Game Crash Frequently

[henisacat]

Okay, so over the past few months the game has been crashing frequently. What will happen is, I'll go to the neighborhood screen, enter a few lots and houses, then, when i try to enter a lot, a part of the back ground music will play over and over again. E.g boop da ba boop da ba boo boo boo boo boo boo boo. And then it will say "The game has crashed. The application will now quit." or something. However, I'm pretty sure its not because of hard drive space or anything like that, as I have a crapload a CRAP LOAD of custom content (4.36 mb)and mods, and my hard drive is 50% free. And when I first got the game and I didn't have custom content, the game never crashed. Also, it seems that the more custom content I put on, the less time it takes for the message to pop up and make the game crash. E.g a month ago i was able to enter 10 lots before it crashed, now its only 2 at the very best. Also, just a theory, it may be that the more I play it, the worst it gets. Because I had just finished playing it for like 2 days (I leave the game on and minimize it over night) it crashed as soon as i entered a sim into a lot and tried to put a door in. So please help me if you can, I'm really desperate. And last time I had a problem it was fixed straight away. Thank you in advance.

[EKozski]

Fisrt off, The Sims game including all the EP's and SP's are nothing more than a memory hog. Leaving it on overnight like that just sucks up memory. Plus, depending on your computer specs, it might not be able to handle it.

Plus, if you're missing any EP's, and you downloaded a house, it may have something you're missing.

Also, you might want to try and delete your Groups.cache and your accessories.cache files just inside your Sims 2 folder.

[miros1]

4 meg really isn't that much CC, but it kind of sounds like you've got an iffy download in there.  Unfortunately, a crash like yours, after the game has been running for a couple hours, is very hard to track down.

I also don't recommend leaving the game running overnight.

[Theraven]

For memory crashes you could try this. Worked wonders for me. And yes, it also works for sims 2.

And 4mb isn't much (I've got single files around that size), so I guess you really mean 4gb.

[henisacat]

Allright, sure thing. How does that sims 3 crach solution thing work?

[Theraven]

Read the topic. Says a lot about how to use it and how it works.

[kinnika]

I know I'm not henisacat. But thanks for the tips about the memory improver and about not leaving the game on all night. It takes my game forever to load and so sometimes I will leave it running while I sleep. Guess I won't be doing that anymore. No wonder my game is getting slower and slower ~ not mentioning my computer in general. I'm wondering if that has any contribution to my desktop no longer showing up...

[Theraven]

I do know that leaving the game on at night isn't the best idea, but I admit I've done it several times myself. My game takes ages to load sometimes, and if I'm in the middle of a chapter photoshoot where I've done scene changes that are difficult to get back, I often leave the game on at night.

Usually I only leave it on for one or two nights in a row, but the longest time is about a week (I don't think the game was running all that time, but the computer was on for that long). An automatic windows update restarted the computer while I was sleeping, or otherwise I'd probably have left it on longer... The rest of the photoshoot was put on ice...

But usually, unless I have some programs running, or fall asleep unintentionally, I try not to leave the computer on at night. It's not good for the bits inside. If I do leave my game running, I usually minimize it to desktop, and do a "free memory" on the memory optimizer before I go to bed.

As long as you don't leave it on very often, and as long as your computer has good airing, I don't think it's a big danger. But don't leave your game on every night, and don't leave the computer on for several hours or days when you're not in the house. That's just stupid... Your computer does need a break once in a while.

[miros1]

As long as the air flow is good and you have a functioning computer rated surge suppressor, leaving the computer on is actually better for it than repeated off/on cycles.  Each time you power it up, everything gets a small surge.  However, if weird stuff happens, like your desktop not showing up, do restart the operating system from the "Start" button.

Don't leave the game running!  There's all kinds of suboptimal code in there that does silly things like allocating memory and not releasing it, etc.  Over time, each tiny (possibly as few as 32 bytes) "memory leak" builds up to a huge whirlpool that will suck all the memory away from your other applications and desktop.

[kinnika]

The raven: Man, I hear you on that photo album ~ one of the main reasons I let it run. Sometimes I'll make a note or two about what I am planning next in the story sequencing but I have such bad memory myself, I tend to forget what I'm in the middle of doing. And yeah ~ I have been known to keep my game on for  few days. Oops... 

Unfortunately, right now at least, I can't minimize my game to my desktop because I have none in existence at the current time. I have to go into my game through the backdoor as it is (Esc+Cntrl+Alt) and open up every program file through browsing. It really sucks. But I will take this advice once I get my new shiny toy.

Good tip, miros1. I won't go into this too much (after all, this is a Sim site, not a computer one). I was just simply wondering if this could be one of the contributing factors, in which case, I now am starting to believe that it is. On the other hand, my computer is pretty old in the computer world and overrun with other issues (one being a bad windows installment). I am looking into a whole new media beast as we speak. It is not fun running my game right now because of the slowness and all the other factors involved with my crippled PC. But, again & most definitely, good tip about stopping the game when I'm finished for the day.

I did, however, hear that leaving the computer on overnight was an OK thing to do, so maybe I'll at least continue doing that. I guess you just confirmed that advice I had been given before for me. But hearing The raven disagree makes me think that it is still a debated issue. I do, actually, give my computer a break every now and then, so maybe I'm still good on this issue.

Okay, now that I'm done, I will return this forum to being a Sim related forum...

[henisacat]

Okay, well I tried using the memory improver thingy majig. Because the problem has gotten even worse. I go to the neighbourhood screen, go to create a family, and it instantly crashes. And also, after it has crashed, the usage skyrockets to around 90%. If there is ANYTHING at all I can do, please tell me. I have tried deleting some files from my downloads folder, but it doesnt do anything.

[miros1]

This sounds like a bad download.  Try scanning with Delphy's Download Organizer from MTS.

[caffeinated.joy]

The easiest way to determine if it's a bad download or not is to move your Downloads folder to the desktop and then try running your game. If it opens fine, then you know it's something in your downloads folder. The best way to determine what the object(s) is (are) is to use the 50/50 method outline here.

[henisacat]

great, thanks. I'll try it.

Also, just a question,
when i remove my custom content, the houses and stuff that contain custom furniture and walls - those objects will be removed, yes? but when i put them back in, will it still be there?

And if I have houses and people. i.e .sims2package files, do i just include them with the process or exclude them?

edit: I have come across this: http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Game_Problem which is exactly what my problem is. However, the process involves "backing up" my "user files", and then removing them etc. And I have no idea what they are, as I am only a 14 year old boy. So are there any dangers of doing this, like having my computer permanently shut down or something? And could someone please inform me as to what user files are and basically what im doing in this process?

edit edit: don't worry, after reading over the file i'm pretty sure i understand the process. as long as im not removing like my computers files, like system 32 or anything.

[caffeinated.joy]

When you test your game without custom content, open a neighborhood you don't play in. Otherwise, what will happen is, if you open a family you play, all the custom content will be gone and either replaced with Maxis stuff or consist of blue flashing silhouettes. Then, when you put your cc back in, you'll have to go in and replace everything in the house manually. This is why it's best to open a neighborhood or family you don't play (and which has no custom content) for testing purposes.