Game stops and "Sims 3 not responding " Update

[Janna]

I have been having some problems with my games lately.  I find the stopping of time and sim frustrating (still see movement of trees and such). 
But now my game keeps shutting down.

I have been having some problems and thought the virus protections could be the cause(MacAfee) and have uninstalled it.  I thought uninstalling it would fix it. 
But when I turn my computer on the screen states that I have corrupted files, will do a check and then stops at 55%.  Finally have to shut down computer and then just push the space bar to over-ride it.

Still keeps happenig, when I am playing it will stop all of a sudden and state "Sims 3 is not responding". Give it a couple of minutes, start game again, and it can be a couple of minutes later or half an hour later the game stops message says the same thing.


If in My Documents the saved files all have either backup or sims3 at the end, but is the problem still with the games, or are the two unrelated, to each other? 
I checked in the My Documents and all of the files have backup or sims3, none have bad, so I don't think it is the sims files that are corrupted.  Could the problem still be with sims,   or is it another game?

***************************************
I am going to add the update to the bottom of the responses as there are some very good ones, help that others will find useful.

[Wai]

Jenna,

Have you checked that your computer specs are up to standard.  You don't say if you have installed any new EP's lately, but, if you have, it could be that your computer just can't cope.  Also, if you have installed other non-sims packages lately, you may not have enough free disk space for swap files or , you may have something running in the background and draining the computer memory.

Another possibility is those nasty little cookies that can creep onto the computer when you are browsing the internat.  I had a similar, though less acute problem to yours some time ago.  I now use a CC Cleaner every week or so.

If none of this helps, I'm sorry, I have no other ideas.  Hopefully others here will see your question and be of more help.

[Janna]

I stay up to date on the patches, expansions are WA, Pets SN and Seasons.

I have never done the cache that has been talked about here, going to the files/folders and cleaning up stuff that builds up in the game, cars and such.  I am going to try that.  Did a clean on the computer, that didn't help.

What has me confused, worried is that I am being told corrupted files and the sims stopping.  Are they related?  Do I need to uninstall Sims then reinstall and leave off an expansion pack?

I am wondering if it could be that my computer is telling me it is being loaded down with too much. I need to find out what I can delete in any other games, they are little ones, some majhongs and jewel quests.  Could they be a factor? Not a very powerful computer, limited funds when bought, so mid quality in sound card and such.  Wasn't planning on playing any games, just general use, typing up papers, college.

Off to see what I can delete, uninstall and clean out. 

   

[MaryMarsh]

Janna, you are not alone; I have the same problem, and on the official Sims 3 forums literally thousands of others have reported similar problems.

In my case, I have a game-built laptop that's well beyond specs; I've tweaked it for optimal gaming performance (no background processes, ample disk space, and up to date drivers. I have no CC installed. Still, I've been experiencing "the problem" for a couple years. Recently, I started a trial household, where I did the following:

1. Fully depopulated one of the older official worlds and bulldozed ALL the buildings
2. Set game with NO story progression and set all graphics to minimum
3. Set game to no pets
4. Created an uber simple residence on a 20x30 lot -- did NO landscaping
5. Cleared all caches each time I started play
6. Ensured nothing else on my computer was running except TS3

I was able to play without issue for about three hours, then "the problem" began anew. I closed down the application, rebooted, and cleared all the cache files, and restarted -- "the problem" resumed almost immediately.

In my case, "the problem" is characterized by 20-30 second stoppages interspersed by 5-10 seconds of normal play, wherein the stoppage repeats.

I've done intensive research about this over the past couple of years and have found no reliable solution. As I said, you can find thousands of people all over the place who've had the same problem. It's interesting that on the official Sims 3 forums the moderators rarely comment about "the problem" anymore.

I don't play Sims 3 a lot anymore, and when I do it's mostly building in Edit Town mode, where I don't experience "the problem." Coincidentally, I play a number of contemporary MMORPGs and RPGs with no problems whatsoever. This, with the forementioned, suggests to me "the problem" resides with Sims 3 and not with you, Janna.

I'll make no disparaging remarks about EA or the Sims 3 development team; though, I think you can surmise the direction of my sentiments.

Good luck.

[Pam]

@Janna:

It might be time for you to uninstall and re-install your game.  If you do, be sure to take a look at the topics on the Technical Help board regarding making back ups, and other things to help it go smoothly.

[Janna]

Crossing my fingers this works, at least it has helped in some areas.  Followed suggestions and did some more cleaning, deleting and such. 

Went and cleaned out some simple games and my son cleaned off some games he  had downloaded and we had forgotten about. I don't know why that helped with the corrupted disks, but it let me run the check and a lot of EA files were corrupted, I am thinking probably from Spore and Darkspore and another EA game we had.  I had forgotten that I had Spore installed and my grandkids had created a lot of planets (worlds?).   Cleaned out other areas, caches, recycle bin, cookies and deleted some stuff in the library bin (?) families I had saved, some games I wasn't playing but hadn't wanted to let go, did so.
Each alone no problem, but added up I guess my computer was having too hard of a time working.   

I am making a guess that the biggest problem was the EA files from the other games.  Once they were deleted it seems as if my computer is running smoother.  I've had a couple of times the "sims 3 not responding" but not near as often I had been getting.   I played for three hours straight and it happened twice. 

If I have any more problems, I an going to have to do as Pam suggests and uninstall and reinstall Sims 3, and not add back the Pets expansion pack. 

Thanks everyone for the help.  It was really starting to get to me.

[Janna]

I have been playing quite a lot since the problems to see how things work.

What I have learned is that the biggest problem is the size or ability of my computer.  It is just not fast enough, strong enough for all that I am asking it to do.

It can handle the base game, the expansion packs of RV, Pets, WA, SN and Seasons.

AS long I don't overload it with large files it does fine.  When I get families that are five generations, have lots of stuff (artifacts and such), too elaborate a home, too many remodelings on other houses in the town and more, it is bogging my computer down, it just can't run all that memory or whatever it is for that game.  Thus the freezing and other problems.  My games where I have lots of kids, multiple decendents and three generations in the house with all of what has accumulted, artifacts, gems, and other stuff from the families over time, it just can't handle it. 

The games that have grown to two at most three generations and the families had only one child in each, moved out the oldest (founders) when the third generation was born, very little remodeling of the houses in town or adding a lot of extra rabbitholes above what is in the game, they are doing fine. 

I'm going to uninstall sims and then reinstall all the expansion packs except Pets, I didn't like it that much.  Keep my games short, no big families of five kids, having the limit of 8 sims in the houses, big, big houses which are full from collecting stuff.
 
I hate losing my families  but if I want to play it without having all the problems, then I have to start fresh and watch how much I do.  Until I can get a stronger, faster computer that can handle all that I want to do, I have to stay small. 
Keeping caches clean, doing all that has been suggested here has helped a LOT, but several families are at fourth or fifth generations, with five or more sims in a home, with a lot of memories from the family members that has built up over time.   I just can't play them anymore, that file, game is too big. 

I hope this helps anyone who has been struggling with what I have, the freezing of my sims, everything is going on around them, branches moving and such, but sims aren't.  In smaller games no problem, bigger games, it keeps getting worse.  Sims not responding, too much for my computer, it just couldn't handle it, sims takes up a lot of energy on my computer when it is running. 

[Wai]

Jenna,

I am pleased that you have located the cause of your problem, but, it is a great shame about you old families.  I have a pretty good dest top computer, but, find I have to be a little careful about household size etc.  I love large gardens with lots of plants, but find that these give me problems so I now restrict myself to a few shrubs and two or three trees.  I also always sell surplus statues made on the sculpting bench.  I am sure you have reduced all your graphics settings to low, that can be very helpful and the loss of effects is minimal.

I notice you have WA.  I don't know if any other towns give problems, I always play in Sunset Valley because it is quite a small town.  But, China can be a big problem with lagging caused by some bad pathing.  The solution, if you get theis problem is to go edit town bring up the cheats.  Type "testingcheatsenabled true" and press enter.  Bring up the cheats bar again and type "enablelotlocking true" and press enter.  Sorry, I can't remember the names of the two community lots that have the lagging problem, but they are above the Monk's Retreat and both have several ponds.  One is a tomb and the other is just "visiters allowed.  You can click on them to bring up the lot name and lot type window.  On the bottom right is a little padlock icon.  Click on it to open the lock and you will be able to change the lot type.  Change both lots to "No Visitors Allowed"  then turn off the lot locking (enablelotlocking false) and the cheats mode and return to your game.  NPC will not be able to use the two lots, but, you will still be able to.