I bought a copy of the sims 3 starter pack at wal mart. The game will not run or install.On the Origon "My Games" screen when I mouse over the sims 3 the popup has the "install" link when I click on the install link the bar on the bottom shows some action for about 3 seconds and announces 100% complete, When I mouse over the "Plants vs Zombies" the popup has the "play" link.I uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times. I even went into the registry and removed all keys and values that referred to the sims. I also tried right clicking on the sims icon on the origin games screed and clicked on "repair". I did that 2 times. It goes thru the "download" process, eats up a lot of bandwidth and saves NOTHING! I even went into "application settings" and specified an easier to find folder to save the download into. I also specified to save the download.About all I got for my 30 bucks is a headache and a suspected piece of spyware that won't let me use what I really paid for.Wal Mart will not refund, they only replace. It's a waste of time to replace one piece of junk with another.I decided to go from a sony console to pc gaming because Sony got too greedy. Now it appears that EA is worse than Sony!My system more than meets the minimum requirements for this game and the box is labeled that it works in Windows 7. Which it obviously does not!I played this game on a cheap HP (store bought) computer with windows Vista I was repairing for a friend. he had some driver issues that prevented the game form running. After I got it fixed, the game captured my imagination so I bought it, only to find out it will not work at all in windows 7. EA does not seem to care about customer "support".I tried all of the suggestions about setting compatibility to win XP SP3 and editing the registry after a complete uninstall.Any ideas, or is this just a waste of time and 30 bucks down the drain?Windows 7 pro 64 bit SP1 fully patchedMSI K9N2 MOBOAMD Phenom 9850 quad core @ 2.5 Ghz8GB dual channel RAMSamsung 240GB SSD 840 SCSI primary driveNVIDIA GTX 770 video card by PNYSony DVD RW AW-G170A optical driveNothing is overclocked

@CRAZYMAN5111 wrote:I bought a copy of the sims 3 starter pack at wal mart. The game will not run or install.On the Origon "My Games" screen when I mouse over the sims 3 the popup has the "install" link when I click on the install link the bar on the bottom shows some action for about 3 seconds and announces 100% complete, When I mouse over the "Plants vs Zombies" the popup has the "play" link.I uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times. I even went into the registry and removed all keys and values that referred to the sims. I also tried right clicking on the sims icon on the origin games screed and clicked on "repair". I did that 2 times. It goes thru the "download" process, eats up a lot of bandwidth and saves NOTHING! I even went into "application settings" and specified an easier to find folder to save the download into. I also specified to save the download.About all I got for my 30 bucks is a headache and a suspected piece of spyware that won't let me use what I really paid for.Wal Mart will not refund, they only replace. It's a waste of time to replace one piece of junk with another.I decided to go from a sony console to pc gaming because Sony got too greedy. Now it appears that EA is worse than Sony!My system more than meets the minimum requirements for this game and the box is labeled that it works in Windows 7. Which it obviously does not!I played this game on a cheap HP (store bought) computer with windows Vista I was repairing for a friend. he had some driver issues that prevented the game form running. After I got it fixed, the game captured my imagination so I bought it, only to find out it will not work at all in windows 7. EA does not seem to care about customer "support".I tried all of the suggestions about setting compatibility to win XP SP3 and editing the registry after a complete uninstall.Any ideas, or is this just a waste of time and 30 bucks down the drain?Windows 7 pro 64 bit SP1 fully patchedMSI K9N2 MOBO@AMD Phenom 9850 quad core @ 2.5 Ghz8GB dual channel RAMSamsung 240GB SSD 840 SCSI primary driveNVIDIA GTX 770 video card by PNYSony DVD RW AW-G170A optical driveNothing is overclockedWhat anti virus do you have? If bitdefender the game will not play. You would have to remove bitdefender. Also you have to get your Nvidia card to accept the TS3W game file. If you need instructions let me know. I have a 770 card. you should also put your vsync on adptive. This game has no FPS limiter and will ruin your card .

I have Avast anti-virus. V-Sync is and has been set on adaptive all along. I can't seem to find out how to get the card to accept that file?I have all of the latest drivers. After I make this post I will disable Avast and se what happens. It gave no popup warnings when I installled the game, so I didn't even think it might be a problem! Any help will be greatly apperciated!

Im not sure about your anti-virus but try turning it off while your off line and see if the game loads. Your computer should play the game so something is blocking it in your computer.To get to the TS3W file is a pain!!! . computer C, to programfilesx86, to origin games file, to the sims 3 file, to game file, to the bin file. YEA! Bin file is where you will find the TS3W file. Do this while your in Nvidia control panel under 3D settings and get the control panel to accept the TS3W file.you can also change your files for the game to accept your video card but I have not done this. I just have my card accepting the TS3W file and game plays fine.http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/06/getting-the-game-to-recognize-your-card.html

I got the nividia control panel to accept TS3W.exe in 3d. I also changed the compatability mode of every .exe file in the sims and origin to "windows xp SP3".The Origin games folder in the X86 program files is 6.81GB in size. Apparently; all of the data is in there. I tried installing the latest patch which pops up with "No version of the sims 3 is installed" error message. I disabled all of my security apps but my hardware firewall in the router. Still nothing works. This is about to really turn me into a "CRAZYMAN" LOL!I'm starting to think that Origin app is the problem. Can I get the sims to run without it?

I know this game could drive you nuts and yes everything in this game runs through the TS3Wfile.If you can open the launcher look at the bottom left hand corner. what patch number do you have? It should be 1.67the only way to run this game without origin is if you have old disc version issued before 2012.

Sims 3 will not run or install in Windows 7 pro

17 Replies

Anonymous
12 years ago
@CRAZYMAN5111 wrote:
I bought a copy of the sims 3 starter pack at wal mart. The game will not run or install.
On the Origon "My Games" screen when I mouse over the sims 3 the popup has the "install" link when I click on the install link the bar on the bottom shows some action for about 3 seconds and announces 100% complete, When I mouse over the "Plants vs Zombies" the popup has the "play" link.
I uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times. I even went into the registry and removed all keys and values that referred to the sims. I also tried right clicking on the sims icon on the origin games screed and clicked on "repair". I did that 2 times. It goes thru the "download" process, eats up a lot of bandwidth and saves NOTHING! I even went into "application settings" and specified an easier to find folder to save the download into. I also specified to save the download.
About all I got for my 30 bucks is a headache and a suspected piece of spyware that won't let me use what I really paid for.
Wal Mart will not refund, they only replace. It's a waste of time to replace one piece of junk with another.
I decided to go from a sony console to pc gaming because Sony got too greedy. Now it appears that EA is worse than Sony!
My system more than meets the minimum requirements for this game and the box is labeled that it works in Windows 7. Which it obviously does not!
I played this game on a cheap HP (store bought) computer with windows Vista I was repairing for a friend. he had some driver issues that prevented the game form running. After I got it fixed, the game captured my imagination so I bought it, only to find out it will not work at all in windows 7. EA does not seem to care about customer "support".
I tried all of the suggestions about setting compatibility to win XP SP3 and editing the registry after a complete uninstall.
Any ideas, or is this just a waste of time and 30 bucks down the drain?
Windows 7 pro 64 bit SP1 fully patched
MSI K9N2 MOBO
@AMD Phenom 9850 quad core @ 2.5 Ghz
8GB dual channel RAM
Samsung 240GB SSD 840 SCSI primary drive
NVIDIA GTX 770 video card by PNY
Sony DVD RW AW-G170A optical drive
Nothing is overclocked
What anti virus do you have? If bitdefender the game will not play. You would have to remove bitdefender. Also you have to get your Nvidia card to accept the TS3W game file. If you need instructions let me know. I have a 770 card. you should also put your vsync on adptive. This game has no FPS limiter and will ruin your card .
CRAZYMAN5111
12 years ago
I have Avast anti-virus. V-Sync is and has been set on adaptive all along. I can't seem to find out how to get the card to accept that file?
I have all of the latest drivers. After I make this post I will disable Avast and se what happens. It gave no popup warnings when I installled the game, so I didn't even think it might be a problem! Any help will be greatly apperciated!
Anonymous
12 years ago
Im not sure about your anti-virus but try turning it off while your off line and see if the game loads. Your computer should play the game so something is blocking it in your computer.
To get to the TS3W file is a pain!!! . computer C, to programfilesx86, to origin games file, to the sims 3 file, to game file, to the bin file. YEA! Bin file is where you will find the TS3W file. Do this while your in Nvidia control panel under 3D settings and get the control panel to accept the TS3W file.
you can also change your files for the game to accept your video card but I have not done this. I just have my card accepting the TS3W file and game plays fine.
http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/06/getting-the-game-to-recognize-your-card.html
CRAZYMAN5111
12 years ago
I got the nividia control panel to accept TS3W.exe in 3d. I also changed the compatability mode of every .exe file in the sims and origin to "windows xp SP3".
The Origin games folder in the X86 program files is 6.81GB in size. Apparently; all of the data is in there. I tried installing the latest patch which pops up with "No version of the sims 3 is installed" error message. I disabled all of my security apps but my hardware firewall in the router. Still nothing works. This is about to really turn me into a "CRAZYMAN" LOL!
I'm starting to think that Origin app is the problem. Can I get the sims to run without it?
Anonymous
12 years ago
I know this game could drive you nuts and yes everything in this game runs through the TS3Wfile.
If you can open the launcher look at the bottom left hand corner. what patch number do you have? It should be 1.67
the only way to run this game without origin is if you have old disc version issued before 2012.
Anonymous
12 years ago
@CRAZYMAN5111 wrote:
I got the nividia control panel to accept TS3W.exe in 3d. I also changed the compatability mode of every .exe file in the sims and origin to "windows xp SP3".
The Origin games folder in the X86 program files is 6.81GB in size. Apparently; all of the data is in there. I tried installing the latest patch which pops up with "No version of the sims 3 is installed" error message. I disabled all of my security apps but my hardware firewall in the router. Still nothing works. This is about to really turn me into a "CRAZYMAN" LOL!
I'm starting to think that Origin app is the problem. Can I get the sims to run without it?
Did you get the game working???
crinrict
Hero+
12 years ago
@CRAZYMAN5111 I've split your posts from the trouble shooting faq. It's easier to help you this way. Cases are very individually.
CRAZYMAN5111
12 years ago
No the game does not work. All of the files have been installed. When I try to install patch 1.67.2.024001; after expansion I get an error message saying that "Sims 3 is not installed". When I go into "Control Panel", "programs and features": Sims 3 is not on the list. Origin is there, but the game is not. All I have on the Origin app is "Plants vs Zombies" which has the "Play" link when I mouse over the icon. "Sims 3" is there too. When I mouse over that icon the "install" link pops up. I also tried right clicking on the Sims icon and selected "repair". After the "reapir" is done: I still have the "install" link pop up. I don't remember how many times I clicked on "install", nothing ever comes of that effort.
When I right click on the TS3W.exe file and select "run as administrator": The screen goes black and an error message pops up: "unable to start game" "service initialization failed" "0X039e8474"..whatever that code means is way beyond me!
I have also tried every "compatability mode" available from windows 95 to windows 7.
Anonymous
12 years ago
The base game has to be patched to 1.67 before installing the ep's. . I would start from scratch. Install base game patch to 1.67 and then add the ep's. This maybe why it's stating the base game is not installed because the base game was not patched before adding ep's.
Edit
some people have problems getting the base game to patch to 1.67 so if you are having this problem use the superpatch than add ep's
http://help.ea.com/en/article/the-sims-3-super-patcher/
rumbutter
Hero (Retired)
12 years ago
see this thread here http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/FAQ-Service-initialization-failed/td-p/65394

and see this here for help in making sure everything related to the sims 3 is uninstalled ( before installing again ) in case someting was left behind with uninsatlling and was missed

http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_Uninstall

also use ccleaner from piriform they have a free version use that too to asssit with cleaning up