The title might of been a bit vague, but whenever I play a game the game will freeze sometime, whether soon after the neighbourhood is made or weeks after I start the 'hood, eventually it ends up freezing somehow. I can't move my cursor or click on anything, even moving the camera. It just get's stuck on that shot and all the animations (i.e, the trees or the plumbob glowing) keep playing. The only way to fix it is to close the game with the Task Manager, even Alt + F4 doesn't work. The worst thing is that if the game decided it's gonna freeze at 10:21 sim time and I've saved recently, it'll freeze again when I next load that save at or around the same time.

I don't know what's going on here, whether a Sim is getting stuck or something, or something much more sinister is happening, like my game is corrupted (this is normally a TS2 thing) or something else. (I normally play on Moonlight Falls if this is any help)

Specifications:
8GB DDR3 RAM
NVidia Geforce GT 520M
Windows 10 Home 1709
Core i5

Any suggestions here at all?

May I suggest that you update your pc. I'm running the following items:
Windows 10 professional
128GB DDR4 Ram
Nvidia GeForce GTX980

Upgrading to these specs isn't cheap, previously I was running windows 7 pro, with the same graphics card, 16GB DDR3 ram and the game was lagging, although I had lowered some of the in game options.

I've got all the sims 3 expansion packs and "Stuff" installed. I've now been playing the Sims 3 for over 6 months now, and haven't had any problems with the game.

1 - Yes, easier said than done I am sure but play on a computer with a stronger video card. A GT 520M can't really be expected to carry more than the base game and maybe one or two of the earliest released EPs on more than low settings very well. It's just not made for games as taxing on the GPU as TS3 is. How many EPs and which ones, besides Supernatural obviously, do you have in play? Can't comment on the processor (CPU) unless we know what you have, though.

Edit: Sorry, didn't see @MartiniMan1069 's post just above mine right away. While 128 GB and a GTX 980 sound fantastic, that's really way more power than TS3 could ever really use even if very intensive things were going on at the same time the game is being played. Could be mistaken, but it sounds like the OP has a laptop here that wouldn't really be upgradable. There's a middle ground in there someplace, although it would require a different/newer computer altogether if I've got that right, to run all EPs at medium to high graphics settings that would be a bit more economical for many, a goal to save towards perhaps for many others.

2 - Freezes at a persistent sim time usually indicates that something is happening and is going to keep trying to happen at that exact time that is causing the issue. That's not much help to know by itself, but it could be there are too many spawners in town all triggered to go off at that time, a sim somewhere is spinning into a flawed outfit to go to work (probably not school at either 10:21 am or pm), a sim is giving birth and getting stuck in the infamous birthing loop. Which tools you have to find out what everyone in town is doing will depend on mod usage. With NRaas mods...

a- MasterController and its MC Cheats module can help you locate all of the spawners in town.
b- Tagger with its Sim and Lot tags can help you see what everyone in town is doing or trying to do.
c- Overwatch and ErrorTrap capture and report on or correct tons of errors if you aren't already using them. Register should control Role and Service sims better than without it. Traffic has settings to prevent the overspawnage of vehicles in the thousands or higher behind the scenes that can clog things up.
d- Woohooer squashes the inactive birthing bug.

3 - You might have mods from another developer that are triggering some scheduled task at that time?

Well, it's a bit squished for space inside a laptop, I'm lucky I have a dedicated card instead of Integrated Graphics though. I knew I missed something with specs out and it was my CPU. I have a Core i5.

Now, it definitely isn't the most amazing specs... but with my specific computer I'm not so sure about the CPU getting an upgrade, and 8GB is the max RAM possible. And I can't shell out for a graphics card... and it might not even fit.

However, this is a recent thing. Although 6 months might not be that recent, I've owned the game for ~ 3 years and this has only happened recently. So I believe this is more some odd game thing, not specifications. EDIT: 10:21 was just an example time.

well, while using 520M may be seen as kind of self-punishment it works, as long as your graphical expectations are as low as mine: very low - I mean.

I'd search around for the machine specifications, sometimes it's possible to change GPU, particulary the Fermi-line, which 520M is part of were usually installed on slot and not permanently. There won't be miracles but jumping into the next line and better number, like 650M for example (these numbered as *20 were weakest of all) may be a big difference for a such old game. These chips are old, but still purchaseable (mostly from damaged laptops).

I don't think this is a savegame issue, as it pollutes most save games I play on, even if brand new. Mod problems could be possible, but I'd expect TS2, I run around 5x more mods then I do on TS3. A list of core mods I have: NRaas MC, MC Cheats, Hybrid, Story Progression (I don't like SP too much, so it's generally off), SP related packages and Overwatch. Other ones are a Zombie Tuning mod, the no sparkles and no intro that came with the mods and a light menu for startup. Other miscellaneous mods I use are Treeag's Locomotion changer and some clothes additions.



Well, I actually use the game at medium to high graphics. I'll check up on the exact specs, but the most demanding games I've ever played are not any of the Sims games. They run rather well, I'll fetch my TS3 stats later.

the weakness of that chip shall become clear when you'll try to use more CC, the "better" ones or even some of the newer, big worlds with loads of additional textures, fog (that may be painful) more complicated (big poly-count) objects, multi-lights present on lot (but yu probably disabled it already), skins in high resolutions etc. Shortly: with whatever what demands some bit of power from GPU. It was considered subpar from the day one by the manufacturer, in fact - just a "bit better" than Intels'. I use it, It's OK for me, carefully tailored configuration files allows for playable experience with games, which in theory, should not even be able to run on such outdated hardware, but it's a matter of managing expectations.

Well - if you look at the game requirements [ http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?tit...em_Requirements ] it's considered as "no no" from the Generations patch level.

And 'bout the topic - try to find any pregnant sim in the town (as was written above) and force birth or terminate pregnancy, it may be necessary to make sim in question playable for the moment. I remember I've had that problem once, which was annoyingly repetitive an wohooer nor Error trap did not help. The sim was somewhat broken and finally I had to delete her completely and make a new clone.

This sounds like you may have some bad CCs or Mods or saves, have you tried moving your TS3 Docs somewhere else temporary and do clean run? I don't think it was because of your GT 520M, unless you don't run FPS Limiter or Nvidia Inspector capping your FPS while playing TS3, the game might damaged your GPU because of that in the long run, but even if it's damaged, those are not the symptoms when the GPU is damaged because of running TS3 without capping its FPS.




What is your Win 10 version? I'd suggest you check your Win 10 version also, if you have W10 Creator Update (1703) or Falls Creator Update (1709 or 16299), disabled its gaming mode in Windows Settings, these last 2 versions of Win 10 already causing a lot of headaches even without gaming, I'd suggest to downgrade to Win 10 1607 or 14393 Anniversary Update if your Win 10 is newer, the W10 1607 or 14393 is retail/full release version which is more stable and reliable compares to the newer ones which is still in beta phase as I understand it.

Although the GT 520M is a low end GPU, that will only or mostly affects your gaming texture quality, you can set this to the lowest quality if you're worried it would sacrifice TS3 gaming performance, but I don't think it's the one that causing the problem you're having, but your 8GB RAM might not be enough if you have too many things running in the background, you can disable things you don't need to run in the background by going to Settings >> Privacy >> Background Apps and just disabled all of them from running in the background.

And in addition to that I'd suggest to empty your Temp folder located in C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Temp, but this folder is hidden so you'd need to change your settings first to access it, emptying this Temp folder won't harm your system, Windows will regenerate anything it needs next time you boot up, emptying this Temp folder will speed up your Win 10 (or any Win OS version) boot up time and free up some memory usage as well.

I run Home edition, I'm currently on the Fall Creators Update. I don't run a FPS Capper, can you tell me how? And also, I run Minecraft on unlimited fps, should I cap that too? (Which is easy as there is a slider in game) I'll also refresh the temp folder and moving the TS3 user data.



I use a Core i5, I'll check the Task Manager next time it happens, which is easy, as one save is already messed up.

EDIT: The game has froze at 2:03AM, I've been spam clicking the 1 button to go back to normal speed for 5 minutes and nothings working. Here's a photo of Task Manager Here! I couldn't figure out how to integrate it with the post but what happens when it freezes is that it'll for example go to that 1280MB it's on in that photo and stay like that for 2 minutes, then it'll change to something else and stay like that for 2 minutes etc. I've deleted the temp folder, yet to move the user folder.

Ok.. if I understand it correctly, I think you're running TS3 with dual switchable gpus laptop with a Core i5 processor and Nvidia GT 520M as your secondary gpu, no FPS Limiter or Nvidia Inspector capping its FPS, your Win 10 is 16299, and freezes at some certain of time.

This would be some different subjects that you need to do, but first of.. I still think that the freezes main causes were because of your CCs or Mods or bad saves, and having Win 10 16299 may also makes everything even worst if the switchable gpus feature were not working properly, and not having FPS Limiter or Nvidia Inspector may damage your GT 520M in the long run.

The thing with Win 10 16299 (Fall Creator Update), one of its known issues is troubling when installing the 6th and 7th gen of Intel HD Graphics (SkyLake and KabyLake), so you may have no proper driver for your primary gpu installed (which is the Intel HD Graphics), if there's no proper driver for your primary gpu then the switchable feature may not work, it won't switched to your GT 520M when it suppose to (not only for TS3).

So if that is to be the case, TS3 will run on your primary gpu, but the trouble with Win 10 16299, it refused to install proper Intel HD driver even from its official website for these 6th and 7th gen processors. So in this case TS3 may be running on your Intel HD but yet it doesn't have the required drivers installed. I don't know why is that but it's been known bugs since the Creator Updates 1703 with the 6th and 7th gen, and the easiest solution would be to revert back to Anniversary Update 1607 (14393) version.

So you may not only having some bad CCs or Mods or saves, but probably that as well, and even worst you don't run FPS Limiter or Nvidia Inspector when playing TS3. The emptying Temp folder I mentioned earlier was only to freeing up some space in your RAM in case it's filled up with things you don't need when gaming.

To make sure your switchable gpus feature is working for TS3, you can go here and follow the steps, you don't have to revert back to Win 10 14393 but make sure you can install the latest driver for your Intel HD Graphics with no problem (if your Core i 5 is SkyLake or KabyLake chip), otherwise not only it won't switch to your GT 520M when it suppose to, but you'd be running on Intel HD Graphics without proper driver installed. You will also find how to get or install FPS Limiter or Nvidia Inspector there to protect your GPU while playing TS3.

Now to check if maybe you have bad CCs or Mods or Saves when the game is running, you can check it with running Process Monitor you can get it here and you can go here if you need other things, cause you may need some tools for fixing bad CCs or Mods as well.

PS: Sorry I don't know about Minecraft so I can't help you with that.

Sorry to necropost my own thread after a month, but I have a certain urge to play again and I want to fix this.

This is going to be a tough time as, I have a Second Generation Sandy Bridge i5 and Windows 10. Integrated Graphics does not show up in the Device Manager, but from researching my CPU I should have it. Tried drivers from Intel's site Windows 8 x64 and that didn't work, but then I found Windows 10 compatible drivers on the Microsoft Update Catalogue. However, upon download the drivers, clicking on any of the executables does nothing, except for igxpun.exe which just gives an error box with no message. This is going to be just as bad as me getting TS1 to run on Windows 10, but worse!

The Sandy Bridge processor would need the Intel HD 3000 Graphics for its driver, if I remember it correctly there's no Win 10 version available, but you can use the Win 8.1 version which its installer version is 152824, you can go here to download it.

I already update the tutorial with the workaround for Win 10 1709 (build 16299, Falls Creator Update), if Win 10 refused to install it, you'll need to disconnect to the internet for temporary and remove any previous drivers and replace it with the one you just download. It should work fine as I already test it myself with Intel HD 3000 laptop.

Note: If by unknown causes the 152824 driver won't work in Win 10 1709, there's a 2nd workaround which is by using the Intel HD 4000 driver (Ivy Bridge Processor), but this is the hard way and this step would required a fresh new clean Win 10 installation, you'll need to install it before reactivating your Win 10 digital license and after enabling the .NetFX3 then followed by installing DirectX SDK June 2010 and Visual C++ 2010. The rest just follow the tutorial and I would also suggest to update your Win 10 manually (before reactivating your Win 10 digital license) by downloading the stand alone updates I also mentioned in the tutorial as this will save huge time in comparison with automatic updates.

If the proper driver is installed correctly it will say Intel HD Graphics 3000 in your Device Manager as is primary graphics device, and your Nvdia GT520M as the secondary graphics device, and the switchable feature will work just fine.

The driver you are talking about is the one I talked about in my previous post. It won't install,
By removing previous drivers, do you mean my NVidia drivers?
And, I'm not installing from scratch again. When I tried to migrate from 8 to 10 it would spit an error and revert every time. So I had to install from scratch. An error caused me to reinstall again, and well, I have many, MANY big games that are digital downloads, TS2 UC, TS4, Many TS3 EPs, Hello Neighbour, it's just too big to start again.

EDIT: I believe it is a technical issue, but all the same, bad cc or mods could do this. I play with very few mods, but it's still there all the same. Bad saves isn't a possibility, as I can start a new game, play a while and it freezes.

I was hoping that you're in different scenario, but since this is the case then I'm afraid there's no other way but start from scratch, this problem Win 10 refuse to install graphics driver come from this 1709 version, this caused by Win 10 1709 sees that your system doesn't have proper Intel HD Graphics drivers that's why it immediately downloads without notifying the user.

This is why I mentioned in the tutorial update for Win 1709 not to have internet connection connected when it just finishing upgrade to prevent this Win 10 refusing to install Intel graphics driver.



No, I mean to remove the Intel drivers (installed by Win 10 automatic updates), but it's hard in your case because you would need to go to safe mode with no drivers loaded and then edit the entries in windows registry editor. But that will be very risky and may mess other things too, so I don't recommend that unless you really know how it works in windows registry otherwise it's better not to touch it. Don't worry about the Nvidia drivers as they are ok.



I understand your situations, and I'm sorry to tell you this, but this is the problem that came from this Win 10 1709 version, unless you able to get into Win 10 safe mode with no drivers loaded and know how to edit (remove) the Intel drivers from windows registry, then you will be able to install the Intel 152824 drivers, otherwise there's no way to install it unless you start from scratch by installing a new fresh clean Win 10. Even if you do so, you still need.. not to have internet connection so it won't immediately reactivating your Win 10 digital license and downloading updates, otherwise it's the same thing and you won't be able to install Intel HD 3000 drivers.

If this Win 10 1709 version installed in your laptop was originally upgraded from Win 8, and you ended up with this situation, I assume it's because you probably didn't have Intel HD 152824 installed earlier when you're still with your Win 8, and you're probably upgrading or migrating automatically with internet connection always connected. At this stage even if you try using the Intel HD 4000 drivers, it won't work because Win 10 won't install it. So the solution would be to get your Win 10 free from any Intel HD graphics drivers installed by Win 10 updates then you would be able to install the one from Intel.

And unfortunately those are the only workarounds I know to fix this problem.Your TS3 problems may caused by some other like bad CCs or Mods, but that would be easily identified after this drivers issue is fixed, otherwise it's hard to tell where your TS3 problems coming from.

And as for your other big games digital downloads you might be able to safe them if you previously had backup them by using Windows transfer wizard, but then you would need to do this in Win 7 or 8 before upgrading back to Win 10, because there' no windows transfer feature in win 10 unfortunately.

I'm sorry I can't help you more in your situations, I know this 1709 bugs are annoying, but that's all I know how to make them work, you can try disabling your Intel HD Graphics from your Device Manager, but I really don't know if this would work, it just the last thing that came to my mind.. maybe it could bypass your Intel HD and all programs will be using your Nvidia GT520M instead.

Well, if you can, point me to the Windows registry guide. I have some experience (Mainly from trying to fix group policy, ugh) and I make full system backups, so if I break anything I can use those.

By full system I mean everything! Macrium Reflect is a great tool.

On second thought I think it's better not to go there as is too risky, but let's try to go into safe mode and try installing the 152824 driver from there;

1. Copy your 152824 installer somewhere in your HDD or SSD

2. Press Start >> Turn Off >> Hold your Shift Key >> Click Restart (while holding your Shift Key)

3. Click Troubleshoot >> Advance Option >> Startup Settings >> Restart

4. Press #4 to go into safe mode

Now when you're in win 10 safe mode, in general as in the previous windows OS versions, there's no drivers loaded, now try installing the 152824 drivers, this should replaces the one that windows update has already installed, note: choose install anyway (to replace) if newer drivers already exist warning pops up.

Then restart after finish and boot to normal mode, and then go check them in your Device Manager, if Intel HD Graphics 3000 is mentioned there as your primary graphics device, then mission accomplished, you can now make your GT520M recognized by TS3 if you haven't done so, and then you can check the trouble from TS3's side possibilities that may causing lags/freezes

Well, drivers did load in safe mode -_- mostly generic drivers, to be expected but also the NVidia stuff. It still wouldn't install.

I am very willing to go through the registry method so as I said, if you know of a tutorial can you point me to it.

Have you tried option #1 & #7 in Startup Settings before entering safe mode? I haven't spend much time trying something in this win 10 safe mode, all I did tried was just by reinstalling with clean installation, that's how I found the workaround why win 10 1709 won't let me install my Intel graphics drivers after I reactivated my digital license when upgrading to 1709 version with new fresh clean standalone version.

I don't know any tutorial I can point you, but if you really want to try at your own risk, this is NOT recommended or suggested, open your device manager and right click on your primary gpu and open its property window and go to driver tab and open "Drivers Details", you'll see all drivers that already been installed there and you'll know where its located.

The thing is, these driver files cannot be removed manually as they're being used/loaded when the system started, to stop the system using/loading them, you'll need to go in safe mode and remove all its registry in windows registry editor so next time the system startup they won't be loaded, but it's not going to be easy identifying which one the ones you'll need to removed, and we cannot assume which one, so basically if you try this, it's going to be "try and error" solution, it's fine if it's succeed but it'll screw your system if you removed the wrong ones, that's why it's not recommended (even if you have made backup everything you need), because in some cases, importing back the backup registry entries also fails, and if this is the case, then all messed up and new clean fresh installation is the easy way to fix the mess.

So I really urge you not to try that, but instead try which safe mode option that will disabled all drivers when windows entering safe mode, back in win 7 era this safe mode will let you install any drivers you need to replace when rolling back drivers option are not available in normal windows mode.

Well, I go through msconfig so I don't know of settings one and seven. The problem is, ONLY NVidia drivers will show up in device manager, no Generic, not Intel, just NVidia.
Hearing what you've said though, that does seem a bit too risky. If I ever have an excuse to start afresh again I'll fix this and also definitely fix Samsung Restore aswell. I'll try options 1 and 7, even though I've got to get to them first

EDIT: I'm now taking this a step further and asking on the Microsoft Answers forum. Seeing as we are the Simmy side of things and they deal with Windows and Drivers for Windows I feel they will deal with my questions better. I will come back once I have the technical things ironed out.

However, why can't we just set it to NVidia Drivers and call it a day? Or week. Or month.