The Sims 3 and Intel 12th Gen CPU's - Workaround inside

Thanks for spreading the word @Puzzleaddict. While I don't have the issue it's great LazyDutches took the time to create a patch for it. If this patch works as intended, EA will most likely never create an 'official' fix.

But hey, here's hoping!

"puzzlezaddict;c-18117907" wrote:
If anyone here has this issue, Lazy Duchess (who released the Smooth Patch last year) has created a patch to fix the issue. Details are here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11524785#M250970

In case anyone's wondering, you can extract the .zip wherever you want, then launch the patch and point it at whichever .exe runs the game (TS3.exe for Origin, TS3W.exe, with the W, for disc or Steam). This patch essentially applies the same workaround as the PowerShell script to the game .exe so it works on its own, with no need to run the patch or do anything else after the first time.

And no, EA hasn't fixed this problem yet.

Thank you Puzzleaddict and Lazy Duchess for another workaround for users. Thank you Puzzleaddict for continuously trying to help those in need on here and the Ea help forms. And thanks you Lady Duchess for the additional workaround. It's good to see users help others out. Thanks again.

@puzzleaddict - Thanks a bunch!

I've been trying to get The Sims 3 working for the past few days and just when I think I've cracked it I get error code 16, it says to check the read me but I can't seem to find anything in my documents folder.

I'm using 0 mods, the saves are literally less than an hour old. First save goes fine but then when I try to save again, I get error code 16. When I right click on the first save folder it's about 30mb in size, so super super small. I was playing as a single sim household in the standard Riverview.

My PC has 32GB of RAM, i5-12600K CPU and NVIDIA GTX 1070 GPU. I've followed the usual recommendations to get my card recognised which says it's found. My drive has about 300GB free so plenty of space.

Game Options:
Windowed mode, 1920 x 1080
Enable Object Hiding, Enable Animation Smoothing, Enable Advanced Rendering - on
Reflection Quality - off
Edge Smoothing - Low
Draw Distance - Medium
Visual Effects - High
High Detail Lots - 6
Lighting and Shadows - High
Texture Detail - High
Tree Detail - Medium
Sim Detail - Very High

Shop Mode, Lessons, Memories, Interactive Loading Screens - off

Has anyone had this problem before? Ideally, I want to eventually add mods in but right now I'd just like to play it fullstop :D

"lescott0127;d-1003671" wrote:
I've been trying to get The Sims 3 working for the past few days and just when I think I've cracked it I get error code 16, it says to check the read me but I can't seem to find anything in my documents folder.

I'm using 0 mods, the saves are literally less than an hour old. First save goes fine but then when I try to save again, I get error code 16. When I right click on the first save folder it's about 30mb in size, so super super small. I was playing as a single sim household in the standard Riverview.

My PC has 32GB of RAM, i5-12600K CPU and NVIDIA GTX 1070 GPU. I've followed the usual recommendations to get my card recognised which says it's found. My drive has about 300GB free so plenty of space.

Game Options:
Windowed mode, 1920 x 1080
Enable Object Hiding, Enable Animation Smoothing, Enable Advanced Rendering - on
Reflection Quality - off
Edge Smoothing - Low
Draw Distance - Medium
Visual Effects - High
High Detail Lots - 6
Lighting and Shadows - High
Texture Detail - High
Tree Detail - Medium
Sim Detail - Very High

Shop Mode, Lessons, Memories, Interactive Loading Screens - off

Has anyone had this problem before? Ideally, I want to eventually add mods in but right now I'd just like to play it fullstop :D

Looks like the Moderators merged your thread to the thread I was linking to previously just look up to one of puzzleaddicts posts to find a possible fix.

Lady dutchess has a good fix but sadly i think its what were gonna have to stick with! Its better than nothing at all.

I spent a whole week away from TS3 and spent it playing TS4… Mt serious hatred of TS4 lead my right back here… I calmed down enough to really spend time trying to find out how to fix the issues I was having… the EA app finally downloaded all my EPs and SPs.. yay! I found a few workarounds, written in basic terms so even I could understand lol and I now know how to start the game and save without the dreaded save 16 error… Im now reunited with my gorgeous Sims family…
Now, I’m off to (try) to build my family a bigger home… mum has given birth to 3 set of twins, a set of triplets and 2 sets of quads, and still wants more kids! Their 5 bedroom home has become a little cramped! Add in the 4 dogs, 3 cats and 2 horses and it’s mayhem!

Not sure how likely they are to try and fix that... but for your sake I hope they do. :)

@igazor it makes the game very slow and jumpy so I’m just gonna wait and see if EA fix it if not then I guess that’s the end of the sims 3 ?

@igazor have looked at the thread plenty and none of the work arounds work so I’m happy to just wait and see if EA do fix it. I suppose I’m lucky as I have an old gaming laptop that can run the sims 3 ?