Sims 3 "Not responding" when I travel. Why?

[makeupinternet]

It has started to take longer and longer to travel each time my sim makes a trip to any of the WA destinations. Yesterday I got the message that the game was "not responding" while I was traveling home from a trip. Today I was able to travel one time to France but when I was traveling back home, the same problem occurred; not responding. And after that I tried a few times to go back to an earlier save and travel again but the program just keeps crashing.

I haven't made any changes in the last few days with my computer. I have the latest patch. The only thing I can think off that could maybe cause this, is that I'm playing a large family (of 7 sims). On the other hand, I've had that family for a while now and have traveled a lot without this happening ever before. The only thing I notice is that traveling has been taking longer time during the last week - I don't know if it's because of the fact that my family has become bigger, or if it is caused by the latest patch.

I would be so grateful for any suggestions on what to do. I've finished all tombs except two in France that I would love to get done to complete my exploring!

Much thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to give me their two cents on this issue!

PS. My computer and graphic card well meets the requirements for the base game and the different expansions, though I only have WA, LN and Generations. Oh, and I use windows 7.

[Yarakisagoa]

It has started to take longer and longer to travel each time my sim makes a trip to any of the WA destinations. Yesterday I got the message that the game was "not responding" while I was traveling home from a trip. Today I was able to travel one time to France but when I was traveling back home, the same problem occurred; not responding. And after that I tried a few times to go back to an earlier save and travel again but the program just keeps crashing.

I haven't made any changes in the last few days with my computer. I have the latest patch. The only thing I can think off that could maybe cause this, is that I'm playing a large family (of 7 sims). On the other hand, I've had that family for a while now and have traveled a lot without this happening ever before. The only thing I notice is that traveling has been taking longer time during the last week - I don't know if it's because of the fact that my family has become bigger, or if it is caused by the latest patch.

I would be so grateful for any suggestions on what to do. I've finished all tombs except two in France that I would love to get done to complete my exploring!

Much thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to give me their two cents on this issue!

PS. My computer and graphic card well meets the requirements for the base game and the different expansions, though I only have WA, LN and Generations. Oh, and I use windows 7.

Can I know your system spec? I think this maybe a hardware problem.

[makeupinternet]

Is there any way to find the system specs on the computer, and if so, where? I put this computer together myself about a year ago but I don't remember much of the specs..

Today I tried moving out 3 of my sims, and then travel. This time I could travel, but note that traveling takes about 40 minutes (just to load the new destination). The program however did stop responding later, when I) tried saving one of the french townhouses in "change town mode" (not sure what it's called in English..).

Thanks for helping me out 

[Yarakisagoa]

In case if you're using win 7, right-click on "My Computer", select "Property", there will be a tab that list the basic computer specs.

If you want to know all the spec (detail), you can also use a program called CPUZ. It's simple, small, free and easy to use. You can find it from here: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

[makeupinternet]

I do use win 7 but don't have a my computer-icon. I've cklicked around on everything I can think off, harddrive, devices etc, but can't find any specs..

[makeupinternet]

Ok, now this is all I could find:

Processor: AMD Athlon (tm) II X2 250 Processor 3.00 GHz and the RAM is 4 GB

I keep looking around but can't find the name of my graphics card

[loveSims]

Right click on your screen, click on screen resolution, then advanced settings and you will see what card you have.

[makeupinternet]

Right click on your screen, click on screen resolution, then advanced settings and you will see what card you have.

I tried that but it only shows the name of the monitor and the adaptor..

[makeupinternet]

I've never tried playing different game files in sims before, but today I started a new household from scratch and had that sim travel. It took 2 minutes for her to go to France, and I had no problems with the game freezing up or anything. It all went smooth!

So I'm thinking that my original file is probably too big (for my computers liking) and that's what causes it too freeze, and the travel to take a heaping 40 minutes, one way!

I probably need to learn a bit about game file sizes, what to do to keep them small, what takes up a lot of space etc.

[loveSims]

The memories take a lot of space. I delete mine at the end of every simday. You can also move the family to the bin and put them in a new town. They will keep everyting in the invetory. I'm not sure about all the progress they have made while travelling. I'm glad it is not your computer.

[makeupinternet]

The memories take a lot of space. I delete mine at the end of every simday. You can also move the family to the bin and put them in a new town. They will keep everyting in the invetory. I'm not sure about all the progress they have made while travelling. I'm glad it is not your computer.

Thank you, that's good to know! I've only deleted memories when I got the warning saying I can't make any new ones. But I think I will follow your lead and start deleting them - after all, I don't really see the use for them. Thanks for the advice!

[Yarakisagoa]

I do use win 7 but don't have a my computer-icon. I've cklicked around on everything I can think off, harddrive, devices etc, but can't find any specs..

If you don't see your computer icon, it's probably was "hide" in the "start menu" (the menu when you press the "window button" or "Ctrl + Esc" on the keyboard, it appears). You can find your computer there. Or another way is open the "Run command" in the "start menu" (the blank box that allow you to type words near those button to shutdown, log off,... etc). Open it, then type in "dxdiag", click "yes" if it asks. Then it will show you the basic of your computer hardware (include the graphic card).

And about your EP1 crashing, I don't think it is your hardware devices that cause the problem. Maybe you should try to reinstall the game. But before you do, try the "Factory Resert" first if it helps. Good luck and happy simming .

[makeupinternet]

Thank you

Is this the graphic card then? ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series.

Do you really think I need to do a factory reset? Seeing how a new file works just fine, can't it just be that my game file is simply to big for my computer to handle anymore? I've played quite a few generations and traveled A LOT so there are so each sim has loads of relationships etc that I assume would take up a lot of space in the saved file..

[Yarakisagoa]

Thank you

Is this the graphic card then? ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series.

yes, that is your graphic card. And it's a high-end graphic card for TS3.

Do you really think I need to do a factory reset? Seeing how a new file works just fine, can't it just be that my game file is simply to big for my computer to handle anymore? I've played quite a few generations and traveled A LOT so there are so each sim has loads of relationships etc that I assume would take up a lot of space in the saved file..

yes, you should try it. Sometimes, there's some corrupted or missing files, or something like that that makes the games "unable" to play. It's worth to try, isnt it?

And maybe you should take a look at your OS (Operating system) disk space. I mean look at the disk you've installed window 7. If it's low on disk space, it may cause the problem, too.

Hope this help .

[makeupinternet]

Thank you Yarakisagoa!

I will try the factory reset. I have a lot of free disk space, so that shouldn't be a problem. However, I have now started playing a new game file and think I might just stick to that instead.