Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 26th Aug 2016 at 5:08 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Supernatural, Seasons, University Life, Island Paradise, Into the Future
Default Game Crashing - unplayable
I have been playing a family for for over 50 sim days and while I have the occasional crash I have never experience what I'm going through right now... My game is crashing right after the notification that nraas story progression is on. Sometimes I will get an error trap notification and sometime it will just dump right back to Windows.

What was happening before the crashes- My female sim had twins, who I put in CC outits (I removed after crashes started). She is pregnant again. One of her live in boyfriends had just been abducted by aliens and I saved mid-abduction.

What I've tried- removing the baby outfit, resetting lot, resetting female sim, using a backup save (pre-abduction), resetting female's celebrity level (suggested by nrass due to an Argument out of Bounds error), deleting the 5 caches, deleting female in buy mode to reset her (worked until the male returned from abduction).... Probably other things I can't think of :/

System- Intel Core I5, 8GB Ram, 64-Bit OS, Radeon graphics card (can't find the specific name), Win 7

Games- Base, World Adventures, Late Night, Ambitions, Generations, Pets, Supernatural, Seasons, University Life, Island Paradise, Into the Future Hight End Stuff, Outdoor Stuff
Patched to 1.69

Mods- Nraas Master Controller/Progression/Overwatch/Errortrap/Woohooer/Mover/hybrid/portraitPanel a few others from MTS

Error messages-
type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x000003fc
address: 0x00905f17 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3.exe":0x0001:0x00504f17

script error-Argument out of range

Any help would be really appreciated. I'm not sure what else I can do. I'm afraid this might be lost... Please let me know if you need additional information or a picture.
Advertisement
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 27th Aug 2016 at 4:39 AM
I can try this, but maybe I forgot to mention that I tested a different saved game and had no issues. If it was an installation problem, would it have crashed when I played a different lot?
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 27th Aug 2016 at 3:15 PM
I was afraid of that... Is there any way to save the family? I dont care about the house or belongings, but I want to keep the relationships and jobs if I can. Can I start the game, go into edit town and start a different house for a few minutes? Then try the borked family? I just don't know what went haywire with them. I literally played for hours with no problems :/
Site Helper
#6 Old 27th Aug 2016 at 4:45 PM
If you're getting the crash "as soon as I get the notification that nraas story progression is active," you may not have time to get to Edit Town before the crash begins. (especially if your save wasn't paused.)
If you sometimes get an Error Trap message before it does that, I would look at the error logs that it has dumped into your Sims 3 folder in Documents and see what they are saying. They might give you a clue about how to stop the crashing, or at least tell you why it crashed that time.

I'm not going to guarantee that your family can be saved, but if you are sufficiently desperate it might be possible.

I am Ghost. My husband is sidneydoj. I post, he downloads, and I wanted to keep my post count.
Group for Avatar Makers* Funny Stories *2017 Yearbook
Test Subject
Original Poster
#7 Old 28th Aug 2016 at 4:42 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Ghost sdoj
If you're getting the crash "as soon as I get the notification that nraas story progression is active," you may not have time to get to Edit Town before the crash begins. (especially if your save wasn't paused.)
If you sometimes get an Error Trap message before it does that, I would look at the error logs that it has dumped into your Sims 3 folder in Documents and see what they are saying. They might give you a clue about how to stop the crashing, or at least tell you why it crashed that time.

I'm not going to guarantee that your family can be saved, but if you are sufficiently desperate it might be possible.


I always pause before I save, so it opens paused and I can get into an alternate mode if I need to. When I tried going into Buy mode and deleting the female sim (who the game is resetting before the crash) I get a few sim minutes before the crash, enough for the male to return from abduction. I have an error message(generated by the game) in my original post. I'm just not sure what I'm reading. Error trap isn't catching it. I've given it a day off, I'm going to tackle it again tomorrow. I just hope I can recover somehow. I've put a lot of time into this family :/
Mad Poster
#8 Old 28th Aug 2016 at 6:15 AM
I know that your game is crashing at that point anyway, but no sims of any kind should ever be deleted from Buy Mode or testingcheatsenabled shift-click. That only deletes their bodies, their data stays in the game and often leads to further corruption. Is this something perhaps you were doing earlier on with other sims?

The crash information you are reading is saying that a memory register (RAM) is getting data that it shouldn't, that the game doesn't know what to do with, and your operating system is saying that's enough and shutting the whole thing down. Those kinds of things don't really shed light on what the in-game cause of the crash was.

Neither does script error-Argument out of range, really. That can mean almost anything without an ErrorTrap or other kind of script log to help us investigate further.

Not knowing where the problem is actually coming from, I would probably set this game save aside or write it off. But if you must keep trying, you might try installing NRaas Traveler if you don't already have it, startup a new game in some other world, save, etc., and copy the nhd file of this game into your new one. Then you could use Traveler to go on a trip there from the new homeworld and see if things are more stable in that context. Or at least stable enough to get your sims out.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 28th Aug 2016 at 3:24 PM
Quote: Originally posted by igazor
I know that your game is crashing at that point anyway, but no sims of any kind should ever be deleted from Buy Mode or testingcheatsenabled shift-click. That only deletes their bodies, their data stays in the game and often leads to further corruption. Is this something perhaps you were doing earlier on with other sims?

The crash information you are reading is saying that a memory register (RAM) is getting data that it shouldn't, that the game doesn't know what to do with, and your operating system is saying that's enough and shutting the whole thing down. Those kinds of things don't really shed light on what the in-game cause of the crash was.

Neither does script error-Argument out of range, really. That can mean almost anything without an ErrorTrap or other kind of script log to help us investigate further.

Not knowing where the problem is actually coming from, I would probably set this game save aside or write it off. But if you must keep trying, you might try installing NRaas Traveler if you don't already have it, startup a new game in some other world, save, etc., and copy the nhd file of this game into your new one. Then you could use Traveler to go on a trip there from the new homeworld and see if things are more stable in that context. Or at least stable enough to get your sims out.


I always try to reset the malfunctioning sim using either cheats or Nraas and I haven't had a problem until now. With this sim, I tried resetting the sim and the lot. I'm going to try a few things later on, traveler might be worth the try, but I'm not familiar with the nhd file. Where is that located? How would traveler work? In my mind I'm thinking that I would just have my family on permanent vacation...

Thank you everyone for your responses, by the way. I wasn't sure that anyone would even read this, given that Sims 4 has been out for a while... I really appreciate your help!
Scholar
#10 Old 28th Aug 2016 at 3:37 PM
Quote: Originally posted by igazor
I know that your game is crashing at that point anyway, but no sims of any kind should ever be deleted from Buy Mode or testingcheatsenabled shift-click. That only deletes their bodies, their data stays in the game and often leads to further corruption.


Dammit, it's in this game too??
Mad Poster
#11 Old 28th Aug 2016 at 4:17 PM
Quote: Originally posted by buddhachick
I always try to reset the malfunctioning sim using either cheats or Nraas and I haven't had a problem until now. With this sim, I tried resetting the sim and the lot. I'm going to try a few things later on, traveler might be worth the try, but I'm not familiar with the nhd file. Where is that located? How would traveler work? In my mind I'm thinking that I would just have my family on permanent vacation...

Thank you everyone for your responses, by the way. I wasn't sure that anyone would even read this, given that Sims 4 has been out for a while... I really appreciate your help!


Look in your current or recent Save in your game folder, the one in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves. There should be a file in there that looks like (name of world)_(some hex codes).nhd. That's the file I'm talking about. There will also be a smaller ExportDB file, but that one is not important. While the game is not running, you would copy the nhd file and paste into a different save, the one where the newly started world is the homeworld. With the Traveler mod in play, it then should become a viable travel destination. Pick up the phone or use the computer to travel some random active sim there on a vacation. They will be offered a free place to stay if there is no Base Camp present. If the world is stable in vacation mode like that, have that sim purchase a vacation home and move into it. Note that you may have to retreat to Edit Town and designate an unoccupied lot as Residential-Player Ownable in order for a vacation home to be available for purchase. Then, from City Hall, invoke NRaas > Traveler > Change Hometown, save, quit, and reload (you will be prompted to do so) and you will be playing a game where your original homeworld from the nhd is now the active world while the one you started in this time is just hanging out in your game as an extra possible destination. You could then switch active households and see if your original sims are still playable.

Or if that doesn't work well, you might at least be able to keep the game playable long enough to rescue your sims from the world that way hopefully without all the crashes. But if it crashes on you still, then you know the issue is deeper than just a borked up original couple of saves.

TS3 boards may not get exactly the same level of readership that they did several years ago, but many of us players are still alive and kicking. As is the team at NRaas, among others.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#12 Old 28th Aug 2016 at 10:00 PM
igazor- Thank you for explaining that NRaas has the most amazing mods, and my game wouldn't be the same without them. Traveler sounds like it might do the trick if the game is recoverable. And now I know how to visit Isla Paradisio, which is how EA should have made it Ok. I'll give this a try and see how it goes. Thank you for all of your help. I'll let you know what happens.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#13 Old 29th Aug 2016 at 8:31 PM
I'm about to try traveling back to Appaloosa Plains to try and rescue my family. Thanks again for your help!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#14 Old 29th Aug 2016 at 9:12 PM
Well crap, it crashed as soon as my new sim arrived in Appaloosa Plains. Story Progression notification popped up, and I got dumped.... :/ I guess I start fresh with new family. At least I have all of the crash logs so I can do some cheating on skills and job ranks.... And now I can travle to some island destinations, so it wasn't all a loss. I really appreciate your help everyone.
Mad Poster
#15 Old 29th Aug 2016 at 10:56 PM
Sorry that didn't work out any better, but sometimes a corrupt world is just corrupt. (Sounds like a line from Chicago or something...)
Test Subject
Original Poster
#16 Old 30th Aug 2016 at 3:25 AM
It was worth the try. At least I can play with genetics now when I re-create them. There were a few characteristics I wasn't fond of since I didn't make them. Should I move the files back to their original saved game designation and let the new family create their own nhd file? Is that a file for the hometown or for traveling?
Mad Poster
#17 Old 30th Aug 2016 at 7:36 AM
Not sure I understand the question, sorry. An nhd file is a played (or playable) instance of a world within an ongoing saved game. Whether that world is a homeworld or a vacation destination depends on whom (which sim) you ask and which world you are playing in currently within that ongoing game, it's all a matter of context.

From the sound of it, I thought you would be starting over except with possibly though maybe not with some saved sim templates or something from one or more of these failed worlds, if you managed to gather any.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#18 Old 30th Aug 2016 at 5:32 PM
All of the sims that I lost were game-created, not in CAS. I couldn't rescue them from the travel destination when my new family went there because it crashed right away. I just re-made the family in CAS, but they don't really look alike. Not a huge deal. I think I was just asking if I should put the nhd file back with the original saved game since I had moved it to be in the new game so I could rescue the family. It doesn't matter, really, because the family is unplayable.

Is it possible to save the sim data(how sims look/personalities) from saved game files to use with my new game even though the game data is messed up? Maybe I can just use the characters and re-do the town...? If you're confused, it's okay. I'm not exactly sure what I'm asking either
Instructor
#19 Old 30th Aug 2016 at 9:11 PM
Quote: Originally posted by buddhachick
I'm about to try traveling back to Appaloosa Plains to try and rescue my family. Thanks again for your help!


You know.. if you can do this, it means you can access the game without crashing when loading your saved game, why not pause the game and go to edit town when your world or your saved game has loaded, then click on your household home, there will be an option to save your household to the library with or without the house. From here .. exit the game and go to your TS3 documents folder and make a copy to backup your library folder, this is where your household is saved including the house as well if you prefer with the house or you can even make two saves, one just the household and the other one with the house as well, you can do this when you're in "edit town" mode.

After you made back up, run the game again, but this time start with a new game or a new or different world, when your new game has loaded up, go to edit town again, pick any empty house or land and place your household there, once you placed your household there, go back to game menu and choose the home or the land with the household you just placed them there to start playing the new game.

Now when you in live mode and just starting your new game with your household, paused the game, and click one by one all of your sims household so they'll go to CAS mode, bring them to the mirror or dresser to make them go to CAS mode, now when you in CAS mode, you can save each one of your sims, once you saved them all, you can load them anytime from CAS like you load the pre-made sim, and when you done saving them in CAS, just exit the game again and go back to your TS3 documents folder..

Now you'll have your household in the library folder and also in the SavedSims folder, just back up these two folders if you don't want to lose them, even if you uninstall your TS3 and then reinstall the game back, just put those two folders back inside your new TS3 Documents folder and you'll have your household back or.. you can even load them independently as a new sim from CAS mode..

PS: Edited.., move your mods folder to your desktop temporarily to prevent crash, load the game without any mods or cc if you have to, so you can go to edit town and saved them to library and/or savedsims folder.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 30th Aug 2016 at 10:28 PM
@buddhachick - Now I understand. My instructions were to copy (not move) the nhd originally. But if the world isn't playable in either game the it doesn't matter if the nhd is moved or copied back at this point.

PapaEmy's suggestion is really the only way to get sims and households out of the apparently borked world, if you can even get it loaded up and stable long enough to do that. But the problem is, from what you have described, we don't know if your sims were part of the corruption or whatever issues you were facing or if it was all the world itself. You might be moving the problem from one world into a new one if you continue in that effort.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#21 Old 30th Aug 2016 at 10:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by igazor
PapaEmy's suggestion is really the only way to get sims and households out of the apparently borked world, if you can even get it loaded up and stable long enough to do that. But the problem is, from what you have described, we don't know if your sims were part of the corruption or whatever issues you were facing or if it was all the world itself. You might be moving the problem from one world into a new one if you continue in that effort.


My original thought was to do what PapaEmy suggested, though not in quite as much detail. I was just going to switch households. Perhaps in the future I will save sims to my bin if I really love them. I think in this case, though the problem is lying with the female sim, since she seems to be resetting by the game, then it crashes, or it just crashes. Since I'm not getting an error log from Errortrap, I can't say for sure, but I'm not going to take the chance. I'll miss them, but it's just a game. I gave it a valiant effort. And learned in the process- and learning is half the battle
Test Subject
Original Poster
#22 Old 31st Aug 2016 at 12:14 AM
So I opened the bad save and saved all of my created lots and the family that I want. Since I was sure that the game was lost, I tried switching household and it started working. I let it run about 2 sim hours, then switched back. It ran again for a few hours and just after I saved, it crashed... Sigh. I got the same script error that I originally posted ( type: ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x000003fc
address: 0x00905f17 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3.exe":0x0001:0x00504f17) . Could this be because the game file is just too big? Is there too much data in the save that the game can't handle it? I just don't want this to happen again.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#23 Old 31st Aug 2016 at 10:48 PM
I got it to work!!!!!! After reading PapaEmy's suggestion, I took a chance and loaded saved the family into the library and moved them into the new game I started. Everything has been going smoothly, no crashes, upon loading the family into the game there was a script error caught by ErrorTrap -out of world object. When I switched households it was running on Island Paradise, not Into the Future, so I restarted and it's fine now I'm currently building a new house since the lot edges don't really work in the new world. After everything that's happened, they deserve the upgrade. Thank you again for all of your help, I learned so much!
Back to top