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kitylinda's avatar
kitylinda
New Rookie
7 days ago
Solved

Sims 3 launcher stuck in the background process

Hello simmers! Since I went back to Sims 3 this year my game was just fine, I even opened it normally yesterday and the launcher appeared without any problem, but after I tried to uninstall and rein...
gameplay issue
pc
technical issues
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    7 days ago

    kitylinda​  Have you restarted your computer yet?  If not, please do that now.  The "already running" error and similar ones can happen sometimes after a crash, even a silent crash, if you don't restart afterwards.

    If that doesn't help, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  When you open the launcher, if it opens, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you've moved but temporarily unread by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just start a new save and see how it runs.

    If you still can't play, please provide a dxdiag.  Click Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop.  From there, you can attach it to a reply using the paper clip (Attachment) icon included with the other formatting buttons.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
7 days ago

kitylinda​  The launcher can absolutely fail to open because of something in the user folder.  It happens all the time.  Having said that, your dxdiag lists zero crashes of Sims 3 or its launcher and a number of errors from the EA App, so let's start there.  Please uninstall the App with Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine), restart your computer again, download a fresh copy of the App installer, and run it (the installer itself) as an admin: right-click the download and select "Run as administrator."  You don't need to set the App to run as an admin, in fact please don't at this point.

Your dxdiag also shows that CC Magic is crashing, so please disable that for now.  You can start using it again once the game is working.

Finally, if you can, please clear more space on your system drive.  While 9 GB free probably wouldn't prevent the Sims 3 launcher from opening, it's going to cause system issues sooner or later.  And the size would be reduced further if you create new saves or backups of your current saves.

Any households or builds you've saved would be in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Library.  Sim templates saved in CAS are in SavedSims.  You can back up these folders if you like, but uninstalling the game shouldn't delete them, not that you necessarily need to uninstall at this point.  The only exception is if you've installed Sims 3 into Documents > Electronic Arts, as in, the program files and user files are in the same location.  In that case, backup Library, SavedSims, and Saves, then uninstall the game and reinstall it elsewhere; the default C:\Program Files\EA Games is fine.

kitylinda's avatar
kitylinda
New Rookie
6 days ago

I did uninstalled EA app using the Revo Uninstaller as you suggested and excluded it's folder, but once I redownloaded the app there was a message saying it was  already installed and options to iniciate or repair, when I clicked "iniate EA app" it redirected to where the folder was supposed to be, so I clicked "repair" and installation begun, then I tried opening the game and it's still in the background processes... Don't know what to do anymore...

When  you suggested moving "the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop", do you mean the folder where my saves are or the other one in the bin where TS3W and the launcher are?

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