sent sim to university and now game freezes

[cracknell3]

I have been playing sims three for a long time now. I had stopped for a while because it kept freezing on me. Then I found out that island paradise add on was a problem so I took it off and have had no problems. I just sent one of my sims to university and still no problems at all. Then he graduated and got home and now all of a sudden the game freezes on me. I can't do anything but hit control alt delete and bring up the task master then close the game that way. My system has more then the recommended requirements. I can't change anything on the game since as soon as it loads it freezes. what can I do? 

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@cracknell3  Could you be more specific about when the crashing started?  Did you sim actually arrive home, did you play for a while but can't reload the save, etc.?  Does it freeze instantly, or the first time you try to do something?  Also, does the save file (in your saves folder inside your Sims 3 folder in Documents) have a .bad after it?  If so, the game won't load it no matter what you do.

The game itself sounds corrupt and may not be recoverable, but the question is what exactly caused the problem, and perhaps more importantly, when.  Because if you can revert to an earlier save, you may be able to avoid your issue entirely.  There could also be an issue with your TS3 folder in Documents that isn't directly related to any one save or neighborhood.  Additionally, the EA travel mechanic is fragile and glitchy and has borked many saves, although that usually happens during the transition, not after.  Still, it could certainly be the source of the crashes.

So, troubleshooting steps to try:

1)  Drag your entire TS3 folder (not pieces, the whole thing) out of Documents onto your desktop and rename it.  All of your saves will be preserved here, along with any mods or cc you've installed.  When you launch the game again, it will spawn a fresh, clean folder with no content.  See if you can play a new game for a bit without any crashes.  If so, you can add back your problem save and try to play with it.  If you have mods or cc, only add back in the minimum to make your save playable.  (By the way, if you can't play properly even in a clean folder, the problem may well be your computer or a software update, in which case, there's a whole different discussion to be had.)

2)  If your save still won't behave, try instead to play with a previous one, like from just before your sim returned home.  If you don't have any others (this is why so many people use "save as" and keep a small pile of old saves around), you can try to use the .backup of this save.  Move the original (i.e. Sunset Valley.sims3) somewhere safe, delete the .backup from the other and rename it (i.e. Sunset Valley1.sims3), and when you launch TS3 again, that former backup should be available for you to select from the Main Menu.  However, this backup could also be corrupt, so play with it for a while without saving, or just use "save as," so that you can see whether this save file is salvageable.

3)  If you have no useable files of this game, and you have no time to maneuver in-game before it freezes, then there's probably no EA-approved solution to recover your game.  Save corruption is an unfortunate part of the deal with TS3, and since EA isn't working on the game anymore, nothing else is going to be fixed.

P.S.  Most of the problems with the Island Paradise EP come not from the mechanics of the pack but from the world that accompanied it.  If you ever want to revisitit, you can play with the pack's new activities in another world, provided that the world is built to handle it.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@cracknell3  Could you be more specific about when the crashing started?  Did you sim actually arrive home, did you play for a while but can't reload the save, etc.?  Does it freeze instantly, or the first time you try to do something?  Also, does the save file (in your saves folder inside your Sims 3 folder in Documents) have a .bad after it?  If so, the game won't load it no matter what you do.

The game itself sounds corrupt and may not be recoverable, but the question is what exactly caused the problem, and perhaps more importantly, when.  Because if you can revert to an earlier save, you may be able to avoid your issue entirely.  There could also be an issue with your TS3 folder in Documents that isn't directly related to any one save or neighborhood.  Additionally, the EA travel mechanic is fragile and glitchy and has borked many saves, although that usually happens during the transition, not after.  Still, it could certainly be the source of the crashes.

So, troubleshooting steps to try:

1)  Drag your entire TS3 folder (not pieces, the whole thing) out of Documents onto your desktop and rename it.  All of your saves will be preserved here, along with any mods or cc you've installed.  When you launch the game again, it will spawn a fresh, clean folder with no content.  See if you can play a new game for a bit without any crashes.  If so, you can add back your problem save and try to play with it.  If you have mods or cc, only add back in the minimum to make your save playable.  (By the way, if you can't play properly even in a clean folder, the problem may well be your computer or a software update, in which case, there's a whole different discussion to be had.)

2)  If your save still won't behave, try instead to play with a previous one, like from just before your sim returned home.  If you don't have any others (this is why so many people use "save as" and keep a small pile of old saves around), you can try to use the .backup of this save.  Move the original (i.e. Sunset Valley.sims3) somewhere safe, delete the .backup from the other and rename it (i.e. Sunset Valley1.sims3), and when you launch TS3 again, that former backup should be available for you to select from the Main Menu.  However, this backup could also be corrupt, so play with it for a while without saving, or just use "save as," so that you can see whether this save file is salvageable.

3)  If you have no useable files of this game, and you have no time to maneuver in-game before it freezes, then there's probably no EA-approved solution to recover your game.  Save corruption is an unfortunate part of the deal with TS3, and since EA isn't working on the game anymore, nothing else is going to be fixed.

P.S.  Most of the problems with the Island Paradise EP come not from the mechanics of the pack but from the world that accompanied it.  If you ever want to revisitit, you can play with the pack's new activities in another world, provided that the world is built to handle it.

[cracknell3]

ok here are the answers to your question

yes my sims got home

I played for a little meaning my sim came home eat and went to sleep and woke up eat and then froze

It froze instantly so I had no time to do anything (not that I would know what to do anyway LOL)

the save file does not have .bad after it

I did number 1 and I was able to play starting fresh without the saved file

I did number 2 and it worked perfectly so far 

I did not need to try 3 since so far number 2 worked

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!!