All Towns Except Sunset Valley and Riverview Crash

[MoonsAreBlue]

I would LOVE if someone could explain this to me. I own all of the EA towns, one from the exchange, Union Cove, and all of the expansion packs. This leaves me with a lot of towns. However, I get crashing in all of them except Sunset Valley and Riverview. I haven't experimented with Twinbrook or Barnacle Bay yet, but these ones definitely crash: Hidden Valley, Union Cove, Appaloosa Plains, Starlight Shores, and Lunar Lakes. It crashes after anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours.

I've been using the crash diagnostic tool from Mod the Sims to try and narrow down all of my crashes. I've had a few different ones, but they've all been fixed except this one. It says I have an insufficient graphics card, which I'm pretty sure can't be the case since SV and RV work just fine. They even work fine after I add all of the lots from all of the EPs. Heck, my Immortal Dynasty (biggest file by far) doesn't ever crash because it's in Riverview and it has all of the EP lots. And in Sunset Valley and Riverview, I can set the graphics to max (with some lag) and it still doesn't crash. I normally play with only Sim Detail and Texture on max though. The rest are about medium-high. I use Twallan's Error Trap, Master Controller, Saver, Story Progression Extra & Expanded, Debug Enabler, and Overwatch. However, the crashing started before I starting using any mods, so they're definitely not the cause.

This is very frustrating, as I paid money for EA towns that I can no longer use.

I used to have Sims 3 on the DEP list, but a fellow member suggested turning DEP back on. This actually increased my frame rate, but those towns still crash (SV and RV still work fine). So DEP does nothing for me. I'll go ahead and list my computer specs and see if anyone can help me. I started having this problem sometime after Pets came out. When I first started playing in Appaloosa Plains, I never had crashing. Even when Union Cove came out, I didn't have crashing. But now I'm suddenly having it, whether it's an old save or a new game.

I swear I will write a heroic ballad for anyone who can fix my crashing.

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2675QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (8 CPUs)
6GB RAM DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 512mb and switchable Intel HD graphics (Sims is set to use the AMD card)

This is what my DxDiag says about my video card though, and I'm not sure why it comes up like this:
Card name: Mobile Intel(R) HD Graphics
       Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
          Chip type: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
           DAC type: Internal
         Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0116&SUBSYS_C0B3144D&REV_09
     Display Memory: 3332 MB
   Dedicated Memory: 559 MB
      Shared Memory: 2772 MB
       Current Mode: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
       Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
      Monitor Model: unknown
         Monitor Id: ___FFFF
        Native Mode: 1600 x 900(p) (60.115Hz)
        Output Type: Internal
        Driver Name: igdumd64.dll,igd10umd64.dll,igd10umd64.dll,igdumdx32,igd10umd32,igd10umd32
Driver File Version: 8.15.0010.2353 (English)
     Driver Version: 8.863.1.2000
        DDI Version: 11
       Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
  Driver Attributes: Final Retail
   Driver Date/Size: 4/4/2011 18:09:00, 7473664 bytes

[loveSims]

I'm not good with technical stuff, but take a look at this link. simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_System_Requirements

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[MoonsAreBlue]

Thanks for the link! My graphics card isn't listed though. In fact, I don't see any laptop graphics cards.

[thesimslover828]

Are your graphic settings at max?

[MoonsAreBlue]

Are your graphic settings at max?

It doesn't seem to matter what I have my graphics settings at. I've played with all of them on low and a small resolution and it still crashes.

[MoonsAreBlue]

Ugh, it seems as soon as I started messing with my graphics setting, my Sunset Valley game crashed even with the frame rate above 45. This is absolutely killing me. I just started this story and now it's crashing just about 10 minutes in.

[warr2098]

< I suck with all this stuff but there is obviously something in the background interfering (maybe check task manager for something with a high CPU or memory usage?)

[Figwit]

My first thoughts are anti virus program.

[MoonsAreBlue]

< I suck with all this stuff but there is obviously something in the background interfering (maybe check task manager for something with a high CPU or memory usage?)

Maybe, but when I run sims, I make sure nothing else is running. I'll launch the game and at least see how much of my computer's CPU it is using.

My first thoughts are anti virus program.

I have Norton, and I heard that it has caused some people troubles with sims, but I've always had it and I've not had problems with it. I'll try disabling it next time I play though. Thanks for the idea.

[JudesSims]

Moons, I had to uninstall Norton. I couldn't run Sims at all with it. I now use the free Microsoft Security Essentials and it does fine. 

[MoonsAreBlue]

Moons, I had to uninstall Norton. I couldn't run Sims at all with it. I now use the free Microsoft Security Essentials and it does fine.

Oooh, thank you. I've used Norton for as long as I can remember, but that's because I don't know a whole lot about anti-virus programs. I'll check out Microsoft Security Essentials and see what happens.

[loveSims]

Moons take a look at this link. www.flyingacres.com/NS/index.php?topic=2046.0

[MoonsAreBlue]

Moons take a look at this link. www.flyingacres.com/NS/index.php?topic=2046.0

Hmmm, it seems it would be in my best interest to just uninstall Norton lol. I don't know if it had anything to do with my launcher because I now run the game without loading the launcher (still crashes though). I'm installing MSE like jude suggested and I'll see what happens from there!

[MoonsAreBlue]

So, I really want to share, but I hope I don't jinx myself... the crashing has stopped! It was all that nasty Norton's fault! I'm going to give it a few days and check all my files and see if the crashing has really stopped. Things are looking up right now, though!

[Figwit]

Good news and I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

I use a Mac these days but I also run a PC.  I used Trend anti virus for years and was very happy with it.  It does get pricey though and because I don't use my PC that much anymore, I finally decided to give up throwing money away and installed AVG. It is a free program and comes highly recommended.  Another good one, I believe, is Avast and it is also free.