Game keeps crashing!

[Abbie]

I have the Sims 3 base game on a disc and nothing else. It keeps crashing about a minute after I choose my family and I'm on the lot, so I can't do very much. There have been about 2 or 3 occasions where I played for 15 mins - 30 mins. I've noticed it tends to crash when I click or type too fast and often.

I thought it might be useful for the tech experts if I put down info about my laptop. So here it is:
Dell Latitude D620
Windows Vista Business
Centrino Duo Processor (?)
68.0 GB free out of 110 GB

Also, I'm not so sure I can add memory due to the fact I'm only 12. I just want to play the game for longer than I can right now, so please help!

[SimAd]

If you look in your Documents\The Sims 3 folder you'll find a few files called xcpt_blahblah.txt. You can open those with Notepad.

There's a lot of jibberish in those files that nobody can make sense of, however the second paragraph has a few notes on Physical Memory, Virtual Memory and Free Virtual Memory. If you can post those numbers they can give an indication whether the game is crashing because of insufficient memory (don't post the whole thing, it is as long as my arm and mostly useless anyway).

To be honest I must say I expect it to be doing that, as the standard configuration of you machine originally only has 1GB of memory and that is really too tight. The numbers mentioned above can give certainty though.

[Abbie]

If you look in your Documents\The Sims 3 folder you'll find a few files called xcpt_blahblah.txt. You can open those with Notepad.

This is near the 2nd paragraph...

OS version:      Windows Vista  6.0.6000
OS prod type:    0
OS major ver:    6
OS minor ver:    0
OS SP major ver: 0
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit:    0
CPU:             GenuineIntel
    Brand:       Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T5500  @ 1.66GHz
    Family:      6
    Model:       15
    Cores:       2
    HT:          0
    x64:         0
Memory:          2045MB
Free memory:     1227MB

Is this any help?

[Gheez]

Hi Abbie,

Unfortunately, I think that the CPU of your laptop is not powerful enough to play The Sims 3.

The website says that the minimum for Windows Vista is:

"2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
1.5 GB RAM
128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1
At least 6.1 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB of additional space for custom content and saved games

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets under Windows, the game requires at least:
Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA 3-Series or above
2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
0.5 GB additional RAM"

Your CPU is 1.66.   

However, I also play on a Dell, with similar specs to yours - though my CPU is 1.8 and I have 3Gb of Ram - I've just looked on a recent crash file of mine.  Although it has different information, I noticed that my Windows version is later than yours and It also has Service Pack 1.

If it is easy for you (or a friend or parent), perhaps you could try updating your Vista version?  Also make sure you have the latest drivers for the Intel integrated graphics. Then, when you go into the game, make sure that, in the options menu, all the graphics settings are set to low or off and the boxes are unticked.

This may not work but, if I were you, I'd be tempted to try.  Good luck.

Edited:

I play in full screen mode with a resolution of 800 x 600.  (This is also set on the Options).  I don't have any other programs open whilst I am playing.

My crash problems, when I get them, are to a black screen.  I think that the laptop overheats. I had to buy a cooling pad.  It doesn't crash so often now.

[SimAd]

Hm, that looks kind of weird, for a crash report, to be honest. What version are you playing, did you ever patch the game?

Actually, your system should really be able to run it (somewhat) provided you indeed keep your settings a little low. I'm not sure the crashing is due to that. It seems you have 2GB installed, you can not do an awful lot with that but running a standard world should work.

If you just installed the base game from CD and never patched it, there may be a good amount of bugs in there. So you might want to try patching the game. Mind you, that would need the cumulative patch (or Super Patch) which in itself is a 1.2 GB download currently. If need be you can get it here: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/175477.page

As the cumulative patch is a separate program, you can actually download it somewhere else and put it on a memory stick or so, if need be.

[Seabody]

Hi Abbie, welcome to the forum.

I would suggest you read this topic. It basically allows you to read the xcpt files that SimAd mentioned easier, it may even tell you the exact cause. I would suggest you download the linked program, run it, and tell us what it says.

[Abbie]

I play in full screen mode with a resolution of 800 x 600.  (This is also set on the Options).  I don't have any other programs open whilst I am playing.

My crash problems, when I get them, are to a black screen.  I think that the laptop overheats. I had to buy a cooling pad.  It doesn't crash so often now.

I have the exact same problem, also playing with no programs up, and I have no fullscreen. It helps a little.

Also, I think we're upgrading this to Windows 7 soon anyways.

@Seabody: But won't installing more programs give me MORE lag?

[Seabody]

This file is very small, and after you read the files with it, can safely be deleted. So basically, not really.