The Sims 3 Patch version 1.3: Crashes, Pathfinding, Rage, and More!

Lets Play The Sims 3 in 3 hour bursts!

Its been around a week since the Sims 3 patch 1.3.24 came out.

We’ve seen comments and threads of users detailing the mischief the patch caused.

Besides the  much needed story progression fixes the patch introduces, the game can still crash and will occasionally deliver a blue screen of death (BSOD).

Before you install Sims Patch 1.3 and 1.4

Remove ALL your mods! Yes, I do stress ALL of them. The patch is very picky. It does not like modifications to any file whatsoever. It will pass over official custom content but will freak out with any type of hacks you implemented. The folders where mods are usually installed are:

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts
\The Sims 3\GameData\ Shared\NonPackaged\Ini

Usually contains camera modifications, you must restore the original unmodified file!

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\resource.cfg

The resource.cfg file tells the game where to check for mods.

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods

The mods folder is where all mods are installed. You can move them to Desktop.

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin

This is where the original nude patch installed. It doesn’t work with The Sims 1.3 patch. You need to restore the original files the nude patch edited.  Download the orginal Shaders_Win32.precomp  file in this directory. Please install No Mosaic  instead once the patch is finished.

How to Avoid Crashes

After you install the patch you can safely add certain mods back into the game. However, due to player feedback, certain mods will crash the game. Please be sure to check each mod’s website to see if the author has updated for the latest Sims 3 1.3.24 patch. Some  general tips you can follow are to:

• Remove the AwesomeMod if installed before July 30th, 2009.
• Reinstall the AwesomeMod post July 30th, 2009.
• Remove the IndieStone version 0.5a, wait until the author updates it.
• Remove the  bodyslider casslider hack mod wait until the author updates it.
• Reducing the high detail lot sizes to 4 may help to reduce crashes.
• Disabling antivirus software may reduce crashes.
• Deleting “cache” package files in the
  My Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/
  especially scriptCache and simCompositorCache.

Even if you follow everything listed above, the game will still crash. I don’t know, but I think EA just couldn’t find a way to make this game stable on all computers. There have been reports of crashes and video card failure on machines that highly exceed the minimum requirements.

User Experience with the Patch

Certain users experienced path finding issues where a Sim will not autonomously use any items in another room.  This caused issues where a Sim won’t go to work because they somehow cannot find the car outside. 

For the path finding bugs, the current suggestion is to delete the files:

My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\scriptCache.package

This file is located in the My Documents folder, not the Program Files folder! Deleting Cache files will force the game to reload it’s data.

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\d3dx9_31.dll

Removing this file will also stop certain mods from working, be sure to check which mods install this file.

I’ve also seen complaints regarding sound issues whether it’s stuttering or not playing at all. Make sure you update your sound drivers before posting a dxdiag log at the official forums.

My Experience with the patch 1.3

My game for the most part ran as well as it did before the patch. It was able to start and load everything in the previous game. However, the longer I ran the game, the more likely it was to crash.

I can last 2-3 hours without a crash. The more serious “blue screen of death” occurs only when I’m editing a Sim in Create a Sim mode.  There was also an issue where the arrows to expand or shrink rooms appear in Live Mode and are practically unusable until you switch to Build Mode.

The Sims 3 Patch Downloads

Did the patch kill your game? Looking for an older patch to upgrade to?

• 1.2.7.0001 from 1.0.631.0001
• 1.2.7.0002 from 1.0.631.0002
• 1.3.24.0001 from 1.2.7.0001
• 1.3.24.0002 from 1.2.7.0002