am not a tech wizard by any means, so I find technical issues difficult!

[puzzlezaddict]

@suecorn13349  Just to clarify, if you've installed all of these packs on the same computer, then they're all active when you play.  It doesn't matter which one you click on to launch the game, they're all active.  So the issue may not be with World Adventures exactly, but the cumulative effect of all three packs.  Of course, you can disable specific packs in the launcher if you have a Windows/Origin install, but if they're checked off, they're all present in-game.

World Adventures itself isn't particularly demanding, but the travel transitions can be.  Is this when your game is crashing, when you send your sims traveling?  If not, what's happening in-game when it crashes?  How long can you play before it crashes?  Is this just with one save, or with all of them?  It's fine if you don't notice a pattern—the fact that the crashing is random would also be useful information.

Error 12 is an out-of-resources condition.  It just means that Sims 3 ran out of something (usually memory, sometimes video memory, maybe something else) and couldn't keep running.  The question then becomes why, and when, hence the above questions.

While this is going on, please be sure to delete the five cache files in your game folder in Documents.  (The full path is Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3.)  These files should be deleted regularly anyway, as they tend to clog up with stale data.  When you're troubleshooting, as now, it's best to delete them every time you quit the game.  For reference, the files are:

• CASPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache.package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package

Please also check the folder labeled CurrentGame, in the same file path, and delete anything you find there.  This folder should always be empty unless Sims 3 is actually running, but sometimes its contents don't get removed after the game crashes.

[suecorn13349]

Hi again,

I have deleted the five cache files as instructed.   I also checked the Current Game folder, but it was empty.   

I can send my Sims (usually a married couple) to a World Adventures location and play them there for maybe fifteen minutes or more (I haven't been watching the time!) and then, for no obvious reason, the game suddenly goes back to the base game and all of the World adventures play has disappeared.   If I  carry on playing the base game for a while and then want to save and exit the game it will not do either.  The other evening I had to pull out the electric plug and shut my computer off that way as I couldn't get out of the game!   The next day the whole time that I had played had disappeared.

The first time I had a problem was when I only sent ONE of a married couple on a World Adventure.   The Sim played fine and returned to the base game, but if I remember correctly after I continued playing the base game for a while and then wanted to save and exit it wouldn't.   When I send a couple on a World Adventure I have one play an adventure (for Visa points etc) and I have the other one buy books relevant to the specific location and read them.   I then swap them and send the other on an adventure to earn Visa points etc.   Is this causing problems?

I am now going to play, and will see what happens!   I shall save the game before sending any Sims on World Adventures, just in case!

[puzzlezaddict]

@suecorn13349  Are you saying that when you send your sims traveling to a vacation world (China, Egypt, or France), and you play for a few minutes, you suddenly find your sims back in their homeworld without doing anything to send them home?  If so, that's quite strange, and not something I've ever heard of before.  Crashing without saving your vacation world play would be unsurprising, and there are things you can do to lower the risk of that happening.  But please describe exactly what you're seeing, so I know what to suggest.

By the way, if you ever need to force quit the game, please don't pull the plug on your computer entirely.  It's not healthy for your system, and it's also unnecessary.  To force quit in Windows, click control-alt-delete at the same time, and select Task Manager.  (With some motherboards, it's control-alt-Windows key-delete.)  You'll see a list of running processes.  Select the Sims 3 entry and click End Process.  If that doesn't work, hold down the power button on your computer until it shuts down, or press the Reset button if you have one.

[suecorn13349]

Sorry about the delay in replying.

I sent one Sim to Egypt and that worked properly, no crashing.   However, today I sent two Sims to Egypt and played for maybe ten minutes when the game suddenly crashed.   This time I found myself back on the Origen sign in screen, not even in the game at all.   Usually when it crashes it goes back to the base game and I've lost all the World Adventures play that I had been in the middle of playing.   I've had problems signing in to Origen recently too.   Today I just had to click on the game icon to start playing as the Origen screen wouldn't (couldn't) get the game running.

[puzzlezaddict]

@suecorn13349  For the Origin issues, try clearing its cache, and if that doesn't work, uninstalling it "the hard way" and reinstalling.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/

For the crashing, I have a couple different thoughts.  First, open a File Explorer window and type "deviceconfig" without quotes into the search bar.  If you get more than one entry, please copy the file path for each one into a post.  You can see the full file path by hovering over it (directly underneath the word deviceconfig).

Please also run a dxdiag on this computer and attach the results to a post.  Here are full instructions:

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

[suecorn13349]

Hi,

Well I've done the clearing of my cache.   I played the game last night and it (started) went back to where it had crashed the other day (Egypt).   I played for quite a while, saving as I went, then sent my Sims back home at the end of their vacation.   I played for a short while afterwards then saved and exited.   It all worked properly I'm pleased to say.

I also did the dxdiag this evening and will TRY to attach it!   I haven't done anything else, like the hard delete for Origin - that sounds rather drastic as if I get it wrong I could mess up my computer.   I think (hope!) it's not necessary!

[puzzlezaddict]

@suecorn13349  If Origin is working again, there's no need to uninstall and reinstall it.  Clearing its cache is usually good enough, but when it's not, uninstalling "the hard way" is the next step.  It wouldn't mess up your computer if you followed the instructions, but if you're uncomfortable with them, or you're not sure you know what to look for, there are apps that do the work for you.  Still, don't worry about it unless Origin starts causing problems again.

I'm glad to hear that you could play properly for at least one session.  The fact that you sometimes see an earlier instance of your save, as in, before you travelled, is so strange to me.  The only thing I can think of is that perhaps OneDrive is trying to sync your local Documents folder (the one stored on your computer) with cloud storage.

Do you have OneDrive enabled, and is it automatically storing your Documents folder?  If you open a File Explorer window, you may see a OneDrive entry on the left, along with the other folders usually displayed.  Just click on it and see if there's a Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 in there.  If there is, and your saves start reverting to earlier gameplay, we can troubleshoot that.  OneDrive is not difficult to tweak, although the settings aren't always obvious.

There's nothing in your dxdiag that jumps out; your computer seems fine overall.  It does look like there's an adblocker of some sort (StopAd?) that's throwing errors.  But if you're not noticing any problems, you don't really need to worry about it..  If you are, maybe the adblocker just needs to be updated.