More Awesome Than You!

I've searched this site's for a week or so trying to find an answer or solution for whats going on lately. I have the recent, I believe test version of awesomemod since the last patch and got it to run and not give me an error message at the beginning. Before that began everything was all good, and I liked the autosave feature and little config I made for the mod, everything worked great. All of a sudden my game would crash in a second to the desktop, no error message, no lag, nothing to explain it. I tried everything from deleting and re-installing awesomemod. Ive also used the modthesims framework helper, and have a "dashboard" thingy that shows if any of my mods/packages conflict.
Ive tried everything from changing the time which the auto save occurs to disabling it see if maybe the custom options i had chose were causing some kind of conflict. when i disabled that, it still happens. I pretty much do a save every 10 minutes or so just to be safe. I cant really say how far in between the crashes happen, possibly every 20 to 40 minutes if I dont save every 10 as odd as that sounds. possibly coincidence. Im still trying to browse through all the threads here for an answer, but Im having no luck. Sorry to have to ask, I know its a pain in the ass. :P

I haven't seen anything that would trigger a random crash to desktop, particularly as relatively little actually CHANGED in the patch, and many things could possibly be the cause of your crashing. However, I will keep this issue in mind if I see anything that looks like it.

Ah, alright. Thanks for responding. I also dont have any other mods (just like clothes and furnishing) . I'll try to look for another solution. Maybe remove Awesomemod and see if it still happens. I mean, considering it did work just fine for a while. Hell, maybe even re-install the game if it persists. I have a gaming pc that runs the game itself really well, so I ruled that out. I figured it may be your mod since it hadnt happened prior to using it for a bit. Guess I was wrong. Thanks again.

Pescado it does happen even without mods.  And, has been reported several times throughout EA Forums.

Cause is Windows 7 64 bit. 

Mina let me guess you have Windows 7 64 bit.

I'm running Windows 7 64bit.  I fail to see how that could be the cause of game crashes.  If it were, why am I and many others not experiencing this too?  If we are looking for common denominators here, I think we need to dig a bit lower. 

I am having a random crash to desktop and I suspect it is either hardware or Windows. I am trying various configurations of hardware at the moment, as I have just put in a new graphics card and extra RAMS.

I would believe the graphics card to be the culprit, before I would blame Windows.  I had to replace one recently.  I had crashes all over the place, and not just with Sims, then the card went completely haywire and gave me white screen.   New card, no problems.  Keep in mind, my card was defective and giving me grief all over the place.  Checking driver updates and compatibility is always a good place to start.   

I am running Windows 7 64-Bit, and while I have had the occasional CTD, I also had random CTD while using Vista and even with TS2 running on XP.  I can go weeks without a problem, then it might happen a couple of times in one night, then not again for weeks, even months.

I tend to agree with Goddess and tngrspacecadet, I would be blaming other factors before labeling Windows 7 64-Bit as the culprit, not enough users complaining about CTD's to narrow it down yet.  I could also simply be EA game instability which is simply more evident and prone to problems on certain systems.

I use Windows 7 x64 and do not experience any random crashes to desktop. I applied the latest patch for TS3 on Thursday and since then it will almost always crash to desktop if I want to save my game. No .bad file is produced and no .backup file is made; it pretends to save for about 5 seconds before disappearing without a trace. I have TS3, WA and HELS, a few mods, numerous patterns and a few custom content objects. I have checked for updates for all of these and suspect that one of these will need to be removed at least until the culprit has been updated to be compatible with the latest patch.

Windows 7 x64 is stable for the most part even when it comes to running TS3.

I'm having the crash. It happened 4 times today. I was building a lot and I zoomed out to see it and it CTD, then I went back in, built the damn thing again, zoomed out and it did it again. Thankfully I was smart enough to save frequently. The last 2 times it happened was when I was about to take pictures of the lot, so again, zooming.

I am running a Win7 x64 laptop, 8GB RAM, with a supported video card. I have WA And HELS installed, the test version of AM, and no other mods. This is the first time I have experienced this type of crash.

Those crashing I was on countless hours with customer support from Nvidia and EA.  We made sure I have no more crashes.  With SIMS 3 it was a combinition of Windows 7 64 bit and the Nvidia GeForce card drivers.  There is a new update for Nvidia drivers so update. No more problems.  It was a fan problem which caused SIMS 3 to crash.

Fan problem? You mean "not constantly running the fan at FULL SPEED", eh?

Sounds like the same issue coconnor mentioned here: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,18219.0.html about a month ago.

Not quite sure why Windows 7 64-Bit can be blamed for bad drivers from Nvidia, but maybe I am missing something.

It is a complexity of things.

[Build info]
Application: Sims3
BuildTime:   2010-03-15-2102
BuildUser:   codebuilder
BuildHost:   SIMS-BUILD139
BuildConfig: Release
BuldVersion: 0.2.0.98
Commandline: C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff\Game\Bin\TS3SP01.exe


[System info]
Computer name:
Computer DNS name:
User name:
EA_PLATFORM: Windows on X86
OS name: Windows Vista
OS version number: 6.0.6000
OS service pack:
Debugger present: no
CPU count: 8
Processor type: x86
Processor level: 6
Processor revision: 7685
Memory load: 40%
Total physical memory: 8183 Mb
Available physical memory: 4847 Mb
Total page file memory: 16364 Mb
Available page file memory: 12674 Mb
Total virtual memory: 2047 Mb
Free virtual memory: 105 Mb

[Application info]
Language: C++
Compiler: Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, version 1400
App path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff\Game\Bin\TS3SP01.exe
App version: 0.2.0.98

[Exception info]
date: 2010-04-06
time: 07.38.45
type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00000014
address: 0x005cd1c1 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff\Game\Bin\TS3SP01.exe":0x0001:0x001cc1c1

[Call stack]
Callstack not available

[Stack data]
0227f610 | 00 00 00 00 1f 00 08 00<c0>e5 21 08 e0 24 e8 41 | ..........!..$.A |
0227f620 | 3c f7 27 02 0b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 | <.'............. |
0227f630 | 00 00 00 3f 00 00 00 3f 00 00 00 3f 00 00 00 3f | ...?...?...?...? |
0227f640 | 00 00 00 3e 00 00 00 3e 00 00 00 3e 00 00 00 3e | ...>...>...>...> |
0227f650 | 00 04 00 00 00 02 00 00 01 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 | ................ |
0227f660 | 0c 00 00 00 e0 24 e8 41 c0 e5 21 08 2f f2 5c 00 | .....$.A..!./.\. |
0227f670 | 00 04 00 00 5d 87 9d 77 e0 24 e8 41 70 9d 38 02 | ....]..w.$.Ap.8. |
0227f680 | 70 9d 38 02 3c f7 27 02 fa 1a 5d 00 00 00 00 00 | p.8.<.'...]..... |
0227f690 | 10 62 20 08 00 e7 21 08 00 00 00 00 d0 e4 21 00 | .b ...!.......!. |
0227f6a0 | 14 e6 21 08 60 b9 d5 2a ea 18 a2 80 03 01 00 00 | ..!.`..*........ |
0227f6b0 | 00 00 00 00 c0 e5 21 08 04 00 00 00 d0 ce 5a 5d | ......!.......Z] |
0227f6c0 | d0 ce 5a 5d 78 d7 69 00 80 5b f0 6c 80 5b f0 6c | ..Z]x.i..[.l.[.l |
0227f6d0 | 10 62 20 08 d0 e4 21 08 34 f7 27 02 00 00 00 00 | .b ...!.4.'..... |
0227f6e0 | 70 26 e8 41 00 00 00 00 e0 e9 99 3f 00 00 00 00 | p&.A.......?.... |
0227f6f0 | 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 | ................ |
0227f700 | 04 00 00 00 05 38 c0 39 66 26 a4 80 03 01 00 00 | .....8.9f&...... |
0227f710 | 18 81 2b 2a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff | ..+*............ |
0227f720 | 00 4c 24 2a 00 be 22 08 00 00 00 00 dc e3 6d 00 | .L$*..".......m. |
0227f730 | 10 62 20 08 86 54 5e 00 32 00 00 00 40 8a 23 08 | .b ..T^.2...@.#. |
0227f740 | 59 9b 58 00 93 6a 66 3c 9c 02 90 3e 40 73 1f 08 | Y.X..jf<...>@s.. |
0227f750 | 00 00 00 00 ed 5b 57 00 93 6a 66 3c 9c 02 90 3e | .....[W..jf<...> |
0227f760 | 35 78 ca 00 93 6a 66 3c 9c 02 90 3e e8 f7 27 02 | 5x...jf<...>..'. |
0227f770 | 00 00 00 00 40 73 1f 08 b4 f8 27 02 4b 00 00 01 | ....@s....'.K... |
0227f780 | 9c 02 90 3e 40 73 1f 08 93 6a 66 3c 00 00 00 00 | ...>@s...jf<.... |
0227f790 | 01 00 01 00 18 da d1 47 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 | .......G........ |
0227f7a0 | 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 05 38 c0 39 6b 90 ca 00 | .........8.9k... |
0227f7b0 | 01 00 00 00 b4 f8 27 02 d0 c7 fc 00 00 00 00 00 | ......'......... |
0227f7c0 | 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 8e 00 14 06 e8 f7 27 02 | ..............'. |
0227f7d0 | 00 00 00 00 d0 c7 fc 00 01 00 00 00 3c 91 ca 00 | ............<... |
0227f7e0 | 40 73 1f 08 01 00 00 00 a0 ad d5 00 e0 74 1f 08 | @s...........t.. |
0227f7f0 | f0 74 1f 08 f0 74 1f 08 b0 90 f4 00 00 00 00 00 | .t...t.......... |
0227f800 | 48 ad d5 00 00 59 20 08 b4 59 20 08 b6 59 20 08 | H....Y ..Y ..Y . |
0227f810 | 24 ad d5 00 d4 5e f2 00 d4 5e f2 00 d6 5e f2 00 | $....^...^...^.. |

[Instruction data]
005cd141 => DasmX86Dll.dll not found.

[Registers]
eip: 005cd1c1
eax: 84b23c2b
ebx: 00000000
ecx: 268ee429
edx: 00000000
esi: 41e824e0
edi: 0821e5c0
ebp: 00000000
efl: 00010287
esp: 0227f618

[Modules]
base 0x00400000 size 0x01976000 entry 0x017d9740 "TS3SP01.exe"                                    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff\Game\Bin\TS3SP01.exe"
base 0x779a0000 size 0x00180000 entry 0x00000000 "ntdll.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll"
base 0x76f40000 size 0x00100000 entry 0x76f535c8 "kernel32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\kernel32.dll"
base 0x75f70000 size 0x00046000 entry 0x75f77478 "KERNELBASE.dll"                                 "C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll"
base 0x70bc0000 size 0x001c3000 entry 0x70bc1811 "d3d9.dll"                                       "C:\Windows\system32\d3d9.dll"
base 0x75720000 size 0x000ac000 entry 0x7572a472 "msvcrt.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\syswow64\msvcrt.dll"
base 0x75fc0000 size 0x00019000 entry 0x75fc4975 "sechost.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\sechost.dll"
base 0x75570000 size 0x000f0000 entry 0x75580569 "RPCRT4.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\syswow64\RPCRT4.dll"
base 0x75510000 size 0x00060000 entry 0x7552a303 "SspiCli.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\syswow64\SspiCli.dll"
base 0x75500000 size 0x0000c000 entry 0x755010e1 "CRYPTBASE.dll"                                  "C:\Windows\syswow64\CRYPTBASE.dll"
base 0x757d0000 size 0x00100000 entry 0x757eae99 "USER32.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\syswow64\USER32.dll"
base 0x76d80000 size 0x00090000 entry 0x76d96343 "GDI32.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\syswow64\GDI32.dll"
base 0x77040000 size 0x0000a000 entry 0x770436a0 "LPK.dll"                                        "C:\Windows\syswow64\LPK.dll"
base 0x77500000 size 0x0009d000 entry 0x775347d7 "USP10.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\syswow64\USP10.dll"
base 0x77460000 size 0x000a0000 entry 0x77482dd9 "ADVAPI32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\ADVAPI32.dll"
base 0x73d20000 size 0x00009000 entry 0x73d21220 "VERSION.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\VERSION.dll"
base 0x74150000 size 0x00006000 entry 0x741511f0 "d3d8thk.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\d3d8thk.dll"
base 0x736f0000 size 0x00013000 entry 0x736f1d3f "dwmapi.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\dwmapi.dll"
base 0x10000000 size 0x00016000 entry 0x10004040 "d3dx9_31.dll"                                   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff\Game\Bin\d3dx9_31.dll"
base 0x70240000 size 0x000e7000 entry 0x70241771 "DDRAW.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\system32\DDRAW.dll"
base 0x71e80000 size 0x00006000 entry 0x71e81250 "DCIMAN32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\DCIMAN32.dll"
base 0x75d30000 size 0x0019d000 entry 0x75d317e7 "SETUPAPI.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\SETUPAPI.dll"
base 0x756e0000 size 0x00027000 entry 0x756e58b9 "CFGMGR32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\CFGMGR32.dll"
base 0x75ee0000 size 0x0008f000 entry 0x75ee3fb1 "OLEAUT32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\OLEAUT32.dll"
base 0x77050000 size 0x0015c000 entry 0x770a5d13 "ole32.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\syswow64\ole32.dll"
base 0x76e60000 size 0x00012000 entry 0x76e61441 "DEVOBJ.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\syswow64\DEVOBJ.dll"
base 0x75a30000 size 0x00035000 entry 0x75a3145d "WS2_32.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\syswow64\WS2_32.dll"
base 0x75710000 size 0x00006000 entry 0x75711782 "NSI.dll"                                        "C:\Windows\syswow64\NSI.dll"
base 0x77330000 size 0x000f4000 entry 0x7733175f "WININET.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\syswow64\WININET.dll"
base 0x75a70000 size 0x00057000 entry 0x75a8a24a "SHLWAPI.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\syswow64\SHLWAPI.dll"
base 0x76d70000 size 0x00003000 entry 0x00000000 "Normaliz.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\Normaliz.dll"
base 0x75fe0000 size 0x00135000 entry 0x75fe1ab0 "urlmon.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\syswow64\urlmon.dll"
base 0x771b0000 size 0x0011c000 entry 0x771b15ae "CRYPT32.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\syswow64\CRYPT32.dll"
base 0x77970000 size 0x0000c000 entry 0x7797238d "MSASN1.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\syswow64\MSASN1.dll"
base 0x75ad0000 size 0x001f9000 entry 0x75ad224d "iertutil.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\iertutil.dll"
base 0x76120000 size 0x00c49000 entry 0x7619d45a "SHELL32.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\syswow64\SHELL32.dll"
base 0x73de0000 size 0x00087000 entry 0x73e10dce "MSVCP80.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4927_none_d08a205e442db5b5\MSVCP80.dll"
base 0x73d40000 size 0x0009b000 entry 0x73d4232b "MSVCR80.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4927_none_d08a205e442db5b5\MSVCR80.dll"
base 0x772d0000 size 0x00060000 entry 0x772e15a7 "IMM32.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\syswow64\IMM32.dll"
base 0x758d0000 size 0x000cc000 entry 0x758d168b "MSCTF.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\syswow64\MSCTF.dll"
base 0x72460000 size 0x000eb000 entry 0x72461445 "dbghelp.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\dbghelp.dll"
base 0x75ed0000 size 0x00005000 entry 0x75ed1438 "PSAPI.DLL"                                      "C:\Windows\syswow64\PSAPI.DLL"
base 0x73520000 size 0x00011000 entry 0x73521300 "NETAPI32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\NETAPI32.dll"
base 0x73510000 size 0x00009000 entry 0x735115a6 "netutils.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\netutils.dll"
base 0x734a0000 size 0x00019000 entry 0x734a1319 "srvcli.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\srvcli.dll"
base 0x73500000 size 0x0000f000 entry 0x735012a1 "wkscli.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\wkscli.dll"
base 0x74060000 size 0x00072000 entry 0x74061576 "DSOUND.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\DSOUND.dll"
base 0x73750000 size 0x00032000 entry 0x737537c1 "WINMM.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\system32\WINMM.dll"
base 0x71b30000 size 0x00025000 entry 0x71b32b71 "POWRPROF.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\POWRPROF.dll"
base 0x73350000 size 0x00007000 entry 0x73351120 "WSOCK32.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\WSOCK32.dll"
base 0x73a30000 size 0x0004b000 entry 0x73a32b6c "apphelp.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\apphelp.dll"
base 0x70d90000 size 0x0008c000 entry 0x70d91fff "AcLayers.DLL"                                   "C:\Windows\AppPatch\AcLayers.DLL"
base 0x73d00000 size 0x00017000 entry 0x73d01c89 "USERENV.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\USERENV.dll"
base 0x73cf0000 size 0x0000b000 entry 0x73cf1992 "profapi.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\profapi.dll"
base 0x73b70000 size 0x00051000 entry 0x73b99834 "WINSPOOL.DRV"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\WINSPOOL.DRV"
base 0x73cd0000 size 0x00012000 entry 0x73cd1200 "MPR.dll"                                        "C:\Windows\system32\MPR.dll"
base 0x04590000 size 0x00267000 entry 0x047aaf6c "d3dx9_31.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\d3dx9_31.dll"
base 0x73790000 size 0x00080000 entry 0x737a37c9 "uxtheme.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\uxtheme.dll"
base 0x73ca0000 size 0x0001c000 entry 0x73ca3f51 "IPHLPAPI.DLL"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\IPHLPAPI.DLL"
base 0x73c90000 size 0x00007000 entry 0x73c9128d "WINNSI.DLL"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\WINNSI.DLL"
base 0x733b0000 size 0x00012000 entry 0x733b3271 "dhcpcsvc.DLL"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\dhcpcsvc.DLL"
base 0x00380000 size 0x0004c000 entry 0x0039ac4d "PAUL.DLL"                                       "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff\Game\Bin\PAUL.DLL"
base 0x73ad0000 size 0x00058000 entry 0x73ad13a8 "WINHTTP.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\WINHTTP.dll"
base 0x73a80000 size 0x0004f000 entry 0x73a81462 "webio.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\system32\webio.dll"
base 0x73c30000 size 0x0003c000 entry 0x73c33089 "OLEACC.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\OLEACC.dll"
base 0x75660000 size 0x0007b000 entry 0x75661aee "COMDLG32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\COMDLG32.dll"
base 0x76e80000 size 0x00084000 entry 0x76e819a9 "COMCTL32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.7600.16385_none_ebf82fc36c758ad5\COMCTL32.dll"
base 0x732a0000 size 0x00044000 entry 0x732b66c9 "DNSAPI.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\DNSAPI.dll"
base 0x71e70000 size 0x00006000 entry 0x71e714b2 "rasadhlp.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\rasadhlp.dll"
base 0x06d60000 size 0x00016000 entry 0x06d6801f "xinput1_3.dll"                                  "C:\Windows\system32\xinput1_3.dll"
base 0x74030000 size 0x00022000 entry 0x7403b13c "glu32.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\system32\glu32.dll"
base 0x73f60000 size 0x000c8000 entry 0x73ffb0e4 "OPENGL32.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\OPENGL32.dll"
base 0x6b2e0000 size 0x00903000 entry 0x6b5d7d70 "nvd3dum.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\nvd3dum.dll"
base 0x759a0000 size 0x00083000 entry 0x759a23d2 "CLBCatQ.DLL"                                    "C:\Windows\syswow64\CLBCatQ.DLL"
base 0x73c10000 size 0x00016000 entry 0x73c12dc3 "CRYPTSP.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\CRYPTSP.dll"
base 0x73bd0000 size 0x0003b000 entry 0x73bd128d "rsaenh.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\rsaenh.dll"
base 0x73cc0000 size 0x0000e000 entry 0x73cc1235 "RpcRtRemote.dll"                                "C:\Windows\system32\RpcRtRemote.dll"
base 0x74160000 size 0x00007000 entry 0x74161230 "winbrand.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\winbrand.dll"
base 0x76f10000 size 0x0002d000 entry 0x76f12911 "WINTRUST.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\syswow64\WINTRUST.dll"
base 0x72020000 size 0x00079000 entry 0x7202140f "mscms.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\system32\mscms.dll"
base 0x71af0000 size 0x00038000 entry 0x71af27b6 "icm32.dll"                                      "C:\Windows\system32\icm32.dll"
base 0x73370000 size 0x00039000 entry 0x7337e1e6 "MMDevApi.dll"                                   "C:\Windows\System32\MMDevApi.dll"
base 0x74f70000 size 0x000f5000 entry 0x74f7adae "PROPSYS.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\System32\PROPSYS.dll"
base 0x71ff0000 size 0x00030000 entry 0x71ff3c6b "wdmaud.drv"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\wdmaud.drv"
base 0x73360000 size 0x00004000 entry 0x73361030 "ksuser.dll"                                     "C:\Windows\system32\ksuser.dll"
base 0x71fe0000 size 0x00007000 entry 0x71fe10c0 "AVRT.dll"                                       "C:\Windows\system32\AVRT.dll"
base 0x71fa0000 size 0x00036000 entry 0x71fa9842 "AUDIOSES.DLL"                                   "C:\Windows\system32\AUDIOSES.DLL"
base 0x71f90000 size 0x00008000 entry 0x71f94119 "msacm32.drv"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\msacm32.drv"
base 0x73730000 size 0x00014000 entry 0x73731340 "MSACM32.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\MSACM32.dll"
base 0x71f80000 size 0x00007000 entry 0x71f811d0 "midimap.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\midimap.dll"
base 0x74110000 size 0x00008000 entry 0x741111d0 "netbios.dll"                                    "C:\Windows\system32\netbios.dll"

[Register memory]
eax 84b23c20 |                                 <??>?? ?? ?? ?? |            ????? |
    84b23c30 | ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? | ???????????????? |
    84b23c40 | ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??                | ???????????      |
ecx 268ee420 |                           <00>00 00 00 00 00 00 |          ....... |
    268ee430 | 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 | ................ |
    268ee440 | 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00                      | .........        |
esi 41e824e0 |<1c>e6 21 08 1c e6 21 08 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 | ..!...!......... |
    41e824f0 | 03 00 00 00 39 a2 71 41 a0 5e ee 44 00 00 00 00 | ....9.qA.^.D.... |
edi 0821e5c0 |<fc>b4 d7 00 39 81 60 02 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 | ....9.`......... |
    0821e5d0 | f4 b4 d7 00 74 69 23 08 74 00 1f 2a d0 b4 d7 00 | ....ti#.t..*.... |

[Extra]
ScriptHeap: 71.54MB/75.96MB (12); 9.21MB

Don't confuse the 12s.  We already knew that Nvidia has driver issues.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,17051.0.html
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,17536.0.html
If  you are still using Nvidia, expect an occasional problem.  My advice… Go Shopping!

Sometimes people who are running Windows 7 x64 run into problems with games, including Sims 3, because they are not large address aware and the computer has 4GB or more RAM.  Sometimes setting the executable to be large address aware can fix random CTDs.

http://www.ntcore.com/exsuite.php

1) Download and install CFF Explorer (http://www.ntcore.com/exsuite.php)

2) Run the program, click the folder icon or go to FILE >> OPEN and browse your PC for the Sims 3 exe (TS3.exe) usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin

Make a backup of your original exe just incase something goes wrong.

3) Click on File Header at the left, find characteristics at the right and click the "Click here" blue button.

4) Tick "App can handle >2GB address space

5) Ok that and save by clicking the disk icon or going to FILE >> SAVE. Overwrite the file when it asks you to.

This fixed the problem of me crashing.  Thanks to Gohan2091 from Mod the Sims on spotting the problem.

the ntcore tricks didn't worked for me.... (I tried with ts3.exe as well as all the main exe in the 2 other extension bin folder, just in case.)

Win7 64 bits
9gb ram
Nvidia (bbbooo !!! I guess) GeForce GTX260 (with latest driver)
processor i7 920@2.67 GHz

I was also having this issue with my game and it would continuously crash. It didn't matter if I played for 2 hours or 30 min, it would would still crash straight to my desktop. I first made sure that all of my drivers were up to date but that didn't keep the game from crashing. I looked around different forums for about a week, and I found a solution that seems to have helped a lot of people with their games. The tutorials that I was reading were all over the place and for different OS's, so I combined all of the information and posted it in a tutorial. You can find it here: http://ts3.tscexchange.com/index.php?topic=1889.0 It seems that the game was having issues with the DEP. I'm not a computer tech, so I was nervous to try it, but since I have edited the permissions in the DEP my game has been crash free. I also found this method on the TS3 forums under the technical help. Doing this seems to be touch and go since it will work for some people and not others but it's worth it try.

Mel try using  "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff\Game\Bin\TS3SP01.exe" and create a shortcut.

The NTcore thingy always gives my game serious stutter issues. Not sure why.

I have done everything else and still have occasional crashes. Trying Rainbow Brite's suggestion now.

Claeric all you have to do is use it on the ts3sp01.exe do not use game launcher .exe
 ;D

And do not click anything else but the 2GB.  And, save.

I havent played since I made this post.

Yes. I have 7 and 64 bit. I also have an ATI video card. All my shit is way up to date. The game never used to crash. I guess I wont bother since there doesnt seem to be a solution.
*sigh* Why the hell did they invent 64 bit if games arent compatible with it, haha.
The same bullshit happens with EverQuest 2 (5 year veteran) I would still be playing but it always goddamn crashes. It seems that 64 bit was the problem.
Im going to look into finding out if I can go to 32 bit.
 :'(


By the way, I apologize for assuming your mod was the problem.

Same crap happened with EQ2- hell for MONTHS I played the game perfectly, and then all of a sudden itd crash daily all the time and I had to give it up.

*sooze adblocks Rainbowbrite's annoying sig. Where do you think we are, boolprop?

Well, now I'm just going to wait until the real AM comes out than the tester version because there is no way in fuck I'm blaming it on my Windows 7 64-bit @ 2.20GHZ 4.0GB RAM LOL .

Erm, it is out. FOJ just neglected to change the post.

Well, I still win.

Win what?

I win the conversation even though he/she made me look like a dumb ass, it is called sarcasm.

Eyme you have 4GB you should not experience a crash it is those with over 4GB of memory.

I would suggest that anyone running 64bit Windows with more than 3GB of RAM go ahead and set the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE flag in the application, particularly if they are having a CTD problem.

Sims 3 does not seem to use more than 2GB of RAM, whether that flag is set or not, but setting it does not do harm and may correct compatibility issues because Windows 64bit handles memory above 3GB differently than Windows 32bit.

Well, I do have problems! I think it was a bug in the AM because when I deleted it, my computer started working. I think I'll just wait until they update AM again and fix the bugs.

Okay, I'll try that.

Eyme it is not AM causing the crash it is the game itself.  I played every EA Game and ONLY SIMS 3 crashes.

I've experienced odd crashes when placing fireplaces after the new patch. It throws an "ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00000010" exception that apparently also occurs with Spore, according to Google searches.

It's hard to describe what caused this crash, because it happens with only one fireplace (the "Washington" one), and only on one spot in my Sims' house, but doesn't always crash the first time I place it. I used the last fact to my advantage and circumvented the problem, but I'm worried about deeper problems in my game. I do decrapify regularly, by the way.

Has anybody come across the game locking up randomly when using the speed keys? Since I updated to the newest AM the game will occassionally freeze when I switch between speeds which then forces me to shut down my game from Task Manager. The rest of my computer is fine, it's not like my whole machine locks up, just the game.
Trees and plants still sway in the breeze and visual effects such as stink lines still animate but the game and time do not progress and nothing can be clicked on.

I'm going to redownload AM to make sure I really do have the latest version but I thought I'd just ask in the mean time.

That has happened to me a few times. It can usually be resolved by just waiting it out. I've come to assume it's just the game loading something. Only twice have I given up waiting it out and forced it to quit.

The same thing has been happening to me as well. Only a few times has it unfroze by it's self.

I also occasionally get the random freezing (with animations and sounds carrying on). When this happens, I usually have to quit the game via the task manager. I'm not sure the issue is AwesomeMod related, though. Some people think it's to do with a sim getting stuck somewhere in the neighbourhood.

Yea, me too. This never happened to me before I installed the test AM. It really pissed me off to play for about three hours and suddenly I need to shut it using Task Manager.

People have reported this without AwesomeMod, so it's at least partly EA-induced.

I am one of the ones who thinks it is because a Sim gets stuck somewhere trying to perform a task that cannot be completed.  Pausing the game from the keyboard, which could take some time, and then finding the offending Sim and doing a resetsim, or canceling the action, has fixed this whenever I have seen it.  It can be time consuming to fix if the Sim is not part of the active household.  Much easier to exit and enter from a prior save and hope conditions do not repeat.

It is usually a routing fail or a key object locked or in use that causes the problem, coupled with a rapidly repeating desire to perform the failing action.   In some cases, I have not been able to identify the Sim in trouble to see what they are doing.

I have now used the SFF Explorer to increase RAM use as well as the DEP thing that Rainbow Brite linked to. I still have crashes to desktop, only much less frequently.

My personal computer geek did the DEP thing for me, but I'm still having the random crashes to desktop. It seems to happen less frequently when start my game through the rebooter.  The only drawback to that is the game is in full screen mode, not the windowed mode. 

If you're having difficulty locating the offending sim, you could also use the "reset world" cheat. It will immediately fix your issue, but it will also reset all activity in the neighborhood.

I think that resetting the world is an extreme measure.  A measure taken right before, if not after, deleting the save game and starting over.

However, my opinion is simply the distrust of anything as major as resetting the world.  How can you tell if everything is OK after the reset?

I followed these directions step-by-step for the base game. Do I also need to do this with the WA and HELS .exe files? I noticed that my graphics card had an update so I thought that the new crashes that were occurring were due to an outdated driver. Even after I updated the driver, I'm still experiencing crashes but they are far less frequent. I thought changing the settings in the DEP fixed my game because after I made those changes, I didn't have any crashes for quite some time. I'm hoping this method will solve my problem completely. I am also running the 3booter and FPS_Limiter if that matters. When I changed the settings for the DEP, I also included those files along with TS3, WA and HELS .exe files. I don't know if it is/was necessary to do so, but I just wanted to make sure that I didn't miss anything.

Yes.

I'm playing another user created world and just experienced my game freezing 3 times after a few minutes of play, and having to end the game via task manager on Sunday (I think it was Sunday, whatever). It would consistently hang up whether or not I gave the sims commands or not. So after the third time I restarted I paused and went to edit town view, then entered "radar all" in the console, but there was just no way I was going to go around looking at every single sim in my 'hood to see if I could find who was stuck in some action that couldn't be completed. I had a whole lot of sims walking and driving here and there and everywhere. No way, way too time consuming! So I entered "reset world" in the console. It functions the same way as "reset <sim name>, meaning all it seems to do is that it magically transports everyone home. The only price I paid was that my sim would have gotten a promotion at work, but since I had to do this 30 minutes before the end of his shift, he immediately left work to go home (he was the only sim that wasn't magically transported there) and did not get promoted. He got promoted the next day though, of course. So in my experience nothing drastic happens to your game. I was able to play it without problems of any kind after doing this.

Well, for starters, any Sim in transit somewhere or hiding in a rabbit hole is unlikely to be a problem, so you can ignore them.  Likewise, any Sim in a house that you are not playing (where none are running in high res) is unlikely to be a problem. 

Start by checking your own Sims and any Sims in other households that might be running Supreme Commander, then check all the Sims out and about in the world on foot in the vicinity of your active Sims.

If you set the AM config file to allow inactive skill gains, then Supreme Commander will give inactives commands to work on skills without you manually doing it yourself.

In another custom world I was playing a few weeks ago, I only had about a half a dozen sims in it so it was a lot easier to find the problem sim. The game was freezing - running - freezing so I was able to press the pause button like you mentioned in another thread and eventually the game would unfreeze and pause, which allowed me to go to edit town to locate the problem sim. This freezing happened several times; one time it seems that a sim was stuck at a WA register even though SC was instructing the sim to skill painting. On another occasion she was just stuck in her house because she had no easel, and for whatever reason she was not going to the high school to skill painting like the sims do in the original neighborhoods. (She had a path blocked symbol above her head.)

The freezing problems I've been having lately are not off and on freezing. No amount of time will result in the game resuming, so shutting it down via task manager is the only option. But as I mentioned previously, I used the reset world command the third time I restarted, before the freezing occured, and have not had any freezing issues since. I was controlling a 3-sim house, one of whom was a toddler and another was at work, so it wasn't any of the sims under my control who had the problem. It would have taken hours to track down the problem sim when you have a full neighborhood with sims spread out all over the place.

With my freezing though it never happens at the same point twice. Once the game freezes and I restart from the last save point, the game runs as normal past the previous freeze until it hits a new freeze point.

I can second this. It so far has happened to me when a menu is about to pop up. For example, I wanted to get a career for my sim and the game froze just before the options appeared. Next, it froze when I went to the store right before the options appeared. However, if I restart the save, I can get past that same point with no issue whatsoever... until I get to the next one.

Pescado there is only one way to solve this crash problem.  Can you create a program to make Windows 7 compatible to SIMS 3?

What makes you think it isn't compatible?  Running Windows 7 64-bit, and apart from the odd freeze occasionally, there isn't any compatibility issue.  I can go hours a day for several weeks without getting a freeze, then get a couple in a short space of time, then go weeks again without any.  Doesn't sound like a compatibility issue with Windows 7 to me.  I suspect it is more likely a game issue.

I also run Windows 7 64-bit and have had no freezes that last longer than an annoying few seconds.  I'm leaning towards driver issues as my guess for the culprit.  Nvidia cards seem to be causing quite a bit of frustration of late.   I stand by my earlier suggestion of "Go shopping".  Shopping solves so many problems.  Treat yourself to a Radeon.

I run Win 7 x64 and NVIDIA with no problems. The only freezing I see is related to items I have previously discussed.

I tried a HD4890 card once, ripped it out and went back to Nvidia.  I couldn't install the Catalyst center for running the displays, it kept saying some windows component was missing, and after 3 weeks of emails back and form with AMD, and forum searching to try and solve the problem I gave up.  With 2 monitors I needed the catalyst to be able to set up both properly.

I've been having this issue too, from the annoying semi freezes where animations and sounds can be seen and heard, but nothing is clickable and so on. This usually doesn't last long and the game resumes by itself. This is sort of a sign of the absolute freeze coming on later.

Then there's the absolute freeze, where I have to force quit the game and hope that my last save wasn't too long ago. Usually happens exactly as I'm using a pop up menu, sometimes in CAS (plan outfit usually), changing game speeds, or sometimes just generally when the time is ripe for a freeze. Which happens to be around 2 hrs of gameplay. So basically if I look at the clock when I start, I'm able to save my game before it'll freeze. What could possibly go wrong in 2 hours that causes the crash? Also I've noticed significant lag in Sim actions, they could be staring the fridge for (sim) hours, before they start cooking.

I'm not even using Windows, I'm running this on OS X Snow Leopard. Which the game thinks to be XP apparently, since it's running trough cider, an emulator platform used by EA among others, so they don't have to do any new coding. And which of course eats a LOT of memory. Those lazy bastards. And my mac has Nvidia too.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was some kind of bottleneck within the game itself.  Basically EAxis craptastic shit.

I have absolutely NO idea what's changed in my game but two days after posting about the constant random crashing it hasn't happened since. I think the only thing I changed was that I turned aging back on for a few Sim days. It was off when I reported the issue. I've had storymode activated the whole time.

I've never played my game with the aging off but my game continues to crash. I still can't seem to find anything that actually triggers it. I have done the DEP thing, and that helped for a long time. I didn't have any issues and then all of a sudden it started crashing again. I then went and downloaded the CFF explorer and tried that. Again, it seemed to work for awhile and now I am back to having my game crash. I just continually save it whenever I remember and keep reading forums to see if anyone else has found a solution.

I tried the CFF Explorer too, fixed the files in Windows and moved them back to my Mac. Still freezing and crashing, again after about 2 hours of playing. This seems to be the actual playing time, and times when paused don't count. Can't be exactly sure though.

Also there's still this strange Sim lag, that seems to be somehow connected to changing clothes. Going for a jog, to work or to a shower all require changing, and my sims seem to have some trouble with it. They just tend to stand there for hours until they change their clothes. Does anyone else have this, is it EAxian, AM or connected to the crashing?

Developers are currently working on a new patch.  This will solve DEP Problems.  One thing which is in common with crashes is inventory limit.  EA will be adding a limit to how much can be in inventory.  Also the DEP is crashing with Windows 32 and 64.

Changing outfits does cause lags as has been mentioned several times in various threads and the only thing you can do in this case is to pause the game before changing to allow the game to load the outfits in the background.

As regards other lags, from what I could see by following twallan's threads at TSC, Story Progression is probably the main cause, as he has set up a testing routine to eliminate lags caused by his own SP mod (http://ts3.tscexchange.com/index.php?topic=1842.0). And this may also be the cause for many of those crashes in connection with some bad sim or routing failure. In one of my games I had a certain homeless Sim named Narcissa Vatos who was so sex-crazed that every time I got the message of her romancing someone the game crashed immediately afterwards (she must have been a bigger bang than even Zaphod Beeblebrox). After I annihilated her the crashes went away. So, your 2 hour problem may be due to something going on behind the scenes that is triggered every two hours and causes your CPUs to overload (which is, of course, an amateurish assumption as I am one of those stupid Mac users who is happy when he manages to find the socket for his keyboard).

What I am quite sure about, though, is that those freezes are EAxian, because I had these from the very beginning when I got the game last year in June. Patch 1.8 was probably the best in this respect as I had no problems then (this was also the patch that enabled Macs to finally use custom hairs again). With 1.11 the freezes are back, but actually less often than before and for some of these I can track the cause (like some routing problems in vacationlands or, as I said, SP events that sort of fail). And whenever this happens and I have to force quit, the Mac equivalent of Process Monitor showed me full bars on both levels. Ea seems to be superbly apt at creating apps that cause your machines to overreact, just look at Bioware's Dragon Age forum and the inability of a formerly quite capable developer team to address these issues.

What makes you think this?

Given that EAxis released a patch just before WA to update the base game with new features needed for WA, it is probably a fair call that EAxis will also release a patch prior to the next EP, updating the base game to support the new EP.

As to whether the patch will fix the crashing problem, I would ask the same thing of StormChaserOne.

Glad I found this thread. I'd put TS3 away a few months ago after I couldn't stand playing without AwesomeMod anymore. I've never been able to get AwesomeMod to work. I've read all the tutorials that I could find to see if I was doing something wrong, but I've never been able to figure out the problem. I place AwesomeMod in my game file (no other mods, or even ANY other CC, mind you), I start the game, and it crashes before it can even really begin loading. I tried troubleshooting this last year, but eventually gave up because I couldn't find an episode that anyone had that was similar to mine. When I take AwesomeMod out, the game runs fine. But it's hardly worth playing if I can't play every household without watching each one age to elder before I can even play 3 sim days. ::) So Sims 3 has just set dormant in my machine for a long time.

Short of looking like the lone, dumb idiot, I just never posted my issue here. I don't have Windows 7, so I'm sure that it's not necessarily just a Windows 7 issue. I have Vista 32-bit machine.

I'd love to play Sims 3 again--with AwesomeMod--but I just don't know how to make it work.

To which "game file" are you referring? Do you have the necessary framework installed?


You can play with aging turned off whether or not you have AM, but there are dozens of other good reasons to have it. You may find it worth your effort to lurk around a bit more for existing information.

I've got the framework, I've got the d3dx9_31.dll in both the game/bins of WA and the base game. I have the Resource.cfg file in WA and base game. I tried taking it out of the base game and loading, that didn't work. So I just put it back in the base game file. I've got awesome mod in the Hacks portion of WA, and I also tried putting it in the base game hacks section to see if that would help. Nope, nothing, zilch. Checked the Dashboard from MTS, no incompatibilities, no issues showing up there. I've got absolutely no other content in my game, not even EAxis store junk. I've read tutorials, I've tried suggestions from other threads that I thought might help, but I can't figure out what piece of the puzzle I'm missing!

And as for lurking more, I've lurked and lurked and lurked my share, on here, on the Sims 3 site (that doesn't do much good), and on other Sims 3 forums. Unfortunately, most of the time when I can manage to stumble on a situation that I think might be relevant to my situation, I end up finding that there are replies such as, "look around more. You clearly failed." or "Lurk moar, use search." or "READ THE FAQ". It's quite hard to find answers amidst all of the folks replying calling folks n00bs. It's no wonder people can't find answers--they're having to weed through all of the name-calling. :D That's why I gave up with AwesomeMod last year. I didn't want to deal with being told to read and lurk more. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

I'm not someone who does a lot of talking--as you can see, I've been a member here for quite some time and the only time I ever post here anymore is when I'm at the end of my rope, google hasn't come through for me, and can't find the answer on my own. ;)

ETA: This is also something I've followed in the past. Just tried and it still doesn't work: http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Sims_3_Loading_Crashes
And now I can say that the game will now load about 1/3 of the way and doesn't progress. It also will not close without Ctrl/Alt/Del.

ItchyNScratchy: Fair enough. I couldn't tell from your post what you had already tried, and thought it might have been a case of search fail. Bits of this problem do sound familiar from my lurkings, but since I've been lucky in not having very many issues, anything beyond the very, very obvious is beyond my experience. Therefore, I leave you to the tender mercies of the More Awesome.

Just my recommendation, insure that you have no corrupted files floating about: Completely uninstall. Delete everything. Run CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner).

Reinstall and patch.

Follow these instructions for installing the framework: http://sublimesims.net/smf/index.php?topic=1726.0

Drop awesome.package and aweconfig into C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages (unless you specified a different directory for game install, then follow the path as needed).

Come back and let us know if it crashes again.

Also, remember to delete the My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 folder when uninstalling.

This is pretty much the same as what myskaal wrote, I just put it all here so you can follow step by step.

First of all.. you should only have one Resource.cfg file. This could have been your issue all along. Secondly, you need to have the d3dx9_31.dll in both C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Game/Bin AND C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 World Adventures/Game/Bin. I know that you mentioned you did this, but check again. Now, you need to put your Resource.cfg file in C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 World Adventures. Then, you need to create a folder for your mods in C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 World Adventures -->(created folder: Mods/Packages). Your mods will go here (including AM). So overall, your mods will go in C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 World Adventures/Mods/Packages.

It's really not as difficult or as intimidating as people who come on this forum and complain about it to be. Like I said, follow that step-by-step and AM should run. If it doesn't, double check.. triple check. It could be something as simple as you thinking you put a file somewhere that it isn't. To check and see if AM is installed correctly, hit ctrl + shift + c and type showconfig in the box. Do this when your 'hood is loaded. If you get 3-4 blue pages popping up with settings, then AM is working correctly.

I got this DEP issue on priority list along with inventory.  I was on EA chat with Gavin and Microsoft for 3 hours.  I even threatened to hack SIMS 3 to make it compatible to Win 7 64 Bit.  You need to hack game to make it compatible.

I am not certain how that constitutes a threat.

LOL Funny thing is that I've just come back from a nasty virus, thanks to one of those popups "Your system may be affected! Click to run this virus scan!", those crap malware things. So, I ended up having to wipe the PC, so Sims 3 is just newly installed, and CCleaner is one of the programs I've used in addressing issues with my PC. So, that's one step down at least! Patches are also up and running as well.

Followed Rainbow_Brite's suggestion about the Resource.cfg file. It was in both files--base and WA. That was the entire problem. The one thing I didn't try to remove! *headdesk* EA really could've made things easier for us. I hate that they've made it like pulling teeth to mod a game.

Thanks for all of your help, folks! I truly appreciate it! ;)
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ETA: Ok, we're back to square 1 again. After adding in aweconf to my Sims 3 WA/Mods/Packages/Hacks file, I'm back to where I started from. So, I've gone back, checked everything again with my files to make sure that everything was right where it should be, and it is. I'm not sure if I've done something wrong in putting in aweconf or what. So, here's what I did so this might be able to be fixed....

I went to the AwesomeMod Configuration, selected to generate the file, saved it to my desktop then moved it to my WA/Mods/Packages/Hacks file along with awesome package file. Rebooting the game makes it stick to about 1/3 of the way loading and doesn't go any further.

Are you people sure this CTD only happens to windows 7 users? I get the same type of crash and I'm running windows Vista 64bit with an nvidia card (GTX 295).

64-bit Vista has its own problems with running Sims 3 that result in a CTD.  I've seen them discussing it on here.  Try Search.

Do you have an updated version of the Resource.cfg file? I see that you made another file within the Packages folder so that's why I'm asking. If you are using a Resource.cfg file that you downloaded when the game first came out, it might not be coded to recognize multiple files within your Mods/Packages folder. If you're not sure, open up your Resource.cfg file in Notepad at paste:

Priority 500
DirectoryFiles Mods/Packages/... autoupdate
PackedFile Mods/Packages/*.package
PackedFile Mods/Packages/*/*.package
PackedFile Mods/Packages/*/*/*.package
PackedFile Mods/Packages/*/*/*/*.package
PackedFile Mods/Packages/*/*/*/*/*.package
PackedFile Mods/Packages/*.dbc
PackedFile Mods/Packages/*/*.dbc

This will also allow you to have .dbc files within your Mods/Packages folder. Anach has a tutorial on how to do that if you want to learn how to compile all of your CC. Usually when the game doesn't load all the way it is a framework fail. Obviously, you said it was working earlier so that's why I'm assuming it's your Resource.cfg file and not your framework. I could be wrong but that's the first thing that comes to mind. Make sure you have Awesome.package and Aweconfig.package in the SAME folder and you have the most recent version of AM.

What compatibility issue with Windows 7 64-Bit?  You make it sound like the game is actually unplayable on this OS.  I had CTD's with TS2 and Windows XP, did that mean they were also incompatible?

I haven't had a CTD for several weeks now, so does this mean it is or isn't compatible.

If the game was truly incompatible as yo claim, it either wouldn't run at all, or would CTD on a regular basis.

Also try putting things simply in the base game mods directory instead of in the EP directory. For some people this works for others is does not. I'm one of the users that it works in the base game directories but not in the ep or sp directories.

My framework is set up like so:
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3: Resource.cfg
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin: d3dx9_31.dll
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Files: DDFMap.txt and Resource.cfg (again)

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 World Adventures: Resource.cfg
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 World Adventures\Game\Bin: d3dx9_31.dll

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff: Resource.cfg
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff\Game\Bin: d3dx9_31.dll


I do not have a mods directory in either WA or HELS. However, some users have reported that they need to place their mods in one or the other of those directories to get them working.

Ok, thanks, guys. Will give your suggestions a try. I'm about to just throw in the towel again. Sims 2 stuff is so much easier to handle; EA has royally screwed themselves over by making it so hard to mod (and then get it to work) this game.

If it was working before you added the Aweconfig file, then you had everything set up right. You just need to figure out what went wrong. I would suggest if you have any other questions about this, post in the 'Awesomemod discussion, questions & helpful tips thread'. Maybe then more people will read your questions and be able to help you. Like I said, the only other suggestion I had to help you was making sure you had an updated resource.cfg file. Hopefully you will be able to figure it out.

:EDIT: One more thing.. do you have the DDFMap.txt? I just found this is the AM discussion thread:

Maybe this is your problem?

It's no the DDFmap, because I still use the old DDFmap version and no red squares for me. However, that's really a relic of back when hacking was more technical, and no one actually uses that method today, so for the most part, no one uses the DDFmap anymore.

I am having a crash to desktop just a second after I click the icon to open the game, nothing even starts happening, it just crashes immediately. The weird thing is (it sounded completely impossible to me at first, but it's proven to be consistent) it starts when I have TS2 running. At first when it didn't load I just thought "ok, I'll play TS2 now and figure what's wrong later". Then after a while minimized TS2 and tried TS3 again. It loaded so I thought that crash was random. But when the next time I turned on my computer again and tried to run TS3, it crashed again! I tried a few times, then loaded TS2, minimized it, and TS3 loaded just fine. I have no idea how this could be connected as they are in different folders, but it obviously is connected somehow.
I have only TS3 base game, using Windows XP and I'm not sure it started to happen immediately after that or some time later, but it's after I have reinstalled windows.

I have also done something I did not want to do, but I did do it.  Uninstall the EADM.  No more crashes for me. 

Pescado crack open the EADM it is one of several reasons for desktop crashes.   

I had my first CTD while doing an architectural task.  I had placed all of the required items but paintings, and got a CTD as soon as I clicked on a CC painting in the catalog.  I'm probably going to stick to EA items for designer tasks from now on.

Jeromy try Delphy's Dashboard and scan your Packages.

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=387006

I find that if CC is corrupted it can lead to crashes.

That would require installing it. What makes you think I'd be daft enough to do a dumbass thing like that?

Very true Pescado.  For people who do direct download will just have to keep installing and uninstalling. 

People who do "direct download" are also morons, so meh.

Or Pescado some who direct download are disabled veterans.

Also I am going to be testing a theory out.  People who have Dells like myself, Dell has piss poor fans which I did not know about until recently. I am going to be throwing in new fans.  And, also see if that is cause of crash. 

Which does not preclude moronity, and I entirely fail to see how this is relevant at all. Playing the veteran card doesn't win points with me, I've been there myself.

What if it's a disabled veteran ALPHA_TESTER^TM?  Does that not impress you?

I have a Mac, and I'm getting similar CTD's. So no, I don't think it's Windows. I'd love to figure it out, though, because this game is crap without AM.

I have a win xp. My game crash down when i try to use the dresser or the mirror with AM installed. Without AM is there no problems. So everytime i will make my sim having new clothes i have to uninstall AM first. I can reinstall AM again when their clothes or outfit is ok.

In the bug thread it's been mentioned that it might be tattoos that are the problem. There's a new patch out, I'm going to see if that works tonight.

I played for 2 hours without a problem earlier today, then had a tattoo done and crashed to desktop. So..yeah.
@StormchaserOne: I had a DEP issue too after installing Ambitions, took me forever to find out as I'm not computer savvy, -I'm on Win XP, not Win 7

I am also having this problem, of Sims random crashing to desktop, however I have noticed that happens from installing other mods, after AM. If I remove packages/mods etc installed after AM, I have no problem. I assume that means conflicting mods?? Not graphics related?? Either way, I have trial and error style. 12 files down, 42 to go.   -.-

That does tend to be the cause of crashing, yes.

So far I've experienced a couple age related CTD, which are easily fixed by the "resetage" command on the sims listed in via the "listagers" command. However, since last night, it seems to be any age-up event that is causing CTD. Unless something major has broken, the only other reason I can think of is that it's something to do with the sims being some of the original townies that are now dying off and were possibly corrupt. The only thing I have noticed with the last two age-up related CTD is that each contained a death event. The first time, one sim was an elder service npc, the second time an elder town sim, which were both scheduled to die, but instead CTD. If I forced them to age-up right away, it would CTD, however if i first "resetage", then aged them up manually back to where they were previously at, they would die off normally and without CTD. I'll probably see a few more CTD events from time to time until I've got rid of the original batch of townies.

I had an aging up CTD recently - seems the hair my toddler had been given was corrupt somehow in child, because when I took the hair out no more CTD's.

Hey, I just wanted to let everyone know I did figure out the problem eventually.
It was just a coincidence that it started happening when I installed Awesomemod. Im using it now and its all good.

I gave up for a while but eventually wanted to play it again so after googling enough I found out a lot of people have the issue and its an issue EA needs to actually patch and it usually DOESNT happen as soon as you get the game and so on. Someone made  a free fix for it, too. I figure if anyone with the same problem reads this itd be helpful to share the link-

http://soulfulsims.mybigcommerce.com/products/Sims-3-Crash-Fix.html

Ugh.  That's just a Large Address Aware fix for the stupid, marketed as a magic fix-all.  Since LAA was supposed to have been adjusted in LN, that 'fix' should be redundant.

I think you still have to adjust the config to allow the game to use the RAM, though.

I dont really know much about it except I tried it and it works and I havent crashed since I started using it.

After patching, this shit is happening to me again...I even reinstalled the whole damn game and I'm still getting the random crashes. I'm so fed up with this f-ing game.