DEP and crashing questions

[Frey]

Hi!

I did a factory reset a few days ago and my game has started crashing occasionally (probably just a coincidence that it started after the factory reset). Trying to figure out why it's crashing again, after my RAM upgrade a few weeks ago, I remembered I never added Uni and IP to the DEP exception list, so I decided to add them now. The thing is, when I go to Program files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 I have no University or Island Paradise folders.

Is this even normal? Did EA change the folder where new EPs are installed or something? Also, any other tips about preventing crashing issues are welcome!

I'm using Win 7 Home Basic, 32 bits, with 3 GB usable RAM and an Nvidia Geforce 310M graphics card (not exactly a great card, but it has always been able to run the game) and an i3 processor.  I allowed more application memory too, following instructions I found at NRAAS, to fix frequent error 12 issues (which worked fine).  My caches are clean, I have no CC and no mods and my gaphics card drivers are up to date, as is my game version. Since upgrading my RAM I hadn't had any issues with the game so I'm kind of confused that it started so suddenly. Could the factory reset have gone wrong?  I followed the instructions step by step as I've already done a hundred times.

I had a look at my game log files and they say this:

[Exception info]
date: 2013-07-16
time: 23.06.03
type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00000088
address: 0x5f2f9ed8 "C:\windows\system32\d3d9.dll":0x0001:0x00048ed8

[Exception info]
date: 2013-07-16
time: 20.59.30
type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x7ebf9daa
address: 0x005140ef "C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe":0x0001:0x001130ef


[Exception info]
date: 2013-07-15
time: 21.22.27
type: ACCESS_VIOLATION writing address 0x1f132ee0
address: 0x1f132ee0 <unknown module>

[Exception info]
date: 2013-07-14
time: 17.28.41
type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00000011
address: 0x6dca9ed6 "C:\windows\system32\d3d9.dll":0x0001:0x00048ed6

Of course I have no clue as to what this all means. Any help?

Sorry for the huge post, I just wanted to post as much info as possible.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, Frey.

I would suggest as a starting point, downloading memtest86+ and make sure there are no errors in your system's memory chips. The test can take a long time to run, so you may want to set it up to run overnight.

If there are no errors in the memory test, then I would try another factory reset. If all else fails, a complete re-install may be in order.

Hope this helps, and happy Simming!

Flynn

[Frey]

Thanks Flynn! I think I won't need the laptop tomorrow so I will try to run it during the day 

[Frey]

Ack! I haven't had time to run the test yet (it turned out I did need the laptop yesterday...) but I just noticed something. A couple of weeks ago I installed the Outdoor Living SP. Since it's the first SP I've ever had I had no idea they had to be installed in the correct order too, I thought they could be installed at any time like worlds. Now that I think about it, my game started making weird stuff about that time, with lots of bugs, glitches, save errors and crashes. Nothing too serious but still annoying.

Could the fact that I didn't install it in order be the reason of all this trouble? I'm thinking about reinstalling the whole thing again right now but I have lots of Origin versions and a really slow internet connection so it will be a total pain... unless I find a way to reinstall without redownloading. Will see.

Edit: found the instructions for backing up Origin versions!

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, Frey.

I was going to point you to that thread, heh.

Supposedly, if you install the base game and then install the SuperPatch, you can install the remaining items in whatever order. However, MrsFlynn and I ran into some problems with this when the game would crash and the crash log would say World Adventures through Ambitions (I think) were out of date. The SuperPatch is supposed to include everything, so what gives?

Turns out it doesn't include some of the early patches (or at least our 1.50 didn't), so I found a utility at Mod the Sims called The Sims 3 Patch Downloader. This handy utility will download any missing patches plus the current SuperPatch and install the patches in the correct order.

To re-install, install the base game and patch through the launcher. This will install the current SuperPatch. Now, install the EP and SP in the release order, then run the Patch Downloader. It will likely re-download the SuperPatch, but it will also download the missing patches for the earlier expansions. It will then install the patches in the correct order and should prevent the game from crashing on shutdown due to wrong patch version errors.

Hope this helps, and happy Simming.

Flynn

[Frey]

Great! I'll do that. I have to uninstall at least everything up to Generations to install Outdoor Living properly, so I will just go with it and reinstall everything. It's past time for a complete reinstall anyway so it won't hurt, I hope (though sometimes I think the game has a life of its own...)

Thanks again Flynn, you're always so nice and helpful! 

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

If you're going the route of uninstall/reinstall, make sure before you reinstall to run a registry cleaner (if you're on Windows). MrsFlynn and I use CCleaner, but you can use whichever registry cleaner tool you like.

Once you've run the registry cleaner, reboot then reinstall and it should go smoothly.

Hope this helps, and happy Simming.

Flynn

[Frey]

Yeah, I use CCleaner too. The first time I ran it it found over 1000 registry errors  ! Since then I have a habit of running it once a month or so. Good idea to run it before reinstalling though, didn't think of that.

Thanks!

[sims3titi]

I found a fix!PLAY WITH INTERNET TURNED OFF!

[sims3titi]

My saved game loaded MUCH faster after I disconnected from the Internet.

[Frey]

Interesting. I've been playing offline the last two days because I'm at my father's farm with no internet connection (except for the cellphone) and my game hasn't crashed... but I did a complete reinstall just before coming here so it may be a coincidence. Or maybe I just haven't played enough for the game to crash... it usually only happens after an hour or so.

Thanks for the tips though, I'll keep that in mind!

[sims3titi]

It did not crash with internet disconnected?
OMG I'm glad it's working!:-)
I did it to me and it stopped crashing!