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MTS2 Staff Reply
In order to better solve your problem, please go through the following as listed below:
- Sims 3 - Game lags or fails to load or is glitchy
- Have you just updated to a newer patch or installed a new Expansion Pack and/or Stuff Pack?
- Do you suddenly find your game is failing to load past the loading bar or after selecting your save game? Or does it take hours to load when previously it only took minutes?
- Do you experience glitches like
- missing books, traits, cannot carry out skill-related activities, etc
- have long strings name with paths instead of the objects' names
- missing previously installed content
- and many more
Then, you have custom content that is not compatible with this new game version or is broken/corrupted by the patching/installing.
If you have a core mod that is not compatible, the game would simply crash back to Desktop.
Move all your custom content from \Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages, or whichever game folder you maintained your Custom Content in, to the Desktop temporarily. You can also use MonkeyBars to disable the CC-Framework so the game will not read the \Mods\Packages folders.
To determine if it is content-related, follow this FAQ on how to GameHelp:Remove_TS3_Custom_Contentwiki; don't forget the *caches and test using a New game.
If the New game can load and has no issues, the problem is caused by your .packages CC.
If you're still experiencing issues, rename \...Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 to something else, so the game will re-generate a new set of user's folders when you next load a New game to test.
If the New game can load and has no issues, the problem is caused by your .Sims3Packs CC or some other files in your previous User folders.
- If the problem is with .packages CC
- If the new game can load, then read this FAQ on how to rectify the Lag issue and to find the problem content: Game_Help:Package_File_Lagwiki.
- If you have glitches, remove the hacks folder or the folder where you placed all the hacks or mods - tuning mods, object mods, script mods.
- If your custom content does not show up, verify framework is still intact using MonkeyBars or Dashboard. Also verify on creators' downloads pages if the CC item needs to be updated for the patch/pack.
- If none of the above helps in identifying the problem content, do the 50% method: split your CC into halves. Place one half at a time to test. If one batch is fine, then that goes in the good CC category, so you concentrate on the other half. When you have a batch that causes the same glitch, half that again, and so on...you might need to refresh caches each time you load the game Game_Help:Sims_3_Delete_Cache_Fileswiki.
- If the problem is with .Sims3Packs CC
- Try running Dashboard on the DCBackup folder to see if it can detect anything wrong with those .packages
- Or if you want to test Sims3Packs one-by-one, you can use CUSTARD (Alpha testing, Windows only) by Delphy in the Modding forum
- Otherwise, you'd need to revisit the site where you get the Sims3Packs from to see if if there's a new update or they need fixing, etc.
Remember: during all the above testing, always load a new game to test (you can however load the same new game if you saved that). Never load a pre-patched or pre-EP/SP saved game as removing custom content and caches will reset all the custom content in that world to base-game items and it won't load them back if you happen to Save before you Quit.
Totally wipe out the whole system? Not just an uninstall & reinstall? Oh dear! That sounds mighty extreme!
If you had just added new content, or patched the game, or installed a new pack, then try the above suggestions.
If you had not changed anything, let us know what suggested fixes have you tried (from whichever FAQ we have or forums you visited)? Or what errors, if any?
On occasion you might be asked to do a long FAQ - please make sure you do all the steps and don't just skip over them. You'll often find that these long FAQs have all the details you need. If nothing in the above FAQs fixes your problem you may post again detailing
exactly which you have done and which steps failed.