The Sims 3 has stopped working - Windows or computer problem?

[Turd Ferguson]

So from what I gather, despite everything everyone has done, there is a bug in the game that just crashes directly to desktop no matter what settings and shit you do.

The conspiracy theorist in me says that EA realizes how bad Showtime is going to do with all the retarded social networking shit and added this bug to force us to buy the fix included in the next EP.

[notouching]

Well, my game doesn't crash at all unless I put bad CC in it. So while I'm sure EA would like to sell a crapload of Showtime EPs, I'm not inclined to believe any conspiracy. I don't know why I don't experience these crashes. My game is fully patched (all minor EP/SP patches). I haven't touched the DEP settings. There are currently 170 files in my mods folder because I've been too lazy to merge the new stuff in yet and I'm considering switching over to CC Magic. My computer is equipped with a silly amount of ram (16GB) but that much ram isn't necessary.

There is a store item which can cause the game to crash: the Cellar Arch. It was fixed quite a while ago but you could try re-downloading it. In December there were some "discretion" doors posted on MTS which were removed because they caused the game to crash.(The Discretion Doors have been fixed and re-uploaded) At some point, my game was crashing due to TFM's STFU TV mod. I don't know why that was and I don't know of anyone else who has had that problem. I removed the mod and my game stopped crashing. It could have been a conflict with some other mod but Delphy's Dashboard didn't report any conflict. Personally, I think it was a problem of Overwatch combined STFU TV. In any case, if you can find a way to reliably crash the game, then it's very likely a CC problem.  

I know people don't like to be told to get a new computer, but before I built a new one the game was moody. I didn't get many CTDs  then except for when Save Error 12 reared it's ugly head, but that was annoying enough.

[Valid_Enough]

You can try using the crash log analyzer from modthesims. I had a similar problem and it turned out that all of my saves were corrupted and sims 3 kept saving corrupted files. I solved my problem by saving in a separate name, saving twice under that name, and then restoring the back-up of my latest save. If corrupt saves are not your problem, the analyzer might tell you what is the problem.

The CLA is here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=416883

If you want to try the method I described it is found in a detailed version here: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Restoring_Backup_Saves

[Noromarc]

New post to publish another possible solution, depending on the state of the troubled user's system. In my case, crashing due to "TS3 has stopped working" errors ceased after applying an update to .NET 4.0 which was listed as "optional" instead of "important" inside Windows Update, so it did not get automatically installed.

However, freezing did continue, but now it began displaying a definitive pattern instead of the previous randomness. My playing habits were to use Edit Town without saving from Live Mode, and without saving back to Live after editing (choosing "Continue only" instead of "Save") and it's this procedure which causes the freezing within a few sim-minutes to a couple of sim-hours. The same will happen if I try to Buy/Build directly on another lot as allowed by Awesomemod.

As of now I can use the game without DEP exemptions or tweaks, so I hope this experience can help others troubleshoot their own gaming systems.

Edited for the purpose of reporting no further crashes or freezing after one last change: Following the hint contained within this post (see http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,21254.msg588307.html#msg588307), the game no longer malfunctions.

Editing after week-end gaming session. Game crashed once with a "TS3 has stopped working" error which was detected as likely caused by DEP with the CLA utility. Adding DEP exemption solved the issue.

[Beldara]

So from what I gather, despite everything everyone has done, there is a bug in the game that just crashes directly to desktop no matter what settings and shit you do.

The conspiracy theorist in me says that EA realizes how bad Showtime is going to do with all the retarded social networking shit and added this bug to force us to buy the fix included in the next EP.

I've personally been having the random ctd happening before I got showtime, so it's not something new and bad they've just introduced, their code has always been sloppy 

I have an nvidia gtx 470 and it randomly locks up and then it makes a clicking noise and all the lag catches up.  Pretty sure it's on its last legs.  I pulled everything out a few weeks ago and cleaned out the heatsink etc, you could have fried an egg on the cpu it was so bad.  I am pretty convinced my CTD's are caused by my motherboard/gfx card getting old and failing.  I plan on rebuilding my pc from scratch in the next few weeks so it will be interesting to see how it fares on a beefy new rig.

[Iolanthe]

I've had this problem all along.  Turning off the internet (and any unnecessary programmes running in the background) and setting autosave to 20 minutes or so helps.  The Crash Log Analyser says it's due to insufficient memory, though.  How much memory have you got?  I only have 2 Gb and am planning to upgrade to 4 Gb shortly.

[wizard_merlin]

I've had this problem all along.  Turning off the internet (and any unnecessary programmes running in the background) and setting autosave to 20 minutes or so helps.  The Crash Log Analyser says it's due to insufficient memory, though.  How much memory have you got?  I only have 2 Gb and am planning to upgrade to 4 Gb shortly.

That doesn't always help.  Pes has already said the game is only 32-bit, therefore the amount of memory the games sees and uses is irrelevant as it won't go above the 32-bit limit, so you can still run out of memory.

[Skadi]

I've personally been having the random ctd happening before I got showtime, so it's not something new and bad they've just introduced, their code has always been sloppy 

I have an nvidia gtx 470 and it randomly locks up and then it makes a clicking noise and all the lag catches up.  Pretty sure it's on its last legs.  I pulled everything out a few weeks ago and cleaned out the heatsink etc, you could have fried an egg on the cpu it was so bad.  I am pretty convinced my CTD's are caused by my motherboard/gfx card getting old and failing.  I plan on rebuilding my pc from scratch in the next few weeks so it will be interesting to see how it fares on a beefy new rig.

The FPS Limiter would probably do you a world of good. Since there is no Vsync in TS3 many GPUs fry themselves running as fast as they can. Mine would regularly hit 100'c without the FPS limiter. I use the 3booter/fps limiter found here: http://moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,15585.0.html

[Beldara]

Skadi thanks for the tip.

For the first time ever, my pc did not sound like a jet engine about to take off trying to load the game. 
I'd often wondered why it seemed to be having so much trouble with Sims when it can cope with other, far more graphic intensive games more easily.

[Skadi]

My first clue was when it would run Crysis okay, but shit itself at TS3. Very bad coding.

[pepsihamster]

You can try using the crash log analyzer from modthesims. I had a similar problem and it turned out that all of my saves were corrupted and sims 3 kept saving corrupted files. I solved my problem by saving in a separate name, saving twice under that name, and then restoring the back-up of my latest save. If corrupt saves are not your problem, the analyzer might tell you what is the problem.

The CLA is here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=416883

If you want to try the method I described it is found in a detailed version here: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Restoring_Backup_Saves

Valid_Enough, thank you, thank you, thank you. You litteraly saved my game. I have had nothing but trouble with CTD, en masse. I have been about to give up playing, this has been so frustrating, as I have tried a lot of things to try and fix these crashes. I did exactly what you suggested and now my game is back on track. No more CTD or stuttering. Crossing my fingers that this will continue! Now, I make sure to save every 20 minutes as a new "Save As", this seems to do the trick. YAY!!!  I had no idea that all my save games were corrupt, as they didn't say "bad" in the file name - which I have encountered a couple of times. Thank YOU.

[Silverin]

I have the exact same problem as Incognito.

Before using awesome mod I had lags/freezes/crashes very often. I would kiss JM on the butt if he wanted for he's resetworld command line. It has totally removed the lags/freezes. But I still have the crash. CLA analyzed the error log as a graphical problem. My graphic card wouldnt be good enough or instable :
I run with W7 64bits. The graphic card is an ATI HD 6900 series 2048 GDDR5 edition if I recall well. No OC and never did it on this one. Drivers up to date - non beta version. Same as the framework. Also have the 4.0 frame update as mentioned upper. I have 8gb ddr3-sdram and an i7 960. Performance wise I shouldnt have any limitation on TS3, expect of it's own programming.
Did LAA on ts3.exe just in case. I have the "ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00000084 address: 0x67c30ff4 "C:\Windows\system32\d3d9.dll":0x0001:0x0005fff4" : If I'm not wrong it's not related to DEP. Did a brand new game so it's not corrupted saves.
Expect from the LAA and backup, I didnt modify the bin. No cracks, no old method mods, nothing.
I am also using ~3gb of custom content, all under .package format plus all EPs and SPs. Dashboard did detect some very few conflicts, but from what I've researched it's normal. No corruption.

Icognito (or any one who crashes like us) do you have similar hardware ? Are you running on ATI or nvidia ?

I would tend to say it's windows problem, but it only crashes with TS3. Any other "heavely"* modded games are running without any problem. Would it be windows/driver problem, wouldnt I have issues on games like Skyrim wich I "heavily"* modified ?


* I'm not finding the correct word in english, sorry. What I mean is that I added alot of content and mods making the game get several gigabytes bigger.

[angelic]

I have the exact same problem. What helps for me is putting it in compatibility mode with Windows XP Service Pack 3, although which one to pick might differ for you. It could be something to look into as it allow me 6 hrs playtime before I'm in danger of a crash.

[vecki]

Interesting.  I haven't been paying much attention to sim stuff lately (stupid meatspace life), but I have been getting a lot of CTD since.... some time after getting Pets.  Maybe after patching?  I forget.

ANYWAY, I started a new neighbourhood yesterday and spent a good hour or so plopping LN, Pets, and Ambitions lots down (these are the only EPs I have at the moment, and if I can't play, then I'm unlikely to want to get any more - YOU HEAR THAT, EAXIS?).  I spent a bit less than a sim day in the new neighbourhood today, and got a CTD.

CLA tells me the problem is a corrupt save.  Really?  On a brand new neighbourhood?  Most of the crashes seem to have this listed as a culprit, but really?  On a neighbourhood about two RL hours old?

There is a warning from a previous CTD log (oddly, though, not from this crash) that I may not have enough RAM (a miserable 2GB, whereas the PetsBox insists 1.5GB should be enough).  Will have to get the spousal unit to assist with acquiring more RAM.

[Bajka]

I've had the same problem since I installed Pets. My game is fully patched and I'm using only awesomemod. It crushes to desktop, Windows says: "Sims 3 stopped working" or something like that. I tried every tip given in this thread (and also here), but none of them worked. CLA says "insufficient graphics capability", but when I'm playing WITHOUT awesomemod, everything works great. I can play for hours and nothing happens. Why? Is it possible that awesomemod causes the crashes?

[J. M. Pescado]

Don't really know. Certain settings in AwesomeMod tend to consume more resources, however, so it may cause borderline computers to overload. This is probably why it is only people who are not me that have these problems.

[witch]

Would you list some of the settings that may cause overload please?

[Eeyore]

Although my game doesn't crash due to overload, the AM settings with which I've most noticed a change in performance are InformOnStoryAction and SupremeCommander.

[witch]

Yes, that ties in with my observations about SC. I seem to have no problems with one or two sims under SC, but put a family of 8 on and the game starts to become unstable. I will turn off the inform on story action and see what happens.