Sims 3 crashes randomly with Unknown Pointer error

Lurka · (This post was last modified: 04-29-2018, 07:56 PM by Lurka.)

Hi,
Sims 3 often crashes randomly with Unknown Pointer error. That's occurred with different builds of Dolphin, using either passthrough or emulated keyboard.

Is it a game bug or do you think the image could be corrupted? The partition integrity check fails, but it isn't all that reliable. I have other games that fail the check, but run perfectly.

[Image: 34dn75x.jpg]

Goodbye,
Lurka

**KHg8m3r** · 04-30-2018, 04:17 AM #2

If your disc is failing the integrity check, you should definitely redump your game

Lurka · 04-30-2018, 08:16 PM #3

(04-30-2018, 04:17 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: If your disc is failing the integrity check, you should definitely redump your game

Ok, should I consider to redump every game that fails partition integrity check? Or just those games that suffer crash issues?

Does the error code in the screenshot above indicate a graphical issue or is it impossible to determine from that information?
Could I try disabling some specific enhancements/hacks to fix it?

Thank you and regards,
Lurka

**KHg8m3r** · 05-01-2018, 02:11 AM #4

It's probably a good idea to redump all the ones that fail, because the failed integrity check means that something on the disc is bad. Could be as small as a typo, or a game-breaking issue like this.

Lurka · 05-02-2018, 05:56 AM #5

(05-01-2018, 02:11 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: It's probably a good idea to redump all the ones that fail, because the failed integrity check means that something on the disc is bad. Could be as small as a typo, or a game-breaking issue like this.

Repeated the dump of Sims 3, there is actually a difference from previous image.
Integrity check is now successful, but... same identical error in game after 10-20 minutes. Confused

Bye,
Lurka

**DJBarry004** · 05-02-2018, 07:46 AM #6

Does it still crashes if you use Single Core mode?

Lurka · 05-03-2018, 10:21 PM #7

(05-02-2018, 07:46 AM)DJBarry004 Wrote: Does it still crashes if you use Single Core mode?

It still crashes with single core.
The culprit is apparently DSP HLE Emulation.
Needs more testing, but disabling DSP HLE seems to have resolved the issue.
Does it sound plausible to the developers?

Bye,
Lurka

**DJBarry004** · 05-04-2018, 12:54 AM #8

Which audio backend you´re using (XAudio, Cubeb)?

**Helios** · 05-04-2018, 02:29 AM #9

Try disabling dual core in config.

Some games crash like this on dual core, and it's been happening a lot more.

Lurka · 05-05-2018, 06:41 AM **#10**

After more testing, I am positive that the crash was caused by DSP HLE emulation.

-The crash occurs with either xaudio2 or cubeb backend.
-Disabling DSP HLE in game properties fixes the problem, but breaks game performance.
-However, setting DSP LLE recompiler in audio options retains good performance (what's the difference?)
-All other settings on default (including use of dual core).

Using Intel i5 with Realtek audio device.
The crash occurred on all builds I tested: 7020, 7038, 7127, 7168, 7192
Currently using build 7168, because 7192 broke some other games badly (will make a new separate thread for that).

Bye,
Lurka