Re: Error during startup
@jenna_howl462 I've split your post into its own thread, as the previous thread was old, and not helpful to you. (This isn't surprising, since it predates Windows 10 by a couple of years.)
Thanks for the dxdiag; it makes troubleshooting a lot easier. One thing that stands out is that your graphics card drivers are out of date. Both the Nvidia and Intel drivers should be updated, preferably through Dell's website, or (failing that) through the Nvidia and Intel sites.
There are plenty of causes for the "error during startup" message. If updating your drivers doesn't help, the easiest next step is to pull your entire TS3 game folder out of Documents and onto your desktop. When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content. If you can load a new save and play for a bit—just long enough to confirm that everything's working—you can move your saves and other content into your new game folder from your old one. Here's a list of all the files in that folder:
https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html
If that doesn't help, you might have an issue with your computer's registry. Have you ever uninstalled and reinstalled TS3 on this computer? Have you tried to move any of the game's program files around? You might need to uninstall, clean the registry (either manually or with a tool like Piriforn's CCleaner), and reinstall. If you have saves you'd like to preserve, store your game folder somewhere else and rename it temporarily.
Also, has this computer ever run TS3 successfully? If not, you may need to enable .NET framework 3.5, as it sometimes is disabled. It should already be installed though.
One other question is whether you have any antivirus/firewall running. It might be blocking TS3, or Origin if you need it to play. You can test this theory by taking your computer completely offline before playing; if you use Origin, sign in and then put it in offline mode. If this is the issue, be sure to set exceptions in your antivirus/firewall for both Origin and TS3.
