Re: Sims 3 keeps crashing when trying to play through EA App with mods

Sorry for not replying straight away!  I have tried to run the game without my mods folder and with it and it is still doing this weird freezing/crashing! I only have the antivirus/threat defender build into my PC.  My graphics card is also up to date too.

I have gone through all the mods one by one before to see if any were causing problems but that was when I couldn't even get the game to load past the loading screens to pick a save file.

Edit: I have just uninstalled all Sims 3 related game files from my PC and reinstalled it. I noticed when reinstalling it the file place the EA app wanted to install the game to was completely different to the previous active Sims 3 file. I hope this may fix it and then I will try my mods again 

@hexven_cxn_wxit  After reinstalling, please test with no mods at all.  If you get any crashing or freezing, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

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

If the game runs fine without mods but not with them, please remove all your mods and only add one back, for example MasterController for the reasons mentioned earlier.  Let me know how it goes.

And to be clear, I'm not saying don't play with mods.  I'm saying we need to figure out whether the problem is Sims 3 itself or having mods overall or the specific mods you're using.  Then we can troubleshoot from there.

I have tried to run the game since reinstalling it but it is still not working and doing the crashing even without mods. 

I also can't seem to get my worlds from The Sims 3 Store to show up in game as well now one installed. 

I have only just been able to run a dxdiag as I have been so busy but will attach that now! 

Thank you for all the help and advice so far!

EDIT:: Since doing the original dxdiag I noticed an update available on my graphics card soo have now updated it. I have attached the new dxdiag as well in case of any differences between the two

@hexven_cxn_wxit  @hexven_cxn_wxit  Your dxdiags don't show any Sims 3-related errors, which could mean that newer errors have crowded those out or that the game is being blocked from starting at all.  For the latter, please find out whether Controlled Folder Access is enabled, and if it is, set exceptions for TS3.exe and EADesktop.exe.  This guide was written for Sims 4, but the principle is the same:

https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/03/windows-10-defender-controlled-folder-access.html

If that doesn't help, or CFA isn't enabled (and leave it disabled if it's that way already), please create a new admin Windows account and try playing in that.  Make it local, as in, don't link it with your Microsoft account, and don't sync with any other services you normally use.  Just sign into the EA App and try to launch the game.  If it works, that points to borked permissions or user settings in the old account, and we can pursue that angle.

If Sims 3 won't launch in the new account, or if it crashes, please look for new 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 an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempt to launch Sims 3, specifically when trying to play in the new account.  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.

@puzzlezaddict The game works on the new account! It ran perfectly with all EP and SP installed! I have none of my store or CC installed there but it ran perfectly! I'm glad to finally be able to start getting somewhere now!

CFA wasn't enabled on my usual account so I left it disabled like you advised. 

@hexven_cxn_wxit  That's great to hear.  If you want to troubleshoot the issue in the main account, there are a few steps that might help, but there's no guarantee.  If you want to try anyway, please post the full file path to your Documents folder in the old account.  Search in Windows for "command," open Command Prompt, copy and paste the command below, and enter.

reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"

Then post the result.

@puzzlezaddict I have tried the command you said and it hasn't been able to find anything. Could this be because all of my Sims 3 files are on my Harddrive? It has never caused a problem until now though.

"Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.2846]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Adelle>HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal
The system cannot find the path specified.

C:\Users\Adelle>"

@hexven_cxn_wxit  It looks like you deleted the outside quotes and the reg query at the beginning.  They're meant to be there.

@puzzlezaddict sorry about that I thought it was only what was in the "" that needed to be input.  I have done again and this is what I have got

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.2846]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Adelle>reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
Personal REG_SZ F:\

C:\Users\Adelle>

@hexven_cxn_wxit  The file path is the issue here: it should say this:

C:\Users\Adelle\Documents

Here's how to change it:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/74952-move-location-documents-folder-windows-10-a.html

If you get an error when trying to change the file path, you can use this method instead:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/operation-to-change-a-personal-folder-location-fails-in-windows-ffb95139-6dbb-821d-27ec-62c9aaccd720

@puzzlezaddict I used the first link, tried to move my documents folder onto my H drive and now I can no longer find the documents folder that was originally on my C drive and my H drive copied my desktop across even though I said to move the documents folder.   The file path is also still coming up as just C:\Users\Adelle

I am not too sure where to go from this, 

@hexven_cxn_wxit  Please use the second link instead.  First, make sure there is in fact a Documents folder in C:\Users\Adelle, then edit the registry to tell Windows that's the correct location.  Specifically, set "Personal" (which is for Documents) to %USERPROFILE%\Documents , as the guide shows.

When you're looking at the registry, you'll expand the folders the guide lists in order until you get to the appropriate one.  It's much easier when you're actually looking at it, so even if you're not quite sure what to do, open the registry and have a look.