Hello! This is supergirlninja's mother.
We gave the kids new windows 8 laptops for Christmas. We purchased the HP 2000 Netbooks from the Black Friday sale at Walmart.
The first thing she complained about was her SIMS 3 not working. After she gave up frustrated completely I tried to help. I asked her to post this message to all of you, because what I have tried so far is working. I'm crossing my fingers that it will help you as well, and it continues to work for us.
I have spoke to the Support line, and they asked me to download the super patcher. Download it to your desktop, and leave it alone for now. The Super Patcher seems to me rather large.
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_PatchingMeanwhile,
Make sure all your windows updates are done.
You want to get rid of all SIMS stuff first, and yes that includes the registry, folders, etc. I have done this manually, and its a pain. So I used a program that I'm familiar with that does it for me. I used this years ago to get rid of the Norton junk that another new computer came with, and I couldn't get rid of.
There is a free program called, Revo uninstaller. This will remove the program, and all the registery junk, folders - the whole nine yards.
There is a free version, and of course the PRO version. I did the free one. Download the program Revo Uninstaller.
http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.htmlI would THEN make a restore point on your computer just in case. The Revo program does this as well, but I don't want to rely on the program to be sure. So I did a restore point myself.
No doubt the Revo uninstaller did a second one. Big deal - now I have two.
Once I launched the Revo Uninstaller on her laptop it scans your system for all installed programs. This can take some time if you have plenty.
Once the scan is completed - At the top you have some options. Select the uninstall option.
Look below and FIND your program icon that you are going to remove (it will remove everything - not just icon).
Right click on program icon
Select Uninstall
It will prompt you asking you if you are want to uninstall program - click yes.
Next Screen is 'Select an Uninstall Mode" I picked 'advanced' on bottom - click next
Next Screen is 'Performaing the initial analysis and uninstall' screen.
At this point you will see the screen with a list of 4 jobs it will be doing, and in the meantime your normal SIMS uninstall wizard will run. If you have time to read the 4 steps listed in the
Revo uninstaller program? Step four on the REVO screen it tells you this will happen. Leave the REVO program alone for now, and run the SIMS uninstall wizard until its completed. Once you hit the FINISH button for the SIMS wizard you can hit next on the revo uninstaller program. (Keep in mind the REVO will launch the SIMS wizard for you - you don't have to do that part.)
Scanning left over information screen will be running. Allow it to finish. then Click NEXT
Found Leftover files and Folder screen will be next. Click 'select all', and then click "delete'. You will then get a message, 'are you are you want to send the selected files to the recycle bin?" Click Yes. Scan will happen and when its done - click next.
You may get additional screens similar to the one you just had, and it may relate to registry junk, folders, etc. Just select all, delete, YES I want to send to reycle bin, Click Yes. Do this until the program is DONE!
I did the same to remove SIMS 3, all extension packs, and origin using this program.
Once SIMS program, all the extensions, and Origin have been removed - remember to empty your recycle bin.
This is just me, but once I do all this work? I normally restart the computer as well. It may not be needed, but that's just me as I said.
I was told to install the super patcher prior to the program (ea support line), but it would not allow it due to no SIMS program on system at all at this point.
I reinstalled Origin. Signed in - went to 'my games' and only installed the SIMS 3 program. I will not run this program, because I want to do the super patcher thing first (per EA support).
So in others DON'T hit play when its done!
I then went to my super patcher download, and excuted the program. It took a while to run, and I left the computer completely alone to let it do its thing.
(Please note: The first time I downloaded the super patcher and ran it? I got some silly error. I downloaded again, and it was fine this time. Don't know what that was all about. This happened within days of each other, so maybe they did something to the patch in the meantime.)
Once the patch was completely installed? I was getting excited, and I crossed my fingers and did a little prayer while I launched the SIMS 3 based program. I almost fainted when it actually did what it was suppose to.
I told my daughter to let the silly program load, and don't download any extensions until the program is done loading EVERYTHING!
i instructed her to download one extension at a time - let it load all the junk it needs to - add her purchases, extras, files etc from the progress on each expansion pack ONE AT A TIME!
Once she was SURE everything was working on that pack? Move to the next one. Do the same thing.
I told her if ONE expansion pack screws up? STOP, and we will look for the next solution.
My daugther was told (ea support line again) if Origin install doesn't work? Try her DISK for the SIMS 3 program we got at the store.
I'm not giving this program ANY chances to screw up, so I will uninstall the SIMS 3 and origin once again (using Revo uninstaller) if this 'origin download' option fails. In other words - the stupid error once again. This didn't happen for us, but I wanted to throw it out there just in case.
So Far so good...we will see, and I hope my journey helped others!
