@puzzlezaddict I tried moving my Sims 3 folder onto my desktop. If I did it right, this meant there wasn't a file at all named Sims 3 in my Electronic Arts folder. However, when I tried to press play on Origin, the same error message popped up ☹️
I attached my DxDiag.txt file and here is the results of my CHKDSK scan. (I actually see some faults in the DxDiag signed by Sims 3 Launcher so that really gives me hope!)
Thank you for your help so far.
CHKDSK scan:
Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Wininit
Date: 28/02/2021 20:36:10
Event ID: 1001
Task Category: None
Level: Information
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: -PC
Description:
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Windows8_OS.
A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
481792 file records processed.
File verification completed.
21268 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
618966 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.
Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Cleaning up 59 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 59 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 59 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
68588 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
39923792 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
Stage 4: Looking for bad clusters in user file data ...
481776 files processed.
File data verification completed.
Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters ...
438995416 free clusters processed.
Free space verification is complete.
Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.
1925980159 KB total disk space.
169105744 KB in 369071 files.
243788 KB in 68589 indexes.
276 KB in bad sectors.
648687 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
1755981664 KB available on disk.
4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
481495039 total allocation units on disk.
438995416 allocation units available on disk.
Internal Info:
00 5a 07 00 a6 ad 06 00 10 07 0d 00 00 00 00 00 .Z..............
18 02 00 00 68 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....h...........
Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Wininit" Guid="{206f6dea-d3c5-4d10-bc72-989f03c8b84b}" EventSourceName="Wininit" />
<EventID Qualifiers="16384">1001</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>4</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2021-02-28T20:36:10.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>59622</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Windows8_OS.
A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
481792 file records processed.
File verification completed.
21268 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
618966 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.
Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Cleaning up 59 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 59 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 59 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
68588 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
39923792 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
Stage 4: Looking for bad clusters in user file data ...
481776 files processed.
File data verification completed.
Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters ...
438995416 free clusters processed.
Free space verification is complete.
Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.
1925980159 KB total disk space.
169105744 KB in 369071 files.
243788 KB in 68589 indexes.
276 KB in bad sectors.
648687 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
1755981664 KB available on disk.
4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
481495039 total allocation units on disk.
438995416 allocation units available on disk.
Internal Info:
00 5a 07 00 a6 ad 06 00 10 07 0d 00 00 00 00 00 .Z..............
18 02 00 00 68 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....h...........
Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.
</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>