Sims 3 - "There is a problem connecting to the server..." installation error

As Bluebellflora described, TS3 is refusing to run on my mac.  I received a message of a successful installation, and the launcher loaded properly.  But when I pressed Play, the game hung on the plumbob screen that immediately precedes the black screen/intro sequence.  No matter how many times I tried, I'd eventually get the error message captured in the second screenshot above.  This was true whether I opened the launcher or bypassed it.  (If I launched the game while disconnected from wifi, I got the first error message above.)

When I opened the launcher, I had a single plumbob in my dock, but after pressing play, a second one appeared and remained unless I force-quit it.  (Unfortunately, doing so didn't help the game get past the plumbob screen.)  I also had two Sims 3 entries in my Activity Monitor, each with distinct stats:

For the record:  I started by running the uninstaller, and then I followed Bluebellflora's guide to manuallly uninstalling TS3 and removed all traces of the game from my computer.  I only reinstalled the base game, no packs.  I also removed all game folders (in Documents) as they were generated during troubleshooting.  At one point, I uninstalled the game again, then did a clean uninstall of Origin as well.  Nothing helped—the same error messages showed up no matter what I did.

I've played TS3 on this mac since I bought it in December, and other than the issues with installing certain problem packs (easily fixed by Bluebellflora's guides), I've never had any trouble running the game.  My specs (below) are more than sufficient to support every expansion pack, and I'm still running Sierra, the OS that came installed on my computer.

Mac OS Sierra

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)

Processor: 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory: 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB

                AMD Radeon Pro 560 4096 MB

Storage: 512 GB SSD

Having the same problem as well! Just bought and installed the game yesterday on my iMac running macOS Mojave 10.14. No packs, no CC/mods. Sims 4 and other Origin games work just fine.

Just thought I would post a video of what happens, if it seems weird looking it's because I cropped it a bit, but you can see the error message at the end and how long it takes to show up.

@deejcake  I'm having trouble watching your video, but then again I don't have any video-related software on my computer, other than what came installed.  You raise a good point, though.  I twice timed the interval from when I pressed Play to when the error message showed up, and both times it ran about 1:15.  It would be interesting to hear if that's true for everyone, or if the elapsed time depends on other factors.

Just tried on my late 2012 iMac running Mojave and I'm having the same issue. Just base game installed, the splash screen appears for almost a minute and then I got a "Error connecting to license server" message.

Yeah! I am having the same problem as well!

I am running a 2017 MacBook Pro (just got it about of week ago) macOS High Sierra.

Yesterday, I had no trouble downloading all my stuff, world and expansion packs (except for Hidden Springs but besides the point) and went to go play and it gave me an error that didn't even let me go to the main screen.

So, I uninstalled all of my sims games which wasn't that hard considering that I pretty much have nothing on this laptop and re-downloaded just the sims 3 base game and then add expansion packs one by one to see if there was a specific problem. But to my surprise, the base game wasn'tneven working!

I hope this can get fixed very soon because I would to be able to play the Sims 3 on my new laptop instead of the early 2011 beast that I used to play with (still a great laptop but boy to it overheat like no ones business). 

ALSO!

As I downloaded all the expansion packs, the laptop was giving me warning about how this application will not work with future versions of macOS and that you should contact the developer of the game to update or change before that happens. So if EA sees this post, they can start fixing this problem too (fingers crossed).

@ToriBibble

If/when this issue is fixed you will need to follow several steps in order to try and get the game to work on your new Mac https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-3-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/749664#M3

The game has not been updated since January 2014 and is not compatible on most Macs manufactured since 2013 due to unsupported hardware and operating systems.

The error you are getting about the game not working on future versions of macOS is due to the game being 32-bit and the next upgrade after Mojave will only support 64-bit apps. It is highly unlikely that EA will update the game due to it no longer being supported and that they used Cider to initially get the game to run on a Mac.

OMG I used to play sims 3 a lot because I found it better than sims 4, yesterday I decided to bought 3 expansions pack for sims 3 instead of buying the ones for sims 4 (because I either have the game) but my surprise is that when I run the game, that error appears! I'm so upset because I have so many time I don't play sims 3 and I was very excited! 

BTW I'm using a MacBook 12-inch
macOS HighSierra
Version 10.13.6

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this (I found this page via google) but I've got the same message appearing when trying to authorize the first Mass Effect game, on Windows 7 64 bit, the 'there is a problem connecting to the server.' message specifically. Installed it yesterday, and when I click play, after a pause it throws up that message. Disk install, the old 5 authorization limit for DRM, no Origin or Steam involved. I de-authorized my install on my old operating system last week, using the de-authorization tool and it was fine. While trying to figure out what was going wrong yesterday, I tried using that, and it got the same 'problem connecting to the server' message a few times, before working. I've been poking at it since then, and it alternates between working and throwing up the error message.

IF this is a related issue (which I'm hazarding a guess it is, considering the timing and it being the same message) it's on EA's end, not operating system. To double check that, this morning I plugged in a hard drive with Windows XP, where Mass Effect has worked perfectly for years now. The install there had been de-authorized, so it'd need a re-authorize to work, and it didn't. Again, same message about there being a problem connecting to the server. So whatever it is, it's not on the computer's end.

(Again, sorry if this isn't the place to post this and there's no chance of the problems being related, but I thought I'd chip in when this is the only place I've seen the issue mentioned. Been too anxious to make my own post about it on the Mass Effect help forum.)

☹️I bought the sims 3 game on origin and downloaded it. When I click the play button, it just shows the green and blue screen with the sims 3 logo on it. It shows it for a little bit and then says "Important Message" and says my connection isn't working. But I'm on wifi. What do I do?