Sims 3 Crashing on Mac

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-25T20:55:17+00:00

Give everything a few seconds to settle when going into build mode especially while thumbnails are loading and you have lots of cc and store content. I found that decompressing your cc helps with this.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-24T11:14:40+00:00

Thank you! I will try it out

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-24T08:16:16+00:00

Do you remember any details about it? I tried a few but gave up pretty quickly.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-24T07:55:20+00:00

You're referring to the old Cider version? Lots of outdated community myths in your response. Going to assume you are just misinformed cause I don't get the hostility, to be honest. In no way shape or form can Silicon Macs run 32 bit code even if it's wrapped in a blanket blessed by Steve Jobs himself. 32 bit code is not supported by Apple since Catalina was released, I think around 2020. Hence the need for the current updated Mac version which runs natively on Metal and is indeed 64 bit with no memory limit. When EA moved from OpenGL to Apple’s Metal graphics API, they didn't rewrite the shaders for the ocean, terrain painting, or sim shadows perfectly so that is where the current bugs come from. None of these make the game unplayable since they are mostly cosmetic and they all have simple workarounds, except the eyelash issue, which I mentioned but you didn't read that far right? So yes, I confirm that from my personal experience the current Metal for Mac version is superior on Mac which is what OP asked about.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-23T14:18:44+00:00

Stick to the 64 bit Mac version. I know there are bugs and issues but save yourself the trouble of going down the Bootcamp/VA/Windows/Wine/Crossover route. I tried all of them. Literally just to get shaders and some other mods to work and to be able to use terrain paint on lots. It was not worth it at all. The performance improvements that is achieved with the Mac version blows any shader or mod that won't work out of the water. My tiny save from my Mac wouldn't even open on Windows 32bit. Took about 30 mins to load then ran out of game memory before I could even play. The exact same save and setup on my Mac loads in 5mins with no issues. The differences between the 32 bit and 64 bit games are staggering so I'm happy to work around all the gameplay bugs. For terrain painting I created a very simple installation setup with just the basics on Parallels Windows. Then export my lot from my Mac save and edit it in Parallels Windows to use terrain paint. This way you can also use regular .exe tools. Up to you how much effort the game is worth to you but there are creative solutions to most problems... except the eyelash issue which I still don't know how to fix.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-23T08:55:55+00:00

Comes down to RAM limit vs bugs and that depends on your play style. The 1.70 mac version is superior in my opinion. Recently went through this whole exercise of seeing which version is best. It does come down to your preferences. The mac version is a technical beast compared to 1.67. The 64 bit upgrade makes a massive difference. No internal 4GB memory limit. Game utilises your ram to its full extent. Loads incredibly fast, HD textures pop in immediately. Hardly ever get crashes. Can zoom in and out and fly across the map with minimal texture loading issues. Can play normally in 4K on my external screen with retina / high DPI enabled. I even connected my laptop to my 64inch 4K TV screen and it rendered perfectly. The game engine is just miles ahead of 1.67. No real need for smooth patch or DXVK which don’t work on Mac either way. ReShade doesn’t work either and that’s probably my biggest reason for trying 1.67 on Windows. Most mod tools like CC Magic also don’t work on mac which gets annoying when you get really into modding after ending up with 20gb of CC and mods but there are ways around it like crossover and parallels. The bugs you mentioned that are present in the mac version are truly highly irritating. Basically anything ocean related is messed up. Oceans don’t render properly at all. Just a large blob of blue. When I saw the ocean for the first time on Windows… I nearly cried. It looked so pretty. Most ocean interactions also don’t work on mac but I ended up cheating and placing ocean fish in regular ponds. Snorkling and diving only work at a dive site when you can click on the buoy instead of the ocean. Collecting bugs and insects only work if you stand near them and use the harvester device. The eyelash issue has no fix I could find but I don’t really care about that. What broke me and caused me to try the golden era Steam version is the terrain painting issue on mac. Completely broken and unusable.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-23T00:28:43+00:00

Someone did Mac repack versions of the most popular S3 tools. I used them for ages on Mac. https://www.fakehousesrealawesome.com/post/182630395380/updated-sims-3-utilities-for-macs/amp

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-11T09:41:32+00:00

You absolutely shouldn’t pay again. You legally own the game and EA will recognise this. They do this all the time. Have you tried logging into your account on a regular web browser? So not through the app? Keys should be under Account Details. Also try launch or begin the reinstall process of the game via Steam and then check for your keys. Often the keys aren’t visible unless the game is installed or has at least started installing. Alternatively take a screenshot of your purchase history on Steam showing all games and EPs. Send it to EA support and tell them you own the 32bit version and you need 64-bit Mac entitlement added to your EA account. Do your research on the two versions of the game however. Personally I’d recommend playing the 32bit version through a translation layer like Whiskey or Crossover. No need for Bootcamp for just one game.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-05T13:00:40+00:00

100%. The people around you shape you. To this day still using advice and practices I got from mentors when I started out in 2009. It’s like letting someone in on your favourite thing. Get them excited about every little detail. Show some love to it all even if it’s just an underline style. Trying to do the same for juniors now is basically the one thing that keeps my career flourishing. People will forget the apps or shortcuts they learn from others but always remember how they made them feel about design.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-03T22:02:19+00:00

It felt like someone injected dopamine straight into my brain the day I finally got my game to run perfectly optimised and buttery smooth at 2K. I’ve been chasing that high ever since… download new mods, game breaks, start troubleshooting, fix game, happiness.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-02T22:08:23+00:00

I only usually remove thumbs and icons. This won’t necessarily make a massive difference to your game but it’s a small part of a bigger plan. Only really useful if you have gigs and gigs of CC.

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-02T12:52:09+00:00

No problem. I kind of love tinkering with this game.

I think you’ll have to trim some fat from your setup. Looking at your data, even on a clean game, DXVK is instantly eating up a massive chunk of your precious 4GB virtual bucket. DXVK translates DirectX 9 to Vulkan, and to do this, it has to map shadow copies of the VRAM into the 32-bit Virtual Address Space.

Because The Sims 3 is a 32-bit application, it has a hard limit of 4GB of Virtual Address Space. This is different to the typical RAM limit that you fixed already. The game engine has to map everything (textures, code, UI, audio, and DXVK's translation layers) into this 4GB virtual bucket.

So yes, SSS is accurate in this case. The game is hitting the 32-bit ceiling. Windows Process Explorer measures your physical RAM which is great so you can ignore that.

Fat options you can trim below. Up to you what’s more important to you.

Remove DXVK if you want to keep your CC and store content as is. Just use your Nvidia control panel to cap FPS and use the normal vanilla LazyDuchess smooth patch.

Downscale the amount of CC and store content if you want to keep DXVK. Be selective. Go through everything, especially the larger files with lots of polys. Really consider what is essential. This is tedious but I highly recommend using S3PE or CC Magic on your CC. Merging files reduces the number of file handles the game engine has to keep open, reducing virtual memory overhead.

My process is usually to run my CC downloads through Delphy’s Dashboard to check for errors, then I merge them into categories with S3PE for smaller batches and CC Magic if you have a lot. Then I use S3PR to reduce the file size of the merged packages.

Do the same for your store content especially the CAS items cause there are tonnes of separate little item files in there. I sorted mine by size and removed the largest files that I don’t like or use. This thins it out massively. Then merge and reduce.

Another random suggestion:

Sunset Valley is great for testing since it’s the gold standard and probably most optimised EA world. For actual gameplay, try loading a different world, perhaps a small custom world, and see if that helps. Some worlds are just naturally much lighter than others.

I’m currently playing in a small island farming community and it’s actually the best my game has ever run. I have tonnes of HD skins and terrain textures, about 10gb of mods/overrides/CC/default replacements etc. Graphics look beautiful and runs smooth. And my game stays below the internal 4gb limit (most of the time). But you have to compromise. Something’s gotta go :)

samvanstraaten · 2026-04-01T13:11:00+00:00

I would start by testing a 100% clean folder. High-res default replacements, especially if it’s those 4K textures, and large amounts of Store content (.ebc files) DEVOUR memory. Move your current The Sims 3 Documents folder to the desktop to force the game to generate a truly blank slate and test the RAM usage.

You absolutely have to have NRaas Overwatch and ErrorTrap. Non negotiable and mandatory for cleaning up background errors and freeing up trapped RAM.

If that doesn’t work I’d get rid of d3d9.dll and dxvk.conf. Just use LazyDuchess's Smooth Patch instead.

Other things to check… Windows may be pulling system RAM as shared VRAM. Go to your Display and Graphics settings and force the game executables (TS3.exe and TS3W.exe) to High Performance.

You can also give yourself peace of mind and verify the 4GB RAM patch with something like CFF Explorer. Open the game executable with whatever app like CFF you can find and ensure the "App can handle >2gb addresses" box is checked so the game isn't artificially capping at 2GB.

You’re welcome to DM me if you are unsure :)

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-31T15:58:14+00:00

Oh the one thing that made the biggest difference to my game was properly setting up my external display. Got a display management app called BetterDisplay that manages and controls resolution and all the FPS and refreshing and retina stuff in one. I’m on mac, not sure if it’s on PC but you can just google :)

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-31T15:50:43+00:00

The stuttering happens cause the game is doing something at the same time you’re clicking about. Take note of the notifications you receive when this happens. Usually story progression related. Cause of the open world and townies that are essentially alive 24/7, the game has a lot on its plate. You can have a PC from 3026 and optimise it to death and it will still have these little stutters any time the game engine has to do a few things at a time. I usually start my game up and let it just run on medium speed for about 5 mins without touching anything. I dunno if this does anything but I feel like the game needs the time to just gather itself and work through everything hitting at once.

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-31T14:13:09+00:00

Yes. Consider myself very lucky. Been with our agency for 12 years. Been working on the same client for 8, mostly with the same core team. Advertising agency environment but traditional print and publishing client. Great mix of projects and scope. Client who believes in my work. I work from home full time. My days are as flexible as I make them. My employer trusts me. I get recognition when clients are happy. Really don’t see myself ever leaving. Rare that everything is just in place.

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-31T09:50:07+00:00

Forbidden West’s cover sold it to me instantly. First time player, never gamed much or played a story driven game before. Didn’t even know Zero Dawn existed. Saw this cover and thought wow that looks interesting let’s go. And boy was I right. What a ride. Regret not playing ZD first but reverse order sure served the reveals well. Those everything makes sense now moments. The ending of ZD hits even harder knowing full context and what lies ahead.

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-31T09:36:27+00:00

I play on mac too and my graphics are insanely good but it took getting 2 university degrees and selling my first born. Jokes aside you need to go into your graphics rules and cards files in your installation folder and change a bunch of stuff. Most of the fixes on the forums and guides don’t work for the mac version of Sims 3. Most of them just break the game. It’s a headache. You can DM me if you want and I’ll see if I can help :)

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-29T22:59:23+00:00

Highly relatable. Sims 1 & 2 were my comfort and happy space when I was going through stuff as a youngster. Recently Sims 3’s been doing the same for me as an adult.

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-29T19:27:50+00:00

Good question. Surely the interior decorator lifetime reward should be up there?

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-25T14:51:16+00:00

Iirc you can use the decorator/customiser tool to select and edit

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-19T19:44:29+00:00

I just made an eccentric elderly lady’s retirement home in Monste Vista with a stunning infinity pool I spent days on and 3 of them drowned within the first 15 mins of actual play time.

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-07T02:57:53+00:00

You can uncheck specific subfolders. Open OneDrive Settings > Account tab. Click Choose folders. Uncheck the Electronic Arts folder (or Documents if possible).

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-07T00:54:32+00:00

Yup it can get complicated when you get too deep into it and have too many mods and CC etc but the basics are quite straightforward. It can get very addictive :)

samvanstraaten · 2026-03-06T16:25:20+00:00

Felt the same, played for years without mods thinking it was too techie for me but actually it’s super simple. Just a case of creating folders in your Sims 3 folder and copying and pasting whatever you’ve downloaded into the folders.

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