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Sims 2 Crashing During Saving/Loading Lots. Memory Issue...?
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#1
09-06-2022
Hi y'all! Hope this is the appropriate place to post help requests. I'm very new here. Been experiencing this issue for a few months and wanted to see if there was a way to fix it.
My game, while loading a specific neighborhood, crashes while saving and loading lots. Usually I'm able to play one round (five sim days, one season) with a single family, if that, before it crashes during saving or while loading the next family. Trying to replicate the problem in other neighborhoods (my test hood and a few Maxis Hoods) seems not to be working, and during the 50/50 method to determine if my CC or mods were the problem in said specific neighborhood, the game ran as expected. I never experience any pink flashing beforehand. This, in combination with the ACCESS VIOLATION error in the config log, leads me to believe it's an issue with memory.
The trouble is in checking all of my previous logs and the one attached here, I tend to have anywhere from 2300 to 2600 MBs left during the crash. My system has 8 GBs of RAM. I have the 4GB patch correctly installed, my graphics rules are up to snuff, and I have the standby memory allocation fix by Jessa running as it should be. I do have 7GB of CC installed, and have repaired the game via Origin in case it was game corruption, but the issue persists.
Anyone have any ideas on the cause or how to fix this? I have my system specs, the exception file, and my configuration attached. If additional documents or info is needed, please just let me know!
My game, while loading a specific neighborhood, crashes while saving and loading lots. Usually I'm able to play one round (five sim days, one season) with a single family, if that, before it crashes during saving or while loading the next family. Trying to replicate the problem in other neighborhoods (my test hood and a few Maxis Hoods) seems not to be working, and during the 50/50 method to determine if my CC or mods were the problem in said specific neighborhood, the game ran as expected. I never experience any pink flashing beforehand. This, in combination with the ACCESS VIOLATION error in the config log, leads me to believe it's an issue with memory.
The trouble is in checking all of my previous logs and the one attached here, I tend to have anywhere from 2300 to 2600 MBs left during the crash. My system has 8 GBs of RAM. I have the 4GB patch correctly installed, my graphics rules are up to snuff, and I have the standby memory allocation fix by Jessa running as it should be. I do have 7GB of CC installed, and have repaired the game via Origin in case it was game corruption, but the issue persists.
Anyone have any ideas on the cause or how to fix this? I have my system specs, the exception file, and my configuration attached. If additional documents or info is needed, please just let me know!
#2
10-06-2022
Hi again,
So this is your problem. Hmmm...
First of all: the ACCESS VIOLATION error is NOT in your config log (I've looked). It is in the Sims2Exception xxxx.txt. Also, usually, you do not need to attach exception files unless we ask for them. Most of us have no idea what to do with the info in that file. I don't, at least.
Secondly, ACCESS VIOLATION is an error that can also come from old or faulty data in the groups.cache file. If you do not already do that, occasionally delete that file, so the game can make a new, uncorrupted version to use.
But now, let's get to your game.
I see that you're forcing 6069 MB of Texture memory. The graphics card already has 2007 MB of dedicated onboard memory, which should be enough. You really don't need to add 4062 MB! Remember, as a result of the 4 GB patch, the game is already using half of your 8 GB total RAM, and another 1 GB roughly is used up by Windows and some background systems. So at best, there would be only 3 GB left. And then you force the system to add 4062 MB of unneeded memory from your 3GB free RAM to your graphics card. Now suddenly the system is forced to use the page file, because your graphics card gets extra memory that it DOES NOT NEED.
Using a page file means, that the system will frequently swap some of the information in memory with what is written in the page file. And this ALSO happens while you try to load or save a lot. Now suddenly the game is trying to read from one file while writing to another... windows gets confused, the game crashes. If you set the texture memory to 2048 MB, for example, your game will work just as well, but the system won't need to lean on the page file as often, or maybe not at all! Hence, less chance for crashes!
If these suggestions don't help, please come back to us, and we'll see what else we can find, okay?
Happing Simming,
~ BO
So this is your problem. Hmmm...
First of all: the ACCESS VIOLATION error is NOT in your config log (I've looked). It is in the Sims2Exception xxxx.txt. Also, usually, you do not need to attach exception files unless we ask for them. Most of us have no idea what to do with the info in that file. I don't, at least.
Secondly, ACCESS VIOLATION is an error that can also come from old or faulty data in the groups.cache file. If you do not already do that, occasionally delete that file, so the game can make a new, uncorrupted version to use.
But now, let's get to your game.
I see that you're forcing 6069 MB of Texture memory. The graphics card already has 2007 MB of dedicated onboard memory, which should be enough. You really don't need to add 4062 MB! Remember, as a result of the 4 GB patch, the game is already using half of your 8 GB total RAM, and another 1 GB roughly is used up by Windows and some background systems. So at best, there would be only 3 GB left. And then you force the system to add 4062 MB of unneeded memory from your 3GB free RAM to your graphics card. Now suddenly the system is forced to use the page file, because your graphics card gets extra memory that it DOES NOT NEED.
Using a page file means, that the system will frequently swap some of the information in memory with what is written in the page file. And this ALSO happens while you try to load or save a lot. Now suddenly the game is trying to read from one file while writing to another... windows gets confused, the game crashes. If you set the texture memory to 2048 MB, for example, your game will work just as well, but the system won't need to lean on the page file as often, or maybe not at all! Hence, less chance for crashes!
If these suggestions don't help, please come back to us, and we'll see what else we can find, okay?
Happing Simming,
~ BO
#3
11-06-2022
Hi @BoilingOil!
Sorry about claiming the Access Violation message was in config! Bad typo on my end.
I use Lazy Duchess's RPC, so I think that should be taking care of clearing out my Groups cache. I also changed my forced texture memory in Graphics Rules Maker to 2048 MB. The game ran smoothly, but I've had another crash during a loading screen... Managed to play for a few hours, and the Exception file claims there was 2668 MB free. Sometimes I question my willingness to keep troubleshooting this game, but darn it, I'm enjoying it!
If there are any other suggestions, I'll happily take them!
Sorry about claiming the Access Violation message was in config! Bad typo on my end.
I use Lazy Duchess's RPC, so I think that should be taking care of clearing out my Groups cache. I also changed my forced texture memory in Graphics Rules Maker to 2048 MB. The game ran smoothly, but I've had another crash during a loading screen... Managed to play for a few hours, and the Exception file claims there was 2668 MB free. Sometimes I question my willingness to keep troubleshooting this game, but darn it, I'm enjoying it!
If there are any other suggestions, I'll happily take them!
#4
11-06-2022
Hi again,
I have no idea what "Lazy Duchess' RPC" means, unless you would add a link where I can look at it. But I simply delete groups.cache myself. I don't need everything to be automated for me. Really, if I had the hardware to go back to the old DOS/4DOS days, I would. In a heartbeat!
I noticed before that you're talking about playing "a few hours"... At first I didn't think too much of it, but now I do. My PC is reasonably modern and pretty fast AND it has twice as much total RAM as yours. On top of that, my graphics card also has twice as much onboard VRAM. So I think you won't be surprised that the game runs VERY well on my box. But I NEVER EVER play it for a few hours before saving. I'll save the game at 6 AM every sim day. even if that means saving 6 times per hour. (In some houses, not a lot happens, so a day can be over fast.)
And also, after playing for maybe an hour, I always go back to the neighborhood and then reload the house, OR play another house. And after two or three hours of playing, I ALWAYS quit the game and reboot my computer before I continue playing.
And here's why I do all these things. Windows is a messy OS. It is very bad at cleaning up remnants in its memory, so over time your measly 8 GB gets full of old blocks of data that didn't get cleaned up properly. And the game is old, and as such not very modern, either. So it messes up a lot as well. Saving often and rebooting after every two hours greatly reduces your chances of crud destroying your fun.
I NEVER have a problem with my game crashing on me, because I don't give it a lot of chance to crash. This is stuff that you don't learn on most youtube channels.
I hope this helps you improve your Sims 2 experience even more, @MHS0501. Let me know how it works out, okay?
Happy Simming,
~ BO
(11-06-2022 02:55 AM)MHS0501 Wrote: I use Lazy Duchess's RPC, so I think that should be taking care of clearing out my Groups cache.
I have no idea what "Lazy Duchess' RPC" means, unless you would add a link where I can look at it. But I simply delete groups.cache myself. I don't need everything to be automated for me. Really, if I had the hardware to go back to the old DOS/4DOS days, I would. In a heartbeat!
I noticed before that you're talking about playing "a few hours"... At first I didn't think too much of it, but now I do. My PC is reasonably modern and pretty fast AND it has twice as much total RAM as yours. On top of that, my graphics card also has twice as much onboard VRAM. So I think you won't be surprised that the game runs VERY well on my box. But I NEVER EVER play it for a few hours before saving. I'll save the game at 6 AM every sim day. even if that means saving 6 times per hour. (In some houses, not a lot happens, so a day can be over fast.)
And also, after playing for maybe an hour, I always go back to the neighborhood and then reload the house, OR play another house. And after two or three hours of playing, I ALWAYS quit the game and reboot my computer before I continue playing.
And here's why I do all these things. Windows is a messy OS. It is very bad at cleaning up remnants in its memory, so over time your measly 8 GB gets full of old blocks of data that didn't get cleaned up properly. And the game is old, and as such not very modern, either. So it messes up a lot as well. Saving often and rebooting after every two hours greatly reduces your chances of crud destroying your fun.
I NEVER have a problem with my game crashing on me, because I don't give it a lot of chance to crash. This is stuff that you don't learn on most youtube channels.
I hope this helps you improve your Sims 2 experience even more, @MHS0501. Let me know how it works out, okay?
Happy Simming,
~ BO
#5
11-06-2022
Hi again @BoilingOil!
Lazy Duchess's RPC is a custom launcher for Sims 2 that lets you play around with settings, usually for higher graphics (I play with the classic graphics though-- crashing inspired me). It also purports to clean your cache files for you each launch and "roll the pacifier" to prevent firstborn syndrome! It's very easy to install, and I do enjoy it. Here's a link if you want to check it out: https://lazyduchess.tumblr.com/post/6319...ion-garden
If rebooting more frequently helps, I'll have to give it a try. Either that, or see about adding more memory. Thanks for your help! Much appreciated
EDIT: Putting this here in case anyone else has this problem: I found a solution, and it's something to do with two things I did:
1. Following this tutorial for Windows 10-- basically fixes memory leaks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb_fRAauBXk
2. Setting my lot skirt to low. I actually didn't know you could tweak these, but I don't need to see 100 miles in all directions when I'm playing a family. As a result, my season change process and weather no longer freezes the game for long, which used to be a major issue for me.
Lazy Duchess's RPC is a custom launcher for Sims 2 that lets you play around with settings, usually for higher graphics (I play with the classic graphics though-- crashing inspired me). It also purports to clean your cache files for you each launch and "roll the pacifier" to prevent firstborn syndrome! It's very easy to install, and I do enjoy it. Here's a link if you want to check it out: https://lazyduchess.tumblr.com/post/6319...ion-garden
If rebooting more frequently helps, I'll have to give it a try. Either that, or see about adding more memory. Thanks for your help! Much appreciated
EDIT: Putting this here in case anyone else has this problem: I found a solution, and it's something to do with two things I did:
1. Following this tutorial for Windows 10-- basically fixes memory leaks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb_fRAauBXk
2. Setting my lot skirt to low. I actually didn't know you could tweak these, but I don't need to see 100 miles in all directions when I'm playing a family. As a result, my season change process and weather no longer freezes the game for long, which used to be a major issue for me.
(This post was last modified: 15-06-2022 12:45 PM by MHS0501.)
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Before you post requesting help
Information we need
- The
-config-log.txt from the Logs folder in the My Documents\EA\The Sims2\ Click "full editor" below to attach a text file. - Your operating System.
- What the problem actually is - that will be a picture to show the problem (optional), and accompanying text files that turn up (optional), and a detailed description of what happened, and what you expected to happen.
