Re: Sims 3 won't open: Alder Lake (Intel 12th-gen) CPU

@Miaa245Wow you are amazing. Works perfectly. If anyone else tries this note that you will have to change Get-Process TS3 to Get-Process TS3W if perhaps certain xPacs are installed. No longer needed, thanks mia!

Also just for what it's worth, I reinstalled Windows 10 and was still getting the same INT DIVIDE BY ZERO error, until using this script to limit the initial 5 seconds of launching the game to 1 core. 

Thank you so much.

@Miaa245  Thanks so much for the info and the script.  As @Makanar56 mentions, some players will need to use TS3W rather than TS3, specifically any player who has a Steam install or a disc install not controlled by Origin.  Those players are on patch 1.67; Origin installs are patch 1.69.

@Makanar56I'm so glad it helped!! :D
Thank you for telling me about that, I (hopefully?) fixed it.

@Miaa245 many thanks for this solution, worked perfectly fine for me!

However, the game crashed afer about 1 hour to the desktop without error message and this 2 times. May it be possible that happens due to the same issue (I think not, but could be that someone who used this solution got the same problem)?

Again thank you for your help!

@figimi  Sims 3 crashes for a lot of reasons, so I'd still look into those: mods and custom content, playing in a broken or overly complicated world, that sort of thing.  If you want help troubleshooting the crashing issue, please create your own thread and post a dxdiag.

I've got the text copied in a New Text Document, but I don't know how to do anything else you said. I can build a computer with my eyes closed but that's about all I'm good for. A step-by-step explanation would be greatly appreciated!

@Rebexxaaaa

Sure!
Once you have it pasted into Notepad:

1. File -> Save As
2. In the File name, name it something like sims3script.ps1
The important part is that it ends with .ps1
3. Save it somewhere convenient, like your desktop
4. Go to the file and Right-Click on it. There should be an option called "Run with PowerShell"

This will run the script with PowerShell. Once you open The Sims 3, the script will close automatically. Hopefully that helps. 🙂

Thank you SO much!!! I can finally play TS3 on my new PC. You're a life saver!!! <3

your literally an angel tysm for this 😁

Created an EA account just to +XP and spread the word on this a little more. Got a 12th gen intel core i5 and brand new pc parts. Installed the Sims 3 for my girlfriend to play (after hyping my new computer for months). Went to launch her game and... nothing after pressing play in the launcher. Did not have the heart to tell her (she loves TS3) so  I searched the internet for solutions to no avail before stumbling on this script. Sure enough. Creating a notepad file and pasting your script, opening the sims 3 launcher via origin, and then launching the script with PowerShell before pressing the blue play bottom in TS3 launcher did the trick. Expansion packs and all work. Just wanted to show my thanks. TO ANYONE WHO GETS THE RED ERROR MESSAGE IN POWERSHELL, TRY RESTARTING YOUR COMPUTER BEFORE COMPLETING THE PROCESS. This happened to me and restarting fixed it.

I followed all the steps, and even though I did get the red text I did restart and that still did not remedy the issue. I have a 12th gen but mine is the non-k i7 with all new parts also, so hopefully, EA could figure this out.

Hi, could you link a video or be a little more descriptive on instructions. I’m struggling how to properly run a .ps1 file on process lasso or windows or Powershell.

@christine800133  Process Lasso doesn't involve using any other files: you simply open the program and limit TS3.exe (Origin install) or TS3W.exe (disc or Steam install) to one CPU core.  You can close Process Lasso once your save has loaded.

For .ps1 files, google is showing plenty of tutorials, including some with video.

@Pveachy  Your issue is that your processor doesn't run Sims 3 properly; I've merged your post with the master thread for this particular issue rather than the one involving DX9.  You can try the PowerShell script another player posted here:

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

Or use Process Lasso to limit the game to one CPU core while it's loading.

Thank You. I figured that out after a couple trials and it loaded I was so relieved but then it crashed after trying to load a town. I’ve decided to return the PC and buy one that doesn’t conflict with the only game I play on it 😉 Feel free to tag/post

a thread that regards PC specs

@christine800133  A discussion of recommended specs or good options for a new PC would merit its own thread.  But if you want a quick overview, a system with the same specs as yours but a Ryzen 5000-series CPU would work just as well and not have the issue covered in this thread.  You don't need a GTX 3060 either, although it's certainly nice to have; even a 1660 ti, 2060, or the very new 3050 would do just fine.  I'm basing that on your current monitor: these cards should be able to produce framerates in excess of the panel's refresh rate at its native 1080p resolution, except of course when the game itself is making things difficult.

If you want to have a longer discussion, just start a new thread and tag me.

Thank You. Will do that 🙂

Thank you so much, it worked perfectly! You're a true code wizard!

Thank you for this, I´m facing the same issue. So I can disable the script once I´ve opened the game? How do I do this, just close the script window? And at which point in the game exactly?

I´m a noob when it comes to this stuff, it sounds a little scary running the game on just one core. Will this impact my game? Thanks for all the help!

@MightyE77e  You don't need to do anything with the script: it runs and then is no longer influencing your game.  If you were using Process Lasso, you'd want to disable it once your save had loaded for performance reasons: as you mentioned, you don't want the game running on one CPU core the whole time.  You could simply close Process Lasso when you were ready.

So the game ran well with the script. I edited the graphics file to make the game recognize my GPU and limited FPS, which also worked out fine and the game ran without an issue.

But today I followed some more steps to run the Sims 3 better, namely: making the game use the correct amount of VRAM, use more CPU, and disabling preloader settings. I also downloaded Lazy Duchess´s Smooth Patch.

After doing all that, the game wouldn´t run past the launcher anymore. Instead the script gave this error message (photo attached), and the game closed.

I went back and un-did all the changes I made today, and removed Lazy Duchess´s patch. After restarting the PC, the game works fine again with the script.

My question is, what caused the error? Can I make any performance improvement changes at all while having to use the script to run the game, and if yes, which ones are safe to make?

Is it safe to install mods and cc?

Edit: Also really want to know if EA are actively working on a Sims 3 update for Alder Lake and when we can expect it to be available.

@MightyE77e  I'm not sure what tweaks you applied, other than the Smooth Patch.  If you changed your graphics card's VRAM value in graphicsrules.sgr, that's fine and shouldn't have any effect, but for the other two, I'd need to know what the changes were.

However, I'd guess the Smooth Patch is the issue here.  Since it changes the way the game starts in an Origin install, it could circumvent the PowerShell script.  You can test easily enough, now that the game is working: add the Smooth Patch and nothing else and see what happens.

If that's the problem and you really want to use the Smooth Patch, you could use Process Lasso instead of the PowerShell script.  Or you could message LazyDuchess to ask if he's willing to tweak his work to help with Alder Lake issues.  I don't know whether it would be trivial or not, but it might be, and I'm sure plenty of players would be grateful for the option to use both.

As far as other performance improvements go, there's a surprising amount of misinformation and bad advice out there as to what actually helps.  Outside of the game, the only helpful steps short of using a RAM disk are making sure the game gives your CPU, GPU, and VRAM the maximum rating, which is accomplished with changes to the .sgr files; and using the Smooth Patch.  (Here I'm talking about computers like yours that have far more power than the game can use.)  Within the game, this is an extremely helpful list:

https://www.nraas.net/community/TIPS-FOR-BETTER-GAME-PERFORMANCE

It's perfectly safe to install mods or custom content as long as that content is itself safe.  If you want advice on protecting your game from bad mods or cc, feel free to ask.

EA is aware of the issue with Alder Lake CPUs and recently fixed it for a different game.  So I'd expect this will be addressed eventually.  But there's no public information on when that will actually happen.

Ive tried running this but it comes up with this error in powershell:

Exception setting "ProcessorAffinity": "Access is denied"
At C:\Users\aaron\Desktop\script.ps1:9 char:1
+ $TS3.ProcessorAffinity=1
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (🙂 [], SetValueInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExceptionWhenSetting

what have i done wrong?

@Catharina227  Try restarting your computer and running the PowerShell script again.  If it still doesn't work, try using Process Lasso instead.