Sims 3 won't work on windows 11

xman_iceman​  Sims 3 runs fine in Windiows 11 most of the time.  There's no particular reason why it shouldn't run on a given Windows PC.  What happens when you try to play, that is if you already own at least the base game?  Please describe what you see, and test again now if it's been a while.

Please also provide 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.

I just installed the base game. So it's totally Vanilla. new pc.  I click play, and nothing happens.  

xman_iceman​  Your dxdiag doesn't list any Sims 3 errors, which could be because they're crowded out by newer (generic, probably unimportant) Windows errors.  From your description though, if you're pressing Play in the EA App and nothing happens, that's most commonly an issue with .NET Framework 3.5, which Sims 3 needs in order to run and which occasionally doesn't get installed properly.  So that's where to start.

Click Windows key-R and enter appwiz.cpl in the run box.  In the window that appears, click "Turn Windows features on or off," and the .NET runtimes will be near the top of the list.  Click the filled-in box to uninstall .NET 3.5, restart your computer, and repeat the process, clicking the now-empty box to reinstall, and restart again.  If .NET 3.5 isn't already installed, click the empty box and restart.

If that doesn't help, the other common issue is with DirectX 9.  Here's how to manually install it:

Re: Sims 3 launcher won't open | EA Forums - 8260715

If that doesn't help either, please try again to launch the game, then look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Click Windows key-R and enter perfmon /rel , 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 open 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.

On the other hand, if you're clicking play in the Sims 3 launcher and it isn't opening, that's a separate issue.  The Alder Lake issue is resolved for EA App installs, but let me know if you've installed the game through Steam or with a disc instead.  It doesn't sound like it from your post, but I want to be sure.

Thank you first of all for helping me with this. I'm so mad that the game isn't working on a brand new pc! 

So, I did your first suggestion. Nothing changed. 

I did the second option with Direct X. Nothing changed. 

I did the perfmon /rel try, and so far nothing has been listed yet. But i also tried this a few days ago, and nothing is showing up for those either.

I've heard of the Alder Lake solution, but have yet to find a step-by-step that actually looks easy enough to follow. 

Ok tried the Alder Lake thing.. Didn't work either

xman_iceman​  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 address.  (You can skip that step and answer some security questions instead.)  You'll be able to at least try to launch the game without reinstalling it.

If you still can't play, please look again for any Reliability Monitor errors that happened at the time you tried to open Sims 3, whether those errors list the game or not.

No errors at all strongly suggest the game is being blocked rather than crashing, so the next place to look would be your antivirus.  If you use a third-party program, the simplest test is to temporarily disable it, repair the game (EA App > Sims 3 > Manage > Repair) to undo any changes the AV made, and try again to play.  As long as you don't do anything else at the same time, your computer should be safe.

For Windows Defender, Controlled Folder Access isn't usually a problem for Sims 4, but I suppose it could be if it updated to be more aggressive in blocking access to Documents.  So temporarily disabling it would be the way to test here too.  Please also see whether Smart App Control is active.  It blocked Sims 4 for a few days a couple months ago, and while I didn't see any evidence it was affecting Sims 3, it's supposed to be evolving and getting smarter, so that could also mean it's tightening its restrictions.

I tried to add a local account, but I don't see any option other than Microsoft.

Checked the Reliability monitor, still no errors listed 

I deactivated my AV, and no change.

Windows Defender didn't show any issues.

The smart app wasn't on, so that wasn't causing any issues either. 

I just reinstalled the game from the CD. So far, nothing has changed. 

Ugh! I wish something here would fix the issue!

xman_iceman​  After the reinstall, can you get the Sims 3 launcher to show up?  If so, you now need the Alder Lake patch or another workaround, applied to TS3W.exe, with the W.  Disc installs still have this issue because of course they didn't get the patch to the EA App version.

When creating a new Windows account, there's an option that says "I don't have this person's info" or similar, actually two of them, in small print below the field where it prompts you to enter an email address.  Or at least that was the case when I last created a new account about two months ago.

However, the important point with the local account is to keep Documents away from OneDrive, as simply removing OneDrive doesn't necessarily move Documents back to the default location.  What you can do here is confirm that Documents is NOT inside the OneDrive folder.  In the new account, have a look at the registry entry that governs the location of Documents and make sure it's the default location:

%UserProfile%\Documents

rather than anything else.  Here's how (and how to manually change it if necessary):

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/operation-to-change-a-personal-folder-location-fails-in-windows-ffb95139-6dbb-821d-27ec-62c9aaccd720

As for why there are no errors in the Reliability Monitor, do you use some kind of cleaner app that deletes temp files?  If so, please disable it for now, as it may be deleting the crash logs the RM would otherwise translate into usable errors.

Yes, the launcher shows up, but after I hit play, it just closes and nothing happens. No crash report or anything. 

Alright, so the patch, I downloaded it, but not entirely sure what to do from there.

I do not use OneDrive, pretty sure I have it turned off.  I'll take a look again into creating another account, but i am not seeing any options like that. 

Alright, figured out the local account and made one. Just need to figure out this patch.