I am having the same problem but on the Mac and I am not tech savvy at all so if someone could walk me through step by step to get sims 3 to stop saying "finalizing" I would really appreciate it. It is not a wifi problem, I tried restarting my laptop, and I tried logging in and out of Origin.
@juditee If Origin is stuck finalizing, please run the reset tool:
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/how-to-reset-origin-on-mac/
It's also best to run the Super Patch (digital download version) before doing anything else.
https://bluebellflora.com/sims-3-manual-super-patch-for-mac-1-67/
Whether Origin is working or not, it's easier to launch the game from its icon in Applications\The Sims 3. Try that, and let me know whether the launcher opens. If it does, but you press play and get the server error instead, that's fine—it will go away once you install your packs. But if you try to open the launcher and get an unknown error, that needs to be addressed first.
It gets an unknown error before launching the menu
@juditee Okay, then you'll need to manually add your graphics card to the game's database. There are two files, graphicscards.sgr and graphicsrules.sgr, that need to be edited. You can find instructions, along with text already prepared for your Intel 640, here:
https://bluebellflora.com/2018/07/24/sims-3-mac-players-i-need-your-help/#Filesready
Click on the link for the 640, download the readme and the two text files, and follow the instrucitons to add the relevant text to each of the .sgr files. Then launch the game again, and let me know whether it works. (Don't run the Super Patch again, or it wil undo these edits.) Again, the server error can be ignored; the point is to see whether you can get past the unknown error and open the launcher.
Ok, I followed the step by step instructions and it still doesn't work ☹️
@juditee Please open graphicsrules.sgr, and cmd-F to search for "plus" without quotes. That will take you to these lines:
elseif (match("${cardName}", "*IntelIrisPlus*"))
seti cardLevel $cardLevelMedium
seti isCardMatched true
Highlight the part in bold, and replace it with this:
(match("${cardName}", "*Iris Plus Graphics*"))
Save, and quit. Don't change anything else about the entry, and don't retype the line if you accidentally delete something. The punctuation is finicky to get right and can change formatting without warning.
I might be doing something wrong, because I can't open the menu.
Thank you lots for your help, by the way 🙂
@juditee What menu can't you open?
When I click on the game’s icon I get the unknown error right away
@juditee Right, that's normal for the unknown error. Did you try the .sgr edit I suggested? If it doesn't work, we can try another one instead.
Yes, I tried it and it didn't work
