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Jimmersive's avatar
Jimmersive
Seasoned Newcomer
29 days ago

Sims 3 Won’t Open

I recently got sims 3 on my windows 11 laptop through gamepass. It worked for one session, and once I left the game without saving, the game now no longer works. I will open the launcher and it will either take me back to the launcher or to the EA client when I attempt to play the game. I have redownloaded and scanned the game, the issue persists. I even tried using an unofficial patch, which actually made things worse and now I only get an error message. Is there a way to make this game work properly on windows 11? Would appreciate any advice on how to fix this issue

9 Replies

  • The game works fine in Windows 10 and 11, but there is an issue with 12th gen and newer Intel processors.    What are your laptops specs?   Which patch did you use?

  • Jimmersive's avatar
    Jimmersive
    Seasoned Newcomer
    28 days ago

    I have an i7, so it’s a 12th gen processor. I used LazyDuchess’s AlderLakePatcher

  • Are you using Steam, or EA App?    EA App already has the Alder Lake Patch built in now, it was updated a couple months ago.

    Good luck, I'm not sure how else I can help from here.  You may have to contact EA Support directly.

  • Jimmersive​  Please repair the game in the EA App, don't reapply the Alder Lake patch, and see whether you can play.  If the game doesn't open, remove the Sims 3 folder from Documents > Electronic Arts and try again.  If that doesn't help either let me know what happens instead.

    In that case, I'd also like to see 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.

    KevinL5275​  There's no need to send people to EA customer support unless it's a confirmed or likely account issue.  The whole point of having a tech forum here is to get help with user-side problems.

  • Jimmersive​  I apologize for the late reply.  You're getting a lot of BlueScreens, but apparently no errors when trying to open Sims 3, which typically means it's being blocked from running rather than crashing.  That, in turn, is most commonly caused by an antivirus or OneDrive.

    Windows Defender doesn't usually block Sims 3, but if you use a third-party antivirus, please disable it, temporarily of course, repair the game again, and try to launch it.  If this works, set exceptions for TS3.exe and Sims3Launcher.exe in your antivirus, both in [install location]\The Sims 3\Game\Bin.

    If this doesn't help, or you only use Defender, please create a new admin Windows account and try playing there.  Make it local, as in, don't link it to your Microsoft account or any email.  This will get around the OneDrive issue (no account link means no OneDrive in play) as well as any permissions issues with the Documents folder in your main account.

    If this helps but you'd like to get the game running in your main Windows account, let me know whether OneDrive is active in the main account.

    While testing, please restart your computer each time you try to open the game.  Sometimes the EA App doesn't allow a game to launch if the App itself hasn't been closed properly.

  • Jimmersive's avatar
    Jimmersive
    Seasoned Newcomer
    16 days ago

    puzzlezaddict​  I'm on windows defender, no other antivirus, I haven't managed to figure out how to make a local admin account. I do have Onedrive active

  • Jimmersive's avatar
    Jimmersive
    Seasoned Newcomer
    2 hours ago

    puzzlezaddict​ the game appears to work on the admin account. Is there something I can do to get it working on the main? 

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