the sims 3 crashes on launch
Hi, I've been up and focused on this for almost 12 hours trying to figure this out and it's obvious that the next step is either letting my dream of playing TS3 again die or reaching out for help! H...
Forum Discussion
@FreeToBeMae The only way that a corrupt DCCache file, or anything like that, could be the culprit is if you or something else is putting back the Sims 3 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts once you've removed it. That "something else" would probably be OneDrive, if it's syncing your files, but it could also be another service that backs up your files or even an overly intrusive antivirus. Point is, make sure that after you've removed the folder, it's really gone until you try to load the game again.
For the issue itself, try forcing the game to load in windowed mode. Go into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3, open options.ini, search for fullscreen , and set it to 0 (zero).
Your dxdiag shows a number of InPageErrors that could be related to a failing or compromised hard drive, and the crash log shows the same error. So regardless of whether launching Sims 3 in windowed mode helps, please run chkdsk for all your drives:
- Hit Windows key-X
- Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
- Inside the window that appears, copy and paste "chkdsk /f /r c:" without quotes, and enter
- You'll be asked to allow a restart; say yes
- When the scan is done, use this guide to find the results
- Repeat for drive E: use "chkdsk /f /r e:" without quotes
- Plug drive F in if it's not already, and run chkdsk for it too: the command is "chkdsk /f /r f:" without quotes
You should be able to attach the reports to a post here. Running chkdsk will take some time, so you may want to leave it while you're doing something else. Please also let me know which drive Sims 3 is installed on, and if you want to troubleshoot in the interim, you can try uninstalling it and reinstalling on a different drive.
Hey, I'm in the middle of running through the Chkdsk on my F drive. Before I ran the chkdsk on drive F, I've tried a couple of times to run the chkdsk on my E drive. I've tried closing out all of the programs and the same messages keep popping up. Here's what the message says: "Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID." Any tips??
I forgot to add the Chkdsk results file for my C drive that finished. I still have two drives to go.
@FreeToBeMae The results for C look fine: chkdsk found some minor issues that it corrected, but the driver is in good health overall. I'd still like to hear about the results of the other two drives when you're done.
The "volume is in use" error may be because a background process is accessing files on E, for example the EABackgroundService could still be running even after you close the EA App. The simplest fix is restarting your computer, but if you have the App or some other program set to start with Windows, make sure not only the app itself is closed but that no associated background services are running. The icons in the Task Manager's background processes list should let you know what each entry is.
Okay, the CHKDSK for all three drives finally finished!
