Black screen then crash every few hours of playing

[Truculent]

Hello, My game of Sims 3 was working perfectly. Lately I got WA and I decided to uninstall all of the expansions I have including the base game and reinstall again all expansions up to Generations. Also I got Twallan's mods (I never used mods before). Now sometimes after few hours of playing (2-4 hours) the screen go black and then game crash to desktop. It's annoying. Any ideas?

[whiterider]

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It's always after pretty much the same amount of time playing?

Are you saving regularly?

[Mordant17]

Did you fully patch after reinstalling? What is your base game patch version?

[Truculent]

Here is my system specs:
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 6/21/2012, 23:54:57
Machine name: HOME-PC
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_qfe.120504-1617)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 06/11/10 09:58:21 Ver: 07.04
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 250 Processor, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 3326MB RAM
Page File: 455MB used, 7697MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: AMD 760G
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x9616)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9616&SUBSYS_83881043&REV_00
Display Memory: 700.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6983 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 7/31/2009 15:41:36, 336896 bytes

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: VIA HD Audio Output
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_1106&DEV_0397&SUBSYS_1043840C&REV_1000
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: viahduaa.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.7900 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 1/11/2010 12:00:10, 2106880 bytes

------------------------
Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------
Drive: C:
Free Space: 8.7 GB
Total Space: 38.2 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: ST340015A

Drive: D:
Free Space: 0.7 GB
Total Space: 35.0 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: SAMSUNG HD502HI

Drive: E:
Free Space: 2.8 GB
Total Space: 150.0 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: SAMSUNG HD502HI

Drive: F:
Free Space: 3.3 GB
Total Space: 100.0 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: SAMSUNG HD502HI

Drive: G:
Free Space: 1.0 GB
Total Space: 191.9 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: SAMSUNG HD502HI

It crash around 2-4 hours of playing. And no I don't save regularly because I forget to.

[Truculent]

Did you fully patch after reinstalling? What is your base game patch version?

My base game at version 1.34.

[whiterider]

Ooh! AMD integrated graphics! You don't see that very often nowadays.

Unfortunately, not seeing it on this particular site is a good thing, because it's nowhere near strong enough to play TS3 well. Combined with the 32-bit OS automatically putting you below the minimum required amount of memory (minimum is 4GB - you have ~3GB), I'm impressed that you can manage such long play sessions before it crashes.

Have a look at our Game Help:Onboard Graphics FAQ for some tricks that may help (it's written for TS2, but applies to TS3 as well). You might also want to download twallan's Saver (http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Saver) mod, so you don't keep losing progress - this may also put the crashes off a little, since the game is even more crash-prone than usual if you play for a long time without saving. Honestly, though, for the hardware you're using, you're getting incredible performance out of TS3 already.

I should add that, if this is an expensive laptop, you may have switchable graphics which don't show up on the dxdiag. That would change things, so if you think you may have switchable graphics, check your manual. It looks like a self-built desktop from the info in the dxdiag, but it never hurts to check. :)

[Truculent]

Ooh! AMD integrated graphics! You don't see that very often nowadays.

Unfortunately, not seeing it on this particular site is a good thing, because it's nowhere near strong enough to play TS3 well. Combined with the 32-bit OS automatically putting you below the minimum required amount of memory (minimum is 4GB - you have ~3GB), I'm impressed that you can manage such long play sessions before it crashes.

Have a look at our Game Help:Onboard Graphics FAQ for some tricks that may help (it's written for TS2, but applies to TS3 as well). You might also want to download twallan's Saver (http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Saver) mod, so you don't keep losing progress - this may also put the crashes off a little, since the game is even more crash-prone than usual if you play for a long time without saving. Honestly, though, for the hardware you're using, you're getting incredible performance out of TS3 already.

I should add that, if this is an expensive laptop, you may have switchable graphics which don't show up on the dxdiag. That would change things, so if you think you may have switchable graphics, check your manual. It looks like a self-built desktop from the info in the dxdiag, but it never hurts to check. :)

Well, I didn't know integrated graphics are bad. I thought there is no deference between them and real graphic cards. :lol: I think I will go for one to improve my gaming experiance. Thank you for the explaining. I appreciate it so much. :) :lovestruc

[whiterider]

Oh, there's a big difference. :) Integrated graphics are part of the CPU, so firstly, your CPU is doing the job of both the CPU and the graphics card - which means it can't do either job to the best of its abilities. Secondly, graphics cards have their own memory, but integrated graphics have to share the memory on your motherboard, so that there's less memory free for Windows and the game to use. Thirdly, integrated graphics are just smaller and less powerful - they don't have as many chips and transistors and whatever else goes into a graphics card, because a CPU with integrated graphics is the size of a biscuit and a graphics card is the size of a paperback book. C'est la vie!