"Unknown Error" on Mac

@redblob93 Your issue is very common and has a well-known solution, and BluebellFlora has already directed you to the relevant thread at AHQ. As she is the source of all of our best troubleshooting practices for mac OS, I'd highly recommend following her advice.

This is what I did, but you might need to backup and factory reset your Mac first. This is to be sure that you have removed all sims 3 files completely from your Mac.

After you've done that, download and install your sims games one by one according to which was release first. It has to be installed one by one or the error might show up. So starting with the base game, once you've installed it, launch the game. If the launcher pops up, your game is good. Update if it is required. Repeat the process of installing, opening launcher, updating for each install.

At anytime the error occurs, follow the bluebellflora's video for the error for late night expansion pack. I can't post links so I hope someone else would.

BUT, instead of pasting it in the directory of your latest expansion pack, paste it in The Sims 3 directory.

I find that the problem is the update that came with late night, and it needs to update before installing any other expansions that came after it. Uninstall and reinstalling doesn't change the problem cause the files of uninstalled expansion packs seem to linger in the system. thus the reason to reset your entire Mac and reinstalling.
i hope it works for you!

@ZaraAdn

It absolutely isn't necessary to factory reset your Mac to get rid of all the Sims 3 files. That's extreme and not helpful to people who are not comfortable wiping their Macs. Simply manually uninstalling is enough. Factory resetting a Mac should only be done when there are evident problems of corrupted or missing files, permissions etc in the OS. And ONLY when the user is fully confident of what they are doing.

The problem is with Late Night, Ambitions, Fast Lane and Outdoor Living, macOS El Capitan and later versions of macOS. This is all very well documented here, at AHQ, on my site, and countless other sites, forums and social media channels. The video you refer to isn't mine, full credit for that goes to corey_0414.

Also there are additional issues EA/Maxis is aware of and is working to properly identify and fix. University Life has been a headache for some folks to download and this issue is also being researched. No word yet, but if you go to AHQ, you can keep tabs on any solutions there.

So I've had some trouble with installing and running the sims 3 on my new MacBook Pro. I have a 15 inch 2018 MacBook with the i7 processor and the Radeon Pro Vega 16 4080 MB and Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB.

Every time I install the Sims 3, "An unexpected error" pop-up appears each time upon launching Sims 3 from the Apps folder.

I've done various clean uninstalls, (after not being able to ever being to uninstall via the Sims 3 Uninstaller, as it doesn't show up there.

I've also tried dragging the icon onto the desktop , making a shortcut, and it wouldn't launch from there as well....this applies to Origins as well..

Please help :). I'd really appreciate it.

@minerva08 I know you've done a number of uninstalls, but please do one more, following Bluebellflora's instructions. If you don't clean out every single TS3 file, that could cause unknown errors going forward.

https://bluebellflora.com/how-to-do-a-clean-uninstall-and-reinstall-on-a-mac/

Then reinstall only the base game, and run the Super Patch (digital version). If packs are queued up to download, cancel them.

https://bluebellflora.com/sims-3-manual-super-patch-for-mac-1-67/

Try again to launch. If you still get an unknown error, the problem is likely that your graphics card is not supported by the game. The fix is to edit TS3's .sgr files to force recognition of the card. If you're not comfortable doing this yourself, someone can help you; just provide the device IDs of both cards. Here's how to find that information:

https://bluebellflora.com/2018/07/24/sims-3-mac-players-i-need-your-help/#Information

If the base game does run, you can start installing packs. Four of them—Ambitions, Late Night, Fast Lane, and Outdoor Living—don't install correctly, so you'll need to apply two workarounds. The first is easy: create an alias for each pack that doesn't already have on in Applications, alongside the alias for the base game:

https://bluebellflora.com/sims-3-packs-not-showing-as-installed/

The second fix is to copy files from the affected pack(s) into the folder for your newest pack, by the dates EA released them. This video walks you through the process:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-3-Unknown-Error-in-El-Capitan-Sierra-High/m-p/5725514#M5926

Finally, if you have any questions or would prefer specific instructions for any of the steps, just list your Mac's specs here, along with the packs you'd like to install. A description of how to find your specs is included with the graphics card device ID instructions.

Hey there, all our bug reporting and technical issue help has moved to Answers HQ, I'll provide you a link below where you can check it out, you may be able to get some help there if someone's had the same issue.

Check out here : Sims Mac AHQ