Hi.

I am starting to get very annoyed with TS3. I finally got back into it after 3 months of TS2 when I got 4 new EPs (Island Paradise, Generations, World Adventures and Seasons) yesterday. Well, so I thought..

It's been crashing a lot. I installed the four discs last night, and within two hours of gameplay, it took a minute to get out of fullscreen (which it had caused to tell me), just for windows to say "Sims 3 is Not Responding". I screamed because I had lost 10 minutes of important gameplay (promotions and such) from when I had last saved. I didn't reopen the game and went to bed instead.

This morning when I got up, I booted up a different (new) save. I was playing the Midnight Sun Challenge when it had crashed when I was in Egypt. Cue frustration. I decided to give it one last shot.

I booted up ANOTHER game, and decided to make my goal a 10 generation family. I went into "Edit Town" and made a (very pretty) starter house. I was placing literally the last object when it crashed. So here I am now.

I am really considering going back to TS2. TS3 does have it's advantages, but TS2 is perfect and I have never had a crash with it. Ever. This hasn't been the first time with constant TS3 crashes.

So, here are my questions.
What usually causes a crash?
How can I stop this from happening?

And, if I seriously can't stop these crashes...
Should I just go back to TS2?

I have checked the minimum requirements for the game and my computer is quite a bit above them. I do experience an annoying lot of lag, even though I clean out DCBackup folder after every gameplay session and have Overwatch installed and have a lot of the settings set on low. I do not have a lot of CC installed and I do not have a Downloader Sorter or whatever a lot of players use.

I might not even uninstall TS3 from my computer simply because I have plenty of room for it and gigabytes worth of TS2 CC room I have reserved for.

Most of my crashes are when I'm playing a huge world for a very long time. The play begins to slow up and it will crash from time to time.

May I recommend the Crash Log Analyser?

To make things clear: DCBackup has totally *no* effect on game performance. The game doesn't even try recreating the files in DCBackup; files in there were created the first time you install a .sims3pack through the launcher.

It only affects lots you exported; for unknown reasons, the game will attach files it thinks it needs from DCBackup, oftentimes bloating the exported .sims3pack.


True, especially since TS3 (to the best of my knowledge) is not properly multithreaded.

There's a project somewhere that planned on doing ... magic things on TS3 to introduce multithreading for running mod scripts, but I'm not at liberty to say more.

That said, without Overwatch, the performance hit due to townies being 'trapped' somewhere (plus objects not properly destroyed by the game engine) will gradually overcome the performance hit due to Overwatch's periodic checks. So, it's still very worth it to install.

For SP, yes it causes a not negligible performance hit, but the world is also at the same time much more enjoyable, much more immersive. Again, its performance hit is not as significate as AwesomeMod's, because it's smart enough to not perform 'push' to townies not visible to the player (or not becoming visible, e.g., SP decided that a townie -- for purposes of story -- need to visit the lot where the player's sim is currently located).

When an object, house or sim, is "packaged" for export as a S3P, all custom content that was used will be a part of that S3P if a copy is present in the DCbackup folder. When you install an item such as a S3P, the object(s) are merged into the .dbc files in your DCCache folder, which your game uses to "build" your environment. A copy of every individual item (assuming you installed a S3P which contained more than a single item of cc, such as a house or sim from someone else) is placed in the DCBackup folder, labelled as a .package file, just like the .package files in your mods/packages folder for .package cc). This is then used as the pool for creating any S3P house or sim you decide to export. Otherwise, those .package files in the DCBackup folder are never used in your game play.

One BIG exception. Also in your DCBackup folder is a file called ccmerged.package. That is a "special" file. It is the file that contains all the info needed for premium Store content to function properly in your game. If you have no Store content, no such package, but if you do, you need to keep it if you want the crap to work. Why is such an important file kept in an otherwise superfluous folder which is important only for exporting content? Who the hell knows? Just don't mess with it if you play with the remainder of the files in that folder.

Now, back to exporting a S3P. Only cc that is available as individual .package files in the DCBackup folder will attach to a S3P. Which is why your .package files in the mods/package folder won't be included, and are usually listed by a creator separately. However, if you don't mind crapping up someone else's game with possibly unwanted content, you could place ANY .package file in the DCBackup folder, and it will be included in the S3P you make. Not only that, but because it started out life as a .package folder, and not an unpacked S3P, it will be integrated into your new S3P and not be "visible" to a user with an S3P inspection program such as CUSTARD. So, while convenient if you don't want to give a long list of cc separately for a user to either install or go on a treasure hunt to collect, it does mean that poor user might be stuck with stuff you thought was important, but they really didn't want. Not to mention the failure to give credit to the original creator should you choose to gloss that over.

So, the DCBackup folder only contains .package files that come into play for any S3P creation you want to export and share, and one very important ccmerged file if you have any premium Store stuff.

OP: How much RAM do you have on your system?

EA is never honest about their game requirements.

In addition to the other good suggestions above the Tips For Better Game Performance document offers several tips and tools that should help you out. I did not pick off if you are playing on a Laptop (fan overheating?) or PC (see last tip in third column) or what your system specs are but there is also a link to the MTS system requirements document in there, links to mods that will help clean up your game as well as other steps you could try. Overwatch is one of the most useful mods for cleaning up. Also, Error Trap will generate script errors that can be read over at NRaas which very often will identify why crashes are occurring ... please consider that option. Good luck

The best way perhaps is to share it to the Sims 3 Creator Feedback Forum. Just tell the people how do you expect the CC should be (e.g., all integrated into the .sims3pack, or let people download themselves).

Once you've done it twice or thrice, you should've got the process down pat

That's a good idea, but do remember that it's not allowed to post files in CFF for long-term download hosting, so you'll need to delete them once they've served their purpose as practise for you.

Well, so long as the objects used were originally installed as S3P's, they will simply be "put in" there automatically in the "assembly" process. Only cc which is installed as .package files in your mods/packages folder won't be. It also depends on how you wish to share the lot. For example, on this site, even if it was cc that came as an S3P original file for installation, you still must provide the link for the user to obtain the item for each and every instance. Other sites might not have the same rules, and personal sites have whatever rules you wish to use. Some creators don't mind your sharing creations so long as you provide credit and hopefully a link in the lot description, some ask you to not include their content at all, but refer the user back to the original creator's site for download.

So really, if you wish to share lots that will contain cc, you will need to have some system in mind for identifying and crediting that content when you're ready to share the lot, especially if it's here, where items can be included, as long as you credit back to the source, and that source allows for such use. I think what most folks who build do is have a "core" set of content in mind when they start their build, so they're not just grabbing items out of a bloated buy catalog or off the CAST patterns at random. If you have different DCCache/DCBackup folders created for build purposes only, say one with only contemporary furniture or only period furniture, and swap those in and out at build time, you could have an easier time of it if you're going to heavily rely on such content to give your lot a specific look. Alternatively, you could also build the lot, export it, and inspect it with CUSTARD, and identify all the individual cc objects packaged in that way, then work your way back to what those actual files were and where you got them from.

And unfortunately, that's why I never share lots I build. I have a bloated, disorganized collection of content scattered between S3P and .package files, and i like to build and decorate on the fly, so figuring out where I got that lamp from, or plant from, let alone some pattern I cloned off of some other item from someone else's build I really liked and used because it fit the bathroom I wanted, make it utterly impractical for me to properly credit the correct creators. So stuff I make is for my use. Which is OK.

Besides, just for yuks I tried exporting some lot I built which I thought looked pretty good, and it came in at like 90 MB, WITHOUT the .package content even accounted for. And it was only a 40X40 lot. Granted, there wasn't very much EA content in there (OK, the parking spaces, the washer/dryer, most of the exercise equipment in the gym, the sauna/spa thing from ST, some outdoor plantings, and the Foosball table were all EA). Everything else came from cc, down to the doorknob patterns. Not much demand in the marketplace for bloated custom lots like that..................

Ooh, I like the sky house. Nice concept for the futuristic stuff. But yeah, I'm in the same boat. I would have to essentially reinstall all my content, grouped as I described, to have any chance at actually providing accurate link backs for stuff. And even then, I can't see uploading it to this site and asking folks to chase down several dozen items. However, for builders who like to work with stock EA build objects, with a few extras that are optional for a player, this site is a great place to submit to. The standards for build quality are high, so it's a nice compliment to the creator if its accepted, and it's a nice place for players to get stuff that actually functions with proper living spaces, especially if they like to keep their cc light, or prefer to add their own personal touches during game play.

Although lately, I've found a few creators who do really nice builds in styles I like, so to speed things up, I'll take their lots as a base and build them out to suit my needs. It's faster than starting from scratch (I get really OCD on builds regardless, and starting from an empty lot could easily take me several days before I was satisfied), but I can still spend a real life day getting it built out the way I want it for my families. As I usually play in a loose legacy style, the house stays through at least several generations, so getting it right from the start of the build is important for me.

I do have some plans to share some of my creations. So, I've been designing the following workflow:

1. Design the lot, export as S3P <== won't contain CCs because I alwas delete all *.package files in DCBackup
2. Exit game, do a 'Hard Reset' (i.e., renaming "The Sims 3" folder)
3. Install the exported lot
4. Check for missing stuff
5. Install missing stuff S3P -- this should populate DCBackup
6. Install missing stuff .package
7. Re-export the lot
8. Unpack the S3P using s3su
9. Add missing .package files (those files in step #6)
10. Repack the S3P using s3su
11. Test using another 'hard resetted' directory
12. Clean up

If steps 8~10 don't work out (that is, during the test, the CCs within .package files don't show), I'll just upload the S3P from step 7 and provide links to the .package file sources.

Alpal425 - Were you able to resolve your crashing problem?

So, should I just like, delete TS3 and everything with it (EPs, SPs, CC, etc) and reinstall the game and the EPs, SPs? I don't TRULY need all the CC anyways and my saves don't mean a lot to me. I've never hit gen 3, lol. But the store content I'd have to install... (cries)

I have a question. Is there a way I can remove ALL CC, mods, etc. without having to uninstall my base stuff (EPs, SPs, base game and even store content)?

Another way is to perform a "Hard Reset":

1. Rename the "The Sims 3" folder to (e.g.) "The Sims 3 Old"
2. Start The Sims 3, and quit immediately from the Main Menu
3. Copy the settings file (options.ini?) from "The Sims 3 Old" to "The Sims 3"
4. Copy all .sims3pack files in "The Sims 3 Old\Downloads" to "The Sims 3\Downloads"
5. Open Launcher and install the ones you really want (I recommend installing less than 10 at a time)
6. Close Launcher, and start the game using TS3W.exe instead

Agree with what @nitromon wrote.

When pasting the contents, please wrap it inside [ code ] tags, then 'hide' it using [ spoiler=deviceconfig ] tags. (Reply to my post to see how it's done)

Brand: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU B800 @ 1.50GHz
Intel(R) HD Graphics
Adjusted CPU: 1595 RAM: 1899 Adjusted RAM: 1387 Cores

Your system isn't powerful enough to run Sims 3 with expansion packs comfortably and CC..... Your processor only has one core, you have built in graphics and only 1.5 gigs of ram. That's not enough power to run the sims, or any modern PC game that I know of. You have to upgrade your computer.

Just my two cents for what it's worth, I make lots for my own use, using whatever I want and other lots for uploading here - if you have in your mind you're going to offer it for upload when you're building it helps make the process easier - for the most part I use as little CC and Store content as possible for my upload builds as I find it makes the builds useable by more Simmers. I find it's also an interesting exercise to challenge yourself to limited Store content or CC in builds sometimes!