OS X keeps crashing while running The Sims 3

neyshan · #1 June 4th, 2009, 03:11 AM

I have been playing the sims 3 since the release and every so often my OS will randomly crash. The system usually runs fine for quite some time, often 3+ hours but will then randomly freeze.
Is anyone else having this problem?

System Specs:
OS X: 10.5.7
Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM
Graphics Card: ATY RadeonX1600
13.4 GB Hardrive space free

Thanks

nixgeek · #2 June 4th, 2009, 06:26 AM

13.4 GB free? What's the total size of your hard drive. Considering the hard drive capacities that ship with Macs these days, it seems as though you don't have that much free in proportion to the size of the hard drive. OS X requires that no less than 10% of free hard drive space be available so that it can run efficiently. Something tells me that you're probably at or running below that percentile.

Sims 3 is also quite a demanding game (my wife has the Windows version and it taxes her computer as well), so that and the fact that you might not have enough hard drive space available might be causing the lock-ups. Also, be aware that there might be a bug in the game since it's still early in its release. Make sure you check EA's website for any patches available since the release of Sims 3.

dos0711 · #3 June 5th, 2009, 08:55 AM

My niece has over 400gb free and it's crashing. Something I'm going to try that I have not yet is turning up the fan speeds...it may be heat related.

nixgeek · #4 June 5th, 2009, 11:07 AM

I just did a Google search about problems with Sims 3 on the Mac, and it seems as though there are a lot of hits about this issue (including one hit to this thread). In those hits, I found this blog posting:

http://asilee.com/2009/06/05/the-sim...with-the-game/

It seems that everyone is having some sort of issue with the game, and since it's just released, there aren't any patches out just yet. You might want to check in the locations mentioned within this blog post about crash logs along with any of the system logs to see what they say when the game does crash. Be sure to post them here so we can look at them as well.

Asilee · #5 June 5th, 2009, 02:58 PM

There is in fact a patch out now. I checked my detailed stats and saw this as one of the places a lot of traffic were coming from so I decided to try and help out this way as well. Feel free to go to this page and see if this will help you any.

http://asilee.com/2009/06/05/need-a-...ims-3-go-here/

nixgeek · #6 June 5th, 2009, 06:38 PM

Oh wow! Talk about a direct response! Thanks for letting those here know.

The only thing is that the patch seems to be for Windows only. I didn't see any mention of a Mac solution on your blog entry. Hopefully there will be a Mac solution from EA soon if this is what's causing problems for the OP.

Asilee · #7 June 5th, 2009, 08:30 PM

The Sims 3 Patch Upgrades for PC & MAC[List of Changes]

dos0711 · #8 June 9th, 2009, 10:55 AM

I'm happy to report that I increased my fan speeds and it runs without crashing...without the new patch.

The Following User Says Thank You to nixgeek For This Useful Post:
Asilee (June 5th, 2009)