Re: Sims 3 not launching on new windows 10 laptop

HI, so I've tried moving the folder to my desktop and sadly, that didn't fix it. I've completed the Dxdiag and attached it. I think it might also be worth mentioning that when I go into game properties and run compatibility troublershooter, it says it's an incompatible program and its bot been fixed. I appreciate the help! 

@marinamennear  Please undo any compatibility setting you're using for Sims 3: the game runs fine in Windows 10.  Clear Origin's cache:

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

and repair: open your Origin game library, right-click on the Sins 3 icon, and select Repair.  Then try to play.

If that doesn't help, I really do need to know what antivirus you use.

Alright, so I've completed the repair through origin as well as the clearing out the cache, neither have worked. When I press play I get the same loop of the launcher and origin opening each other, however now a window askes me if I'll allow this app to make changes to my hard drive, when I say yes the cycle just repeats. I've turned off all compatibility setting as well. As for the anti virus, I'm just using the one that comes with the laptop and the windows IOS. 

@marinamennear  Please check your laptop's documentation to see whether it came pre-installed with an antivirus, which is common.  You can also check the Task Manager's background processes list for anything that sounds like it might belong to an antivirus.  Even if you haven't activated one, it could still be running to enough of an extent to block the game.

Please also list the patch level you see in the lower left corner of the launcher: it should be 1.69, but some people end up with a patch 0, often but not always when a certain file within the game's program files is missing or blocked.  And if the prompt to allow changes to your computer is for something other than TS3.exe, please let me know what app is listed in that prompt.

Finally, please create a new admin user account on your computer and try playing in that.  The name should contain only letters and numbers, no special characters, accents, etc.  Make it a local account, as in, don't sign into Microsoft, and don't sync with any of the services you normally use.  You can sign into your existing Origin account and shouldn't need to redownload anything.

alright, so I've found in the task manager that it's running an antimalware service, which is the Microsoft defender antivirus. My patch is 1.69. The file that's asking to make changes is TS3.exe. I made a new admin account, not sure if I've done it correctly, this is my first windows IOS, so there's a possibility that I did it wrong. Well in the second local admin account the same cycle of origin opening the launcher then that opening origin is still happening. It also says that I need to install originsetup or something along those lines. I installed it and nothing happened, it gave me the error message about the originsetup download every time I tried to launch the game. This is so annoying, oh my god! I really appreciate your help. 

@marinamennear  In the new admin account, please try running Origin specifically with admin permissions, which is an extra step above and beyond simply using an admin account.  Right-click on the Origin shortcut on your desktop and select "Run as administrator."  With Origin open, do the same for the TS3.exe shortcut, or the original, which will likely be here:

Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin

If that doesn't help, please make sure .NET Framework 3.5 is enabled.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "appwiz.cpl" without quotes.  In the File Explorer window that opens, click "Turn Windows features on or off," and you'll see this:

You can see .NET 3.5 highlighted in blue.  If the box next to it is NOT filled in, click the box, let the framework install, and restart your computer, then again try running Origin and Sims 3 as an admin.

By the way, it's "OS," not "IOS," for an operating system; iOS is the operating system for iPhones.

"OS" gotcha! So I tried running both in the second admin account while running them as administrator, but it didn't work. The NET. framework 3.5 was filled in already and well as the media features. I expanded the framework 3.5 and checked the two boxes underneath it, applied the changes and restarted, ran everything as admin again, but it didn't work. Origin will also say that I've played the game when I obviously haven't. For example, after I tired the two solutions it will say todays date (July 24th) as the last time played, but I haven't been able to play so that's strange, not sure if that's worth mentioning.

@marinamennear  The next step is doing a clean uninstall and reinstall of both Sims 3 and Origin.  Start by uninstalling Sims 3:

• Download Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine) from here.
• Launch Revo, select Sims 3 from the list, and click Uninstall.
• Once the game is uninstalled, select "Moderate" under "scanning modes," and click Scan.
• Review the list, in case there's something you want to save; otherwise, click Select All, and then Delete.
• Close Revo, and restart your computer.

Next, uninstall Origin:

• First, clear Origin's cache.
• Quit Origin, then right-click on the Task Bar and open the Task Manager.  Scroll through looking for Origin entries.  If you find any, click on them and End Task.
• Launch Revo again and uninstall Origin, and when it's uninstalled, select "Moderate" again and Scan.
• If Revo finds any remaining registry entries, select all, delete, and click Next.
• Revo will display "Remaining Data and Folders.  Select all of them except for the "Origin Games" folder, if you have other Origin games installed.  (This is where they'd be  by default.)  Delete the rest.
• Close Revo, and restart your computer.

Next, download the full Origin installer and run it.  Here's the direct download link:

http://download.dm.origin.com/origin/live/OriginSetup.exe

Be sure to run both the installer and Origin itself as an admin.  When it's reinstalled, download Sims 3; you can just download the base game, to save time, if you want.

Restart after installing and before trying to play.

okay, so I've followed and completed all the steps and tried to launch the game. I got a pop up window after I pressed play, asking me too log into my EA account to authenticate my game or something like that. I typed in my info, however in a awful turn of events my computer disconnected form the wifi in this that exact moment so the log in failed. Once I reconnected I tried again but the window never popped up, and I find myself in the same origin, launcher cycle I've always been in. ugggh

@marinamennear  Please move the enitre Sims 3 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop and try playing again.  If that doesn't work, switch to a different admin account again.

If that doesn't help either, try using a different wifi connection, for example setting up your phone as a local hotspot.  Make sure it's using data, not your home wifi.

I’m sad to report that these solutions didn’t work either ☹️ 

@marinamennear  It's worth contacting EA customer support to make sure that there's nothing wrong with your account.  For example, some people find their base game product keys blocked or deactivated; while this presents a bit differently than what you've described, it's the kind of issue you'd never be able to diagnose from your end.  So please ask about the status of the game and your packs, as well as whether there's any other block on your account.

https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/

If there's nothing wrong on the EA end, we can keep troubleshooting, but that would of course be a waste of time if there was something about your account preventing you from playing.

Thank you, a friend from work mentioned this as well when I told her about this. Hopefully this will be the solution. I'll let you know. Thanks again for all your help.

Alright, so on august 12th I spent a little more than 2, in-consecutive hours, on the phone with EA. It's not smart on my part to wait this long to reply, but this is so frustrating that I left it for a couple weeks, I'll try to remember everything we did. On the first phone call he downloaded a new version of the sims 3 onto my origin account, he was sure this was the solution, but, naturally with my luck it wasn't. Second phone call we were looking into my graphics cards, I believe I turned off one the two that came if my laptop off, and tried launching it again, did't work. Third phone call we downloaded a bunch of files called "VC_redistx64" and "VCresdist_x84" and installed those, but it didn't launch, and at that point I left it and didn't call back a forth time, because, oh my god this is annoying. The technical support guy on the third call said something like, he's sure it's some program or setting on my laptop is preventing the game from launching. I'm really at a loss though at what could be preventing it from launching considering I've tweaked some much so far. 

@marinamennear  Since you first posted, two other users with Acer laptops have reported the same issue.  More specifically, your three laptops all have the same processor and the same graphics driver, which strongly suggests that the driver itself is the issue.  Unfortunately, Acer doesn't provide a newer driver at this time.  But you can force the install of the newest Intel driver for your graphics chip.  I explained how to do it for another user here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/sims-3-not-launching-on-windows-10-acer-notebook/m-p/10641075#M247498

This user didn't get back to me, so I have no idea whether they tried the new driver, let alone whether it worked.  The driver itself is compatible; it's just that the driver provided by Acer is tailored to your particular computer as opposed to being more generic.  Many laptop manufacturers block users from installing their own drivers for this very reason.  But that doesn't mean it won't work, just that it's best not to replace the manufacturer's driver unless you have a very specific reason for doing so.

@miniyo9914  Try reinstalling DirectX 9, as described here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/SIMS-3-GAME-WON-T-LAUNCH-WINDOWS-10/m-p/10700883#M247761

If that doesn't help, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

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

I have the same exact problem at the moment, tried reinstalling DirectX and did all the other things mentioned... any chance you could help me out? nothing seems to work ☹️

@shikaritani  Please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

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

Thanks in advance!!

@shikaritani  First of all, please undo any compatibility setting you're using for Sims 3; the game runs just fine in Windows 10.

Your dxdiag shows that Origin is crashing repeatedly, and while it's not necessarily related to the Sims 3 issue, it's worth doing a clean uninstall and reinstall of Origin:

• Quit Origin, then right-click on the Task Bar and open the Task Manager.  Scroll through looking for Origin entries.  If you find any, click on them and End Task.
• Clear Origin's cache.
• Download Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine) from here.
• Launch Revo, select Origin from the list, and click Uninstall.
• When it finishes uninstalling, select "Moderate" under "scanning modes," and click Scan.
• If Revo finds any remaining registry entries, select all, delete, and click Next.
• Revo will display "Remaining Data and Folders."  Select all of them except for the "Origin Games" folder, if it appears.  (This is where Origin games are installed by default.)  Delete the rest.
• Close Revo, and restart your computer.

Next, download the full Origin installer and run it.  Here's the direct download link:

http://download.dm.origin.com/origin/live/OriginSetup.exe

Be sure to run both the installer and Origin itself as an admin: right-click on each and select "Run as Administrator."  Let me know whether Sims 3 works.  If it doesn't, disconnect all nonessential peripherals (basically everything except mouse and keyboard), restart your computer, and try again.

@CirrocA  This kind of thing does get figured out most of the time.  Please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

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

Please also let me know whether the game has ever run on this computer and whether you've ever had two EA/Origin accounts merged.