Frozen Sims [ Edited ]

[escapedpolarbear]

macOS High Sierra
Version 10.13.6

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)
Processor: 2/7 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Startup Disk: Macintosh HD
Graphics: Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB
Serial Number: not to be entered in public

STORAGE

Macintosh HD
758.51 GB available of 999.35 GB

WOOD USB
5.82 GB available of 8 GB

[puzzlezaddict]

@escapedpolarbear  Please edit the serial number out of your previous post; you don't really want that info out in "public."

What I would guess is going on is that this save is running up against TS3's memory limit.  Unlike the Windows version, TS3 in mac OS can only use 2 GB of RAM at a time. The symptoms you've described could be due to the game running out of memory in the moment, or to your saving after the limit has been superceded.  Unlike in Windows, where TS3 will crash or throw an error once it gets over the limit, the mac version sometimes keeps running even after it's started using more than that 2 GB, and it's sometimes possible to save once RAM use has dropped again to just under the limit.  But that save will probably have lost data in the interim, and may well be corrupt.  If so, there's nothing you can do except revert to a backup save, if you have one.

The game will use more memory as a play session goes on, and a long-running game will use more resources on startup than a new one.  CAS and Edit Town sessions use more memory than live play, and not all of that extra memory is released when you return to live mode.  Other factors that increase RAM use are an active household with lots of sims, an active lot with many objects (several hundred and up), and a large world, either in terms of size or population.  Sunset Valley is generally fine, unless you've added many sims to the neighborhood.  And of course the more expansion packs you have, the more memory the game takes to run, no matter what else is going on.  (Stuff packs don't add much to overhead.)

You can monitor RAM use in the Activity Monitor and purge it through Terminal, but this will only free up a bit of memory, maybe 20 MB or so per day played.  The only way to reset RAM completely is to quit to desktop and relaunch the game.  Still, it's a good idea to keep an eye on memory use so that you know when you're in the danger zone.

https://bluebellflora.com/resetting-ram-during-gameplay/

If you really want to try to recover this save, there are a couple of options, but they involve mods.  Otherwise, your tools are clearing caches, moving your saves to a clean game folder, and moving your sims out of their house and back in via Edit Town.  These steps can help, but none of them are guaranteed to work.  (Mods aren't either, but they do provide a couple of helpful tools.)  The last thing you could try is saving your sims to the bin and moving them to a new world, but then you'd lose the rest of the sims in town and any other changes you'd made there.

Anyway, the fact is, as long as you're playing in mac OS, you'll have the RAM limit to contend with.  It can be managed, but you'll need to be careful and keep an eye out for any lag or freezing that might indicate an issue.  And always keep backup copies of your saves, so you can revert to one if necessary.

[escapedpolarbear]

OK thank you. I have a few TS3 worlds that I no longer play and can be deleted. Will that help?

Also I edited the serial number.

[puzzlezaddict]

@escapedpolarbear  Deleting extra worlds won't really make any difference; only the active world is loaded into RAM when you play.  Of course, this can be an issue when traveling, as the game loads the destination while the homeworld is still active, but otherwise, the extra installed worlds don't impact performance at all.

There are plenty of steps you can take to try to reduce your chances of hitting the game's RAM limit though.  None of them is real fix, but they can all help at least a little bit.

• Turn off memories completely—they're a massive drag on performance.
• Disable the in-game shopping experience and the hidden object interactive loading screens.
• Turn down the graphics settings for water and high-detail lots, as these use the most resources.  "Mirrors only" and 2 are the highest they should go.
• Don't login at either the launcher or Main Menu.  In fact, it would be better if you played while your computer is completely offline, as in, not connected to wifi and unplugged from ethernet.  Even if you don't sign in, the game will still communicate with EA servers as long as there's a connection.
• Clean out FeaturedItems inside your game folder.  All the files inside can be trashed; they're just leftover pictures of the store items EA would like to sell you while you're playing.
• When you want to spend any significant time in CAS or Build/Buy, do it in a new save, which will start with much lower RAM use than your existing saves.  Once you've finished, you can save your work to the in-game bin.  Then you can just place a completed house or family in an existing save without spending more than a couple of minutes in Edit Town.
• Always quit to desktop when you're switching saves or reloading.  Just going to the Main Menu won't reset RAM, and it can introduce other problems as well.
• Delete your cache files each time you quit the game.

If all else fails, you may need to save your active household to the bin and place the sims in a new world.  Don't use the in-game move function—that would preserve data from the old save, possibly including corruption.

[escapedpolarbear]

It's no use, I'm afraid. Luckily a couple of days ago I duplicated the game. It's still a bit slow but not as bad. Thanks for the help