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Kiarah001's avatar
Kiarah001
4 years ago
Solved

Sims 3 launcher won't open

So basically, my laptop was wiped, so I redownloaded Sims 3 however every time I try to play it, it wont load at all; the launcher wont even show. I even tried to compress it in properties which did ...
pc
technical issues
MomoDufrasne's avatar
MomoDufrasne
3 years ago

Thank you for your precious help @puzzlezaddict but unfortunately nothing worked for me. I tried to contact EA multiple times but they ran out of ideas and told me to contact Microsoft instead, which I might do later after work. I checked with them to see if my game was active/valid and they told me it was. Tried the 2nd admin account as well but nothing changed...

I'm beginning to feel really bad because I bought a gaming computer just for The Sims and now I can't even play it..

I ran a second DxDiag after installing DX9 and attached it to this comment, if you could just have a look to see if the DX9 issue is fixed? 

I might try a method I saw for bypassing the launcher but I'm afraid I will face an issue when it'll come to installing custom content...

Thanks again for your time and dedication to this. You're awesome.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
3 years ago

@MomoDufrasne  The DX9 issue isn't showing up in this dxdiag; the errors are all for the audio service and for some failed Windows updates.  If you want to address the latter, here's how:

  • Hit Windows key-X
  • Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
  • Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
  • The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
  • After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
  • Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator)”
  • Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
  • Post the message you receive here

Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the box to check for updates.  If any install, restart again afterwards.

For the Sims issue, try playing in a clean boot:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10

When you reboot, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down anything that doesn't absolutely need to be running, audio services included.  If you accidentally kill the wrong process, just reboot your computer.

If that doesn't help, I'd suggest a simple test to see whether your Origin account might be the issue.  (I've seen cases before where support insists everything's fine but it turns out not to be.)  Do you have a friend or family member who'd let you test on their computer?  If the game ran, the issue would clearly be your computer; if not, that would strongly suggest it was your account.  You'd only need to install the base game, or if they already had Sims 3 installed, you could just sign in with your account and try to launch it.

An alternative, if you have a friend who already owns the game, is to sign into their account on your computer.  This is only for testing—I am definitely not suggesting you share accounts and thereby violate EA's terms of service on an official EA site—but if the game launched while you were signed into that account, that would be definitive proof that your account was the issue.

If your account does have a problem, I can flag your post with someone from EA who would hopefully be able to make sure you got the help from support you needed.

  • MomoDufrasne's avatar
    MomoDufrasne
    3 years ago

    @puzzlezaddict thanks again but unfortunately nothing worked. Tried running it and reinstalling it in a clean boot but nothing happened. I wanted to try and bypass the launcher to see if it fixes the issue but since my game won't open, I don't even have the Electronic Arts > Sims 3 folder.

    I played on the same Origin account on my previous laptop which was very old and it worked perfectly fine so it's definitely not the account. I've only had this issue on my current laptop. If you have any ideas left on how to fix it, I would really appreciate it but I understand this is a though situation and I'm beginning to feel desperate... 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @MomoDufrasne  I understand how you feel.  I'd still like to know whether your Origin account can currently run Sims 3 on another computer, or whether you can run the game on your computer using someone else's account.  It's entirely possible that something happened between when you last used your old computer and now.

    The reason I keep coming back to this is that the only common issue where the game won't start and does not produce any Sims-related errors in the registry is an account merge or bad product code.  I'm not saying that's definitively your problem, just that it's the most likely answer.

    If you use a third-party antivirus, please let me know which one.  Some are more stubborn than others.

  • MomoDufrasne's avatar
    MomoDufrasne
    3 years ago

    I just tried downloading TS3 with the same origin account on my Mac and I can successfully launch the game and play it. The thing is, my Mac is my work tool and I already have a lot on it so it’s very slow and not fun playing at all. That’s why I bought a gaming pc. I don’t play a lot of games other than the sims so I’m very annoyed😫

    I used to use McAfee but my subscription ended and I didn’t renew it. 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @MomoDufrasne  The Mac version works a little differently, so I don't think that's a useful test, unfortunately.  I don't even know if Origin has a way to block content in the Mac version as it does in Windows—at least, I've never seen a clear case where it has.

    If you're sure that nothing from McAfee is still running on your computer, and please do check the Task Manager's background processes list, I don't know of another reason this would be happening.  Since this problem surfaced a couple of years ago, there has really only been one cause that both prevents the launcher from opening and leaves no errors in a dxdiag or the Reliability Monitor.

    However, if you have a little time on your hands (say, half an hour), you could try running a repair install of Windows 10.  This would give you as clean a version of Windows as you could get short of wiping your entire computer, which you shouldn't need to do.  It would also bring your version of Windows up to date; your current build is from fall 2020.

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

    If you use the option to create an ISO and mount it internally, you won't need a USB drive or anything else.  This process is supposed to allow you to keep all your personal data, but if you get to step 13 and do NOT see the option to keep personal files and apps, back out and start over.

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