Here is a working compilation of crash fix solutions for The Sims 3 Pets. EA has just brought something new to the table with The Sims 3 Pets, as you can now take full control of your pets. Sure it’s an interesting twist to the franchise, but first you have to get past the bugs, crashes, and errors, that many The Sims 3 gamers are complaining about. To help you out, here’s a list of fixes to try:

(If you were looking for The Sims Medieval crash fix solutions, you can find them here)

Fixing The Sims 3 Pets Crashes, Freezing, Start crash, Crash to Desktop (CTD), Travelling Bug, Overheating, No Sound, Cannot Save / Load

As always, our first tip is to check whether or not your PC system can meet the following requirements to run The Sims 3 Pets:

The Sims 3 / The Sims 3 Pets Minimum System Rquirements

• OS: Windows XP/ Windows Vista/ Windows 7
• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.0 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 2000+
• Memory Ram: 1 Gb
• Hard Disk Space: 7 Gb free
• Video: 128 Mb @ nVidia GeForce FX 5900 / ATI Radeon 9500
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9
• Keyboard / Mouse
• Installation: DVD-Rom Drive

The Sims 3 / The Sims 3 Pets Recommended System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP/ Windows Vista/ Windows 7
• Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.5 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
• Memory Ram: 2 Gb
• Hard Disk Space: 8 Gb free
• Video: 896 Mb @ nVidia GeForce GTX 260 / ATI Radeon HD 4850
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9
• Keyboard / Mouse
• Installation: DVD-Rom Drive

The Sims 3 Pets Crash Fix and Fixes to Freezing, Start crash, Crash to Desktop (CTD), Travelling Bug, Overheating, No Sound, Cannot Save / Load

Problem #1 – The Sims 3 Pets Save Fix – Cannot load save game

Suggestion from the Steam forums:

Start a new game, save. Quit. And try to load that save. If it works, then the bad news is the problem is the save you were attempting to load has been corrupted and won’t ever work (or, I have never found a way to recover such a save).

If it doesn’t work, then try moving your Sims 3 folder in your My Documents and let the Sims create a fresh folder. Try the above again. If THAT works, then you MIGHT be able to copy the old save from the old folder into the new folder and try it. If it didn’t work, then you may need to try for help ini the official EA forumns on the Sims’s site.

Assuming the issue is a corrupted save, I highly reccomend installing Auto-Saver from Nraa (Google for it, but use at your own risk since this is a mod). It won’t prevent corrupted saves but it does set it up so you have a rotating number of saves that occur at a specificed time, helping you recover from such a problem more easily (i.e. you only lose back to when you last saved vs you lose everything).

Problem #2 – The Sims 3 Pets Crash Fix – Error: “This game is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later”

Please try the solutions to Problem #5 and #9 below to solve this crash fix.

Problem #3 – The Sims 3 Pets Crash Fix – “Unable to start game. Service initialization failed”

Some have reported that this is an HDD (hard disk drive) failure issue, and you might have to replace your HDD. Only consider this if you have tried all possible fixes and solution. Try the solutions to Problem #5 and #9 below.

Problem #4 – The Sims 3 Pets Bug Fix – Travelling bug / glitch

This bug apparently has partially to do with EA’s ‘doppelganger detection’ which is an attempt to prevent glitches from duplicating your Sims, incorrectly detecting your Sim as a doppelganger and attempting to delete it.

Some people have fixed this by using the following mods (Use at your own risk!!)

• Nraas Overwatch
• Error Trap
• Delphys Dashboard

NOTE: Please make sure you know how to install mods before attempting either though. http://www.the-isz.com/nraas/index.php?/topic/5-what-you-need-to-run-my-mods-faq-on-the-sims-3-and-script-mods/page__pid__5#entry5

Yes, it’s sometimes quite sad that we have to use mods to make Sims 3 even usable.

Problem #5 – The Sims 3 Pets Crash Fix – Crash to Desktop, Crash when controlling Sim, Blackscreen, Freezing, Game freezes during Live Mode, Locks PC

Try a combination of the following Solutions:

Possible Solution #1 – Set DEP for all The Sims 3 executable files:

1. Go to Control Panel/System/Advanced/Performance Settings.
2. Go to the Data Execution Prevention tab. Click on “Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select” and press “Add.” You will now add your Sims game, expansions and Stuff Packs to the DEP exception list. Copy-and-paste these locations in the spot where it says “File Name.”

• Sims 3 base game: Steamsteamappscommonthe sims 3GameBinTS3.exe and Steamsteamappscommonthe sims 3GameBinTS3W.exe as well, just for good measure (since this one is running all the time as well)
• World Adventures: Steamsteamappscommonthe sims 3EP1GameBinTS3EP01.exe
• High-End Loft Stuff: Steamsteamappscommonthe sims 3EP2GameBinTS3EP02.exe
• Ambitions: Steamsteamappscommonthe sims 3EP3GameBinTS3EP03.exe

Possible Solution #2 – Set Vsync forced for all Sims executables

Use the nVidia control panel or ATI catalyst to do this. I chose to only apply it to the above executables since I still want to control my Vsync for all other games instead of forcing it on for all applications

Possible Solution #3

Try removing Custom Content (downloadable Sims, objects, mods)

Possible Solution #4

Set “High Detail Lots” setting to 4 or lower

Possible Solution #5 – Reset Sims via console

Try opening the console in-game by pressing ctrl-shift-c, then enter “resetsim *” without the quotes. This will send all Sims back to their homes. Be sure your Sim(s) are not in the middle of something important with another Sim. What’s happening is some Sim in the game world is having a path finding issue, this causes freezes/freezing.

Problem #6 – The Sims 3 Pets Tip – How to redeem code / register The Sims 3 with Origin

1. Go to http://activate.ea.com, and redeem your code.
2. Go to https://www.thesims3.com/myAccount.html and click on Register a game to entitle the game to your account.
3. The game should show up in Origina (just refresh if it doesn’t)

Problem #7 – The Sims 3 Pets Save Fix – Overheating PC for ATI users (Solution by Birdbeast from The Sims 3 forums)

PowerPlay needs to be disabled. Fortunately, the one good thing about the Catalyst Control Center is that it supports the notion of “profiles,” so we can create a profile to ENABLE powerplay (for when you’re doing non-3D work with your computer) and another to DISABLE powerplay (for when you’re playing 3D games). You simply must switch between them before and after you play.

Here’s how:

(Note that I’m assuming your Windows drive is Drive C for the purpose of these instructions, AND that you are running the latest version of the ATI Catalyst Control Center and drivers — v9.5 as of this writing)

First, go to the following directory with Windows Explorer:

C:Documents and Settings[Your user name]Local SettingsApplication DataATIACE

If you are running Vista and you get “Access denied” messages trying to do that, go to this directory instead:
C:Users[Your user name]AppDataLocalATIACE

Now, open the Catalyst Control Center (right click on desktop, select it from the menu). Make sure you are looking at the ADVANCED view.

Click the “ATI Overdrive” item in the list to the left.

Make sure that Overdrive is unlocked (click the little key button if it’s there).

Now, click the arrow next to “Profiles” at the top of the window, and click “Profiles Manager.”

Type a name for your “PowerPlay ENABLED” profile (used when you are NOT playing games) in the drop down box. Make sure that in the Composition tab, the “the following settings” item is selected, and in the treeview list below, your graphics card is checked and beneath it, only the “ATI Overdrive” checkbox is checked.

Click the Save button.

Now, type the name for your “Powerplay DISABLED” (used for playing 3D games) profile in the drop down box, and click the Save button again. Leave this window open, but go back to Windows Explorer.

There should now be a Profiles folder in the directory to which we browsed above. Open it. There should be two XML files here, each named exactly what you named your profiles.

We will be leaving the “PowerPlay ENABLED” profile alone — it’s already set up exactly as it should be with all of the default settings for your card. You may wish to make a backup of this file, as you can always use it to restore your card to its default settings if you fear you’ve made a mistake.

Open the “Powerplay DISABLED” (3D games) profile in Notepad. Make the following changes.

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING SETTINGS ARE *ONLY* VALID FOR ATI RADEON HD 4870 GPUs. OTHER ATI GPUs REQUIRE OTHER SETTINGS. NVIDIA/INTEL GPUs ARE COMPLETELY OUT OF SCOPE OF THIS POST AND CANNOT BENEFIT. MAKE SURE TO READ YOUR GPU SPECIFICATIONS TO ENSURE THAT YOU ARE NOT SETTING YOUR FREQUENCIES HIGHER THAN YOUR GPU SUPPORTS.

Save the file in Notepad and exit. Right-click the file, click Properties, and click the “Read-Only” checkbox at the bottom. Click OK.

You may now close the Profile Manager window.

From now on, whenever you want to play a 3D game, open the Catalyst Control Center, click the arrow next to Profiles at the top, and select your “Disable PowerPlay” profile (whatever you named it). Similarly, when you’re finished, select the “Enable PowerPlay” profile.

When you use the “Disable PowerPlay” (3D games) profile, you will see that the sliders change values, the temperature may increase slightly, the fan speed will increase (in fact you may hear your computer make a louder noise when you select the profile — that’s your video card fan spinning up to a higher rate), and the “GPU Clock” and “Memory Clock” values will increase. That’s all perfectly normal. They will readjust to their former values when you re-enable PowerPlay with the “Enable PowerPlay” profile.

That’s it — read on for some additional modifications you could make to the XML file:

If your computer runs particularly hot (you can see the temperature of your graphics card processor(s) in the Catalyst Control Center’s ATI Overdrive tab — temperature, activity, and fan speed), you may wish to adjust the Fan Speed specified in the XML file. It’s currently set to 50% — you may adjust the value to anything from 20-100 (it’s in the “FanSpeedPercentTarget_0? and “FanSpeedPercentTarget_1? sections of the XML file — make sure to adjust BOTH numbers!).

Problem #8 – The Sims 3 Pets Crash Fix – nVidia Optimus Crashes the Game

If you’re using a newer laptop that’s using an nVidia Optimus card, try checking your Optimus settings. Open the “nVidia Control Panel” from your start menu. On the lefthand side, under “Select a task…”, open the “3D Settings” tree, and select “Manage 3D Settings”. Now on the righthand panel, click the “Program Settings” tab. Under “1. Select a program…”, click “Add”, navigate to your Steamsteamappscommonmagicka vietnam directory and select “Magicka.exe”. Under “2. Select the preferred graphics…”, choose “High-performance NVIDIA processor”, then (VERY IMPORTANT) click “Apply” in the bottom right.

Problem #9 – The Sims 3 Pets Crash Fix – Random Crashes upon Startup / Launch

If you’re game randomly crashes upon launching the game, ensure or try the following:

1. Update your nVidia / ATI graphics drivers
2. Turn off SLI / Crossfire
3. Try using only one GPU first (turn the other one off via your grpahics control panel)
4. Disable anti-aliasing and filtering
5. Disable V-sync
6. Disable background apps, and turn off your anti-virus software
7. Run through our list of general fixes, which will most likely resolve your problems

Problem #10 – The Sims 3 Pets Sound / Audio Fix – No sound or weak sound

For Windows 7 and Vista users:

First of all, update your sound card drivers. If doing that doesn’t clear up the problem, make sure you have volume set to max for The Sims 3 in the volume mixer (click on the little speaker icon in the bottom-right of your screen in the system tray). If you’re in-game, just alt+tab out of the game and check if The Sims 3 is set to max in the volume mixer.

Another tip you could try is to go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Communications Tab then select the “Do Nothing” radio button to permanently fix this issue.

For Windows XP users:

Reduce hardware acceleration, or set your speakers to Stereo.

There you have it my working list for The Sims 3 Pets crash fix solutions – again If you were looking for The Sims 3 Medieval fixes, you can find them here ; Let me know in the comments section below if you encounter other issues not posted above so the community can help!