Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

by mstormyrose7867
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Original Post

Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

★★★ Novice

I've had Sims 3 for ages, and besides constant meteor showers (which went away), never had any problems with it at all. Out of nowhere, it stopped working a few months ago. I hadn't downloaded any new mods before for a while, and I think I hadn't updated it before hand (this was a while ago).

 

Once I get past the Launcher, it opens up a black screen with the loading circle. I can still move the circle around but nothing else happens. I've left it for over half an hour and nothing happened at all. When I opened up Task Manager and stuck it in my second screen then tried to open the game, after about 4 seconds the status immediately changes to not responding. Each time, I have to use Task Manager to close the game.

After hunting on the forums, I tried removing all my mods, including clearing out all the necessary caches. Still nothing. I tried removing all Downloads too. Nothing. I used Steam to verify the game cache and it said that a few files were missing.

 

Getting sick of this and finding no help online, I decided to uninstall the game completely. I doublechecked that all files relating to Sims 3 were gone from the computer. 24gb of Steam game downloads later, the game was finished redownloading completely. And still it does not work. None of my computer specs are the issue, my graphics card is great and I've got plenty of room on my C drive, not to mention the game was working just fine before. I have absolutely no mods or downloads installed, as it's a fresh start.

 

I'm at a complete loss on what to do. I'd rather not email EA directly just yet because I've had a heap of issues when it comes to problem solving Sims 3 in the past. Any ideas?

Message 1 of 22 (32,463 Views)

Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

Hero

Did you remove all those mods and user files as well ?

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



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Message 2 of 22 (32,373 Views)

Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

★★★ Novice

Yes. All mods have been removed. Absolutely every file to do with Sims 3 was removed from the computer before the redownload.

 

I just tried backing up on Steam, then uninstalling again in case I missed any files. Double checked via online uninstall guides that I got it all. Even cleaned up the registry.

 

Installed via the restore, still won't work. Maybe whatever file is corrupted was included in the backup but I'm not sure exactly what files get backed up in the first place? I'd really rather not redownload 24gb of games again but I will if I have to.

Message 3 of 22 (32,350 Views)

Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

Hero

No expert on the Steam version so I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

 

Do you have any Store content you've installed back ? If so, could you check if you have any tmp files in the folder DCCache.

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 4 of 22 (32,345 Views)

Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

★★★ Newbie

I have got this exact same issue, i have uninstalled my sims and re load and yet the first time it worked, shut my machine down and re load and now all i get in a black screen, i am not sure if it has something to do with the latest version, if you resolve you problme please let me know as i have spent all my sunday trying to resolve this and still no joy

 

 

Message 5 of 22 (32,332 Views)

Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

Hero

It's best if you made your own thread. Post your operating system and try to describe your issue in as many details as possible

Here's some guidelines: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/READ-FIRST-Help-us-Helpers-to-Help-you/td-p/255562/

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 6 of 22 (32,325 Views)

Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

★★★ Newbie

Has anyone found out a solution to this, as it's just started doing it with mine?

I bought a few expansion packs and had to update my game before installing them, and ever since then it goes black when I try to load it with the loading circle, the 2 times it has loaded after shutting down the computer it's crashed after about 20 minutes. I've just spent all this money on packs and now I can't play! I'm so annoyed.

Message 7 of 22 (31,242 Views)

Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

Hero

Have you tried the factory reset described in this post: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/FAQ-Troubleshooting-Steps/td-p/714/

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



Important Threads


Message 8 of 22 (31,235 Views)

Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

[ Edited ]
★★★ Newbie

I'm having the same issue and I just checked my DCCache and I have 5 tmp files?

My sims was working perfectly fine an hour ago, I bought something from the store, it froze, crashed and now when I launch it, it has the black screen and it immediately says its not responding.

 

I did the deleting Cache's and whatnot. I deleted the content I bought from the store I think... any ideas?

 

And what about the TMP files??

Thanks

 

p.s I need sims for my assignment that's due on Monday :c so please try and help!

 

UPDATE:

it just came up with a thing saying Sims 3 couldn't be played because of my video card?

Message 9 of 22 (26,659 Views)
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Re: Sims 3 won't load past black screen, immediately 'stops responding'

★★★ Apprentice

My turn... game was working fine the other day, after installing pets.  I now have pets, world adventures,  & 2 sp's.  Anyway, I have been installing cc from the exchange, & things have been fine.  But today, when I try to install cc, it doesn't want to work, I have to keep trying.  Okay, I can deal with that....but...I am having the black screen issue now, too.  I start the game from my launcher, but all I get is the black screen.  I looked at your info on files, & got totally lost.  I don't mind losing my saved games, because I was going to start over anyway.  So would you suggest uninstalling & reinstalling,  or doing the factory reset, or something else?  (Windows 8 op)

Message 10 of 22 (21,850 Views)