Re: Sims 3 Won't Launch on New PC w/ Windows 11

@NinjaAibou707  The "already running" error is usually due to mods or permissions on the user folder.  You don't have mods now that you've moved the user folder, but perhaps the game can't access that folder.  The next question is where your Documents directory is located, according to Windows.  To find out, search in Windows for Command Prompt, open it, and enter this command:

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

Please post the result.  You can write [username] instead of your actual username if you want, but leave the rest intact.

There's no Options.ini file in the new Sims 3 folder because the game is apparently not getting far enough in the launch process to create one.

Here is the result that I'm getting:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
Personal REG_SZ C:\Users\[username]\Documents

@NinjaAibou707  That's the correct location, so the problem isn't OneDrive at least.  Try instead to move the Electronic Arts folder out of Documents.

If that doesn't help, please reset permissions on the Documents folder.  The command you'll use is this:

takeown /F "C:\Users\username\Documents"

Write your actual username for this Windows account (your main one) instead of username.  Since the syntax needs to be exactly right, please copy this command to a Notepad file, substitute in your username, and then copy that string when you're ready to use it.  Hit Windows key-X and choose either "PowerShell (Administrator)" or "Windows Terminal (Administrator)," whichever option is offered, paste the command into the window, and enter.

Then restart your computer and try again to play.

If that doesn't help, please see this post for further troubleshooting:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mass-Effect-Legendary-Edition/quot-A-problem-occured-while-saving-the-game-No-game-session/m-p/12689808#M17087

You'll of course apply these steps to the Documents folder your account is using, i.e. C:\Users\[your username]\Documents.

If you get past the "already running" message but still can't play, look for an Options.ini file in your main Windows account, and if it's there, set the game to run in windowed mode (again).

Unfortunately, none of these options have worked for me.

I tried moving the Electronics Arts folder to my desktop to no avail, and I used PowerShell (Admin) to activate the command and restarted my PC. I also followed the troubleshooting post you linked and its saying my username already has full control and is already the owner of the folder. There is still no Options.ini file and I am still encountering the issue where upon restarting my computer, the launcher opens, I click play, the launcher reopens again for some reason, and then upon clicking play again it tells me that the game is already running.

@NinjaAibou707  Try moving Documents to a different folder.  You can keep it on C if you want; the point is to have its location be something other than C:\Users\username\Documents.  Here's how to change it (option one):

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/move-or-restore-default-location-of-documents-folder-in-windows-11.8708/

I just tried it out and I am still having the same issue unfortunately. ☹️

@NinjaAibou707  Did you get an Options.ini in the new Documents folder, and if so, did you tell Sims 3 to launch in windowed mode?

If that didn't help, or you had no Options.ini, please change the location of Documents back to the default C:\Users\username\Documents.  I'm going to ask someone else if they have other ideas here, but it might take a couple days for a response.  In the interim, you can play on the new account—it's simple to transfer content back and forth.  I understand it's not your preferred solution, but at least it's a workaround you can use for now.

I unfortunately am still not seeing an Options.ini file in the new folder or after restoring the default location. And yeah that will be okay for right now until someone maybe has another idea-- thank you so much for all of your help and suggestions, I genuinely appreciate all of the effort you put in to help me.

@NinjaAibou707  I got that second opinion, and the only other suggestion the other person has is to try a repair install of Windows:

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/repair-install-windows-11-with-an-in-place-upgrade.418/

This shouldn't delete any of your data, but if you get to step 14 and are NOT asked to keep personal files and apps, back out and start over.

If this doesn't help, then the only good option I know of is to use the other Windows account to play Sims 3 going forward.

Hey there, so I am having the exact same issue with my sims 3. I open the launcher via the EA app and everything is fine with that, but as soon as I press play it doesn't open, but instead the EA app opens. I've tried pretty much every single method here to fix the issue, I tried cleaning out corrupt files using command promt and theres nothing else I can do beyond that point. I don't mind resetting my entire pc and removing all its contents to get a fresh start but now I've found I'm running into another issue with my brand new PC. Anytime I try and reset it, I get the following message: "There was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made." I keep getting this error no matter which way I try and reset my PC, I've tried countless advanced methods to get it to reset but nothing is working. I have a feeling this is probably the root cause of why my sims 3 isn't playable in the first place. 

Okay so I got it to work, but I'm honestly not entirely sure what did the trick. 

After reinstalling Windows 11, I was still getting the error that the game was already running. I then got another error saying something about a missing dll file and that reinstalling the game might help, so I did that but still got the already running error. This is the part where it gets confusing. A solution that I tried before was creating a PowerShell script to limit the Sims 3 to launch using only one core, and just in case I tried rerunning that program via PowerShell before launching the game. Another thing I did around the same time was realize that because I reinstalled the game, I needed to go back into Properties > Compatibility and click the box to run the program as administrator. I had this box ticked before I did the whole Windows repair and game reinstall, so I'm honestly not sure which one or if both did the trick, or if me reinstalling Windows 11 did something to make both of these things work better, but that's how I managed to fix my game. I will update in case I figure out exactly what might have worked, but for right now if you're having this issue I would recommend trying the PowerShell script and making sure you are launching the program as an administrator (and of course using the Alder Lake patch if you have a newer CPU). And maybe try a clean reinstall of Windows 11 in case that did something.

Here is the link the PowerShell script tutorial I used:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11144265#M249006