a huge conundrum. please help.

[alipskaya]

I need some serious help from someone who knows what they're talking about.

Basically, I've been having issues with Sims 3 for over a year and all my attempts to fix it, including buying a new computer, have not worked. Yes, I am committed but I'm gonna go insane pretty soon.

It all started with random crashing over a year ago. That's where my sims journey down the path of hell began. I don't remember much from back then but I reinstalled everything recently (few months ago) on a new computer.

First of all..
:!: Yes, my specs are good. Yes, everything is up to date. Yes, I use CC and mods. I have tried everything on the internet so please don't give me silly answers. I need some real help.

Most recently, the game started crashing. "Sims 3 has stopped working" or something or other, is the windows 7 msg that I would get as my game would crash to desktop. With the assistance of (but not much, really) Delphy's Dashboard, CC Magic, Patch Updater, Crash Log Analyzer, etc etc etc, as well as advice from mod creators, I have not been able to track down the issue. Yes I am aware that it may be custom content but I currently have over 1000 files. Nothing else shows up on Delphy's Dashboard as being problematic, however I noticed that with CC Magic when I single out and enable a folder with a few files (took me forever and a half), individual files didn't seem to have an issue.

Once I started using CC Magic, everything seemed ok until I started getting the 'materializing materials' issue when trying to use the CAP tool in game. It was the way the files were merged by CC Magic as a whole that seemed to cause the issue. I say that because if I had 5 files in one folder and enabled nothing but that folder and ran the game, I'd get the error. If I singled all those files out, enabled solely one by one, the files themselves didn't seem to cause the same error.

So I deleted CC Magic in hopes that the game would work well on its own now. Well to my (un)surprise, the game crashed as soon as it would start up. Back to square one. The new patch came out (1.31) and Showtime, so I downloaded and patched, and used the games4theworld fix that seems to solve most issues. Well, now my game loads up ok, but doesn't recognize any of my saves, so I can't pull up previous games. Tried to open launcher, but it's giving me the 'Sims3Launcher has stopped working' issue. Ok, back to google. Tried deleting the damn 'missingdeps.idx' file in DC Backup. Worked for a lot of people but of course, not for me. Tried everything I could find online, didn't work.

So here I am, telling you about half of the details, with countless hours spent trying to fix countless issues, and I'm about to shoot myself in the face. :faceslap:

If anyone is willing to help me out, not the half baked kind of 'is your computer on?' help, I'd really really appreciate it. For god's sake I just want to play!!! :cry:

[Ghost sdoj]

I realize that the game problem FAQ starts with the simpler stuff first, but that makes it easier to check it out. It's here: http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Sims_3_Game_Problem

Unfortunately you are going to have to test your CC. Initially it will mean taking everything out and seeing if it helps. If it does, it is a CC problem, and with no clue about which CC is the problem you are going to need to use the 50/50 method. This sounds daunting, but remember that it only takes 10 tests for 1024 files. (well ,16, if you are double-checking the other half each time. If the first mix doesn't indicate that there were two conflicting items or more than one problem, you can get away with not double checking except after the first half and the final result.)

If you had a hack, like a core or script mod in your game, and removed it (as you should) when you patched, and have not replaced it until you are sure it has been updated (as you should), any game in which it was "active" (actually being in use somewhere, as opposed to being ready to activate when conditions were right) will be detecting that something is happening that the current setup will not allow, and will be inaccessible. And if you have left old mods in the game, they could easily be the problem.

[alipskaya]

I realize that the game problem FAQ starts with the simpler stuff first, but that makes it easier to check it out. It's here: http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Sims_3_Game_Problem

Unfortunately you are going to have to test your CC. Initially it will mean taking everything out and seeing if it helps. If it does, it is a CC problem, and with no clue about which CC is the problem you are going to need to use the 50/50 method. This sounds daunting, but remember that it only takes 10 tests for 1024 files. (well ,16, if you are double-checking the other half each time. If the first mix doesn't indicate that there were two conflicting items or more than one problem, you can get away with not double checking except after the first half and the final result.)

If you had a hack, like a core or script mod in your game, and removed it (as you should) when you patched, and have not replaced it until you are sure it has been updated (as you should), any game in which it was "active" (actually being in use somewhere, as opposed to being ready to activate when conditions were right) will be detecting that something is happening that the current setup will not allow, and will be inaccessible. And if you have left old mods in the game, they could easily be the problem.

I mentioned in the original post that I had sorted through the CC but had stopped when it didn't seem to be making a difference. When I got to a certain folder of files, it seemed that it was giving me the 'materializing materials' issue. When I tested the files individually one by one, none of them seemed to be causing the problem. Which is when I concluded that perhaps it's the merging of the files in CC that is causing the issue, so after having deleted some bad files before then, I decided to get rid of CC Magic and see if the game would work. But that's when the patch came out and etc.

However I will see if I have any old mods. Did you say that they could be affecting old saves for good?

The main problem now seems to be that I can't open the launcher in order to get all the mods/files into the game after having removed them. I get the error that I mentioned previously. I feel like that needs to be addressed before other things.

[ellacharmed]

That error is when not using Launcher to install CAP-created Patterns. ie it is not caused by CC Magic. But most often, the issue crops up when the pattern was installed as an extracted .package, but still not necessarily as shown in the threads in the MTS Archives. It could also mean the pattern is simply broken or the file is badly formed.

References:
Tanyuu's If anyone has the "Materializing Materials..." error, here's some tips (http://sims3.the-prof.net/forums/index.php/topic,1568.msg2816.html#msg2816) from Granthes' forums.

Similar threads on the Sim3Pack issue:

Interactionwindow - Lag
"Misc." patterns don't show up in CAST after installing Generations
Downloads not showing up in game
Crashes solved, but new problems with CAST and CC not showing up

[alipskaya]

That error is when not using Launcher to install CAP-created Patterns. ie it is not caused by CC Magic. But most often, the issue crops up when the pattern was installed as an extracted .package, but still not necessarily as shown in the threads in the MTS Archives. It could also mean the pattern is simply broken or the file is badly formed.

References:
Tanyuu's If anyone has the "Materializing Materials..." error, here's some tips (http://sims3.the-prof.net/forums/index.php/topic,1568.msg2816.html#msg2816) from Granthes' forums.

Similar threads on the Sim3Pack issue:

Interactionwindow - Lag
"Misc." patterns don't show up in CAST after installing Generations
Downloads not showing up in game
Crashes solved, but new problems with CAST and CC not showing up


Thanks. I'll check that out as soon as I'm actually able to access the game. The most important issue right now is the launcher issue.

[porkypine]

I use Twallen's mods in my game. Like a dummy, I forgot to uncheck the auto update one time and when I opened the game, it ran the update and broke my game because I didn't get a chance to stop the injection mods by running the the NRAAS Town/reset everything. My saved games bounced.. But I've learned over the years to put my favorite families in the bin so if I have to recreate a neighborhood, I just have to plop them wherever I want them. Of course, I have to use cheats to get them back where they were. Then I bin them and delete the old version. that time broke launcher and downloads, etc. and the old games wouldn't load either.

I had to completely uninstall the game, and remove all sims3 content from the registry. rebooted and ran ccleaner, etc to get rid of leftovers. Then I reinstalled the game and loaded each patch in order and only loading to the neighborhood/world chooser, quitting and installing the next EP/SP. That took a LONG time.. mainly because my internet at home is satellite and SLOW downloads... I was able to get my game to run and the store worked up to patch .29. We'll see if showtime breaks it. I am already prepared though. I stayed off line and made sure autoupdate was off, and stopped my mods. backed up everything and removed my MODS folder from the game. Now I wait for my preorder to arrive sometime next week. the game loads much faster without the cc.

You CAN load the game without the launcher, you just won't get new store stuff. Go to your program files sims3 folder game bin and make a shortcut for the TS(version).exe file.

[alipskaya]

I use Twallen's mods in my game. Like a dummy, I forgot to uncheck the auto update one time and when I opened the game, it ran the update and broke my game because I didn't get a chance to stop the injection mods by running the the NRAAS Town/reset everything. My saved games bounced.. But I've learned over the years to put my favorite families in the bin so if I have to recreate a neighborhood, I just have to plop them wherever I want them. Of course, I have to use cheats to get them back where they were. Then I bin them and delete the old version. that time broke launcher and downloads, etc. and the old games wouldn't load either.

I had to completely uninstall the game, and remove all sims3 content from the registry. rebooted and ran ccleaner, etc to get rid of leftovers. Then I reinstalled the game and loaded each patch in order and only loading to the neighborhood/world chooser, quitting and installing the next EP/SP. That took a LONG time.. mainly because my internet at home is satellite and SLOW downloads... I was able to get my game to run and the store worked up to patch .29. We'll see if showtime breaks it. I am already prepared though. I stayed off line and made sure autoupdate was off, and stopped my mods. backed up everything and removed my MODS folder from the game. Now I wait for my preorder to arrive sometime next week. the game loads much faster without the cc.

You CAN load the game without the launcher, you just won't get new store stuff. Go to your program files sims3 folder game bin and make a shortcut for the TS(version).exe file.

I realize I don't need the launcher to open the game. However I need to put my cc in the game first. And I can't do that without the launcher.

[alipskaya]

Tried uninstalling Origin (seems to be a common fix) and didn't help. Got the following message (again):

Sims3Launcher has stopped working

Problem Details:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BEX
Application Name: Sims3LauncherW.exe
Application Version: 0.1.0.27
Application Timestamp: 4f2b39da
Fault Module Name: StackHash_1612
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Offset: 02ccf00c
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 00000008
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 1612
Additional Information 2: 16124644c21b5089e62dc45ec2be09f2
Additional Information 3: ba2d
Additional Information 4: ba2d0f36082f2b1dda09b3f2e8691761

Not sure if that will be useful but thought I'd put it there just in case.

[alipskaya]

I have reinstalled the base game and used a manual patch for 1.31 and I'm still getting the error. Help?! :/

[Jaguwar]

I realize I don't need the launcher to open the game. However I need to put my cc in the game first. And I can't do that without the launcher.

Actually, you can put CC back into your game without the launcher. (at this point I'm assuming you're talking about Sims3packs). Use Delphy's Sims3packInstaller to turn them into packages, and have the program send the files to your mods/packages folder.