An awesome expansion for The Sims series, I’m enjoying Medieval a lot. How’s your experience with the game? Unfortunately for some of my classmates and colleagues, they’ve been encountering a lot of errors and issues in running the program, despite high-end PC’s. To help them I’ve compiled a hotifx list below, and I hope it helps you too.

If you encounter any problems not covered below, please post them in the comments section and I’ll help you out!

The Sims Medieval Crash Fix, Freezes, Crash to Desktop (CTD), Errors, Blackscreen, Bluescreen, Performance issues, CRC error, Startup problem, Flashing, Flashes, Win32 error, nVidia, ATI, Intel HD graphics issues, NET framework, Authentication failure

As always, first things first! Make sure your PC meets the The Sims / The Sims Medieval minimum system requirements:

FOR WINDOWS

• 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
• 1.5 GB RAM
• A 256 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
• At least 5.3 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB of additional space for saved games

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets under Windows, the game requires at least:

• Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3-Series or above
• 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
• 0.5 GB additional RAM

FOR MAC OS X

• Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard or higher
• Intel Core Duo Processor
• 2 GB RAM
• ATI X1600 or Nvidia 8600 GT with 256 MB of Video RAM.
• At least 5.3 GB of hard drive space, with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
• This game will not run on PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) based Mac systems, or the GMA class of integrated video cards.

Problem#1 Sims 3 Medieval Launch/Startup Error

Possible Solution: This error usually occurs after applying the patch. You can try the following work around:

• Click Start or press the Windows key and R, click Run, type msconfig, and then click OK.
• Click on Startup.
• Select disable All.
• Click on Services.
• Check the box that says Hide All Microsoft Services, then Disable All.
• Apply, then restart your system.
• After restart, repeat the same procedure but this time enable all the services. Now try launching the game.

Problem#2 Cannot Start a New Game – A serious Error has occurred

Possible Solution: Try reinstalling the game. Before you reinstall it, remove the Sims folder from your documents directory.

Problem#3 Blackscreen / Bluescreen Errors

Possible Solution: This problem can be common with those having integrated graphics chip. It most occurs while placing a building with security. EA’s latest patch should fix the problem.

Problem#4 Corrupted Save Files / Cannot Save

Possible Solution: People facing crashes while placing building may end up with a corrupted save file. Here is a work around to fix the issue:

• Go to My Documents>Electronic Arts>The Sims Medieval
• Now open Saves and then the kingdoms save file.
• There then should be three files (DAT,DATA and NHD).
• What you need to do is right click on the DAT file go to properties and click on the tab for Previous Version.
• Once it finds a previous version restore it to the previous version.
• Repeat the same procedure for the DATA file.
• Caution : Do not restore the NHD file.

Problem#5 Cannot Load Save Game File – A serious Error has occurred

Possible Solution: It means your save file most probably is corrupted. You can try #4 to restore it.

Problem#6 Poor Game performance / Stuttering / FPS or framerate drops

Possible Solution: It can be due to multiple reasons like not sufficient RAM memory, system heating and outdated gfx drivers. If you are meeting the minimum requirements of the game then your best shot is that you update your gfx drivers to the latest.

Problem #7 Crashing after Flash or Flashes

Possible Solution: If you are facing the issue that your game crashes after you move your camera to some specific place specially the bathroom, you should turn off the reflections ti solve the issue. This issue mostly occurs when your graphics card is unable to handle the graphics.

Problem#8 Launcher Error – Not a Valid Win 32 Application

Possible Solution: You should try running the executable directly. It can be found in:

• For XP: C://Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims Medieval/Game/Bin/TSM.exe
• For Win Vista/Win 7: C://Program Files (x86)/Electronic Arts/The Sims Medieval/Game/Bin/TSM.exe

Problem#5 Windows .Net Framework issue

Possible Solution: You should install Framework v4.0 to avoid any framework related errors. If you can’t fix it manually, you should try updating your windows. If you are using Windows XP SP2 then you should upgrade to SP3.

Problem#6 Cannot change screen resolution

Possible Solution: If you accidentally have changed game’s resolution to the one that is not supported by your Monitor/Screen and can’t see the anything to revert it back then you can try the following simple solution:

Head to Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims Medieval and delete options.ini file. New .ini file be generated having a default resolution of 1024 x 768.

Problem#7 CRC error while installation – CD Problem

Possible Solution: The problem is with your disc. You should replace it form the vendor.

Problem#8 Shifting back to Live Mode from Furnish mode or Kingdom Mode

Possible Solution: To shift back to Live mode, you must be on a quest.

Problem#9 Inaccessible Options Screen/Menu

Possible Solution: Reinstall the game but don’t apply the patch. This may fix your problem.

Problem#10 Sims Medieval Launcher error code 400

Possible Solution: Try updating the game launcher to fix the problem.

Problem#11 Disk Authentication Failure

Possible Solution: For disc based Sims 3 expansion or stuff packs, the game disc of the most recently released and installed title is always used to launch the game. This applies even if the expansion or stuff packs are installed out of order.