Crashing over and over

[ZacSz]

I just installed UL and my game is not liking it. I can't keep it open for more than five minutes. I sincerely doubt it's my computer, which is less than 4 months old and really souped up.

I'm thinking I need a fresh install but I have a question about that. If uninstall and reinstall everything but use my save files and downloaded store content, will this render the fresh install practically useless? Is it better to start almost completely from scratch? This is driving me crazy. I guess I'll still want to use all of my store content, but I could handle it if you think not transferring my save files might make a difference.

Thanks.

[Ricalynn]

Before you do a complete reinstall, have you tried the factory reset method?  If you do a factory reset and the game works then you know it's one of the files that you have in the other folder.   It could be a save, it could be installed content, who knows.   It could be the saves you're trying to play too if you didn't take them out of the folder when you installed.   Have you tried any of their backups to see if they run?


And you've already done the stuff you're supposed to try first right?  Clearing caches, DCBackup (but ccmerged) and all that right?

[ZacSz]

Actually, I haven't done all of the stuff I'm supposed to yet because I'm in the hospital for an extended stay and the Internet is awful. I'm posting from tapatalk at the moment on 3G. It's too hard to read those processes on my phone and I'm not familiar enough with them to not have it written out in front of me.

I should have mentioned that I do intend to do all of those first steps once I'm home. I cant reinstall in the hospital either without my discs, so even if I do have to reinstall i will likewise have to wait until im back. Once i can access the site from my computer I'll do the first steps before jumping into a complete reinstall. However, this has been an ongoing problem (just getting worse) and the last time I did all of that stuff it didn't help. I'll still try again though.

I don't want to be a bother but I have never once used a mod. I guess now I may have to if I want to play, but am totally in the dark. Any chance you can explain a little more about that one you mentioned specifically? Of course I know how to read ()and know the forum has a mod section so I'll be sure to look over there too for some basic info, but I need all the help I can get.

Thanks in advance!

[Ricalynn]

Actually, I didn't mention a mod at all.

Here to help I will give you a list of the files to clear out and some extra ones that may help your game play. 

CASPartCache.package
compositorCache.package
simCompositorCache.package
scriptCache.package
Delete everything in the DCBackup folder except for the file named "ccmerged.package"
Delete everything in the Thumbnails folder
Delete everything in the FeaturedItems folder
If you have exports or downloads, it's recommended that you move those to another place on the computer where you can find them.

If none of this works for you,  go into your My Documents > Electronic Arts folder and rename the folder named The Sims 3 into something else.   Then launch the game.  This will recreate a completely new The Sims folder.  It will not include any mods, cc, downloads, store content or save games but you should be able to load the game up.  Adjust your settings and see if it will play for more than previous 5 minutes.  If you can play for a while, then the culprit could be a corrupted save file or a file in the game somewhere.

Another thing to try is if you have seasons - to get rid of the weather if you don't mind.   Just to try it.

I hope this helps and I hope you have a fast recovery.  I know how 3G can be so I really hope this helps you out in some way.

[ZacSz]

Thanks, that's a big help. Also now I see you didn't mention a mod. You said "factory reset method" (or something like that) and I read "method" as "mod."

I have a quick question before I boot up after deleting all of that stuff. I have a number of files in my Documents/Electronic Arts folder that begin xcpt myfirstname-lastname etc. they're all .txt or .mdmp. Do these stay or go? I don't want to open the game until I know for sure. There are about ten.

what about World caches?

Lastly, could you refresh me on how to turn off seasons? Is that done in the same in-game seasons option menu where you can adjust the length of each one?

Thanks again. As you recommended I'll try this first once you can tell me about those two questions, then if it fails I'll do my usual thing renaming the folder to "_lectronic arts."

[Ricalynn]

World caches can help but it can also cause a lot of grief because of all the information they contain.  It's one of those things you only delete when you absolutely have to.  If you want you can instead of delete just move somewhere else to try it.

The xcpt are actually crash logs!  There is a tool out there called the Crash Log Analyzer and if you google it, you can find it but I know you can't download while in your current position.   If you keep them, you can get that program back home and find out what the CLA says was the problem.   Or if you want you could even take a look and see if anything pops out at you too.   

Seasons - it's a per file basis on your settings for seasons - but it's more the weather effects that can cause issues like the rain/hail/fog/snow.  Try removing them and making sure reflections are off just in case.   Mirror and water reflections were the #1 culprit of crashing for a lot of players when the base game came out.

[Seabody]

World caches can help but it can also cause a lot of grief because of all the information they contain.  It's one of those things you only delete when you absolutely have to.  If you want you can instead of delete just move somewhere else to try it.

I'll just jump in and say that if your computer is a Mac, do not under any circumstances delete the World Cache files. I don't have a Mac and am unclear on the exact ramifications, but I know it's not good to delete them.

Do you have any Custom Content (CC) from anywhere except EA? I've been having a similar issue, my computer has been randomly overheating (pretty good system, not the best but it's good), and the issue appears to be a Television I'd downloaded.

I hope you recover quickly

[ZacSz]

Okay, I deleted all the stuff Rica told me to delete but no luck. I started a new game entirely (as in, restarted computer, opened TS3 fresh, started a new file) and it was still a mess. I was in CAS and that weird thing happened where I picked a different outfit for my Sim, and it looked like it was made out of skin. It was in the shape of the shirt I picked, but... yeah, like it was made of skin. This has happened three or four times since installing UL. I've only seen it in that Sims Gone Wrong blog before. Now it's everywhere. Is this glitch particularly indicative of something?? I would have taken a screenshot but it froze promptly and then I gave up for the time being.

I did not delete the world caches or any of the crash logs.

Seabody-- no I don't use any CC that isn't from EA, nor do I use mods. I do, however, use cheats... but I didn't think they carried over game-to-game or file-to-file. I have had some weird things happen during my Sims3 tenure after using too many cheats during a session, but as I said this test game I opened was totally fresh in that regard. I went right into a town and into CAS, no time for cheats. I'm finding the whole thing kind of weird.

As for my OS and computer, I pretty much have the best Mac Laptop money can buy so I don't THINK it's that. (15" rMBP, 2.6GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB) It could always be something a bit whacky; just because it's fast and clean doesn't mean it's perfect. I simply think it's unlikely to be a computer issue given its newness and how well it works. The only thing that's frustrating about my computer is that it loves to have kernel panics. I know a bit about computers but not that much... do either of you know if all the kernel panics/errors could be likewise indicative of a problem? It probably happens once every 2-3 weeks, but doesn't seem to have a huge effect once things restart. I think I've read that kernel panics are more common on OS Mountain Lion than any other of the Mac OS, but I still don't really know what they actually mean.

For what it's worth, TS3 worked BEAUTIFULLY up through Seasons on this machine. Things maybe got a tad bit glitchy when I installed 70s, 80s, 90s Stuff but nothing like this.

Is there any chance this could have something to do with Union Cove? It has never really worked right for me, despite having all the EPs/SPs/general crap I need (I'm pretty sure). I have every EP that's been released to-date and the only SPs I'm missing are Fast Lane and KPST... I think Fast Lane is the only thing I don't have that I'm relatively certain is contained in Union Cove, but somehow I doubt that is the genesis of all of these issues.

What are my next steps here? :/

Thanks so much for the help already, and thanks in advance for anything else either of you can tell me.

[ZacSz]

Sorry for double post. Having trouble editing as I'm still not able to access web on computer. Brief update:

Decided to rename "documents/EA/sims 3" so the game would create a new folder. For the time being I had no huge reason to transfer my saves and I suspect there are a number that are corrupt, so I just transferred store content.

I have yet to get past CAS. It's not freezing like last time but I'm having a ton of texture issues still. My sim appears to be grey, wearing clothes made out of his own skin, missing hair, looking like a marble statue, etc. I don't think I restarted my comp after making that new documents/ea/ts3 folder so even if its not necessary in gonna try that. Otherwise that's where I am, which is not really a good place to be.

Does this give you more info? Is it possible for store items to be corrupt? If so, is there any easy way to identify what items are?

Why can't anything ever just run smoothly?!?

[Ricalynn]

You said it ran fine up to Seasons right?   I wonder if uninstalling Seasons would help.   I just wonder what the dramatic difference would be.

When I was having fleshy Sims in CAS while on my Mac, it was usually because the computer was hot and I'd been playing too long.   Do you use a fan for the laptop?  An external one that may go under it?  Also - There is a program smcFanControl that I use for all my Macs.  It helps know if something is getting too warm on the inside.   It helped me find out one of my fans had burned out.  Completely had to redo the inside of my iMac 1 month before my applecare was done because of that little issue. 

Do you play any other games or is it just Sims 3? 

[ZacSz]

I really just play sims 3.

And sorry, I meant to say that it ran fine THROUGH, meaning including seasons. Seasons and 70s/80s/90s worked great until I tried installing university life.

While the obvious solution would be to just not play UL, it is one of my personally highest anticipated EPs yet so I'd really like to find a solution.

Checking the heat is a good idea, but I frequently boot up sims after the computer has had ample time to cool so I don't think it's an overheating issue....

[Ricalynn]

It's more of a double checking thing when it comes to heat.   Like I said, I didn't think anything was wrong and then I noticed something and it turned out to be a burned out fan.

Corey785 mentioned that even though his Mac played fine through Seasons in order to play UL he ended up having to remove Pets & Seasons.   Pets is the most graphics intense Sims 3 game with Seasons probably right there next to it.  Computers can run fine but Sims 3 numbers never account for having all of the expansions.  They only give numbers for base game plus them.  The worse that can happen by unistalling is that it doesn't work right? 

if you have the disc for it with you, you could always try re-installing UL too.  I had an issue on my PC that was fixed my reinstalling the last game I installed.

[ZacSz]

I did try reinstalling UL without much luck but I may try once more before I do anything else too drastic.

While I may have to pick and choose, I am someone who definitely uses aspects of most of the expansion packs every time I play, so it would really alter my gameplay experience to have to remove any. If I have to, I have to, but I think I'd sooner take the time to do a total reinstall first than try and uninstalling EPs.

Did you see my question about possibly corrupt store items?

Thanks so much for all the help.

[Ricalynn]

Oh for some reason I thought you said you did the factory reset and you were still getting the issue even without store items being installed.  Which is why I didn't think about it. 

[ZacSz]

Oh, I gotcha. No, I did install the store stuff. If I drag and drop the Documents/EA/TS3/Downloads folder back into the old TS3 folder, will the game create a new, empty downloads folder upon loading? Or should I not be emptying bits and pieces out of the Doc/EA/TS3 folder?

Is it clear what I'm asking? I want to take out the store items from my game to see if it runs any smoother. I guess I should have tried first without installing them, but alas, I did not.