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omayday96's avatar
6 years ago

Re: SIms 3 on Windows 10

@EA_Kristi Hello, I am looking back through all of these posts trying to find answers to my question..... I have just bought a brand new PC to run my sims games a bit smoother. Sims 4 worked well with windows 10 but I have tried everything for the sims 3!!! I cannot even get my launcher to open! I have spent days reading blog posts and advice through EA help and nothing is helping!!!!! It's really disappointing that there is no direct method of contact like a chat room that we can go to. I am not a tech wizard yet the lengths I have had to go to to try and make TS3 work feels like I've had to reprogram my new computer! I almost want to give up! Please help me!!!!!!!!

18 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @omayday96  Okay, try disabling your antivirus/firewall, at least long enough to test.  If it works, you can set exceptions for Origin.exe and TS3.exe.  Please also disable Windows Defender's Controlled Folder Access, at least temporarily:

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

    If that doesn't help, please try the other suggestions I posted here, after the DISM and sfc instructions:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Re-SIms-3-on-Windows-10/m-p/8946074#M240387

    It was more important to address the issue sfc flagged, but now that should all have been cleaned up.

  • omayday96's avatar
    omayday96
    6 years ago

    Hello,

    thanks again for all your help with this!! I have spent some time to disable OneDrive, Disable antivirus walls, re-install origin with the link you have given me and made sure I completed windows 10 updates. Yet I am still at a standstill ☹️

    I ran the 

    Please see attached my

    - sfcdetails

    - dxdiag

    -scfscannow results:

    "Windows PowerShell
    Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

    Try the new cross-platform PowerShell https://aka.ms/pscore6

    PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> sfc /scannow

    Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

    Beginning verification phase of system scan.
    Verification 100% complete.

    Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
    PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>"

    Hope something here stands out 🙂

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @omayday96  It's unusual that you'd have so many new errors right after a Windows feature update, and honestly I'm not totally sure why you do.  It's good that sfc cleaned up a couple of corrupt files, but that shouldn't have been necessary either.  I'll get back to you on this once I get a second opinion.

    (By the way, I take it you meant you've manually run all pending Windows updates after you updated to build 1909?  If not, please check: hit Windows key-i, select Updates & Security, and click the button to check for updates.)

    In the interim though, did you ever have two EA/Origin accounts merged?  The symptoms you've described are often related to a merge that was done incorrectly: essentially, the base game product key isn't working, so Origin blocks you from launching the game.  I didn't ask before because the other issues with your system could have explained the failure of Sims 3 to open, and besides, those issues needed to be addressed regardless of your ability to play.  But now I wonder if a badly done merge was the problem all along.

    Just let me know whether you've had accounts merged, and we can go from there either way.

  • omayday96's avatar
    omayday96
    6 years ago

    Yes, I ensured that it is all up to date.

    Yes I had an old origin account that the sims 3 was previously linked to. Then years later when I had forgotten about this account and created a new one for sims 4, I had to get help from EA to merge those two accounts. Should I be checking in with Origin/EA to see if there is an error in any of the merging?

    Thanks again for all you're help, it's been awesome!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @omayday96  Yes, you should definitely check with EA support to see whether your base game code is still active.  Unfortunately, some support reps are unaware that this is a problem and will try to convince you to do some basic troubleshooting.  But aside from your many posts in this thread that show you've already jumped through all the usual hoops, you can cite these two posts as evidence of the merging issue:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-does-not-launch-just-minimizes-Origin-for-a-second/m-p/8496434#M238646

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-at-all/m-p/8574411#M238855

    If you don't get anywhere with the first support rep, you can walk away, so to speak, and try again later.

  • omayday96's avatar
    omayday96
    6 years ago

    Awesome! thanks so much for all your help! I will let you know if i have any success with EA! 🙂

  • omayday96's avatar
    omayday96
    6 years ago

    Can I also please show you this. 

    After downloading the C++ visual requirements (as recommended by others posts on the EA Answers forum) I noticed that there is now a "windows - SSD" location where all of my origin files and game files have gone into Program Files (x86).

    Could this be contributing to the issues?

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 years ago

    @omayday96  The normal install location for Sims 3, at least in an Origin install is C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games.  Was that not where your game was before?  This is different than the Sims 3 user data folder in Documents\Electronic Arts, which holds your saves, mods, etc.  It's not a problem to have the game's program files where you described, although having a duplicate set of files would be an issue.

    If this is different than what you're used to seeing, please describe what's changed.  And if you want to check for a duplicate install, open a File Explorer window and search for "TS3W" without quotes.  You should only have one on your system.  If you find more than one, please post the file path for each one here.

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