Sims keeps crashing...

[simaddict]

I'm not sure if you solved the problem yet but here's what I think.
I have had the same problem quite a bit. EA did a terrible job of programing this game and there are many things that cause problems. Most trouble makers are things that are not any fault of your own but of the incompetence of the EA programmers. There are a couple of things that are indeed caused by glitching or tricking the software into doing something it is not programmed to do. Teen mothers, for example, is something that can make a fairly well working game crash within 30 seconds of loading the town (which can take up to an hour when this happens). Below is a list of everything that I know of that can cause the sims 3 to crash or can otherwise affect the performance of the game. In bold are the ones that produce the most drastic outcomes. To lighten the mood I have included this The longer you stare at it the funnier it gets

Teen Moms

Changing Species of a Sim

Changing Age of a Sim

Otherwise adjusting a sim using testingcheatsenabled true

A Household Without a Young Adult/Adult/Elder

*Using testingcheatsenabled true to get rid of moodlets and drag around the need bars

Using tce true to edit relationships

**Using the buydebugcheat

Having a lot of sims (I strongly recommend having no more than 5 sims/pets in a household)

Pausing and playing repeatedly (kind of like flicking the lights on and off)

***DOWNLOADING ITEMS FROM THE EXCHANGE

Like I said, these are just the ones that I know of. There are probably too many minor things to count. One thing that is not in the list is having many expansion packs. I left this out because there are too many variables affecting how badly (or if at all) it affects your game. But I do suggest finding out just how much your computer can handle. You should look at the internal storage, RAM, the BIOS, the video card, and your operating system. In my experience, the sims 3 does not work at all on windows XP, you can only play maybe five or ten minutes before it crashes on windows vista, it seems to work best on windows 7, and crashing every once in a while on windows 8. If I left out your operating system I apologize, I just don't want to give out information unless I have had a fair amount of experience with.

*adjusting the needs of your sims and getting rid of moodlets doesn't appear to affect your game at first. You need to be using it constantly for about an hour before it can actually crash the game.

**I am not as sure about buydebug as I am with the other things, but to me it seems like something EA would "forget" to account for and mess up the game

*** I think that the exchange is one of the biggest things that will take the performance of your game and tear it to shreds. There are just so many items on the exchange that can cause any number of glitches and bugs. There are a few that will turn your babies and some of your toddlers into what looks like giant, flesh colored poles. Many can be worn by a different age group that they are meant for and can your tots look like they're possessed (the single scariest thing I have ever seen). A large number give men breasts (these are actually hilarious, but regardless, will still slow down your game). So many items downloaded from the exchange can totally mess up the sims 3. In my opinion, it is just not worth it. I would much rather have less clothes and hairstyles then not be able to play.