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kitylinda's avatar
kitylinda
Seasoned Novice
13 hours ago

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 reinstall EA app to try making the age verification notification pop up again as an EA assistent suggested me (I'm brazilian and now this age verification is required here, but the notification that redirects to this link isn't showing up, don't know if they did it automatically, since I've been registered since 2009 and in the settings of my account in that family part I'm listed as an adult) the launcher won't appear anymore.

I thought it was due to not being able to finish the said verification process, but 1. Sims 3 isn't a 18yo rated game and 2. I played it normally until now (yesterday to be precise), so I checked the task manager and Sims3Launcher is listed in the background processes. How can I make it appear normally again and be able to play? When I try clicking "play" in EA app the buttons turns grey and a notification pops up saying the game is already running so I have to close it to iniciate the launcher, which I did and tried to launch it directly from the game bin, but it still opens the EA app and the whole thing I just described happens.

What can I do? I'm really desperate cause I don't want to lose my saves and creations, just wanna go in game as I always did until yesterday. I'd be really grateful if someone could help me! Been searching on the web and found simmilar problems, but the solutions I tried didn't worked...

Thanks in advance!

gameplay issue
pc
technical issues

3 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    10 hours 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
    Seasoned Novice
    11 hours ago

    Yes! I did restarted the computer many times and already changed the compatibility of of EADesktop, Sims3Launcher and TS3W to run as an administrator. Haven't tried to move my Sims 3 folder, but I doubt it will change anything, since the launcher isn't located in that folder and it simply won't open even when I try doing it directly from game bin... I've been thinking of uninstalling the game and reinstalling, but I'm afraid to lose all my builds and Sims, not sure if they will appear if I just make a copy of the contents from Sims 3 folder...

    Here's the dxdiag result:

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    12 hours 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.

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