My game is crashing whenever..

[Ancabee]

My game crashes whenever I load up a lot and click on any of the categories in the buy or build mode.

It doesn't crash when I just click on the buy or build mode buttons, but only if I click on things like chair, door, pool, misc.

I have tested my whole DL folder, I split them in half, I have removed mods and tested that way and it still crashed.
I have my objects folder organized by objects, then it goes into rooms. I have put each room folder in one by one and tested that way, and it worked fine, each folder worked fine alone.

I don't know what else to do now.

[Theraven]

Have you downloaded plenty of new stuff lately?
Are you running Windows Vista (or Win7)?
Do you have 2GB memory or less on your computer (or have 4GB or more, but it still crashes)?
And do you have an overfilled CC folder? (I'm talking GBs of stuff here).

In that case you could have the same problem as I had with memory troubles. My game would crash at random times, without any good explanation. I found a fix for it, here (if you need the file, it's gone - but I uploaded it here).

When my game started mesing around again, I also did this. Random crash problems disappeared like they had never even been there. I do recommend this fix before you start messing around with game files, though. I had some help with the how-to. Try this one first, and if there are no more random crashes, or at least fewer of them, then you've found the problem

[Ancabee]

I have windows vista.
I had been DL'ing alot to get old items back after a big crash before; and even removed the newer items from the crash date, and it still crashed.

I have 5GB of DL's (after being compressed already) all together.

And I have lots of space left over.


I will try this...I had just thought about taking all my 40k files out and putting each file in one by one to see, LOL..But I'll try this first

edit/

Ummmm I don't think I can use either of those..

The second one is regarding the sims 3, and the first one I don't even know..I don't use the sims 3, just the sims 2. ^^

[Theraven]

It works for sims 2 too. 
I've got the memory manager running now, with the sims 2 game up (about 3-5GB of CC, in test mode), and everything is running like a dream.

I never had troubles on my XP laptop (except severe lagging, because I tried to run 9GB of CC with only 512 MB memory...), but after I got Vista on my new (and much better) computer, the crashing begun. Those two helped me, and like I said, I've not had random crashes after I started using the memory manager. (Sims 3 is a different story, though. It decides to crash, and does so with style... But that's most likely game bugs, since I don't have CC for it yet...)

How much memory do your computer have? (most have 1-4 GB, sometimes more, but that's usually special built computers)
Vista alone needs 1GB to run properly. Game often crashes if it uses more than 2 GB, non-regarding of how much you have. That's what happened to me.

[Ancabee]

my game is still crashing. It's not a space issue, I have over 40k files in my DL folder and my game takes barely 6 minutes to load up.

It's not crashing at random times,  it's crashing only when all of the object folders are in the DL folder and I load a lot, and click on any of the sub-categories in the build or buy section. If I remove all the object folders, it is fine. There is an object causing this but since I have removed and place each object folder in one at a time and it worked perfectly; I have no way of finding out what files are not working together apparently.

[Jenna]

Hmm...

Have you checked for duplicate meshes? They can cause crashes as well.

[Theraven]

I'm talking about memory/RAM. Not harddrive. People seems to be confusing those two quite a lot...
Harddrive is how much space you have, RAM is how much memory the computer have.
(On Vista it's "Start --> Control panel --> view amount of ram and processor speed", and under "Memory (RAM)" you find how much memory your computer have)

For me, my game crashed in any cathegory, both buy and build mode, and especially if there were new things inside. It also sometimes randomly crashed on heavy lots, often dumping memory first, so things started flashing purple (on really heavy lots, often when using weather like snow).
After I did the fixes, it only crashes when I try to open small electronics/phones, because I know there might be some files causing a crash in that folder (I just haven't bothered figuring out what it is, since with 20 GB to look through, that's not very tempting  ). The flashing purple has stopped entirely.

My computer was all new, special built to handle 3D rendering (which is very heavy), games and multi-tasking (I sometimes run Photoshop, 3D max, SimPE OR sims 2 windowed, web browser, Word, mediaplayer, and a whole array of folders, without too much lagging). And still things crashed, when I usually never had crashes on my much worse laptop (XP) while playing the game. The trouble turned out to have nothing to do with my computer itself, but with Vista and the memory leak issues.

If nothing crashes on its own, but only when everything is in, either two obects are conflicting, you have a bad file, or you have memory crashes just like I had. The memory manager is worth a try

[Ancabee]

sorry for no reply!

I ended up deleting everything and starting over again. I have about 9.51GB (uncompressed) of CC all organized now.
And my computer stats. say this..

Used space ::74.5GB
Free space ::511GB



The error message I am getting in the logs from the crashing say this..


Exception time: 09/03/2010, at 23:14:53.
Exception code: 0xC0000005 (-1073741819) ACCESS_VIOLATION.
Current thread ID: 3864 (0x00000f18).
Version information:
Application/module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 University Life Collection\EP99\TSBin\Sims2SC.exe
Application/module version name: The Sims 2 SC
Application/module version: 1.12.0.188
System version: Windows NT 6.0
System memory: 4096 Megabytes total, 948 Megabytes free.
Application/module configuration: ReleaseSRT



I downloaded the 3GB enabler thing, and now I am confused. I read the MTS2 thread and it said to copy each file from my folder into the folder there per process? I don't understand what that means..

Can you please explain to me the steps on what to do now? ^^

[Theraven]

It means that you have to copy all the game .exe files for each and every EP and SP you have (one set of backup that you don't touch, one set for editing).
The file you're editing, you have to rename to “supremecommander” (I think it keeps the .exe ending) and put inside the 3GB_enabler folder that you extract from the rar file. Do the changes, and rename it back to what it was called before.
When you're done with the editing, copy the edited .exe files, and paste them in where you first found them. Rewrite the old files (but keep the backup files, in case you did something wrong).

If you consider yourself more of a computer noob, then I'm not so sure I can recommend doing this. I had a bit if help myself to start the process, and it's quite a while since I did it. If you know a computer tech who can help you, then so much the better.

System memory: 4096 Megabytes total, 948 Megabytes free.

I see you have 4GB of memory (4096mb = 4GB), and it also looks like the game is trying to use more than 2 GB (Vista itself uses 1GB), so the 3GB enabler might be of help to you, too.

There are directions in the MTS thread, and also in the readme file included with the enabler. Make sure you read everything before doing anything, and follow everything if you decide to do it.
What the readme file says about the boot.ini file is what the MTS2 thread says about the “3GB switch” in step 2, with directions on what to do with 2, 3 and 4GB memory.

[Ancabee]

oh I just notice you say to try this one first..I'm gonna do this first then if it doesnt work i will do the other one ok!

http://www.sim-oasis.com/forums/index.php?topic=1798.0

with this if it doesnt work i can remove it and all my DL's will still be there??

[Theraven]

The memory manager doesn't really have anything to do with the game itself. It just empties or compress memory that is not in use, and does so for all programs unless you set it to sims 2 only. I've got it set to all programs.
It won't delete any files you have on your computer, and won't mess up anything.

You have to either let it run at startup, or start it up manually before you start the game. If it's not running, it doesn't do anything.

[Ancabee]

I install it, and then I set it refresh 1 minute like the sims site says to.
then I clicked the X - does it only run when the program is up? or does it run while down also?


also which one do I set? I set the first one, and my game stilled crashed..

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/3200/kkkbx.jpg

(it was set to one minute before)

now I will try this one and see if it is the right one..^^

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9049/uuuuc.jpg



*sigh* neither worked...my game still crashes...

I guess I'll try the first one later on when I have time to read through the MTS2 page and the file. ^^

[Theraven]

Don't click the X. That shuts it down.

If you want it to still run when you click X, then in "configuration settings" (last button), set it to "show notify icon in system tray" and "close application to system tray". You'll find it in the task bar as a small icon to the far right. It'll look like a tiny green/yellow/red bar (depending on how much memory your computer is using).
If you want to change the settings while it's running, right-click on this icon, and choose "show/hide".

I also turned off the "show notifications in system tray" because when I'm not having a fullscreen program up, messages pops up all the time...

You can also set a hot key, so that if your game starts running slow or something, pressing the hot key will free memory. Just make sure you don't use a hot key that also does something ingame (like C, that takes pictures, or F1/F2/F3 that shows live and buy/build mode).

[Ancabee]

ohhhhh okay ^^
I'll keep it up this time and see again if it works. I was thinking maybe it's like fraps and only runs when its up haha
thank you! I'll go check it out now ^^

well it didn't work, my game still crashed. =(

*Admin note: Posts merged. Please use the modify button to edit your post instead of replying to yourself within a 24 hour period*

[BlooM]

you are starting the game with the latest EP exe right?