Battlefield 3 won't launch

[grumpycat60]

I've been having trouble playing Battlefield 3 recently: the game won't always launch through the Battlelog, and doesn't even appear to launch from Origin. A few times I've even launched Origin and the game just won't have the "Play" option, instead it'll just show me "Details". Other options like "Repair" or "Update game" aren't available either in these cases. When clicking on a server in the browser to join it, half the time the game refuses to launch, with an error message saying "Could not start, please verify that you have the latest version and can start the game from Origin." When trying to join a Back To Karkand server, the game doesn't acknowledge the fact that I do own it - I have the Limited Edition as well as the Premium - and another message appears basically telling me to buy it.

Furthermore, when I try to repair the game or even update it, Origin crashes. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling both Origin and Battlefield 3, with all its DLCs, and the problem still persists... I've been playing Battlefield 3 on PC since 2017 and never had that before.

Could anyone please help me? I don't know what else I could do

[Lipous_Electus · Accepted solution]

@grumpycat60
found this, maybe you can try https://forums.battlefield.com/en-us/discussion/205834/2021-fix-for-battlefield-3-not-launching-or-j...

[Lipous_Electus]

@grumpycat60 That is a recent common problem with multiple entries in this forum. The mods will probably move your post to an old entry which talks about this issue (even tho they aren't the same and you clearly have done something about it). I have the same issue, i can play BF4, BF5 and even BF3 before but now nothing happens to the game and it doesn't launch. The bit you spoke of the "Play" button not working its because the thread of the BF3Helper is still open so the Origin Launcher detects as you are "in the game" even though the game itself is not open. You can fix that by going to task manager and closing off the thread of BF3Helper (Win10 is under "Origin"). Besides, nothing much I've done fixed it, I will leave a list of the things I've done and what I have told the EA Help team.
I suggest you to talk to EA Support in Twitter or Facebook (search for Help EA) as they answer and can try some stuff to see if it fixes. There's a whole list of generic fixes which everyone will suggest you but in the end there's no precise fix.
The last time I checked they admitted that it was a common issue among BF3 players and that their team was working on fixing it. I requested them to acknowledge it in their twitter as to show players they were working on it but they just ignore it and forward you a link to the answer.ea.com for you to "meanwhile search for alternatives". I just got tired, bought BF4 Premium for 9 EUR (it's on sale till 25th of Feb) and started playing the game.
Best of luck for you with it and honestly, expect a few more weeks, maybe months of nothing till it somehow fixes itself after a random update they made :D

With regards to the game
- Repaired using the Origin launcher
- Uninstall and install 4 times
- Run on campatibility mode (Windows 8 and 7)
- Run as admin
- Launch the campaign or co-op mode (does not launch)
- Anti-cheat PunkBuster repaired and reinstalled multiple times
- Killed the processes, reinstalled and tried to run
- All my drivers are up to date

With regards to Origin launcher
- Installed and Uninstalled 3 times
- Changed saving on the cloud and other options to no success
- Checked the versions, everything is up to date
- Cleared the cache as according to the Helper/Ticket system requested me

With regards to the browser server joining system
- Tried multiple browsers, microsoft edge, chrome and mozilla
- Deleted the cookies
- Tried to launch other game modes (no changes)

I have Battlefield 4 and 5 on my PC as well and I can play them with no problems. I used to be able to play it with no problems but since I merged my accounts I cannot launch the game.
I can see, through the Task Manager, that sometimes the game actually launches but it closes with NO ERROR MESSAGES after 2 seconds.

[grumpycat60]

Thank you for your answer! I will definitely try to contact EA Support. I noticed it was happening to others as well but didn't know this was such a common issue within the Battlefield community, such a shame. I'm actually considering buying the Steam version of the game, although I don't know if that will resolve things entirely.

[Lipous_Electus]

@grumpycat60 honest advice, avoid bf3 for now. BF4 is on sale and is very similar so worth a try. Don't forget that BF4 will get support longer than BF3 as it was released after

[Lipous_Electus · Accepted solution]

@grumpycat60
found this, maybe you can try https://forums.battlefield.com/en-us/discussion/205834/2021-fix-for-battlefield-3-not-launching-or-j...

[grumpycat60]

Thanks a lot, I will look into this !

[RealCFZero]

Hi, Just wondering if there was any news on the BF3 fix as I recently returned to play and found a battle log issue preventing me from joining any servers...

So it seems like no fix yet?

Kind regards,

RealCFZero

[dawidowskyyy0x0]

I still can't launch game. When I try to start campaign via Battlelog It keep saying "Initializing" and it never ends.

[nurtxi]

@grumpycat60 Yo lo compre en Steam y tengo problemas,no se inicia
Por eso ando por aqui

[DNAZZTY619]

Is there any place in the forums that EA says they will make BF3-4 work again? I don't even see them on this thread.

What is the use of marketing a console on its ability to be backward compatible if the game makers don't support their older games?