@MarLove6 You're absolutely correct that an account merge can lead to an invalid base game CD key and the problem you're seeing. I'm not sure why the support rep said you needed to uninstall, unless he replaced your base game key. (In that case, you'd need to uninstall and reinstall to get the new key in your computer's registry.)
You can try going back to support; hopefully a different rep will recognize the issue. Please let me know how that goes. In the interim, I'll ask around if there's something else you'd need to say or do and let you know what I hear. It might take a day or two though, meaning going through support again is probably going to get faster results.
Hi Puzzle, thank you for the response! I went back to support again and he said he replaced my game files? I restarted everything, still doesn't work. I'm going to try again with the live chat and I'll let you know how that goes. Thanks for the help.
@puzzlezaddict So I was just on the phone with EA for about an hour. I tried asking him multiple times to check the base game key but he said we need to go through other troubleshooting steps. I sent him a msinfo file and a dxdiag. He had me install microsoft visual c++, which didn't work. He now believes some files have been corrupted and sent me an email with steps to run a system file checker tool. Through this, I told him it's not my computer as it worked fine just before merging the accounts, but he said no it is your computer, run the checker, and then contact ea support again if the game does not launch.
I am getting incredibly frustrated. I understand the support is bad but I have referenced the answers HQ many times and told him how it has been solved for other people, yet continue to be ignored. I will try the system checker tool and see if it does anything. Please let me know if you have found what exactly I am supposed to say and thank you for the help!
@MarLove6 I did flag this but thought that all you'd need to do would be to go back to support. If you want to not have any more arguments with support reps about your system, it might be worth doing a clean uninstall of Sims 3 and Origin, in addition to the other suggested steps. It's your call.
Check your Windows system files:
Uninstall and reinstall VC++:
Clean uninstall the game and Origin:
Start by uninstalling Sims 3:
Next, uninstall Origin:
Next, download the full Origin installer and run it. Here's the direct download link:
http://download.dm.origin.com/origin/live/OriginSetup.exe
Be sure to run both the installer and Origin itself as an admin: right-click on each and select "Run as Administrator." When it's reinstalled, download Sims 3; you can just download the base game, to save time, if you want.
Restart after installing and before playing, and allow the game to create a new user folder rather than reusing your existing one.
If you still can't get anywhere with support, I will absolutely try to get someone to help with your specific issue. It's just not always easy to know what to do, especially if the support rep says that everything should be addressed from the account side.
@puzzlezaddict Hi, sorry for the late response. I tried everything you said and I did get some error messages:
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844
Image Version: 10.0.19042.985
[======= 12.5% ]
Error: 1392
The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.
The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>
and then for the scannow:
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> sfc /scannow
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 5% complete.
Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>
I have a pretty crap computer and I'm considering buying a new one fairly soon--I might just repurchase sims 3 on steam. Let me know if this unveils anything!
