More Awesome Than You!

This sort of things seems to happen to TS3 when computer is short of RAM.
(http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9943/12886882.jpg)

Did anyone else experience this?

I've experienced that once before, whilst on acid.

When my computer runs out of ram, everything just crashes. No clue as to why yours runs.

looks like a heat issue to me honestly, or the last throes of a dying video card.

I think it's an improvement.

Sims 3 isn't that heavy on resources.

And that is a hardware problem. As Minx mentioned it looks like a heat problem...

I concur with minx on the two possibilities listed.  However, there is a third option, corrupted video drivers.  I would download the latest drivers for your video card and pray like hell they fix the problem unless you have the cash to replace the card. 

That's pretty much how my games looked liked when my video card was dying a few years back.

Well, I only have 1GB RAM and the game eats around 700MB according to the list of processes. Should I open one more program and the computer is basically overloaded.

You think my GeForce 8500 is dying? I wouldn't be surprised - these cards are crap I heard (unfortunately after I bought mine). It has a long history of harware errors (mostly on the sims 2) that caused blue screen of death. However, it works perfectly fine if computer isn't overloaded. Also, this texture error never occured in any other games nor 3D programs.
About heat problems - don't they cause immediate shutdown?

I'll try to update drivers, haven't done that for a few months now. I'll report back if the problem persists, so far it hasn't happened too often.

Overheating does not immediately cause shutdown. It first causes artifacts to appear, then intermittent freezing, then shutdown. Yours looks like the artifacts.
Also, you can try getting Speedfan to monitor the temperatures of your card. It should not exceed 80C when TS3 is running. Also, more RAM is recommended, a stick of 2GB only costs about 20+ USD now.

I occasionally get artifacts and sometimes game crashes that I think have something to do with my video card, GeForce 8800. Sometimes textures are randomly replaced by others (like an island covered with a checkered red and white pattern looking like a giant picnic blanket), sometimes there are yellow triangular streaks across the screen. A couple of times the game has crashed to the desktop. However, they appear completely randomly, and often I can play for 6+ hours straight with no problems, so I'm not sure if it's an overheating problem or maybe just something random wrong with the card. I had similar problems in TS2 with this card, although more severe. For now I've decided to deal with it, since it happens so rarely. Since my video card drivers were updated a couple of days ago the problem hasn't appeared (yet).

I was trying to get more RAM two years ago, when buying the card. The problem is my computer has AMD processor and it can only use old DDR1 type of RAM which I was told was dropped by 2007. It appears therefore it is not sold anymore, unless you count second-hand on eBay. In short: adding more RAM would mean replacing the main board and processor as well. I need a couple more bucks for that, you see.

Seems like the same problem. It doesn't happen very often here, as well. Less than 10 times total in four weeks of active playing.
I never experienced this with the sims 2, though. Only random blue screens (sending error info option linked me to a page saying it was hardware problem and advising to get rid of hardware causing it). But sims 2 could pull in 1280x1024 and I played it in full screen mode, sims 3 freezes like hell when I try that, so I play in window mode. Might be the reason.

Video card overheating maybe?  I think nVidia has a program that can monitor video card temps.  nVidia System Tools (http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.05.html)
It's not true that DDR isn't sold anymore.  It's still sold, it's just expensive.  If you're in the USA:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145505&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction

Yeah, the point is why should I pay this much for outdated RAM type to a computer which is 3 years old already and in another two will need a complete replacement anyway. It's not like this 1GB RAM extra is going to make my computer work like a new multi-core machine and run StarCraft 2. Sometimes it's just not worth it.

The nVidia program doesn't seem to show info on temperature. It seems it's just to configure monitor for dummies who can't use the buttons. Maybe with a few additional options.

GeForce 8500? I have a GeForce 8400 and I haven't experienced these kinds of problems with TS3, maybe it's cause I have 2GB RAM... meh, I don't know... I'm no geek.  :P

I have over 3GB of RAM (well, 4GB, but my computer can't see all of it) and I still get these problems occasionally. So, I'm not sure if that's the explanation, at least not the only one.

Hehe you think yours is bad, I have a 6150 which is like the size of a potato chip and I don't even have this problem.

I'm not the one with the problem.  ;)

As others said, heat won't cause an immediate shutdown. The nature of playing a game itself will cause problems to show up that you aren't going to see just browsing the internet. If its a heat issue, which can also be tied to the death of a card, then activities which will be taxing on the card are going to start to act up. Also something to consider, the overheating issue is one that will often show up the longer you play. Eventually you'll end up with with the computer just restarting itself or failing to recognize the card entirely, but artifacts are the first sign theres a problem.

Its not really an issue specific to a certain card really.. these things just happen for one reason or another.. questionable manufacturing, malfunctioning fans, poor airflow in the case, dust clogging things up, or just a wonky card or a card showing its age. I've had brand new cards arrive DOA, other cards sputter out like this after a year, and others running strong after 3 years...all makes and models, high end to low end...its just a risk you take. It can happen to any card.

I would suggest opening up your case and checking things out in there - get some compressed air and clean out the dust, ensure your fans are all spinning, particularly the video card fan. Take off the side of the case and see if you can get things a bit cooler in there. I have in the past, in dire circumstances just pulled the side of my case off and stuck a great big portable fan beside it to keep my card cool until I could get it fixed. If you catch heat issues early, you can avoid having to replace the card entirely, but if it continues the damage is probably already done. On the bright side, your card is about $39 bucks new at newegg if you wanted to replace it.. no sense in getting anything fancy if you're just going to be upgrading in the near future and limited by the mobo/ram anyways.