Re: Re: SIms 3 on Windows 10

Hey, thanks so much for your help! I have just explored this options and restarted my computer after ensuring those step. Unfortunately when I tried to run the game again it still did the same thing....

Please see attached my dxdiag.

Hopefully this helps!

@omayday96  Before doing anything else, try to clear up a bit more storage on your hard drive.  While 15 GB free isn't critical, it could cause problems with Windows updates, especially if those updates try to run automatically while you have something else open.

Given some of the errors in your dxdiag, it's a good idea to run a couple of basic checks on your Windows system files.  Here's how:

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

If either scan doesn't run to completion, or sfc returns the message that it found corrupt files and was unable to repair some of them, stop here.  Otherwise, restart your computer and run any pending Windows updates.  Hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the button to check for updates.

For good measure, disable Origin in-game—it often causes problems for no apparent reason.  In Origin, hover over your username, select Application Settings, then Origin in-game, and turn off the setting right at the top.

If that doesn't help, the issue could be that OneDrive is trying to automatically sync the contents of Documents with cloud storage.  Either disable OneDrive entirely, or prevent it from auto syncing Documents.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/choose-which-onedrive-folders-to-sync-to-your-computer-98b8b011-8b94-419b-aa95-a14ff2415e85

Finally, there are a few Origin errors in your dxdiag as well.  If nothing else helps, clear Origin's cache, then uninstall it "the hard way."  This shouldn't affect your installed games.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/

Download the full installer, not the usual ThinSetup, and run it as an admin: right-click on the download and select "Run as administrator."  This is a direct download link:

http://download.dm.origin.com/origin/live/OriginSetup.exe

Once Origin is installed, run it as an admin too.

Please see the scan message below as there were some corrupt files:

"Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>"

@omayday96  I'd like to see the CBS log for sfc.  Please type "cmd" without quotes into the search box, and when Command Prompt appears, click the option to run it as an administrator.  Copy this line into the window, and enter.

"findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"

You'll have a file on your desktop called sfcdetails.txt.  Please attach it to a post.

Hey, Please see attached the sfcdetails.txt

BTW, Happy Easter!

@omayday96  At least one of the corrupt files sfc flagged is an issue that needs to be addressed.  The best way is to force update to the latest Windows build: that should replace the corrupt files outright.  As with all major updates, it's best to back up your data first, at least everything you consider important.  Open an Edge browser window (specifically Edge, not another browser), and go here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Right at the top of the page, you'll see the option to update to the latest build of Windows 10.  Shut down all other processes on your computer, and run the update.  Let me know if it fails, but this gives you the best chance of a successful update.

By the way, when did you get this laptop, and from where?  It's a bit surprising that you'd have this issue on a brand new computer.

Yeah, it's pretty frustrating. I got it less than 1 month ago from Harvey Norman.

I have just manually downloaded that windows 10... I left my computer whilst it was happening but when I came back to my computer it had completed and reset to my login page. Should I be uninstalling/reinstalling origin and my games now?

@omayday96  You don't need to uninstall anything.  Just test the game, and let me know how it goes.  If you get more crashes, please run another dxdiag and attach it to a post.  It will be interesting to see how things look now.

I just tried to run the game again and the same thing happened... see my dxdiag attached. 

@omayday96  Okay, try disabling your antivirus/firewall, at least long enough to test.  If it works, you can set exceptions for Origin.exe and TS3.exe.  Please also disable Windows Defender's Controlled Folder Access, at least temporarily:

https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/03/windows-10-defender-controlled-folder-access.html

If that doesn't help, please try the other suggestions I posted here, after the DISM and sfc instructions:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Re-SIms-3-on-Windows-10/m-p/8946074#M240387

It was more important to address the issue sfc flagged, but now that should all have been cleaned up.

Hello,

thanks again for all your help with this!! I have spent some time to disable OneDrive, Disable antivirus walls, re-install origin with the link you have given me and made sure I completed windows 10 updates. Yet I am still at a standstill ☹️

I ran the 

Please see attached my

- sfcdetails

- dxdiag

-scfscannow results:

"Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Try the new cross-platform PowerShell https://aka.ms/pscore6

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>"

Hope something here stands out 🙂

@omayday96  It's unusual that you'd have so many new errors right after a Windows feature update, and honestly I'm not totally sure why you do.  It's good that sfc cleaned up a couple of corrupt files, but that shouldn't have been necessary either.  I'll get back to you on this once I get a second opinion.

(By the way, I take it you meant you've manually run all pending Windows updates after you updated to build 1909?  If not, please check: hit Windows key-i, select Updates & Security, and click the button to check for updates.)

In the interim though, did you ever have two EA/Origin accounts merged?  The symptoms you've described are often related to a merge that was done incorrectly: essentially, the base game product key isn't working, so Origin blocks you from launching the game.  I didn't ask before because the other issues with your system could have explained the failure of Sims 3 to open, and besides, those issues needed to be addressed regardless of your ability to play.  But now I wonder if a badly done merge was the problem all along.

Just let me know whether you've had accounts merged, and we can go from there either way.

Yes, I ensured that it is all up to date.

Yes I had an old origin account that the sims 3 was previously linked to. Then years later when I had forgotten about this account and created a new one for sims 4, I had to get help from EA to merge those two accounts. Should I be checking in with Origin/EA to see if there is an error in any of the merging?

Thanks again for all you're help, it's been awesome!

@omayday96  Yes, you should definitely check with EA support to see whether your base game code is still active.  Unfortunately, some support reps are unaware that this is a problem and will try to convince you to do some basic troubleshooting.  But aside from your many posts in this thread that show you've already jumped through all the usual hoops, you can cite these two posts as evidence of the merging issue:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-does-not-launch-just-minimizes-Origin-for-a-second/m-p/8496434#M238646

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-at-all/m-p/8574411#M238855

If you don't get anywhere with the first support rep, you can walk away, so to speak, and try again later.

Awesome! thanks so much for all your help! I will let you know if i have any success with EA! 🙂

Can I also please show you this. 

After downloading the C++ visual requirements (as recommended by others posts on the EA Answers forum) I noticed that there is now a "windows - SSD" location where all of my origin files and game files have gone into Program Files (x86).

Could this be contributing to the issues?

@omayday96  The normal install location for Sims 3, at least in an Origin install is C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games.  Was that not where your game was before?  This is different than the Sims 3 user data folder in Documents\Electronic Arts, which holds your saves, mods, etc.  It's not a problem to have the game's program files where you described, although having a duplicate set of files would be an issue.

If this is different than what you're used to seeing, please describe what's changed.  And if you want to check for a duplicate install, open a File Explorer window and search for "TS3W" without quotes.  You should only have one on your system.  If you find more than one, please post the file path for each one here.