I started Sims 3 and decided to keep my custom content to a minimum, and try to learn about how not to break my game from the start on. I plan to only have defaults for eyes/skin and a few additional ones in my game, and mods just occasionally & from nraas where possible (since he does quite a lot and I guess those aren't gonna conflict with each other.)

Now I just played the second time, and already have this problem that my Sim is getting stuck.
a) She's standing on one spot for ages until she finally moves
b) She's just standing there for a while and finally gets beamed into the car to go to work
c) I cancelled an action and it gets eternally stuck in the queue unless I reset her

I did some research and found out those are signs for game corruption, or at least it can cause corruption if you have to reset your Sim too often through this. And that after the 2nd time of playing. My problem is not how to fix those things though, it just seems Sims 3 gets corrupted easily. After the rage attacks Sims 2 already caused me sometimes, I rather want to prevent than have to fix things. So, I would appreciate some general advice on what strictly not to do.



In addition, I'd like to install mods that are supposed to prevent corruption that my game shows the signs for. What I found so far are Overwatch & ErrorTrap by nraas (http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Overwatch) (http://nraas.wikispaces.com/ErrorTrap).
My problem is: Those seem to have a lot of issues. (ErrorTrap not as much, I went with this one for now.) Is it safe or at least advisable to install them, or is it likely to cause other bad things to happen to my game? If so, anyone a clue what's worse?

I really don't think so. The only mods I had when posting this are a slider, decensor/dresser both by nraas and that "only important memories" thing. But it's exactly as you said, it happens when she attempts to go to work or changes clothes. I already figured it's probably EAs crappy work and my crappy computer. But I just don't want to mess around with things on a wing and a prayer, trying to get the game to work properly (at least a little...) when I'm just playing this for 3 days and I know how easily you can "break" those Sims games. That's why I'm asking if somebody has a clue about what not to try, and if it's gonna hurt to try those mods.

I just noticed that it's so far more things going wrong even after just starting and with close to no CC. Sims are getting stuck or throwing a fit about not existing things in their way ALL the time. etc etc. Maybe I just had that silly Illusion 3 must be better than 2.

Here's that deviceconfig, though:

(This memory of how I'm reading on the internet that you should never, ever delete gravestones. Everybody seemed to know it, but for the neighbourhood I had been playing with since I was a child it was too late...)

=== Application info ===
Name: Sims3
Version:
Build: Release
=== Rating info ===
GPU: 3 GPU Memory: 4 CPU: 2 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2195 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 2527 RAM: 4007 Adjusted RAM: 3495 Cores: 2
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Windows 7 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1
OS prod type: 0
OS major ver: 6
OS minor ver: 1
OS SP major ver: 1
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit: 1
CPU: GenuineIntel
Brand: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU B960 @ 2.20GHz
Family: 6
Model: 10
Cores: 2
HT: 0
x64: 0
Memory: 4007MB
Free memory: 2741MB
User: HOTTE
Computer: HOTTE-PC
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): Intel(R) HD Graphics
Name (database): Mobile SandyBridge GT1 [Found: 1, Matched: 1]
Vendor: Intel
Chipset: Vendor: 8086, Device: 0106, Board: 20801b0a, Chipset: 0009
Driver: igdumd32.dll, Version: 9.17.10.3347, GUID: D7B78E66-4246-11CF-A975-8A00B7C2C435
Driver version: 3347
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 1696MB
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1
=== Options ===
AnimationSmoothing 1
LightingQuality 2
GeneralReflections 2
TextureQuality 3
VisualEffects 2
TerrainQuality 1
EdgeSmoothing 1
ObjectHiding 1
AspectRatio 0
ForceSquarePixels 1
SimQuality 4
TreeQuality 2
DrawDistance 2
MaxActiveLots 3
NumMaxActiveLotOptions 6
AdvancedRendering 1
AudioQuality 2
AudioOutputMode 1
VoiceLevel 255
SoundFXLevel 255
MusicLevel 84
AmbientLevel 255
FocusMute 1
VoiceMute 0
SoundFXMute 0
MusicMute 0
AmbientMute 0
EdgeScrolling 1
EdgeScrollingWarning 0
SupressOpportunityDialogs 0
SuppressOpportunityDialogsWarningProducts 1491647
SimWhileMinimized 0
TwelveHourClock 0
ShowPlacementGrid 0
AutonomyLevel 2
DisableAutonomyForSelectedSim 0
PetAutonomyLevel 2
AgingInterval 3
EnableAging 1
EnableTutorial 1
EnableIntroTutorial 0
EnableTombResets 1
EnableInGameStore 1
EnableTelemetry 1
EnableMemories 1
AgingStageLengthBaby 6
AgingStageLengthToddler 15
AgingStageLengthChild 15
AgingStageLengthTeen 30
AgingStageLengthYoungAdult 45
AgingStageLengthAdult 45
AgingStageLengthElder 36
EnableInteractiveLoading 1
AgingStageLengthPuppy 15
AgingStageLengthDogAdult 54
AgingStageLengthDogElder 30
AgingStageLengthKitten 15
AgingStageLengthCatAdult 60
AgingStageLengthCatElder 36
AgingStageLengthFoal 10
AgingStageLengthHorseAdult 75
AgingStageLengthHorseElder 36
LunarCycleLength 3
LunarPhaseLength 0
EnableLunarCycle 1
EnableLunarPhase 0
EnableStoryProgression 1
EnableVampires 1
EnableWerewolves 1
EnablePets 1
EnableCelebrities 1
EnableFairies 1
EnableWitches 1
EnableHorses 1
EnableOptOutCeleb 0
ReceiveConnectTNS 1
ReceivedDevGift 0
PostFilterFlags 0
RequireLoginBeforeLoad 0
SummerLength 7
FallLength 7
WinterLength 7
SpringLength 7
SummerEnabled 1
FallEnabled 1
WinterEnabled 1
SpringEnabled 1
IsCelcius 1
FogEnabled 1
RainEnabled 1
SnowEnabled 1
HailEnabled 1
InvertHorizontalRotation 0
InvertVerticalRotation 0
VideoCaptureSize 2
VideoCaptureQuality 2
VideoCaptureSound 1
VideoCaptureTime 60
VideoCaptureHideUI 1
=== Default Options ===
AnimationSmoothing 0
LightingQuality 2
GeneralReflections 1
TextureQuality 2
VisualEffects 2
TerrainQuality 1
EdgeSmoothing 0
ObjectHiding 1
AspectRatio 0
ForceSquarePixels 1
SimQuality 2
TreeQuality 2
DrawDistance 2
MaxActiveLots 2
NumMaxActiveLotOptions 6
AdvancedRendering 1
AudioQuality 2
AudioOutputMode 1
VoiceLevel 255
SoundFXLevel 255
MusicLevel 255
AmbientLevel 255
FocusMute 1
VoiceMute 0
SoundFXMute 0
MusicMute 0
AmbientMute 0
EdgeScrolling 0
EdgeScrollingWarning 1
SupressOpportunityDialogs 0
SuppressOpportunityDialogsWarningProducts 0
SimWhileMinimized 0
TwelveHourClock 0
ShowPlacementGrid 0
AutonomyLevel 2
DisableAutonomyForSelectedSim 0
PetAutonomyLevel 2
AgingInterval 2
EnableAging 1
EnableTutorial 1
EnableIntroTutorial 1
EnableTombResets 1
EnableInGameStore 1
EnableTelemetry 1
EnableMemories 1
AgingStageLengthBaby 3
AgingStageLengthToddler 7
AgingStageLengthChild 7
AgingStageLengthTeen 14
AgingStageLengthYoungAdult 21
AgingStageLengthAdult 21
AgingStageLengthElder 17
EnableInteractiveLoading 1
AgingStageLengthPuppy 0
AgingStageLengthDogAdult 0
AgingStageLengthDogElder 0
AgingStageLengthKitten 0
AgingStageLengthCatAdult 0
AgingStageLengthCatElder 0
AgingStageLengthFoal 0
AgingStageLengthHorseAdult 0
AgingStageLengthHorseElder 0
LunarCycleLength 3
LunarPhaseLength 0
EnableLunarCycle 1
EnableLunarPhase 0
EnableStoryProgression 1
EnableVampires 1
EnableWerewolves 1
EnablePets 1
EnableCelebrities 1
EnableFairies 1
EnableWitches 1
EnableHorses 1
EnableOptOutCeleb 0
ReceiveConnectTNS 1
ReceivedDevGift 0
PostFilterFlags 0
RequireLoginBeforeLoad 0
SummerLength 7
FallLength 7
WinterLength 7
SpringLength 7
SummerEnabled 1
FallEnabled 1
WinterEnabled 1
SpringEnabled 1
IsCelcius 1
FogEnabled 1
RainEnabled 1
SnowEnabled 1
HailEnabled 1
InvertHorizontalRotation 0
InvertVerticalRotation 0
VideoCaptureSize 1
VideoCaptureQuality 2
VideoCaptureSound 0
VideoCaptureTime 60
VideoCaptureHideUI 1

Yeah, I'm playing with my laptop because I couldn't wait. But I knew the game would murder it before, so I already got my other computer out of the cellar and it's currently being repaired.

So I guess that case with the getting stuck is solved. That the game would be stalling and sometimes crash was clear to me, I just didn't know it could cause those kinda errors. They seemed so much like the game was being confused about conflicting things or missing information to me; I'm not such a pro with that kinda stuff, it just seemed logical to me.

I was just hoping there is a way of preventing bad things to happen if I always have to reset Sims.
I found out there's prbbly something wrong with the Island Paradise EP/World anyway. It appears to be kind of a common thing that Sims living in house boats get stuck, and it doesn't rly make a sense when that happens. People all over the various Sims forums say they're having a gamer laptop for that Sims 3 should be a joke, and still only in Isla Paradiso they're having such kinda problems, and sometimes people whose computer shouldn't be able to handle this don't. So it can't be the size of the world either. There really must be sth with the world that never got fixed.

When I played in other worlds, my computer was just terribly slow and had long loading times, but I can ignore that quite well for the time being. It just still didn't have the problems it had in Isla Paradiso. So I guess it's most likely that.

Thanks for keeping track of the thread and always writing so detailed answers, first of all. (Unfortunately doesn't happen so often to me here.)

My laptop just isn't powerful, though. xD Sims 2 is also terribly slow on the laptop but runs just fine on the other computer. I took care of this before I got the entire game and had a look at my desktop, and I think it should have 8GB. Maybe I'll still upgrade the laptop, though.
It's not so old, it's just in the cellar because I stopped using it when I got the laptop. I'm a lazy bum, I like to take the computer to bed, so I ignored the stalling in Sims 2...

The fix is a great idea anyway. Did I get it right, I replace the files of the original Isla Paradiso and if I did everything right, by entering the game I can click Isla Paradiso to start a new savegame, and it will be the fixed version? And that fixes spots that cause Sims to throw a fit when attempting to do sth, but not the getting stuck for all eternities? (And, I never moved a family out so far - she'll probably lose her job and her relationships, but does she keep skills, inventory & money?; Will the game recognize which opportunities I already completed, or will it give me the same ones again, most of all, do I have to do all the stuff to get to Oasis Landing again?)

OK that's good. Still a question about overwatch: I had problems following what function/setting is good for what, and what I should use. It's quite a lot and I'm still just trying out the game. Do you think I should trust in nraas' choice of default settings there, or do you have a recommendation on settings I should change?

Oh gosh. I think I'm gonna ignore that. I asked in another post what will be kept when moving her to the library, and I think for a 3 days old savegame, opportunity history/wardrobe/job level are enough. I'm already a little afraid of installing the fix, thinking of how many times I broke sth messing around in Sims 2 and how long it always took to get it right again.
(What was the first plan again? Just don't do anything at all to my Sims 3 game in the first place? I forgot that you have to be kind of a modder just so it's not by chance if your Sims game even survives. Thanks EA. How dare they even take like 50 bucks for a game?)

Just saw it. It looked complicated when just skimming over the description, but actually, it's just what I would've done with the download if nobody explained anything at all. It's kinda logical.
I did it now and just started the game, and everything works. Everything I need still there, world fixed. I put in overwatch & errortrap and both work fine and do their job, too. So I guess I'll wait for my desktop to be repaired and look that I don't let her change clothes on her houseboat (there's no way I'll give up that houseboat) and everything should be fine.