Hi there!

I'm having some trouble with CAW. I've followed every troubleshooting step I could find but I'm still having the same issue. After launching the executable the splash screen shows for 2-3 seconds before the program closes silently without an error message or any logs in documents or the installation folder.

Here's the steps I've tried so far:

- Made sure I'm using the correct version (1.67 for me)
- Ran CAW as admin
- Deleted my documents folder for the main game to rule out CC/mods/save corruption etc.
- Uninstalled CAW and deleted any leftover files
- Ran in compatibility mode for Windows 8
- Copied the installation folder to my desktop and ran the exe from there
- Made sure the exe is large address aware

And here's my system info:

Game version: 1.67 + all expansions
OS: Windows 11 Pro
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600
RAM: 32GB
Motherboard: ROG Strix B450-F Gaming
Storage: 1TB SSD + 4TB HDD (game is installed to my SSD)


I should add that I've used CAW on this PC before without issue, but it was a while ago and I've had to do a fresh install of Sims 3 since then. Also, apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place, and thanks in advance for any help with this!

Take a look on this thread about issues with CAW:
https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=441595

I saw that thread earlier and as far as I know I've tried everything there already, unless there's something specific I missed?

Thanks for your quick reply!

Maybe if you reinstall CAW the problem would be solved. Before that make sure you've made a backup of your saved worlds.

This application usually had hard time running properly, even on high end machines. After the installation make sure you've turned on vertical sync and fps limit to 60 fps. Also make sure it's using the GPU as preferred graphical unit.

And finally make the app to use one core of the CPU, because CAW and Sims 3 are depending on single core performance (this is the way they were build). Here is tutorial how to do this: https://youtu.be/ivLIBidTw1c?si=1a0kzHBSIlERQaha
From there uncheck all CPUs listed except CPU 0.

I've tried uninstalling already but I did it again to be sure I haven't lost my mind.

I just tried the other steps you mentioned as well. I used NVIDIA control panel to limit the FPS and turn on vertical sync and limited the CPU cores in task manager as you said but still no luck unfortunately! I appreciate your help with this regardless.

Hi @sukubu ,

Try running Memory Diagnostics by hitting Windows button + R and type "mdsched.exe". This will run a memory diagnostics prompt that could fix potential issues with your PC's RAM.

Hi again @vesko_sims3! I tried what you suggested but it didn't find any issues. My RAM is fairly new (I think I upgraded around a year ago roughly) and I've used CAW on it both before and after upgrading.

I appreciate all your help and please let me know if you can think of anything else for me to try. I'm honestly more interested in finding out what the problem is than actually fixing it at this point!

The only thing that came to my mind right now is to delete the system temporary files, not these generated by CAW, but by Windows itself.

The first folder is located in C: drive > Windows > Temp. To delete all the files at once press CTRL + A then CTRL + D.

The next folder is actually hidden and you have to make it visible in Control Panel > File Manager Options > View > Show hidden files, folders and devices. The folder is called AppData and it's located in C:/Users/<user>/AppData. There is three folders, but you need Local folder - there is also folder called Temp all delete it's containings.

Finally clean the temporary files using the build in cleaner in Settings > System> Storage. Windows not always clean them all, and thats why I clean them manually before that.

My computer is also rather new, but I regularly do this "mdsched.exe" thing because I use big range of software products on daily basis. And you probably know how bad Windows 11 can be.

Unfortunately no luck still. You're completely right about Windows 11 being bad, I suspect it's probably an update or something that's caused it. I've been debating reinstalling Windows 10 anyway so I may do that as a nuclear option if nothing else works.

Is there anything else you can think that might be the cause? Thanks again!

Are you running CAW for the first time on this PC or this happened recently? You could be right about that an update ruined things up.

Do you have done a Windows update recently or OneDrive sync?

I'm glad to report that doing a full uninstall and reinstall of the game and EPs etc, which was tedious, but it worked!

I managed to catch CAW giving a PATH NOT FOUND result in process monitor. The path it was looking for was correct but it was using ¥ instead of backslash in the directory, so my best guess is that it's because I have the Japanese language pack installed to my PC and it messed up my previous installation.

I would have given up otherwise if not for your support, thanks again for all your help!