Sims 3 crashing again - this time in all the worlds

[Frey]

Hi! I need help... again.

My game has started crashing again. It used to happen only in Appaloosa Plains but now it's even affecting Sunset Valley. It happens only while on live mode though, I can build for as long as I want or Edit World or whatever and nothing happens, but when I go into live mode it crashes within the first 15-30 minutes of gameplay (real-time). They are all new-created gamefiles. I have no CC, no mods. I run Win7 Home Basic with an Nvidia Geforce 310M (not the best in the world, but enough for running the game). My computer meets all the minimum requirements, and my graphics settings are all set between minimum and low.

Here's what I have already done:
- Changed DEP Settings to include pretty much every sims-related .exe file I could find.
- Updated the game, DirectX, graphics card's drivers, Windows version and everything I could think of.
- About 100 Factory Resets and complete Un- and Re-installs of the game.
- Defragmented the laptop.
- Cleaned cache-files
- Adjusted my virtual memory settings as explained here: http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=8663.0 (see the post by Moonsareblue in the middle of the first page of the thread)
- Playing the game in windowed mode.
- Running CCleaner to see if I found any registry errors. Didn't find any errors that were sim-related.
- Opened dxdiag to see if I found any errors. I didn't find any, but I'm not an expert so it could be I just didn't find them.

So... first: having a look at my Sims 3 folders I found some error logs. One says that my available physical memory is about 145 MB, which I guess is really low. What is exactly the physical memory, and how can it be that I have only 145 M available if my computer has a total physical memory of about 2000 MB and enough free memory in the disk? Has this anything to do with my issues? How do I fix it?

Second: Another log error says:
[Exception info]
date: 2012-08-17
time: 16.04.20
type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00000031
address: 0x65690f6c "C:\windows\system32\d3d9.dll":0x0001:0x0003ff6c

What does this mean?

Third: While updating my graphics card's driver, I found a strange thing. As said, I have an Nvidia Geforce 310M, and on the official Nvidia Geforce website it says: "features unsupported by this graphics card: DirectX 11", which is exactly what I have. Could this be the problem?

Has anyone more ideas? Sorry if this post was long but I've been struggling with crashes for a really long time and I really want to fix it, specially now that it's happening everywhere.

P.S: I know I created another topic a few days ago about my game not loading properly, but I think this is something else, so I decided to create a new thread. I hope it's OK. Here's the link to the other issue: http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,11907.0.html.

I will appreciate every help I can get. Thanks in advance! 

[warr2098]

Graphics cards can be overworked and cause them to overheat and close the game to prevent damage, does your pc get hot when playing Sims 3? if so activate Nvidia's V-Sync to stop the fps going too high and hopefully prevent crashes, I'm sorry, that's all I can think of.

[Frey]

It does get hot, but it also gets hot when not running the game. I think that's a common issue with Samsung laptops. At home in Chile I have a laptop cooler, but I'm living in Germany until October and I didn't take it with me.

Anyways, I opened Nvidia's control panel and searched around for the V-Sync settings. Under 3D settings I found a "Vertical Syncronization" thingy, which I guess is the V-Sync. Now, it's set up to "use settings from 3D application" (or something like that, in spanish). The other options are: "Force activation", "Force deactivation", "Auto" and "Auto (Interval 2)". My guess is that yo mean "Force activation", but I wanted to make sure before I mess up things even more.

Thanks for the help!

[Pam]

When you say your graphics card is good enough for the game, are you certain?  Have you checked it against the list of cards that the game needs?  For a quick reference, here's a table on Sims Wiki with some graphics cards and whether or not they will run the game properly.

[Frey]

Oh! I had no idea that that list existed Pam, thanks. It's listed as not recommended actually, which could explain my issues but I'm not 100% sure. What I don't understand is: if the card isn't recommended and is known to cause issues, why does my game have non-crashings periods as well as crashing-ones? I mean, when I started using this laptop (actually my mom's old one) I was able to play for a couple of months without issues. Then it started causing me trouble, but then I fixed it (except for Appaloosa Plains) and now it's crashing again. Wouldn't it be a permanent thing if it were a graphics card issue?

[pallyndrome]

Hey, I can only throw this idea in because this is what fixed it for me (after weeks of testing and fixing to no avail): I found that if I go out of the game while it is loading (pressing windows key) to do something else while waiting for it to load, it freezes sometime in the game. If I let it load on it's own with no interference, it's usually fine.

[Frey]

Thanks pally  . I actually do that a lot so it's possible. I've also read that playing in high speed increases the crashing issues, so I will try to avoid that as well.

[Pam]

I don't have a technical explanation as to why the game will sometimes play and sometimes crashes.  It could be lots of things causing it, but I think your underlying problem is probably the graphics card.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, Frey.

So... first: having a look at my Sims 3 folders I found some error logs. One says that my available physical memory is about 145 MB, which I guess is really low. What is exactly the physical memory, and how can it be that I have only 145 M available if my computer has a total physical memory of about 2000 MB and enough free memory in the disk? Has this anything to do with my issues? How do I fix it?

Second: Another log error says:
[Exception info]
date: 2012-08-17
time: 16.04.20
type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00000031
address: 0x65690f6c "C:\windows\system32\d3d9.dll":0x0001:0x0003ff6c

What does this mean?

I don't think the graphics card is the issue. What the crash logs are saying are two things:

• Your system is running out of memory. How much memory is installed in the system? If it's less than 4 GB and you're running 64-bit Windows, it can run out pretty quickly.
• The Access Violation error is related to the memory issue. The game is trying to read or write to a memory location that is in use by something else.

Third: While updating my graphics card's driver, I found a strange thing. As said, I have an Nvidia Geforce 310M, and on the official Nvidia Geforce website it says: "features unsupported by this graphics card: DirectX 11", which is exactly what I have. Could this be the problem?

Sims 3 will use DirectX 11 functions, but only requires DirectX 9 to play (since it runs on Windows XP). So, the card's incompatibility with DirectX 11 shouldn't affect the game's performance.

Hope this helps.

Flynn

[Pam]

Thanks for that information, Flynn.  Sounds good.

[Frey]

I have 2 GB of installed memory, but I'm running on a 32-bit windows. I have no idea what it means anyway. I've been considering installing an extra GB (supposedly my laptop has room for 4, but I've heard it's somehow not good to use all the empty memory slots on a laptop, so I guess I should install just one). I guess that would help a little, but I will have to wait until october to do it.

What I don't understand is: my C: drive still has about a third of free memory, and D: is barely like 10% full. So, why am I running out of memory? Maybe uninstalling the game reinstalling it to D: would help? (I'm assuming that's possible...) Can I do anything else about it apart from installing an extra GB? My guess (without knowing too much about computers) is that the kind of memory I'm running out of is another kind of memory, right? How can I know that?

Thanks for the help Flynn, and everyone. Sorry for asking too many questions but I really don't know much about computers and everything I know I've mostly learned trying to fix different issues related to the game. I really want to understand what is going on so I can fix it or just decide to buy a new laptop (and spare for the rest of the century to get it).

[thesweetestpea]

I have 2 GB of installed memory, but I'm running on a 32-bit windows. I have no idea what it means anyway. I've been considering installing an extra GB (supposedly my laptop has room for 4, but I've heard it's somehow not good to use all the empty memory slots on a laptop, so I guess I should install just one). I guess that would help a little, but I will have to wait until october to do it.

What I don't understand is: my C: drive still has about a third of free memory, and D: is barely like 10% full. So, why am I running out of memory? Maybe uninstalling the game reinstalling it to D: would help? (I'm assuming that's possible...) Can I do anything else about it apart from installing an extra GB? My guess (without knowing too much about computers) is that the kind of memory I'm running out of is another kind of memory, right? How can I know that?

Thanks for the help Flynn, and everyone. Sorry for asking too many questions but I really don't know much about computers and everything I know I've mostly learned trying to fix different issues related to the game. I really want to understand what is going on so I can fix it or just decide to buy a new laptop (and spare for the rest of the century to get it).

I'll flip the question I asked Shannon back to you: do you know how many DIMM slots (the long slots with clips at the end, which RAM goes into) your computer has? Your C:\ drive is a hard drive, which has memory on it that's permanent and can only be accessed. The memory you need to run the game is RAM, or random access memory, which can't hold information without power and is held on RAM sticks. If you're running out of RAM, and I think 2GB is basically standard RAM for a low-end laptop, then you need to find out how many DIMM slots your computer has and install more. I would advise leaving one slot empty, but it's almost definitely possible to get a 4GB stick that's compatible with your motherboard.

[Frey]

How can I know how many DIMM Slots I have? I ran Speccy and it says I have 4 RAM slots, and only 1 used. But I couldn't find anything about DIMM slots. It says something about PEG and PCI slots but I don't know what that means either, LOL.

Thanks for the help!

[thesweetestpea]

How can I know how many DIMM Slots I have? I ran Speccy and it says I have 4 RAM slots, and only 1 used. But I couldn't find anything about DIMM slots. It says something about PEG and PCI slots but I don't know what that means either, LOL.

Thanks for the help!

PCI slots are expansion slots, which USB ports and the like can go into. PEG is a graphics card slot. DIMM slots are a type of RAM slot, and if your laptop was made post-2009, they're likely to be your only RAM slots. If you have 4 slots, you can probably fill at least 2 of them at once, which means you can definitely add another 2GB RAM stick. But before you even go looking to buy a new one, you should check the manual for your computer to find out how many RAM sticks you can mount, and what the mount order is. Some computers require you to fill certain slots first. If you don't have the manual, you can look for it online. What make and model is your computer?

[Frey]

It's a Samsung R580. I checked the bottom of the laptop where the product code is and all that and it says March 2010, so I guess that's when it was made. It was my mom's laptop first, we exchanged them because my old one had an integrated graphics card and she doesn't play anything so she didn't need an Nvidia Geforce. I'm sure she has the manual somewhere, she's like a manuals-maniac and always keeps them.

The thing is she's in Chile and I'm in Germany... and there's no way I can ask her: "Hey mom, could you check how many RAM slots your laptop has? It's on the manual". She would freak out and start complaining that she doesn't understand a word about it  . I will have a look on the internet. There's no rush anyway, since I'm going to wait until I go back to Chile in a few weeks to do it. My best friend is a computer geek and he does that all the time for money so I can ask him to help me and know he's being honest about what my laptop can bear and what not.

Anyways, is there anything I can do right know to help my poor laptop suffer a little less, while I go back to Chile and get more RAM and (maybe) a new graphics card?