Sims 3 Won't Launch on New PC w/ Windows 11

I am having the EXACT same problem! I have spent the last week trying to resolve this. Can someone please help 

@NinjaAibou707  You are or at least were at some point seeing the Alder Lake issue, which affects most 13th- and 14th-gen Intel processors as well.  Are you specifically applying the workarounds to TS3.exe, without the W?  That's the executable the game would use with an EA App install.

I can't tell from the dxdiag when these errors happened—you might have resolved that issue only to run into another one.  So if you've been using TS3.exe and still can't play, please try to launch the game one more time, then look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.  Today is on the right.

Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempt to launch Sims 3.  If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.  If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

Hello, thank you for your reply. I was indeed patching the TS3.exe without the W, and just in case I tried repairing the game and re-patching after I got your reply and I still encountered the same error. I relaunched the game and this is the information I'm getting from the Reliability Monitor (under spoiler tag).

I also wanted to mention that I tried another tip for setting up an unlinked administrator account on Windows and trying to launch, and for some reason the Sims 3 actually launched over there (the first time the game has launched at all on my new PC). However, I am for some reason now getting an error on my main Windows account that the Sims 3 is already running every single time I hit play, even after using task manager to shut down EA App and trying again. I keep seeing that tip for testing it on the clean unlinked account, but I can't find anywhere that describes why that is significant and what steps I need to take on my own Windows account based on that information. Or does that just mean I have to switch accounts everytime I play sims 3?

@NinjaAibou707  Please try forcing Sims 3 to launch in windowed mode.  Go into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3, open Options.ini, search for fullscreen, and set it to 0 (zero).

The idea behind a new admin Windows account is that you're working with an entirely new Documents directory, plus other default Windows settings and permissions.  If there's a problem with any of these in the old account, it won't follow you into the new account.  Additionally, the game's user content will stay in the old account and not affect the new one.  This is useful for me when I wonder if someone really did remove all their mods and custom content or is just saying so because they "checked the mods and they're all fine."  You'd be surprised how often I hear this.

A local account, not linked to your Microsoft account, means that OneDrive can't interfere: it doesn't have an account to sync with.  Your Documents folder therefore also can't land inside the OneDrive folder, at least not without explicitly changing the settings.

Okay, so I tried opening the Options.ini file, and fullscreen was already set to 0. You mentioned having a clean directory for the game, so just to be safe I did a complete clean reinstall of the game (uninstalled from EA App, deleted folders, and deleted registry files). I repatched the TS3.exe file after the reinstall, pressed play on the launcher, got booted back to the EA App for a second, then had the launcher reopen unprompted immediately after. I tried clicking the blue play button again, but got booted back to the EA App and told that Sims 3 was already running. So I tried going back to the Options.ini file to see if I could set it to windowed mode since I did a clean reinstall and everything, but there is not an Options.ini file in the folder after the reinstall. 

I then went into the unlinked admin account where I was able to get Sims 3 to launch before, and it still launches just fine, and there is an Options.ini file in the admin account documents directory. I was able to change the fullscreen command from 1 to 0 with no problem, and the game launched in windowed mode (though it was still launching in fullscreen fine before). However, I am still unable to launch the game on my main Windows account, unable to locate an Options.ini file anywhere, and keep encountering issues where the EA App says the game is already running (even after I use task manager to force close EA App and reopen). I am super confused at this point.

I’ll also throw this out there in case it’s relevant, but I have a copy saved of my old Sims 3 folders from my previous computer (ones that include saves, cc, and mods), but they’re on a completely separate drive and EA App is set to use the directory only on my new main drive where no other traces of Sims 3 stuff are installed. I didn’t know if it was possible to encounter something where Sims 3 would try to read any of those other files on the other drive, but I don’t think it should since the program is set to only read the new Sims 3 folder which is a complete clean reinstall with no cc or mods.

@NinjaAibou707  The "already running" error is usually due to mods or permissions on the user folder.  You don't have mods now that you've moved the user folder, but perhaps the game can't access that folder.  The next question is where your Documents directory is located, according to Windows.  To find out, search in Windows for Command Prompt, open it, and enter this command:

reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"

Please post the result.  You can write [username] instead of your actual username if you want, but leave the rest intact.

There's no Options.ini file in the new Sims 3 folder because the game is apparently not getting far enough in the launch process to create one.

Here is the result that I'm getting:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
Personal REG_SZ C:\Users\[username]\Documents

@NinjaAibou707  That's the correct location, so the problem isn't OneDrive at least.  Try instead to move the Electronic Arts folder out of Documents.

If that doesn't help, please reset permissions on the Documents folder.  The command you'll use is this:

takeown /F "C:\Users\username\Documents"

Write your actual username for this Windows account (your main one) instead of username.  Since the syntax needs to be exactly right, please copy this command to a Notepad file, substitute in your username, and then copy that string when you're ready to use it.  Hit Windows key-X and choose either "PowerShell (Administrator)" or "Windows Terminal (Administrator)," whichever option is offered, paste the command into the window, and enter.

Then restart your computer and try again to play.

If that doesn't help, please see this post for further troubleshooting:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mass-Effect-Legendary-Edition/quot-A-problem-occured-while-saving-the-game-No-game-session/m-p/12689808#M17087

You'll of course apply these steps to the Documents folder your account is using, i.e. C:\Users\[your username]\Documents.

If you get past the "already running" message but still can't play, look for an Options.ini file in your main Windows account, and if it's there, set the game to run in windowed mode (again).

Unfortunately, none of these options have worked for me.

I tried moving the Electronics Arts folder to my desktop to no avail, and I used PowerShell (Admin) to activate the command and restarted my PC. I also followed the troubleshooting post you linked and its saying my username already has full control and is already the owner of the folder. There is still no Options.ini file and I am still encountering the issue where upon restarting my computer, the launcher opens, I click play, the launcher reopens again for some reason, and then upon clicking play again it tells me that the game is already running.

@NinjaAibou707  Try moving Documents to a different folder.  You can keep it on C if you want; the point is to have its location be something other than C:\Users\username\Documents.  Here's how to change it (option one):

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/move-or-restore-default-location-of-documents-folder-in-windows-11.8708/