sims 3 opens blank screen mac
I recently wanted to get back into playing the Sims 3 after a short break but I can't play anymore. After I press play on the launcher a black and white screen shows up (as shown in the screenshot at...
Forum Discussion
@kawaiisizzie Try loading the game in a clean user folder. This doesn't mean deleting your saves and custom content, just setting them aside for the moment. Move your entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and the game will create a new one with no content the next time you open the launcher. Don't add anything to it yet; just see whether you can start a new save.
If the game has the same graphics glitches as before, change the settings again. If you get another blank screen, make sure iCloud isn't trying to automatically sync the contents of Documents: you can disable iCloud or just stop the auto syncing function. This guide is for another issue, but the relevant settings are the same.
https://bluebellflora.com/2017/02/06/sims-3-and-sims-4-not-loading-save-games/
If that doesn't help either, try playing while your computer is completely offline. You can sign into Origin and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi before opening the launcher.
I played a day and a bit in game to see how it would run and it was fine with wifi turned off. The only issue I had with a the new Sims 3 folder was when I loaded and exited the game, a glitches screen appeared, but it didn't cause any other issues.
@kawaiisizzie I can't see your screenshot because this site's virus scanner is on the fritz (again...), but if the game is otherwise working normally, you may not need to worry about it. I'll take a look at the screenshot when it's showing properly, unless you want mte to look now, in which case, embed it within your post instead. (There's a button for that along with the other formatting buttons.)
When the game works only with no internet connection, that usually means either iCloud is trying to upload the contents of Documents as the game is trying to load, or that an antivirus is blocking some connection the game makes to EA servers. The latter has traditionally only been an issue when a third-party antivirus program is installed, but it's possible that Big Sur's security settings are more stringent. Anyway, the place to start is with iCloud, and if that's not the problem, let me know whether you use a separate antivirus.
As I mentioned earlier, I do not have an antivirus program. I started thinking and I moved all my saves and custom content (all other files that were needed) to the new Sims 3 folder. I made a sim and played nearly a whole sim day and had no issues other than some custom content not showing up in game and custom content not showing up on my sim when I am far away (I think that has to do with the settings). Regardless, the issue of the glitch is fixed and I think it has something to do with the Sims 3 folder itself because it was showing the blank screen I had to begin with when I tried to open the original Sims 3 folder.
@kawaiisizzie That's why the clean folder is so helpful—it addresses all the issues with the current folder at once. I thought when you said the glitch had started again that you were still using the new folder, not the old one, but I guess I should have asked for clarification.
Most of the files in your Sims 3 user folder are extraneous and will be recreated as necessary, so you don't really have to worry about moving over the files from your old folder. Unless you're missing some content you want, for example a saved build or household (in the Library folder) or a sim saved in CAS (in the SavedSims folder), you can just ignore the contents of the old folder entirely.
The custom content issues are likely due to the cc itself, not your settings. Some content doesn't work properly at all, and other items don't have a low-res version. So when you're looking at your sims from far away and the game switches to using the low level-of-detail (LOD) images, the cc doesn't show up at all. You could in theory fix this by editing graphicsrules.sgr to lengthen the distance it takes before the game switches to using low LOD images, but that would bring with it a massive performance hit. I'd instead use different custom content.
