With an EA release there is no question that it will be laden with bugs and you will spend the first few months wondering when the first patch is coming!
So far so good with Sims 3 then!
While playing for the last week since the game (and for the record it is at Version 1.0.631.0002 currently) i have noticed an extremely annoying crash-to-desktop (CTD) affair where absolutely no warning is giving by either the game nor windows? The game will just instantly cease to run and return to the desktop?
Although i have read similar problems on the net regarding errors of a similar nature to what i am seeing being related to graphics and driver problems. I don’t see this as the problem as i am running the latest nVidia drivers and have never seen a reported driver error so far?
Anyway… along with this i have been receiving errors when trying to save the game. Normally an error message pops up when the game is part way through saving mentioning either code 12 or 13.
According to the “readme” that can be found in the Sims 3 install folder…
01: No save file information.
02: No active world.
03: The save path is empty.
04: Cannot save directory.
05: Cannot find the requested file.
09: Failed to create header record.
10: Failed to write header record.
11: Pre-save callback failure.
12: World file save failure.
13: Post-save callback failure.
14: No load/save manager found.
15: Other error. Sorry.
Entirely helpful i admit!
Some people have mentioned to always run the game with Administrator Privileges (right click game icon and select “Run as administrator”) but that seems to make no real difference.
But onto the more serious note!
When these errors occur, the most serious thing i have noticed is your save game files can be corrupt. You will notice this when you attempt to restart the game and carry on from your last save, but there is no saves available and you have to start from scratch! The game doesn’t even inform you that the save file is no good either.
I have read a few peoples complaints of this exact problem and have found a bit of a workaround…
Hopefully in the future EA may add a quick-save function, but until now i can only recommend saving your game at regular intervals. Personally i make sure i do it every 15minutes or after something significant has happened, such as doing extensive modification to your house’s.
OK, so to restore a slightly older save file.
- Open your “My Documents” folder
- Locate and open a folder called “Electronic Arts”
- Locate and open a folder called “The Sims 3”
- Locate and open a folder called “Saves
In the saves folder you will find a few files, named after the map you are playing and then several extensions.
The actual save file is a .sims3 file, and there should be 1 or 2 other files, namely a .backup and .bad files
The .sims3 one will be the one that is corrupt. Start out by deleting this file, or if your prefer move it to a new location.
Now rename the .backup file and remove the bit that says “.backup” so it just says Sunset Valley.sims3
So you are left with…
Now restart your game and your saves should have been restored and you may continue. Granted you may loose some of your progress, but it is better than loosing all of it! How much you do loose depends on how frequent you are saving your game.
Other than this the game does seem to run very well at the best of times. The only other real annoying problem i have come across is when trying to access the Build and Buy modes and suddenly everything blacks out and i cannot access anything to actually do anything! Moments later the game will once again crash to the desktop.
Fingers crossed most of this will be sorted in future. After all its not more than a week old! To not expect problems would be an understatement!
