EA app will not launch Sims 3, unresolved for months

@kippjones11  Before doing anything else, please clear the EA App's cache:

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

and repair the game: open your game library, click Sims 3, and select Manage > Repair.

As a test, please move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  If you see an error when trying to move it, or the folder copies rather than moving, stop here and let me know.

Otherwise, try again to play.  If the game launches, a clean Sims 3 folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other user content will be intact in the folder you've moved but temporarily not read by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just see whether you can get far enough to start a new save.

If the game still won't launch, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

@puzzlezaddict Firstly, thank you for responding with so much information, I greatly appreciate it.

When trying to clear the EA app's cache, this is what popped up for me instead of a confirmation window: 

I tried restarting the app and followed the clear cache steps again but got the same result. I can still open the EA app, but not the clear cache prompt. It's not giving me the confirmation screen instructed through the link you attached. Should I disregard and try repairing the game? Or how do I fix this error too?

@kippjones11   Please uninstall the EA App with Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine).  Then restart your computer, download a fresh copy of the App's installer, and run it.  I'd like to know whether clearing the cache works this time around even though there shouldn't be any data worth removing—if the process still doesn't work normally, that points to a system or possibly account issue that needs to be addressed.  In that case, I'd like to see a dxdiag.

If clearing the cache works, please repair Sims 3 and try to play.

@puzzlezaddict Ok, I uninstalled and installed a clean copy of the app and it fixed the issue with clearing the cache. Initially when trying to repair my game it got hung up on an error message but I restarted the app a couple of times and managed to get through and complete the repair. I followed your instruction on moving my Sims 3 folder to my desktop, it didn't prompt me with an error or copy, it moved cleanly. However, it still will not launch the Sims 3 and provides me with the same error message I originally mentioned. I ran the dxdiag and attached it below

@kippjones11  Your dxdiag is full of generic Windows errors, meaning both that these should be addressed and that any potential Sims 3 errors may have been crowded out.  So please run a couple of basic checks of your Windows system files:

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes, 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 “Windows Terminal (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the box to check for updates.  If any install, restart again afterwards.

Try again to launch Sims 3.  If it doesn't load, restart your computer (again), disable your antivirus if you use a third-party tool, and try again.

If that doesn't work either, create a new admin Windows account and try playing in that.  Make it local, as in, don't tie it to your Microsoft account.  You'll be able to (try to) launch Sims 3 without reinstalling anything, but any saves or other user content you have won't be available.

If you still can't play, please look for any related errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.  Today is on the right.

Look for errors that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempts to launch Sims 3, specifically after you've run DISM and sfc.  If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.  If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.  If you find multipl errors, don't need to see exact duplicates; just let me know how many you found.  And I really only need ones that happened at exactly the time you tried to open the game.

I'm trying everything you suggested but I'm getting error messages even when uninstalling the ea app.  Very strange stuff.  

@hrhppg  Make sure the EA App and the EABackgroundService are NOT running in the Task Manager.  Download the free version of Revo Uninstaller and use it to remove the EA App.  Then restart your computer, download a fresh copy of the App's installer, and run it.  Let me know whether the App works normally, and we'll go from there.

Thank you !  I was nervous about installing Revo Uninstaller but it worked.   Edit ***  It worked until I closed the game and tried to get back in and then back to square one.  

@hrhppg  Okay, so a fresh install of the EA App works exactly once.  It might seem simple, but did you restart your computer after the App stopped working?  There's an EABackgroundService that keeps running even after the App is closed, which can occasionally cause problems, but it won't be running after a restart unless the App is also set to start with Windows.  By the way, please make sure the App is not starting with Windows; this can also complicate matters.

Do you use a third-party antivirus, and if so, have you set an exception for EADesktop.exe?  The fact that a program runs properly once and never again (until a clean reinstall) suggests that something is blocking or deleting some component of that program.  If not an antivirus, it could also be a cleaner app that's getting too aggressive.

I didn't restart that time, but I have since and it seems hit or miss if the game launcher loads.  I don't have any 3rd party antivirus or a cleaner app that I'm aware of but I'll have to double check.  Thank you for the help btw, I really appreciate it.