The Sims 3 game not launching

This has worked for me :)

After you launch the Launcher, and you see the big PLAY button, do NOT click it; go to Task Manager (Control-Alt-Delete => Task Manager), and click the Details tab on the left.  Then scroll down to Sims3Launcher, right-click it, and select "Set affinities".  Now turn off ALL CPUs except for one (I usually turn off all of them, and then turn on CPU 0) for the launcher.  Do not close Task Manager; you will need it again in a moment.  

Now go to the Launcher, and click Play.  Wait until you see the game start up (for me, it's seeing the green plumbob icon on my taskbar, even if the splash screen hasn't appeared yet), then switch back to Task Manager.  Now scroll down to the TS3.exe (it may be called something different if you run Sims 3 from Steam), right-click it, select "Set affinities", and turn all of the CPUs on again.  

gabegabe1231  An alternative would be the Alder Lake patch, described here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11528168#M250997

It's a one-time intervention so you don't have to keep using the Task Manager.

You're a godsend!! I have been trying to figure this out for DAYS

I tried doing the Alder Lake zip file but I could not get it to work. Your solution really helped me. It sucks that I have to do this every time, but it's better than not being able to play. Thank you so much!

I found another easy fix. I know this post is 4 months old. But I want to leave this here, maybe it can help. It worked for me. (For Windows 10/11)  On windows lower left corner search and type “features” and click on it. > turn off/on. Double Click on legacy to expand. Check direct play. Done! (: 

heres a link to the video that helped me. 
https://youtu.be/-sillSb-D8g?si=ZQx5YvhV54bOBgPy

Hi I did the same things mentioned in video and it still did'nt work. I tried making a new sims 3 file just by moving the sims 3 file out of the (documents/electronic arts/sims 3) or changing the name of it and it launched for the first time. But when I saved the game and went out then tried again to play it I got the same error.

314f1qdxmhjb  What error are you seeing, or do you just mean you see the same problem as before?  If you do get an error, please post a screenshot.

Either way, 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.