Frozen Sims

by escapedpolarbear
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Frozen Sims

★★★★★ Apprentice

My Sims world (Sunset Valley - no mods or custom content) is constantly freezing. I've played it for over a year and it's never done this before. Now, whenever I play, they'll be really slow for about 4 seconds, then it'll stick for about 7, then slow again. It's constant and I don't know how to fix it. I've tried the resetsim cheat with no luck.

Message 1 of 15 (1,052 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

[ Edited ]

@escapedpolarbear  The resetsim cheat is great for getting sims unstuck, and will relieve the stress on the game engine from constantly trying to reroute them, but it doesn't clean up glitches or any kind of corruption.

 

Have you deleted your cache files lately?  Now's a good time to do it again.  Here's the list:

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

If that doesn't help, you might need to generate a clean game folder to play in.  Drag your existing TS3 game folder out of Documents and onto your desktop, and a new one will spawn with no content the next time you launch the game.  Load a new save in this folder just to make sure everything works, and then you can copy your existing Saves folder in to the new game folder.  Don't worry if you get a notification about missing items; you don't need to save your progress.  (This is just a test to see if your save runs any better.)

 

If the save works in the clean folder, you can start transferring your other content into the new folder from the old one.  Here's a list of all the files inside, along with explanations of what they do and whether you'd want to keep them:

 

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html

 

If the save still runs slowly in the clean game folder, there's one more trick I can suggest that doesn't involve mods.  Let me know if you need it.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 2 of 15 (1,049 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

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Hi! I deleted my cache files and it's sort of worked. Basically, I got burgled the first night after clearing them Frown and there was Robbie Bland, and later, Tia Rose (policewoman) at my house. Randomly, Jared Frio turned up, possibly to witness the carnage :D. Anyway, my house has 8 sims, and with 11 sims in my house, it started crashing. Once Robbie, Tia and Jared had gone, it was fine. Shall I still do the game folder trick?

Thanks so far Standard smile
Message 3 of 15 (1,016 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

@escapedpolarbear  It sounds like the extra data could have pushed your game over the edge.  There are plenty of reasons that TS3 might crash, and many of them are random emough that you don't have to worry in general, once you've gotten past whatever event is causing trouble.  But one potential cause that would need to be addressed is an out of resources condition, specifically a lack of RAM.  This could happen because a well-progressed save hit the game's own memory limit (about 3.7 GB), or because your computer itself doesn't have enough RAM installed to handle both TS3 and whatever else you're running.  If you keep seeing crashes, it's worth investigating, but it could also be a one-time thing.

 

Anyway, the clean game folder is a good idea in general, but probably not necessary unless you continue to experience problems.  (It won't hurt, though, so you can try it if you want.)  You could also experiment on a copy of your save game, moving out some of the sims and seeing whether it runs better with only three or four in the house.  I'm not suggesting you cut down the number of sims in the household because of this, but the test would let you know whether the frozen sims are a performance issue or something to do with save corruption itself.

 

You could also run a dxdiag and attach the results to a post here, if you want me to take a look at your system overall.  In that case, I'd also like to know which packs you have installed.  But again, if your game runs fine going forward, it's not really necessary—the dxdiag is for when you keep having issues that you can't solve with game folder cleanup and the like.

 

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

 

P.S.  If you don't want a burglar to mess with your sims, just do a cheat console reset before the alarm goes off.  If you enter resetsim Robbie Bland (or whoever), the criminal will disappear, and the cop won't show up.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 4 of 15 (1,013 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

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I am going to need to try the clean game folder, but slightly confused on what to do. Please could you put it in steps or something? Excuse the inconvenience!
Thanks.
Message 5 of 15 (987 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

@escapedpolarbear  I'd still like to see a dxdiag, but in the meantime:

  • Go into Documents\Electronic Arts and drag the Sims 3 folder onto your desktop.
  • Launch the game, go as far as the Main Menu, and quit.  This will spawn a new TS3 folder in the same place the old one was before you moved it.
  • Delete the five cache files in the new game folder.
  • Go into the old game folder, right-click on Saves, and select Copy.
  • In the new folder, right-click on some empty space and select Paste.  Don't move anything else.
  • Launch the game again, and load the save that's been giving you trouble.  Play it for a while to see whether it runs any better, and let me know.
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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 6 of 15 (985 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

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I tried the steps and it didn't work, I'm afraid. I hadn't seen the bit about a dxdiag so I'll try now.
Message 7 of 15 (961 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

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Hello again. I can't run a dxdiag as this is my dad's Mac and he doesn't like the look of it. Any other suggestions?
Message 8 of 15 (959 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

[ Edited ]

@escapedpolarbear  I didn't know you were on a mac.  Dxdiags are Windows only; the command doesn't exist in mac OS.  Instead, you can just post your specs, as described here:

 

https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-3-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/475...

 

There are also other considerations when playing TS3 on a mac.  But it's best to start with specs.  You can list them or attach a screenshot; just make sure to leave out your serial number.

 

Edit:  And also check the free storage.  You can see it by clicking the Storage tab under About This Mac.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 9 of 15 (956 Views)

Re: Frozen Sims

★★★★★ Apprentice
For some reason the screenshots don't seem to like being put into a message, so I don't mind typing them out:
Message 10 of 15 (951 Views)