Game Freezes After Minutes of Playing?

[legh7bun]

Just the other day my game has started freezing after a couple minutes of gameplay. It won't unfreeze, I have to shut it down using Windows Task Manager. I cleared the caches, checked the CC for corrupted/conflicting package files, lowered the graphics settings, and everything else I can think of. It just won't work.
I have a lot of CC, but it's never caused any problems before. I have a good computer that should be able to handle the Sims.
I know it's not just a bad save, because it does it in all of my saves.

Does anybody have any advice? Anything would be appreciated.

[Trip]

Just to completely rule out your CC as a cause, did you try a new file in a factory reset folder?

[LivvieLove]

Welcome to the forum legh7bun!
I would definitely try Trip's advice and try doing a Factory Reset for your game to run some minor tests. If, in your new Factory Reset Sims 3 folder, you still have issues (without adding any of your CC/mods back in) then it's likely a deeper problem within your game that needs to be looked at or Uninstalled/Reinstalled. If it runs just fine in a new save in Sunset Valley (prior to putting any other store item/CC in) then the problem is very likely your CC bogging down your system.

CC and mods with the Sims are tricky subjects. In other games (like Skyrim and the Witcher series) they normally release some kind of modding tool which allows modders to make content that will be compatible with the game in question (CreationKit and Redkit respectively to those games). Those are called SDK (software development kits). The Sims never released anything like it (asides from Create a World), so modders who make mods and CC are making things that may, or may not be compatible with the game. When something isn't quite compatible with the game it doesn't mean that the game won't work, but rather that the game has to think harder to integrate it or that the game will end up with excess errorlogs that will bog down your game. Having a lot of CC can, over time, cause a lot of problems in a file.

A good way to determine if your computer is over the limit it can handle in CC would be to know your computer Specs. If you would be willing to share them I can help to see if the CC is causing the major crashing and freezing.

[Lyubasha]

Just the other day my game has started freezing after a couple minutes of gameplay. It won't unfreeze, I have to shut it down using Windows Task Manager. I cleared the caches, checked the CC for corrupted/conflicting package files, lowered the graphics settings, and everything else I can think of. It just won't work.
I have a lot of CC, but it's never caused any problems before. I have a good computer that should be able to handle the Sims.
I know it's not just a bad save, because it does it in all of my saves.

Does anybody have any advice? Anything would be appreciated.

Question: How do you clear Sims 3 Pets cache and how do you check the CC (what is that?) for bad files? I am new to this and sometimes if I play Sims 3 Pets for more than 3 hours, it will stall and I have to shut down with Task Manager. I've noticed that I have to save my game every 15 or 20 minutes to prevent this.

[LivvieLove]

Question: How do you clear Sims 3 Pets cache and how do you check the CC (what is that?) for bad files? I am new to this and sometimes if I play Sims 3 Pets for more than 3 hours, it will stall and I have to shut down with Task Manager. I've noticed that I have to save my game every 15 or 20 minutes to prevent this.

CC is Custom Content. Things like hair and clothing gotten from 3rd party websites (like modthesims, thesimsresource) where one might also grab game modifications. Basically, any item that didn't come from an EA made Expansion Pack, Stuff Pack or Store. If you had Custom Content you would want to make sure that none of it was "Bad" (meaning causing glitches in the game, as some can do that) or conflicting with other things.
 
To clear caches in the game (on a windows computer) would be to go to My Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 and then remove the compositorCache file, CASPartCache, scriptCache, and your simCompositorCache file.
For more details on what you can remove from that folder safely, visit this link: What to do if your Game Slows Down.

Unfortunately, playing for a long time on the Sims can cause issues with lag and freezing, however "Saving As" and "Saving" often will help alleviate the problem. Also, closing out of the game after a few hours and rebooting it will also help keep it from freezing or crashing. Hopefully that helps.

[Stormi71]

Somehing advice that helped me recently, was to check each sims personal inventory (the backpack item). If there are too many items in there, it can cause the game to lag and freeze. When I checked this, I found my Simbot had over 1000 pieces of scrap metal, as soon as I got rid of that, it fixed my game.

[Dellena]

Regarding the game freezing, it would be helpful to know which world you're playing in and what, if any, mods you use.

[Lyubasha]

I use Sims 3 Pets and my family lives in Sunset Valley.

[Dellena]

Do you use any mods?

[Lyubasha]

No, I am new. I made a few patterns with create a pattern.