I fixed my Sims 3! I was getting random CTDs, actually random close to desktop without any error or warning and I tried all sorts of things to fix it including completely uninstalling and reinstalling, and when that didn't work... DESPAIR. Then I did some more searching and found what I have now dubbed the DERP error:
http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Data_Execution_Prevention My game is now 100% perfectly running again, HUZZAH!
Stupid derp error.