Sims 3 Won't Launch on New PC w/ Windows 11
Hello, I recently rebuilt my PC and was forced to switch to Windows 11 as that is all that was available to purchase. I’ve spent the last 3 hours going through Sims 3 fixes and every single one I’ve ...
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@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).
SpoilerSource
Sims 3Summary
Stopped responding and was closedDate
12/13/2023 1:37 AMStatus
Report sentDescription
A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.
Faulting Application Path: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3.exeProblem signature
Problem Event Name: AppHangB1
Application Name: TS3.exe
Application Version: 0.2.0.32
Application Timestamp: 568d4bac
Hang Signature: 984b
Hang Type: 67246080
OS Version: 10.0.22621.2.0.0.768.101
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Hang Signature 1: 984bd69d3d41532f406b89d5737a6862
Additional Hang Signature 2: 7aee
Additional Hang Signature 3: 7aee7f38c58c751165f53957c7994e15
Additional Hang Signature 4: 984b
Additional Hang Signature 5: 984bd69d3d41532f406b89d5737a6862
Additional Hang Signature 6: 7aee
Additional Hang Signature 7: 7aee7f38c58c751165f53957c7994e15Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: a7b4d2a3e5c6775682b8f8ef6ac85c0f (1349101795569851407)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.
