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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 17th Mar 2018 at 6:32 PM Last edited by Moreeza : 18th Mar 2018 at 12:05 AM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Game crashes while saving a lot, please help!
Hi! I'm dealing with a crash/freeze problem with saving a lot. Please help!

The crash occurs with the following:
1. Start the game, pick any neighbourhood
*Note: the problem occurs in every neighbourhood in the game: it doesn't matter wether the neighbourhood is custom or maxis, empty or with sims, containing landscape cc or not
2. Load a lot (either to build or to play with a family doesn't matter)
3. Make some changes to it. For example: move a tree, change wallpaper, place a chair etc.
4. Save the lot OR go back to the neighbourhood and click yes when asked if I want to save.
Halfway during the savingscreen or loadscreen it crashes. Meaning the screen freezes and I have to use windows task manager to end the game. If I do a pop-up shows up saying that the game isn't responding and I can click on 'end now'.
I also noticed that every time it crashed, the game didn't create the groups.cache file. The accesory.cache file, however, is always present.

I've followed the FAQ and the crash/freeze procedure on this site. It led me to believe that the problem is somewhere in my downloads folder.

What I tried so far:
1. Removed cache files --> crashed
*note: I remove the cache files every time before starting the game.
2. Tested without user files --> no crash
3. Tested all folders within user files one by one (including zCEP-EXTRA) to isolate the problem folder --> downloads folder seems to be the culprit
4. Tested without all mods/hacks and defaults --> crashed
*Note: I Placed back the mods/hacks and defaults.
5. Tested without most recent cc --> no crash
6. Used the 50% method to find the corrupted cc
*Note: I created two special test folders within the downloadsfolder. One for testing possible corrupt cc (testfolder). One for the rest of my cc that didn't cause the crash in the first place (okayfolder). Untested cc was backed up in a folder on my desktop (backupfolder). Any time a group of cc was tested and didn't cause a crash I moved that group of cc to the okayfolder.
7. Tested without corrupt cc --> no crash
8. Tested again the next day (exact same files, besides cache files) --> crashed
9. Removed all package.package(.package.package etc.) files in the download folder --> crashed
10. Tested the game without downloads folder again --> no crash
11. Tested the game with the exact same files as in step 7 and 8 (besides cache files) again --> crashed

It seems like some of the cc that was tested negative (no crash) somehow got corrupted anyway. I don't know what to think or do now.
Could it be that the game corrupts random cc every time I start it? or every time I remove cache files? (I don't know! it sounds unlikely to me, tho).
Or that the problem could still be elsewhere and that the crash is random or based on coincidence, meaning that it crashes most of the time but not always without a pattern (Sounds unlikely to me as well).

What could it be?
What else can I try to fix this?

Thanks in advance! :lovestruc

Things I tried because of suggestions from this thread:
1. Remove custom smokedetector [no effect]
2. Remove thumbnails [no effect]
3. Look for this file [not found]
4. Run the hack conflict detector [no effect]

----
My system specs:
OS: Windows 7
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz
RAM: 4096 MB total, 3916 MB available
Graphics card: AMD Radeon R7 200 series
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 17th Mar 2018 at 6:52 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 17th Mar 2018 at 7:08 PM.
Looks to be something in your Downloads folder, and maybe not a mod/hack.
Some items can cause crashes if they clash with other items. Maybe it's a GUID conflict.

How did you do the 50/50 method? You should always part in half, test the halves separately (crash = corrupt file inside), and part that half again, testing both halves, etc. - But don't trust the "clean" halves to be clean. There could still be items inside that react to the files you've moved out.

Examples of objects that may cause crashing issues: Items not updated to EPs or don't have proper GUIDs (such as beds and bookshelves), anything heavily modded, slaved items, custom smoke alarms (a red one by LivingDeadGirl at TSR, often included in schools and official buildings, kept my game crashing for quite some time), borked defaults, unlockers of hidden ingame items. The list isn't complete.

If an object is causing issues, you may get lucky if you click through the entire buy/build menu. Sometimes, the game will crash when trying to access borked items. Other times the game will crash when trying to place the item, or when a sim tries to use it. This goes for CAS items, too.

You may also want to test if the files in the Thumbnail folder need deleting (they're cache files, safe to delete, but may cause the game to lag a little when the game generate new ones). If you've moved CC around a lot, these files tend to grow, and can occasionally cause issues. If you've noticed borked thumbs ingame, this is a likely culprit.

Depending on your system, the game may have issues saving large lots with a bunch of CC. If you only get crashes on large and CC-heavy lots, but not on small and CC-light lots, this may be the problem.

Occasionally, placing borked CC on a lot may work fine until you try to save or re-enter the lot.

If a lot is corrupted for some or another reason, and you try to save but the game crashes, this can cause further borkage. Don't do the "save + go to neighborhood" or "Save and quit" way, but save and then go to the neighborhood or quit the game. It's less likely to bork up anything.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#3 Old 17th Mar 2018 at 11:10 PM
Also check for this file http://modthesims.info/t/529552

Run the hack Conflict detector and see what it comes up with.

No, you won't have random files corrupt everytime, but certainly, files can rarely decide to corrupt. Some time a power outage or a crash can cause something to corrupt. I had it once that an elder male outfit corrupt when a sim crashed on turning elder. or it could have been it corrupted then the crash happened, but I tend to think it was the other way around since I had used the outfit for years. So my guess is your lot crashing corrupted something.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#4 Old 17th Mar 2018 at 11:39 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Looks to be something in your Downloads folder, and maybe not a mod/hack.
Some items can cause crashes if they clash with other items. Maybe it's a GUID conflict.

How did you do the 50/50 method? You should always part in half, test the halves separately (crash = corrupt file inside), and part that half again, testing both halves, etc. - But don't trust the "clean" halves to be clean. There could still be items inside that react to the files you've moved out.

Examples of objects that may cause crashing issues: Items not updated to EPs or don't have proper GUIDs (such as beds and bookshelves), anything heavily modded, slaved items, custom smoke alarms (a red one by LivingDeadGirl at TSR, often included in schools and official buildings, kept my game crashing for quite some time), borked defaults, unlockers of hidden ingame items. The list isn't complete.

If an object is causing issues, you may get lucky if you click through the entire buy/build menu. Sometimes, the game will crash when trying to access borked items. Other times the game will crash when trying to place the item, or when a sim tries to use it. This goes for CAS items, too.

You may also want to test if the files in the Thumbnail folder need deleting (they're cache files, safe to delete, but may cause the game to lag a little when the game generate new ones). If you've moved CC around a lot, these files tend to grow, and can occasionally cause issues. If you've noticed borked thumbs ingame, this is a likely culprit.

Depending on your system, the game may have issues saving large lots with a bunch of CC. If you only get crashes on large and CC-heavy lots, but not on small and CC-light lots, this may be the problem.

Occasionally, placing borked CC on a lot may work fine until you try to save or re-enter the lot.

If a lot is corrupted for some or another reason, and you try to save but the game crashes, this can cause further borkage. Don't do the "save + go to neighborhood" or "Save and quit" way, but save and then go to the neighborhood or quit the game. It's less likely to bork up anything.


Thanks for all the advice!
I tried removing the thumbnails, removing the default smokedetector I had in my game and some other cc you said could be culprits, unfortunately no result..
I am doing the 50/50 method correctly, don't worry, and lot size has nothing to do with it either... ^^

I went back to my downloadsfolder and removed all defaults and mods again, just to be sure, and applied the 50/50 method again
I did find a corrupt file there and it seems that the game isn't crashing anymore now (yay!)
Unfortunately I still have some untested cc on my desktop that still makes it crash - so I guess it's back to the 50/50 method for that too. And let's hope that the game won't crash again tomorrow, like it did last time...
Wish me luck >.<
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 17th Mar 2018 at 11:40 PM Last edited by Moreeza : 18th Mar 2018 at 12:01 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
Also check for this file http://modthesims.info/t/529552

Run the hack Conflict detector and see what it comes up with.

No, you won't have random files corrupt everytime, but certainly, files can rarely decide to corrupt. Some time a power outage or a crash can cause something to corrupt. I had it once that an elder male outfit corrupt when a sim crashed on turning elder. or it could have been it corrupted then the crash happened, but I tend to think it was the other way around since I had used the outfit for years. So my guess is your lot crashing corrupted something.


Thanks! I checked, but found nothing..
I also tried the hack conflict detector, but also nothing..
Thanks for the insight on the way the game might have corrupted the files, tho, I didn't think of it that way yet.. very interesting
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#6 Old 18th Mar 2018 at 4:07 PM
It happened again T^T
I had it crash free yesterday. And now, the next day, I start it with exactly the same files and it crashes again
What is happening?!
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