My Sims 3 Game Keeps Freezing in Create a Sim

[Isosceles11]

Having the same issue and it has nothing to do with the computer most likely.  It seems to be something to do with the store crap that now apparently loads into the CAS so you can buy more stuff.   Hadn't patched in two years and it played great; had the custom content that was working well and didn't want to patch up and have it be unusable.  But recently had a windows meltdown and had to reinstall windows and everything else.  So, since I was dumb enough to buy the game through a download and not get actual cds/dvds (never again will i buy a game without a disk), had to spend several hours redownloading the games.  Installed them all, started a game to test and in CAS the game froze.  There was no custom content installed.  Deleted the cache files and tried to relaunch, game would load first screen, then freeze upon trying to load a world.  Noticed that the WA did not patch up to its latest version (perhaps because I put in HE before it), so I uninstalled HE and Amb (only have B HE, WA, and AMB, mostly because I can't bring myself to give anymore money to the Ea weasels), and patched up WA.  Started it just with base and WA to test, it loaded a world, went to CAS and when I went into hair, it loaded one with a BUY icon on it and then froze the game.  So it has to be the idiotic in-game "store" feature that is crashing/freezing the game.  Never had seen that buy crap in the game, always played offline.  If i want to get more stuff, I'll go online and look for it.  Going to look for incremental patches to see if I can play an old version without all the unncessasry garbage thrown in only to make more money for ea.  or maybe ill go play swtor, but ea borked that up, too. 

[crinrict]

Turn it off in your options. 

[Alexia2413]

OKay.First you say my ram was way too low.  I go through the trouble of voiding my freaking warranty and painstakingly installing new ram myself. 8 Freaking gigs. And now you say I need a better graphics card? How many times must I tell you, the problem is not my computer. And I have NEVER had these problems until I bought Showtime and Supernatural. Before, I had thousands of custom content, and custom Sims. And I NEVER had a huge problem like this one. If you can't give me answers then don't answer on here, saying stupid things like "oh, its your ram," or "oh its your graphics card," because it is not. I  don't care if the graphic card only meets the specs of the game by one freakin little point. If the EA people give a set number of how good the graphics card should be, and if my computer only meets it by a hair, then according to them, it should work just fine. I have been playing sims for years on the same types of computers. This being the most upgraded of the computers. SO, for the last time. It is not my BRAND new computer, its the game. If you don't know how to fix the game then don't talk to me. And even if I did have a switchable graphics card, I am not spending more money, to "fix" a computer that isn't broken. And also, if I had to have a super computer to play sims, with so soo much of this and that, then tell me why, there people who have better computers then mine, but  who are having the same problems.

[crinrict]

I do apologize for not seeing the card earlier. I somehow missed that info (as you can see from my post where I say that I don't see info about your card).

That's all I wanna say and as you suggested, I'm leaving you alone now.

[Alexia2413]

Hi, these are some things I did and it helped my game run better. It'll still crash in create a sim, but I can edit a complete sim, then start a second before it'll crash. What I do though, is finish a sim, save it, then start a new one, then when the game starts to run slow, or the music stops playing (you know the typical thing) I go ahead and save that one too. I let it crash, then start from where I left off. I can also get up to about 3 hours game play with these "fixes" so that is also another reason why I know its not my computer. And when the game is running the sims are fluid, images are awesome, and I have all of my options set to low, and the graphics are still beautiful. So like I said before, I tried these things and slowly the game is getting better. And like you, I have all downloaded games and no discs, so I feel your pain.

1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w2JZYPnXEo&feature=related

After I did step number one I started to get error code twelve but I could play for hours. So I disabled the memories by going to options in addition to doing step number 2.

2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w2JZYPnXEo&feature=related

 The game was still crashing so I also tried this step. I can edit my town and add things, I had tried adding onto and existing house once but it crashed still, so I tried this, but I haven't tried to build since.

 3:He curses a lot just to warn you if you don't like that sort of thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IQHdc7NOpw

I'm still  currently having issues and I'll still get error code 12 every now and then but at now I can play for more then thirty minutes. I sincerely hope this helps. Also just don't change your compatiblity setting to xp service pack 3, because it'll prevent your saves from showing up in your game. to correct the problem if it somehow happens anyway, all you need to do is undo the compatibility setting you did for the launcher and the ts3 extention and it should be fine. I also removed all custom content, including music, and have not replaced any.

I forgot I also did this as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lwfCmRUcy4&feature=related

The order in which you do it shouldn't matter if you try it. These are things I did and in all, they have helped my game.

[Alexia2413 · Accepted solution]

       I did the steps to my computer that I posted. For a while I could get up to 3 hours of game play, but then I decided to stay off the computer for a while, so it stayed shut down for about a week. Then once I tried to get back on to pay a bill, my computer wouldn't go to my desktop! The entire thing crashed and I ended up backing up my files and then deleting EVERYTHING off of my computer by restoring its factory settings. Basically it ran a scan for maybe an hour or two, then options popped up for me to choose from, and I chose to restore it. It finally went back to my desktop after a while and I had to install almost 100 updates (no joke).

       I also took out one of the 4gig ram strips that I had originally installed because I felt like my computer was struggling to handle its Max amount of ram. So I put back in the factory 2gig ram and one of the 4gig ram strips that I purchased from crucial.com. But anyway the most important part is, my games. Okay so I downloaded and installed each expansion pack IN ORDER and let the update individually. Also download them ONE AT A TIME. Even though if you have the downloaded versions, treat them like you have the discs, because you can do the discs one at a time right? Just be patient

        After each installation and update of the expansion pack and launcher, I played for about 30 minutes or more. Because of how before I changed the settings, it would crash after 30 minutes. So my logic was if the game is still broken, it  will crash after or before 30 minutes of gamely.  I also created 2 or 3 families without any problems, one family being supernatural.

         Just about all my games, including Seasons, I bought from Amazon, but since I registered my games, I installed them all through Origin, except the base game, because I forgot origin will download and install the games for you. Honestly  I suggest doing it this way. I suggest it because Origin does all the work for you, unless you have special preferences then you just have to personalize your origin settings, and it only took about 30 minutes or less to download each expansion pack. Plus it helps ensure that you game is updated. Because when I was downloading and installing manually, through Amazon, my game didn't update like it did when I used origin. It updated after I installed the base game, after generations and supernatural, but with origin, each expansion pack had an update, and believe me when I tell you it made all the difference. So my game is fixed ( for now) and I really hope it stays that way. EA says that you can install in any order, but I personally believe they still need to be installed in the order they were released.

***Sidenote I suggest using Origin for updates, downloads, and installations, but 99.9% of the time you want to buy your games for Amazon.com (if you didn't already know). On there you can get the games really cheap because they have awesome sales. In fact, I was able to purchase Seasons for $20****

This is the list in order if you need it:

The Sims 3 Base Game
The Sims 3 World Adventures Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 High End Loft Stuff
The Sims 3 Ambitions Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Fast Lane Stuff
The Sims 3 Late Night Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Outdoor Living Stuff
The Sims 3 Generations Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Town Life Stuff
The Sims 3 Pets Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Master Suite Stuff
The Sims 3 Showtime Expansion Pack
The Sims 3 Katy Perry Sweet Treats
The Sims 3 Diesel Stuff
The Sims 3 Supernatural Expansion Pack The Sims 3 Seasons - Coming November 13, 2012

I got it from this site:

http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/technicalhelp/installorder.php

But if installing in order and using Origin didn't help, try the steps posted. It helped my game, but in the long run it crashed my computer because I had downloaded the EPS all at the same time. Like seriously. I had literally 7 or 8 downloads going at one time, and then I just installed the ones that got done first NEVER DO THIS. NEVER. Also if you still need help, try this site:

http://games4theworld.bestgoo.com/t857-the-sims-3-crashes-freezes-to-desktop-fix-updated-on-29-09-20...

Personally, I don't recommend going to other sites and downloading mods and things to help the game unless you are For Sure For Sure, that you trust the site, because doing those thing could completely destroy your computer. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to ask me. I will help you the best way I know how. Happy Simming!! Oh and Merry Thanksgiving as well :D

[Alexia2413 · Accepted solution]

Hi Simmers!! Its been almost a year since I was having all the problems with my game and it is still working great!! I've had a few crashes here and there, but everything is good. I'm really not sure how much the information has helped anyone. Or if it has helped anyone at all, but like I stated before, I think installing your games in order is what will make or break your game (literally). 

[lunakiitty]

Unfortunatley, it did not solve the problem for me.

Sigh. EA, please. Try and make Sims 3 also a native mac application. There are so many people who have paid good money and can't play. Cider is crappy.

[Alexia2413]

I know and I'm sorry it still didn't work for you. I really understand your frustration. But hopefully a solution will be found. With your case it could be any small little thing that is preventing your game from working (if you haven't gotten it to work yet).

But what I suggest, (if you ever see this post or if you still have this problem), is take time and do independent research. My game didn't improve until I tried what others said wouldn't work or was unnecessary. Because if the game is suppose to work with both pc and mac there is a solution. After my computer crashed i was still having trouble. But I went in and updated the drivers for the graphics card, by going in the Device Manager in the control panel. I don't know how you would update your drivers with mac but it could be something that simple. 

I also went into windows update and looked around for any vital updates that for whatever reason failed to install. Then I researched the purpose of the update and manually installed them, downloading them directly from the Microsoft website. I also downloaded Microsoft Visual office because this program would automatically install a vital update that wouldn't install regularly on my computer. I probably did a few other things and have just since forgotten, but my point is, it the little things.

Game update: "No Graphics Card detected Error"

*****Also I just recently had a graphics card issue. it said something along the lines of "Device not found, or No graphics card detected, Application couldn't launch."   And I had just been playing the game the day before. 

So to fix this problem I went and updated my graphics card driver like explained above. The last time I had manually went in my computer and updated drivers was about a year ago, and now my game works again. It lags a little sometimes depending on the family I play, but other than that its still working*******