I bought Sims 3 with the expansion packs, Generations, Showtime and Supernatural 1 week ago. I have downloaded them all through Origin.

I installed them all, patching via the launcher on the way. I tried playing the game and it constantly crashed at varying points, sometimes i didn't even load the starting screen.
I visited several forums and online guidance and have updated my Nvidia Drivers, deleted caches, I don't have any mods or CC content to delete, I have added the exe files to DEp and followed all the solutions I could find. It still didn't work. I have uninstalled and reinstalled it many times and renamed folders, etc..
I have been to EA online chat help 3 times. Through them I have created a second User Admin account and tried installing it on that account and also done a "clean" startup with no programs except Windows ones running.
I have noticed during the few times ive managed to play more than 5 minutes that my Task manager shows the Sims 3 program is using ridiculous amounts of memory and sometimes if i sit watching it with game paused in background I can see it increasing though nothing is happening in game. It crashed usually when the memory usage hits 1,300,000 K +

I have played the base game without any patches and that works absolutely fine, no crashes and I've played it for a couple of hours with no problems. Therefore with my limited technical knowledge, it seems obvious to me that the patches are doing something which is causing a memory leak. I have tried patching to earlier versions of patches, the ones I have tried however all cause this problem.

Can anyone tell me what might be causing the memory leak and how I can fix it?

Could be that your computer is using the wrong graphics card, therefore resulting in the memory leak. Try following this guide, which explains how to make The Sims 3 use the correct (stronger) graphics card, and report back what happened.

Also, it could be that you haven't set your TS3W.exe Large Address Aware. All 32-bit applications (including The Sims 3) that run on Windows, by default, have the large address aware (LAA) bit disabled. That means that the application cannot address more than 2 GB of virtual memory. The Sims 3 can, under certain circumstances, reach this limit causing the game to CTD without warning. There are tools available that allow you to mod the game's executabe which allows the game to use up to 4 GB of virtual memory, minimizing the possibility of CTD because of not having an LAA executable.

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Hi DJ, thanks for the response

I have a 64bit OS so think the second one doesn't apply

However the first step you mentioned I have seen before but I can't seem to do it. When I go into manage 3D Settings in the Control Panel and the Program Settings tab, I can see the Add button and the check box for "Show only programs found on this computer, but when I click the Add button it does absolutely nothing. I've just tried rolling back the Driver and reinstalling the updated ones but its not made a difference. Therefore it isn't allowing me to search for the TS3W.exe file.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 4/6/2013, 14:53:46
Machine name: KARL-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130104-1431)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: Aurora-R4
BIOS: BIOS Date: 02/08/12 15:27:32 Ver: 04.06.05
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16336MB RAM
Page File: 2555MB used, 30114MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 555
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 555
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1206&SUBSYS_095810DE&REV_A1
Display Memory: 4049 MB
Dedicated Memory: 977 MB
Shared Memory: 3071 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Dell ST2320L_HDMI
Monitor Model: DELL ST2320L
Monitor Id: DELF024
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.000Hz)
Output Type: HDMI
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver File Version: 9.18.0013.1422 (English)
Driver Version: 9.18.13.1422
DDI Version: 11
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 3/15/2013 06:53:06, 17990800 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-5146-11CF-E076-55291CC2C435}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x1206
SubSys ID: 0x095810DE
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Driver Strong Name: oem63.inf:NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1:Section047:9.18.13.1422:pci\ven_10de&dev_1206&subsys_095810de
Rank Of Driver: 00E00001
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C

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D3D9 Overlay: Supported
DXVA-HD: Supported
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled

• General - Check Temps
  In some cases, game bugs/crashes/general computer issues can be caused by your computer overheating. To ascertain whether or not overheating is a cause of your problem, please follow these steps:
  
  Firstly, download and install HWMonitor. Run the program - you should see lots of numbers; if you don't know what any of them mean, don't worry - you don't have to. :)
  
  With HWMonitor running, use your computer normally for twenty or thirty minutes - no games, just browsing the web, using IM, playing minesweeper etc - and at the end of the twenty or thirty minutes, take a screenshot of the HWMonitor window and save it.
  
  Then do the same again, keeping HWMonitor open, while you play Sims for twenty to thirty minutes. If your game is crashing before the thirty minutes is up, just play until it crashes. If your computer is freezing, shutting down, or restarting itself, play for as long as you think you can before the freeze/shutdown/reboot, then quit the game. Take another screenshot of the HWMonitor window.
  
  Finally, attach both screenshots to a post in this thread - you can upload them to photobucket or tinypic etc, or you can hit "Go Advanced" in the Quick Reply box and use manage attachments to upload them to MTS.
  
  

@DJ.
The LAA stuff is outdated. The executable has been made LAA for a while now. So, that suggestion no longer apply, even if one has a 32-bit OS. The issue is then the RAM, not the executable.
Plus, to offer suggestions without having data is well, fraught with misinformation.

@HarleyATT
The 555 have had Yellow MAYBEs since Pets, if you hadn't realize. I'm not sure how different Dell makes their GTX 555, and I have to recheck my notes why I classified it with the 545.
Or, I might have made a mistake and missed the "X" in GTX 555. But the GTX 555 should at least be on par with the GTX 650. Hmmm, maybe it's because I copied from the GT 450...When I next revise the SysReq wiki for Island Paradise, I'll make a note to revisit this discrepancy and correct it if necessary.

Nvidia settings: isn't the game already listed in the Recently used list?

Does the PC have any other issues running any other program?
Have run Memtest and/or capture temps to ensure things are alright?
You can also download any benchmark program - like Unigine's Heaven - and let it put the machine through its paces.

Oh, and goes without saying, you have worked through all steps in the Crashing Checklist? Loading the game while not logged in, for instance? I wonder if Digital games can run via TS3W.exe without Origin installed?

ps: we have a no double-posting/multi-posting policy, so please submit a single post. Edit the post if you have things to add, when no one has responded to the thread.

No I have no problems with any other game I play, including the latest Sim City. I don't play the game logged on.

All this game has done for the past week is stress me out. I just tweaked the Nvidia settings a bit and found a hidden menu in the Control Panel which allowed me to set my cards to maximise performance, the game played well for longer than usual but still crashed as I was halfway through building my house. I thought I would try and install the first of the expansion packs I have, Generations, which installed and now its asking me for a registration code which I already input the first time I installed it, and it won't recognise the code I have which is the right one.

So, I'm cutting my losses and uninstalling the game and not bothering, its not worth it. If I could I would get my money back its been a complete waste of £70

Thanks for your help anyway.