Sims 3 - No Game Launch - El Cap

@TheLadyFate  Is Sims 3 installed right now, and are the packs installed as well?  If any content is currently installed, please open Applications > Utilities, launch Terminal, and copy and paste this command:

find / -type d -name "*The Sims 3*" 2>/dev/null

Terminal may take a while to search your entire hard drive, but you'll see the name of your Mac again when it's done.  Please copy and paste the entire results here.  You can write "username" instead of your actual username if you'd like, but please leave the rest of the information intact.

Well...this is interesting

find / -type d -name "*The Sims 3*" 2>/dev/null

^[[D/Applications/.tgInstall_006c5a47/The Sims 3.localized

/Applications/.tgInstall_006c5a47/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3

Edited to add, when looking deeper, it's like a ghost file. There's no sign of this anywhere else.

@TheLadyFate  That's fascinating.  You're actually the second person to find Sims 3 in that location, as in .tginstall_something.  The reason you can't see the files is that anything starting with a period is hidden by default in macOS.  I asked someone who's better with Terminal commands than I am how to delete those files the last time around, and he provided this:

find ~ -name ".tgInstall_*" -exec rm -r {} \;

As always, but especially with something like this, it's best to copy and paste so you know the command is exactly right, and you don't delete anything else.  (You probably know this already, but I don't feel right about posting it without a disclaimer.)  Then reset Origin, restart your computer, and download the base game again.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/how-to-reset-origin-on-mac/

I'm going to cross my fingers and try. 

I was just on support chat which, being blunt, was pointless as they ignored everything I wrote out.

I'll let you know how this works out.

Update: It's a no go.

Here's the interesting part. There's no option to download the base game. It just shows in the library. No option to uninstall either. The only downloads that show up are the expansion packs.

Back to one of the earlier issues: When I try to play the base, it says  "Downloads in progress. Launching this game while a download is in progress can negatively impact gameplay. Are you sure you want to continue?" Which is odd since everything has downloaded. I try to play and the same issue with the icon appearing on the dock and disappearing.

Still no EA folder. Ultimately, I think something is wrong with the base game. Thoughts? 

@TheLadyFate  When you say everything has downloaded, do you have a Sims 3 folder in Applications, with the base game inside?  If not, please run the first command and see if you can find any more Sims 3 entries.  The Electronic Arts folder will only spawn (in Documents) once the game has been successfully launched the first time.

And when you say Sims 3 shows in the Origin library, does it show as ready to play?  I know it throws that error when you try; I'm just curious what it displays initially.

Normally, the way Sims 3 works is that you download the installer and then run it separately.  The installer lands in Origin's DownloadCache, and you can run it separately from Origin, although you can also normally launch the installer from within Origin.  But the point is, just downloading the game itself doesn't mean it's installed.  So please let me know how far you've gotten into this process, specifically whether you've ever launched the installer and what happened when you did.

I've previously played on my iMac with Origin, but with the OS updates, I moved back to this other machine.

See, you've hit the nail on the head. There's a bunch of weird issues. 

No EA Folder so no folder for The Sims 3.

The installer has never shown up for the base game, thus my confusion. Even more, confusion as it still does not allow the option to "uninstall" this seemingly ghost program.

The game does show as ready to play in Origin. That's what keeps throwing me off. No option for the installer and does not show as one of the games in the download manager.

When I spoke with support, they didn't think the base game was an issue which I do question.

@TheLadyFate  Okay, so you've removed all the "Sims 3" entries using the Terminal command, and reset Origin, and Origin still thinks Sims 3 is ready to play?  Yes, that's weird, and not easy to address.  What you can try is doing a clean uninstall of Origin and installing it into a new admin user account on your Mac.

https://bluebellflora.com/how-to-uninstall-origin-on-a-mac/

If that doesn't help, can you download the base game on your other Mac?  You can't install in Catalina, of course, but the question is whether the download itself fails.  I don't remember whether it errors out at the end of the download or after the installer is supposed to launch.

Either way, if the new admin account doesn't work, try downloading the game onto your other Mac.  Don't launch the installer, just look for it in Origin's Download cache.  Open a Finder window, click Macintosh HD (or whatever you've renamed your hard disk, then Library > Application Support > Origin > DownloadCache.  There should be a folder labeled with a bunch of numbers, and inside that, a .dmg file that's about 6 GB in size.  You can copy this to an external, transfer it to your older Mac (the desktop is fine), and launch it by double-clicking.

You'll need your CD key to install the game, but you should be able to see that by opening your Origin game library, right-clicking on the Sims 3 icon, and selecting Game Properties.