Re: EA app will not launch Sims 3, unresolved for months

@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.  

@hrhppg  Do you ever run into the issue if you've restarted your computer immediately beforehand?  A number of players have reported that the EABackgroundService prevents them from running Sims 3 for a second time, that is unless they kill the service or restart their computers.  The other exception would be if the EA App needs to update but can't for some reason, so this isn't an 100% effective intervention, but I'm wondering whether it helps at all.

Point is, whenever this happens, please either restart or kill the service, then try again.  Let me know if this helps, or if and when it doesn't, try forcing the App to update.  Go here:

C:\Program Files\EA Desktop\EA Desktop

Launch the EAUpdater.exe, let it do its thing, and try again.

I'm late getting back to this but I don't have an EA Desktop anywhere on my pc.  I'm doing another search now but so far that isn't an option for me.  BTW thank you for this and all the other threads where you give advice and offer help.  It is appreciated.  

@hrhppg  If the EA App is installed at all, it will be installed here:

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\EA Desktop

The App doesn't give a choice as to where it's installed.  So either you haven't reinstalled the App yet, or you're not looking in the correct place.

It said EA is already updated...exiting.  I'm ready to start a civil suite.  

When I try to install the expansions they are going to this path.  c:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 3   is that weird since that isn't the same as the one you had me look for?

@hrhppg  That's the correct location.  The EA App itself is installed into the folder I mentioned.  But the games it installs are located in C:\Program Files\EA Games by default, and you can change this if you want.

If you still can't launch Sims 3, please post a new dxdiag.

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

Like this?

@hrhppg  Yes, that's what I was looking for.  When you launch the EA App, does it load fully, as in, you can click on your game library and see which games are installed and which are not, including game tiles?  If so, what do you see on-screen when you try to launch Sims 3?  Please post an error message if you see one; otherwise just describe what happens.

Additionally, please let me know what antivirus, if any, you're currently using.

EA launches normally and I can see my games and game tiles.  When I try to launch the sims it loads normally.  My antivirus is whatever is on my Windows 10 Pro, I took a screenshot.  

@hrhppg  That's good to hear.  Are there any outstanding issues with your game you'd still like to resolve?  If so, plese let me know.

Yes, I'd still like to download the expansion packs I purchased.  

Hi there @puzzlezaddict , 

I am experiencing a very similar issue with the Sims 3 after the switch from Origin to EA App was made. I can open the EA App and see the Sims 3 in my library. I can select Play from the library, and it brings me to the Sims 3 Launcher. However, if I try to press play on the Sims 3 Launcher, the play button will go grey for a few seconds before I am booted back to the EA App library screen. At no point does the game load beyond the launcher. 

I have tried the steps you outlined in this thread so far. I cleared the EA App Cache, I repaired the Sims 3 game files through the EA App, I moved the Folder from Documents to the Desktop and saw the new folder for Sims 3 pop up in Documents after I loaded up the launcher, and I also completed the two steps you provided regarding using the Windows terminal commands. However, this has not yet corrected the problem I am experiencing. 

I do not use a third party Antivirus software. 

Here is the log of the error that occured after I input the "perfmon /rel" command and pulled up the error logs that were listed in the following screen: 
Problem: Stopped working                                          
Description
Faulting application name: TS3.exe, version: 0.2.0.32, time stamp: 0x568d4bac
Faulting module name: TS3.exe, version: 0.2.0.32, time stamp: 0x568d4bac
Exception code: 0xc0000094
Fault offset: 0x005511f2
Faulting process id: 0x0x78B0
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1DA0560945E21D1
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3.exe
Report Id: 1cb92696-3b65-4532-972e-d48e1e26c46c
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
 
If you have any insight or help on how I can go from here, I would greatly appreciate it. I just don't know why this issue even happens with many players of the Sims 3. 

Sincerely,
@PermaFrost358

@hrhppg  What happens when you try to install your expansions?  If you get an error, please post a screenshot.  There are several issues with downloading packs at the moment, all of which may have the same root cause, but for now at least, they all have their own error messages and corresponding threads.

@PermaFrost358  It looks like you have this issue:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11057820#M248615

Try one of the workarounds in the accepted solution.  Apply the one of your choice to TS3.exe, without the W, since you're playing through the EA App.

Hi there @puzzlezaddict , 

So I tried the LazyDuchess patch but unfortunately that had not corrected the problem. I then tried the "Limit CPU processor to 1" method and that has worked thus far. I'll update if it works every time I launch the game or only once. 

Thanks for your help. Here's hoping EA will take a look back at the Sims 3 and release official bug patches to correct this issue. But let's face it, they don't care too much about the Sims 3 players anymore ;( 

Sincerely, 
@PermaFrost358

"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."

Hi! I tried to do this, but first it said I had to be an administrator to do this. I clicked accept, and after that, it said that a file was open or something like that. So I couldnt move it to desktop. What does this mean/do you know how to proceed?

@henriette79  Where is Sims 3 installed?  I ask because this sounds like what happens when you try to move the game's program files, not the user folder.  In an EA App install, the program files are here by default:

C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 3

But perhaps you chose a different location.  To find out, open your App game library, click Sims 3, choose Manage > View properties, and you'll see the file path there.  Let me know what you find.

Please also let me know whether you have any saves or other user data (mods, custom content, saved builds, etc.) you'd like to preserve.