Have you encountered The Sims keeps crashing? If you find the game service initialization failed, you are probably facing it. It’s also terrible in the middle of gaming and then The Sims 3 crashes. What can you do to improve it? Let’s explore the answers together with NewsPivot.
The Sims 3 is a life simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It now has received mostly positive reviews from critics, and it currently has a high positive rating on Steam, which means it is rated as Very Positive.
The Sims 3 is an old game now, but there are still quite a few players. Some of the players report that their Sims 3 keeps crashing when they try to launch the game or while they are playing the game. Let’s see a report from a player:
Hi, since last week, after Steam got a new update, I tried to play my game, The Sims 3, as usual, but for some reason, my game loads, but crashes. It wasn't happening before, and then I tried to reinstall it all again, but still didn't help. I tried to see my files to see if there were any other errors or corrupted ones. I hope someone can help me pls, with any tips or solutions to this issue. I already tried everything.steamcommunity.com
What Causes The Sims 3 Crashing?
We’ve scouted the web and found some common causes.
- System compatibility issues: Since the Sims 3 is an old game, there was no Windows 8 when it was released, let alone Windows 10/11. Therefore, there may be compatibility problems when running it on later versions of Windows.
- Mods and costume content: Like the game Left 4 Dead 2, The Sims 3 community is known for its extensive use of mods and custom content, but these can sometimes cause instability and crashes. Mods or custom content that are outdated, poorly coded, or conflicting with each other can lead to crashes.
- Corrupted game files:Corrupted game files can also cause “The Sims 3 keeps crashing”. This can happen due to incomplete downloads, installation errors, or other reasons.
- Outdated graphics drivers: Graphics drivers are essential for running games smoothly, while outdated or corrupted drivers can cause crashes.
- Outdated DirectX: DirectX is used for dealing with tasks related to multimedia like 3D gaming, graphics, network gaming, videos and audio processing, etc. If your DirectX is too outdated to meet the requirements of The Sims 3, the game may crash.
- Memory leaks: When The Sims 3 fails to release the memory it no longer needs, memory leaks may occur. The Sims 3 will probably experience memory leaks when running for extended periods or with large amounts of custom content. This can eventually lead the game to crash.
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Solutions to Stop The Sims 3 from Crashing
Reboot Your System
Sometimes The Sims 3 keeps crashing, and it may be caused by software conflicts or process conflicts. If you can’t find the root cause, restarting your PC is the best choice. It’s effective to get away from annoying software conflicts, because after you power off and reboot your computer, those software or processes will be completely closed.
Then, you can restart The Sims 3 to see if the crash issue is gone.
Run The Sims 3 as Administrator
If you haven’t run The Sims 3 with administrator privileges, try to do so. It’s possible that The Sims 3 keeps crashing due to insufficient permissions. Your Sims 3 game program needs to gain enough access to essential files, otherwise it may crash.
You can follow the steps below to run The Sims 3 as an administrator.
Step 1: Right-click the game and select Properties at thebottom of the list.
Step 2: Find Compatibility and click it.
Step 3: Choose Run this program as an administrator, press Apply and then select OK to confirm.

Run The Sims 3 in Compatibility Mode
As we have mentioned above, The Sims 3 is an old game that there was no Windows 8/10/11 when it was released. It means that an incompatibility may occur, leading to “The Sims 3 keeps crashing”. But you don’t need to use or buy an old system to run the game, because Windows has the compatibility mode that allows you to run a program from previous versions of Windows.
Here are the steps to do it.
Step 1: Right-click The Sims 3 and select Properties.
Step 2: Choose Compatibility.
Step 3: Tick Run this program in compatible mode for, then choose which version of Windows you want.
Step 4: After choosing the version of Windows, press Apply and then select OK to confirm.

After that, you can restart your game to check if The Sims 3 crashing is gone. A suitable system should be able to run this game correctly.
Clean Boot Your PC
If you install too many mods and costume content, The Sims 3 will require more system resources to ensure its running. But what if you open multiple apps at the same time? The game may crash. To stop The Sims 3 from crashing, you may turn off apps and programs you don’t use in the background.
Here is how to do it.
- Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager. Or, you can press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard to open it.
- Then you will see apps and background processes you have opened in Processes.
- Choose the apps and processes you don’t use, right-click each of them, and select End task.
You can also perform a clean boot to close programs.
Step 1: Press Win + R to open the Run window.
Step 2: Input msconfig and click OK to open System Configuration.
Step 3: Choose the Services tab, tick the Hide all Microsoft services option and click Disable all. Then click Apply and select OK to confirm.

Step 4: Open the Run window and input msconfig to open System Configuration.
Step 5: Choose the Startup tab and click Open Task Manager.
Step 6: Click Startup in Task Manager.
Step 7: Select each startup item and click Disable.

Step 8: Reboot your system to perform the clean boot.
Uninstall Installed Mods
Game mods can increase the playability and interest of the game. However, if you install too many mods, they may cause the game to keep crashing due to incompatibility with each other.
To handle this issue, you can just uninstall mods that you recently installed, or uninstall the mods one by one until “The Sims 3 game keeps crashing” disappears.
Also, you can install some game-correcting mods to improve your gaming experience. Here are three mods that can help you, and you can download them from Nraas.
- ErrorTrap: This mod helps with game save clean-ups and error reporting.
- Overwatch: This mod is used for dealing with freezing and shut-downs.
- DebugEnabler: This one can be useful if you’re constantly experiencing the same bugs.
Verify the Integrity of the Game Files
When The Sims 3 keeps crashing, your game files may be corrupted. If some of your game files are missing, infected or corrupted, the game may crash or even not launch. In this case, you can verify your game files and repair them.
If you are a user of Origin Client, you can:
- Launch Origin Client.
- Click MY GAMES to view the list of your games.
- Right-click The Sims 3 and select Repair Game. Then follow the on-screen instructions to finish the operation.
If you are a user of Steam Client, you can:
- Launch the Steam Client and head to your game Library.
- Right-click The Slims 3 and select Properties.
- Go to the Installed Files tab and then click Verify integrity of game files.
Verifying and repairing the game files will take some time, please be patient.
Related post: How to Fix Forza Horizon 5 Crashing Constantly on PC?
Run Built-in Troubleshooting Tool
You can use the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter and the Blue Screen troubleshooter (if The Sims 3 crashed with a BSOD error) to fix the issue of The Sims 3 crashing.
Tip: The built-in Blue Screen troubleshooter has been removed in Windows 10 v1809 and higher.
Here’s how to run them.
Step 1: Type Control Panel in the search bar, and open it.
Step 2: Type troubleshooting in the search menu, and select Troubleshooting.
Step 3: Click View All to list all the troubleshooters.

Step 4: Select and run the troubleshooters mentioned above.
Step 5: Restart your computer to complete the troubleshooting.
Upgrade Your Graphics Driver
Another reason for the issue that The Sims 3 game keeps crashing on Windows 10 is the corrupted or outdated graphics card driver. It’s a common reason for game issues. You can upgrade your graphics driver to fix it.
Here is the tutorial.
- Press Win + R to invoke the Run window. Then input devmgmt.msc in the box and click OK to open Device Manager. Or, you can right-click on Start and then select Device Manager to open it.
- Double-click Display adapters to expand it.
- Right-click your graphics card and select Update driver.
Update DirectX
DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video. It’s essential to ensure that your DirectX is the latest if you want to play games smoothly.
To check your DirectX version, you can do the steps below.
- Press Win + R to open the Run window.
- Then input dxdiag and press Enter to launch DirectX Diagnostic Tool.
- Under the System tab, check the DirectX version.
Bottom Line
There are many reasons that cause “The Sims 3 keeps crashing”, and every reason matches a solution. You can use the above methods one by one to solve this kind of problem. We hope you have found the reason and then fixed it.