Sims 3 Not Launching
I have spent this entire week reading through these forums and watching YouTube videos to try to get my Sims 3 game working. None of the fixes have worked. I am on the brink of giving up. I literall...
Forum Discussion
@puzzlezaddict This computer is like straight out the box, as is. I don't modify any of the drives, etc. It worked with origin and.never worked when ea apps took over and I am just now trying to fix.it.
I attached the dxdiag.
I was using origin before we were forced to switch and now that I am using ea apps I can click the play button all I want but the launcher never loads so it's not playable. Then TS3W method doesnt work either
The launcher.either doesn't even try to load or will attempt to load but not fully load and basically go into error state and ea apps doesn't pop up with any error message.
I have uninstalled/reinstalled, factory reset, etc. a dozen times. I tried steam to launch through that and that doesn't even work (I know.it.still uses ea apps).
I'm so so so so so defeated. Hopefully you can help
@divaisdancing Your dxdiag lists a number of Sims 3 errors that could be related to the game itself or your computer. So please start with a couple of basic checks of your Windows system files:
- 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, 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, 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.
If you use a third-party antivirus, please set exceptions for TS3.exe, Sims3Launcher.exe, and EADesktop.exe. If you don't think you have an antivirus program installed, check the Task Manager (including background processes) anyway—many computers come with one pre-installed. If you are in fact only using Windows Defender, and Controlled Folder Access is enabled, set the same exceptions. Don't enable it if it's not already running.
Next, clear the EA App's cache:
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/
Restart your computer, and repair the game: open your game library, click Sims 3, and select Manage > Repair.
If you have a Sims 3 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts, move it to the desktop. If you get an error when trying to move the folder, or it copies rather than moving, let me know. Otherwise, try again to play.
- @puzzlezaddict I have 2 questions too: I use mods and cc which I am confident are not corrupted. Does this matter?
Also, is it better to play using the game download from steam or directly from ea apps ? Or is there no difference?@puzzlezaddict Attached some screenshots.
I cleared EA apps cache (previously too).
I checked the exceptions.
I have the terminal admin thing still running (I think)
I also uninstalled/reinstalled Steam (just in case) and EA Apps.
Now, the Sims 3 launcher is opening (as it was before after a fresh install) but the minute I'm done adding in my mods and installing my CC (all of which I am sure sure sure is not corrupted) and go to actually play the game, it does the same thing where the launcher will not open and if it even tries to, it will just go into error state.
@divaisdancing One of the reasons I asked you to move the Sims 3 user folder to the desktop was to remove all your mods and custom content. It's best to start with a clean folder, nothing at all added to it, and then slowly reintroduce the content you want to use. Even if you're sure your mods and cc are fine, there's no shortcut for testing.
Now that you've established that the game works with no mods or cc, try creating a new Mods framework and adding back only your NRaas mods, nothing else. If the game still works, add a few more mods, and a few more, until you've added them all or found the ones that cause problems. Then you can do the same with your cc. The launcher not opening is more likely a cc problem—mods don't get loaded until the game launches.
As for Steam vs. the EA App, if you own Sims 3 in Steam, I'd use that. It removes the EA App as a possible source of problems, and you can in fact launch Sims 3 through TS3W.exe (or Sims3LauncherW.exe for the launcher) without even opening Steam if you want. This doesn't work in the EA App just as it didn't work in Origin after 2015.
The caveat is that you'd need to own all the packs you want to use in Steam itself; Steam won't recognize anything you only own through the EA App. And you'd need to redownload and reinstall your Store content as well. The way the Store encryption works, items cannot be shared between Steam and EA App installs.
Ok so this happened before as well but I was able to launch the game just 1 time with my mods and cc through EA apps ( I don't have all my games through steam, but asked because I was curious).
Now I went to relaunch the game and it's back to not opening at all. If I go to task manager it appears there but never actually loads.
Also I have been trying the TS3W method all week and it hasn't worked. I used to use this way back in the day no problem but it straight up doesn't work now.
Totally stumped.
