Re: sims 3 won't launch on ea app

@puzzlezaddict  - I am very impressed - I now have the game running thanks to your help!  I think a key ingredient here was using that Revo Uninstaller, I could see there were many orphaned Registry entries left behind after a regular uninstall of the Sims packages - but that Revo program got it all cleared out.

After I had everything cleaned out, and rebooted - I had a bit of confusion, trying to install from my original game discs - it kept trying to install the old Origin launcher.  In the hopes that it helps anyone else with the same problem I had the solution was easier than I'd imagined:  you simply don't need the original game discs.  After a fresh clean install of the EA app, by simply entering my product code (game key) the EA app recognizes which piece of software I have the rights to, and is able to download everything and install it without the original game discs.  This avoids the problem of it trying to install the old Origin App.  You just install everything from within the EA app, and enter your product codes.

Worked surprisingly well - the team has obviously been working on fixing this, and it works really well now.

Thanks again for your help.

My only other issue is a few of my game codes say they have already been redeemed - even though I have the original discs/box/manuals, so I will reach out to EA support with a separate request for those expansion packs.  Most of my collection worked well.  My main issue of not accessing the game at all has been solved - much appreciated.

@AirMurdock  I'm glad to hear the game is working now.  And yes, you'll need to work with support to deal with the packs whose codes you can't redeem.  I'd strongly recommend live chat rather than email so you can work with someone in real time; it can also help to include a photo for each pack showing its disc, case, and product code.  You can upload these when submitting the live chat request.

I have done as directed in this thread and the game keeps looping me back to the EA app screen and still won’t launch.

Are there any other ways to possible get around this? 

@SouthlandHippie  If your computer has a 12th- or 13th-gen Intel processor, please see the accepted solution of this thread:

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

Otherwise, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

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

@puzzlezaddictSorry, I'm trying your solution and currently I'm installing the Sims 3 base game. But I don't understand yet: What to do with the Sims 3 folder that got saved somewhere else and renamed at the beginning?

Edit: I've realised now that my game isn't loading when I choose an existing household. It doesn't load the game whether the interactive loading screen is activated or not.

@Playgirl3  The folder you've renamed should stay elsewhere until your game is working again.  After that point, you can move the content you'd like to keep, for example Saves and Library files, from the old Sims 3 folder to the new one in Documents > Electronic Arts.

Can you load a new save now, or does that fail too?  What happens when you try to load an existing save?  If you get an error, please post a screenshot.

@puzzlezaddictI was able to start and save a new household, but the affected household got stuck on the loading screen every trial. The save file didn't have the extension .bad. But it tried to load the back up file of the save but this got also stuck on loading screen. I didn't get an error message, just freezing loading screen. When I tried to use a previous version of the affected save (via file properties > Windows recovery file from Windows back up), the earlier version also got stuck on loading screen. 

@Playgirl3  So it sounds like your particular save is corrupted, not that your game isn't working overall.  There's not much you can do here, unfortunately.  But adding a few mods is worth a shot, if you're interested.  I'd suggest NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and MasterController only, not anything else, at least for now.  More information is here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-Common-Game-Fixing-Mods-Hero-Approved/td-p/9836847

Let me know whether this works.

One other thing you can try is to replace some of the files within the affected save.  Create a new save in the same world, play it for a few minutes, save, and quit.  You don't need to spend any real time on it, just enough to get into live mode and have the game clock running.  Inside the Saves folder, open the folder for your new save, and delete the .nhd file.  Then copy over the .nhd file from your affected save and see whether this new save loads.  The name and thumbnail will still correspond to the new save, but the .nhd file is the important part, so you'd be loading your old save minus some extraneous data.

You can try this with whatever backups you have, the older the better since saves only get more corrupt as time goes on.  I would also strongly recommend leaving the mods in place for the initial test, although you can remove them to test again another time if you want.

Finally, make sure to delete the fache files each time you quit the game, at leat while troubleshooting.  For reference, they are:

• CASPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache.package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package