EA App Won't Launch Sims 3

[LixieDeery]

I have followed all the detailed fixes in this thread and still it won't play the game. The launcher appears and then the first loading screen but the green loading bar won't move and the game just closes without any notification and returns me to the EA App, as if I never launched it. I have gone so far as to uninstall TS3 and re download all of my owned content, to no avail. I have just re-installed origin and exactly the same issue. It would be a lot easier to locate the problem if I had an error message. I last played TS3 on my current PC (which is more than capable of running TS4 on high settings,) before I switched to the EA App (around November last year)). It is so frustrating to own something you can no longer use if A. there is a software problem with the launch application or B. you have no internet connection. I wish for the days when you bought a disc and could play whenever and wherever you wanted. At least you felt you actually owned something and are not held hostage by EA/Origin. If I can provide any data I will happily do so after all I'm no PC expert and sods law states now that I've ranted, it's probably a problem I've caused.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@LixieDeery  Since you have the same issue in Origin and it's not just a problem with the EA App, I've split your post into its own thread in the Sims 3 forum.

As a test, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, if it launches, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you moved but temporarily not read by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just let me know whether you can get far enough to start a new save and play in live mode for a bit.

If you see the same issue, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

https://help.ea.com/en/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@LixieDeery  Since you have the same issue in Origin and it's not just a problem with the EA App, I've split your post into its own thread in the Sims 3 forum.

As a test, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, if it launches, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you moved but temporarily not read by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just let me know whether you can get far enough to start a new save and play in live mode for a bit.

If you see the same issue, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

https://help.ea.com/en/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

[LixieDeery]

@puzzlezaddict You are a star! I moved the Sims 3 folder onto my external hardrive and started the game with the EA App. Everything is back to normal and working perfectly. I'll experiment moving my save files back in but am just happy to play again. Thank you. Always seems to be a simple fix and as I said before probably caused by me.