Which is it then, either it's not the age, or it is?
When I mean old hardware, I mean;
i3-530 at 2.93Ghz (2 cores with hyperthreading... yes, that old)
4GB DDR3 RAM at 1333Mhz
Windows 8.1 on a 160GB HDD 7200RPM
Game is on a 2TB HDD 7200RPM
GPU used was a MSI R9-270OC 2GB running stock, no increases to clock speed or GPU memory usage.
Game run at max texture quality, all lighting, shadow and grass options on. After about half an hour is when transitions/loading times start to suffer.
Ran a second test with an older Nvidia card - GTX560Ti Twin Frozr II 2GB RAM (from 2011, less powerful than the R9-270 in previous test).
Only difference is that loading/transition times were longer from the start, and got longer still around the same amount of time later.
That's too much to do for one game, especially for this one.
Doubtful. The "crash" has only been described as a crash, no details beyond that (It's also when going to Danielle's house).
A more comprehensive description of the "crash" - what times in-game for both locations - along with the Output Log would be more helpful.