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- Game will not let me make new families
Replies: 7 (Who?), Viewed: 7551 times.
#1
4th Jan 2012 at 6:53 PM
Posts: 52
This user has the following games installed:
Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Supernatural, Seasons
Game will not let me make new families
Hello again, yet another problem after installing Pets which I have not found on the forums. The game will not let me make a new family at all. if I try to do anything in the cas screen I get the 'service initialisation' error and 'do you want to debug'.The only way that I can play is to choose an existing family and play with them. I can take them into cas and change their hair, clothes etc. from the 'change appearance' option at the mirror and the game allows me to do this without crashing, but I can't make a new family from scratch. I can build houses etc. if I save a lot before the next 'service initialisation' s....t happens again and it will save, so most of the game is okay. However I really don't like playing with the deeply ugly misfits EA have chosen to populate the game with.
Has anyone else come across this problem?
Or can anyone clever have a thought on what could be causing this to happen?
I have loads of cc in my game, a few mods that are up to date, I delete all the cache files, preference folders, etc. etc.
I have all Sims 3 EPs and stuff packs. The game is patched for Pets.
2009 MacBook Pro, 3.06 GHz,OSX 10.6.8, NVidia GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT.
Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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#2
6th Jan 2012 at 1:58 PM
MTS2 Staff Reply
- Sims 3 - Game Problems
Please go through this FAQ and follow the instructions, doing each step in order and not skipping anything:Most issues with the game can be resolved by following those steps.
Quote:
I have loads of cc in my game, a few mods that are up to date, I delete all the cache files, preference folders, etc. etc. |
And the outcome of the other 2 steps? Can you create a new family without your Mod+DCCache folders, and in new, cc-free games?
#3
6th Jan 2012 at 10:39 PM
Posts: 52
Hi Thanks for getting back to me.
The mods i have in the game are;
Treeag Auto buy debug
Treeag Testing Cheats enabled
Treeag Book of Talent
Velocitygrass no mosaic
MoreCopllectonicons
Chicken0895 Meet coworkers faster6
All are updated for Pets
I have re-downloaded all of my cc that has been updated for Pets
I have patched to 1.29
The game will still not let me make a family if I remove the 'mods' folder.
I am going to try removing the Sims3 Packs next. I had not realised that I can do this with removing the DCCache files, not that I know what exactly is in them all, but its a start.
I noticed that while in cas, if I scroll down, sims, clothes, shoes etc. the icons get all messed up just before the game crashes. I have not seen that cc that is used on Sims needs to be changed for Pets. Is this correct? I have not found any cc clothes or hair, make up etc. on any site that says it has been updated for Pets, so I still have all my 'old' clothes, hairs etc.But I am wondering if there is something in this cc that might be causing this. Skins maybe? Sexy Feet? Crammy Boy? Lady Frontbottom skins? But I think that they are all .package cc which I removed with the 'Mods ' folder.
I suppose that its so complicated because there are so many possibilities because of all the lovely creations that I like to have in my game. I was just hoping that someone might have come across this problem before and had a quick fix for me.
Never mind, I will just have to do it all the hard way yet again. Will let you know if I find anything that is interesting or helpful to others.
Thanks for your time.
The mods i have in the game are;
Treeag Auto buy debug
Treeag Testing Cheats enabled
Treeag Book of Talent
Velocitygrass no mosaic
MoreCopllectonicons
Chicken0895 Meet coworkers faster6
All are updated for Pets
I have re-downloaded all of my cc that has been updated for Pets
I have patched to 1.29
The game will still not let me make a family if I remove the 'mods' folder.
I am going to try removing the Sims3 Packs next. I had not realised that I can do this with removing the DCCache files, not that I know what exactly is in them all, but its a start.
I noticed that while in cas, if I scroll down, sims, clothes, shoes etc. the icons get all messed up just before the game crashes. I have not seen that cc that is used on Sims needs to be changed for Pets. Is this correct? I have not found any cc clothes or hair, make up etc. on any site that says it has been updated for Pets, so I still have all my 'old' clothes, hairs etc.But I am wondering if there is something in this cc that might be causing this. Skins maybe? Sexy Feet? Crammy Boy? Lady Frontbottom skins? But I think that they are all .package cc which I removed with the 'Mods ' folder.
I suppose that its so complicated because there are so many possibilities because of all the lovely creations that I like to have in my game. I was just hoping that someone might have come across this problem before and had a quick fix for me.
Never mind, I will just have to do it all the hard way yet again. Will let you know if I find anything that is interesting or helpful to others.
Thanks for your time.
#4
20th Feb 2012 at 12:26 PM
Posts: 52
Quote: Originally posted by rosidbon
Hi Thanks for getting back to me. The mods i have in the game are; Treeag Auto buy debug Treeag Testing Cheats enabled Treeag Book of Talent Velocitygrass no mosaic MoreCopllectonicons Chicken0895 Meet coworkers faster6 All are updated for Pets I have re-downloaded all of my cc that has been updated for Pets I have patched to 1.29 The game will still not let me make a family if I remove the 'mods' folder. I am going to try removing the Sims3 Packs next. I had not realised that I can do this with removing the DCCache files, not that I know what exactly is in them all, but its a start. I noticed that while in cas, if I scroll down, sims, clothes, shoes etc. the icons get all messed up just before the game crashes. I have not seen that cc that is used on Sims needs to be changed for Pets. Is this correct? I have not found any cc clothes or hair, make up etc. on any site that says it has been updated for Pets, so I still have all my 'old' clothes, hairs etc.But I am wondering if there is something in this cc that might be causing this. Skins maybe? Sexy Feet? Crammy Boy? Lady Frontbottom skins? But I think that they are all .package cc which I removed with the 'Mods ' folder. I suppose that its so complicated because there are so many possibilities because of all the lovely creations that I like to have in my game. I was just hoping that someone might have come across this problem before and had a quick fix for me. Never mind, I will just have to do it all the hard way yet again. Will let you know if I find anything that is interesting or helpful to others. Thanks for your time. |
Oh Well!! Nothing helps. Have tried re-installing the whole game, Base, all EPs, all Sim Packs. I did not put any cc or mods into the new game and still can't make a family!!
Messed up clothing thumbnails, paled out sims, black sims and animals, 'Exception raised... un-handled write/page access..do you want to debug? Crash.
4 months now since I was able to make a family. REALLY p......ed off now.
I notice that more and more people are having similar problems.
Does anyone have ANY idea what is causing this to happen yet?
Anyone?
.
#5
21st Feb 2012 at 3:23 PM
Last edited by ellacharm3d : 21st Feb 2012 at 3:29 PM.
Reason: added cuda link
You know what? I just went to review these 2 cards on the SysReq Wiki (link in my siggy) page and they both have a Red "No" for Pets (and Generations).
If you're willing to run through another uninstall, have you tried to go into CAS without Pets in the mix? But still at patch 1.29...
What was the last addon (and patch version) that work for you, by the way?
I think there was a separate Nvidia program that I ran on my 10.6.8 machine...
[eta]
Found it! It is called Cuda. Current version: 4.1.28
Do you recall how you updated to 10.6.8?
Via Apple's Software update or downloaded the Update Combo manually from http://support.apple.com/downloads/ ?
If you're willing to run through another uninstall, have you tried to go into CAS without Pets in the mix? But still at patch 1.29...
What was the last addon (and patch version) that work for you, by the way?
I think there was a separate Nvidia program that I ran on my 10.6.8 machine...
[eta]
Found it! It is called Cuda. Current version: 4.1.28
Do you recall how you updated to 10.6.8?
Via Apple's Software update or downloaded the Update Combo manually from http://support.apple.com/downloads/ ?
#6
21st Feb 2012 at 5:27 PM
Last edited by rosidbon : 21st Feb 2012 at 5:55 PM.
Posts: 52
Quote: Originally posted by ellacharm3d
You know what? I just went to review these 2 cards on the SysReq Wiki (link in my siggy) page and they both have a Red "No" for Pets (and Generations). If you're willing to run through another uninstall, have you tried to go into CAS without Pets in the mix? But still at patch 1.29... What was the last addon (and patch version) that work for you, by the way? I think there was a separate Nvidia program that I ran on my 10.6.8 machine... [eta] Found it! It is called Cuda. Current version: 4.1.28 Do you recall how you updated to 10.6.8? Via Apple's Software update or downloaded the Update Combo manually from http://support.apple.com/downloads/ ? |
Hi Ellacharm, Thanks for getting back to me again.
Did you get the message that I sent to you yesterday outlining everything that I have tried to fix this?
I just put another 4GB of ram into my machine, now at max. 8Gb.
Didn't help.
Also noticing that the black sim and messed up thumbnails happens quicker and quicker now. it definitely seems to be a progressively worsening problem.
As to the question of last add on and patch that worked for me, it depends on how you define 'worked' as I spend 85% of my time with this game troubleshooting it, and very little time playing. In the 7/8 years I have been playing, I have never managed to have a single sim who grew old!!! Not one!!! I have had one or two make it into true adulthood but they are few and far between.
Something always goes wrong, I think I have experienced almost every single issue that Mac players complain about on forums across the net. You name it and I bet that I have had to deal with it.
Anyway, it was vaguely playable at Generations and the last patch, before Pets and any subsequent patches for Pets.
Well I could, at least, make Sims and build houses. I have had to be content with doing that for a long, long time as actual game play has always been a problem for me.( Probably due to the amount of cc that I like to have in my game, I can't resist pretty things).
As far as I remember, when the launcher said that there was a new update did I want to download, I took all my game files out of the game and downloaded the update.
Sorry I don't really understand your reference to
Quote:
Found it! It is called Cuda. Current version: 4.1.28 |
Although I can troubleshoot quite well by now, if things are explained in very simple terms, I am really not very good with technical stuff or language.
I did not update to 10.6.8, that was the operating system that came with my MacBook Pro 2009
Thank you for trying to help me with this, it is driving me nuts.
I am going to try another re-install as I have all this new ram and it might make a difference. I will see if I can make a family with the 1.29 Patch but before I add Pets to see if that works.
Meanwhile if you come across anything that you think might help, or if you think of something else I might try, please let me know. Thank you very much for your time.
Edit; Also if you did not get my message yesterday let me know and I will post all the info that I included in that message.
2nd Edit Thought I should say that my daughter never has any trouble playing. She has a MacBook Pro 13inch 2009. her card is a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB. According to the Sys Req. Generations and Pets should not work for her, but she is fine.
3rd edit Are you suggesting that I should download the 'cuda' Driver from NVIDIA? Is this different to the driver that is currently being used by my Mac? What would it do? Is this something that I should be aware of and doing as routine?
#7
22nd Feb 2012 at 2:43 PM
Didn't you receive it? I replied to your PM before I responded here, actually.
I don't think RAM is the issue, but graphics. (Which is why increasing RAM didn't help.)
85%! I give you points for loyalty! Why stick to Mac for 7-8 years, though, if you have such problems with Sims all this while? Even with these problems, there are players who would still recommend Macs to others. I just don't geddit. Did they want everyone to suffer equally?
When was this MBP 2009 purchased?
Are you sure you have 10.6.8, then? That Snow Leopard 10.6.8 update was only released June of 2011. Unless you have the Apple Software on Autoupdate...that would explain it. There's even Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 released a month later. I don't like auto updates, no matter the vendor. So, I always do a direct download and then update manually. Here's a direct download of the macosx-256.02.25f01-driver.
Anyone who also want to install the updates and drivers I've linked to in this thread, do please click on the "Supported Products" tab to see if your GPU is listed, else don't blame me if your Mac blows up because you can't be bothered to read instructions first before clicking a link and installing things.
Apple's graphic drivers are older than what Nvidia release for PC, as Apple do their own version to tie directly to the hardware they chose. And it is only released in the OS update, seldom with separate graphic drivers - it is "baked in" onto the OS. So while PC users get updated drivers every few months, Mac users are at the mercy of Apple's updates' release schedule. And as illustrated by the recent Sims 3 on Lion fiasco, EA would point fingers at Apple and Apple point it right back. In my book, both are to blame.
And, to top it off, from what I've been able to learn from installing my own kexts (drivers in Apple-speak), some of the graphical features may be disabled, as there are tweaks the Hackintosh community do to re-enable this. But don't take my word for it or spread this hither and yon as some hackintoshers really like to brag - geeks, right? And I may have misinterpreted the whole thing wrong, anyways. I don't have a genuine Mac machine to compare Apple's hardware performance metrics against my hackintosh, so I can't be 100% on their claims.
What I'm getting at is that there are manual Nvidia drivers for Apple and the corresponding Cuda out there on the WWW (some graphical programmability created by Nvidia themselves), if you know where to search.
As for CUDA: enter "what is cuda" and you'd get more search results - some not so filled with tech-jargon. Here are 2 links to start you off:
- http://developer.nvidia.com/what-cuda (jargon central)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6t2rrn4hz8
Does your daughter's MBP have dual graphics setup as well, or just yours?
Do you know which GPU is the one in use when you play Sims on your MBP? Is there a manual switch to ensure you use the 9600M versus the 9400M?
Do you guys have the same CC and play a session for the same length of time (when yours do load, that is), on the same game Save, or have the same gameplay style (stick to one Household or switch Active Households constantly, play large Lots, large Households, etc), have the same addons installed and on the same patch versions?
If most of the answers above is No, you should stop comparing.
I don't think RAM is the issue, but graphics. (Which is why increasing RAM didn't help.)
85%! I give you points for loyalty! Why stick to Mac for 7-8 years, though, if you have such problems with Sims all this while? Even with these problems, there are players who would still recommend Macs to others. I just don't geddit. Did they want everyone to suffer equally?
When was this MBP 2009 purchased?
Are you sure you have 10.6.8, then? That Snow Leopard 10.6.8 update was only released June of 2011. Unless you have the Apple Software on Autoupdate...that would explain it. There's even Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 released a month later. I don't like auto updates, no matter the vendor. So, I always do a direct download and then update manually. Here's a direct download of the macosx-256.02.25f01-driver.
Anyone who also want to install the updates and drivers I've linked to in this thread, do please click on the "Supported Products" tab to see if your GPU is listed, else don't blame me if your Mac blows up because you can't be bothered to read instructions first before clicking a link and installing things.
Apple's graphic drivers are older than what Nvidia release for PC, as Apple do their own version to tie directly to the hardware they chose. And it is only released in the OS update, seldom with separate graphic drivers - it is "baked in" onto the OS. So while PC users get updated drivers every few months, Mac users are at the mercy of Apple's updates' release schedule. And as illustrated by the recent Sims 3 on Lion fiasco, EA would point fingers at Apple and Apple point it right back. In my book, both are to blame.
And, to top it off, from what I've been able to learn from installing my own kexts (drivers in Apple-speak), some of the graphical features may be disabled, as there are tweaks the Hackintosh community do to re-enable this. But don't take my word for it or spread this hither and yon as some hackintoshers really like to brag - geeks, right? And I may have misinterpreted the whole thing wrong, anyways. I don't have a genuine Mac machine to compare Apple's hardware performance metrics against my hackintosh, so I can't be 100% on their claims.
What I'm getting at is that there are manual Nvidia drivers for Apple and the corresponding Cuda out there on the WWW (some graphical programmability created by Nvidia themselves), if you know where to search.
As for CUDA: enter "what is cuda" and you'd get more search results - some not so filled with tech-jargon. Here are 2 links to start you off:
- http://developer.nvidia.com/what-cuda (jargon central)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6t2rrn4hz8
Does your daughter's MBP have dual graphics setup as well, or just yours?
Do you know which GPU is the one in use when you play Sims on your MBP? Is there a manual switch to ensure you use the 9600M versus the 9400M?
Do you guys have the same CC and play a session for the same length of time (when yours do load, that is), on the same game Save, or have the same gameplay style (stick to one Household or switch Active Households constantly, play large Lots, large Households, etc), have the same addons installed and on the same patch versions?
If most of the answers above is No, you should stop comparing.
#8
23rd Feb 2012 at 3:21 PM
Posts: 52
Hi again. Well weirdly on the last re-install, having the 8GB of ram may just have made a bit of difference. I have managed to make a few families!!! It does crash, once or twice per family, but I have now got some that I can play with. Sims and horses and dogs and cats. Amazing!! Although the game is still CTD a lot I have not had any black sims or messed up thumbnails, so that is a big improvement. However, as I said before, i think that all this is a progressive problem and it may begin to happen again. One thing that I did differently was to not put any of my saved sims into the game. Not sure if it helped, too scared to put them in now just in case.
I have made sure that I am using the 9600M GT 512 MB GPU for the game.
My daughter only has the one card 9400M 256 MB
Yes we do play differently, she plays for hours on one family, occasionally making a boyfriend or a girlfriend for her sims as they grow, and she plays small lots but she does still have a lot of cc in her game. I don't really compare my experience with hers as I am more interested in building lots and making pretty people than actually playing and I have a massive amount of cc and really decorate my houses and gardens etc.
As for the Mac/PC thing, you won't understand it unless you have one. I started my computer journey about 30 years ago on a desktop monster, a Dell, spent a fair bit of money on it but all that I could do was turn it on. Seriously, even after months and months, that was all I could do. Eventually threw it away and bought a very early Mackintosh which quite elegantly and clearly took me gently every step of the way to where I am now, completely taught by, and informed by, each and every Mac machine that I have bought since. It would never enter my mind to buy a PC, not even for The Sims. That's just the kind of girl I am, Loyal and appreciative. However I do understand that you might not 'get' that loyalty and its very difficult to explain. In the days before all the technology that we have now, ONLY geeks could use computers because ALL computers spoke 'geek'. Steve Jobs made his Macs able to communicate with ordinary, non geek people like me, and I and many like me were amazed and very, very grateful to him for opening up another world to us in a very, even then, refined and beautiful way and we will never forget that. I often think about how awesome The Sims could have been if the people at Apple had brought their immaculate design concepts to the game, how beautiful it could have been right out of the box, but i suppose then there would have been no need for the wonderfully creative community that the ugliness inherent in the game has spawned.
I am going to research the NVIDIA drivers thing. Thank you for pointing me in that direction.
And thank you again for your time in responding to my problems.
I will let you know how I get on over the next few weeks.
Bye for now.
I have made sure that I am using the 9600M GT 512 MB GPU for the game.
My daughter only has the one card 9400M 256 MB
Yes we do play differently, she plays for hours on one family, occasionally making a boyfriend or a girlfriend for her sims as they grow, and she plays small lots but she does still have a lot of cc in her game. I don't really compare my experience with hers as I am more interested in building lots and making pretty people than actually playing and I have a massive amount of cc and really decorate my houses and gardens etc.
As for the Mac/PC thing, you won't understand it unless you have one. I started my computer journey about 30 years ago on a desktop monster, a Dell, spent a fair bit of money on it but all that I could do was turn it on. Seriously, even after months and months, that was all I could do. Eventually threw it away and bought a very early Mackintosh which quite elegantly and clearly took me gently every step of the way to where I am now, completely taught by, and informed by, each and every Mac machine that I have bought since. It would never enter my mind to buy a PC, not even for The Sims. That's just the kind of girl I am, Loyal and appreciative. However I do understand that you might not 'get' that loyalty and its very difficult to explain. In the days before all the technology that we have now, ONLY geeks could use computers because ALL computers spoke 'geek'. Steve Jobs made his Macs able to communicate with ordinary, non geek people like me, and I and many like me were amazed and very, very grateful to him for opening up another world to us in a very, even then, refined and beautiful way and we will never forget that. I often think about how awesome The Sims could have been if the people at Apple had brought their immaculate design concepts to the game, how beautiful it could have been right out of the box, but i suppose then there would have been no need for the wonderfully creative community that the ugliness inherent in the game has spawned.
I am going to research the NVIDIA drivers thing. Thank you for pointing me in that direction.
And thank you again for your time in responding to my problems.
I will let you know how I get on over the next few weeks.
Bye for now.
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