My guess it's not the game, but your operating system that is causing the problem. I'm not sure if it is similar to my game since I own the retail version, but it may be worth a shot.
This happened to many of my old games (may have the same effect on origin games), due to an update Microsoft released many years ago that is meant fix vulnerabilities but affected any old computer games with safeDisc or securom and prevented them from playing after installation.
First we want to make sure whether or not you have the update, click start and go to the control panel, then go to System and Security and under Windows Update you should see a link for View Installed Updates, click it. In the following window you will see a list of all the updates your computer has installed, what you will do is head to the top of the window and click on Search Installed Updates search box and type in: KB3086255. Once your computer completes it's search, it should pop up with the update. If the update does show up, you now know that this update is preventing your game from playing (Do not close this window if you wish to use the third Method).
Backup your computer first to make sure you can revert any changes. One of the methods will involve going into the registry and modifying code which I will warn you about.
There are two methods (technically three...) to solve this problem:
The first method is disabling the update temporarily (Be aware that this is temporary, so the next restart will prevent the game from playing the game.)
1. Click start and click the search box, type cmd and right-click Run as Administrator.
2. In the command prompt window, type: sc start secdrv
3. After playing, close the security loophole by opening Command Prompt again and typing the following: sc start secdrv
(This is the conclusion of the first method.)
The second method involves going into your computer registry and modifying a specific code, which will permanently disable the update and allow you to play your games. The following instructions are straight out of Microsoft Support help not me! (Backup your computer seriously! I am not responsible for any damage done to your computer!)
- Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
- Locate and then click the following subkey in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\secdrv
- Right-click Start, and then click Modify.
- In the Value data box, do one of the following:
- Type 4 to disable the driver's service, and then click OK.
- Type 3 to set the driver's service to manual, and then click OK.
- Type 2 to set the driver's service to automatic, and then click OK.
- Exit Registry Editor.
(This concludes the second method)
The third method involves searching for the update and uninstalling it and try to prevent it from installing on your computer. (This information is coming out of memory, so I'll try to recall as much as I can. If not, you can try to message me and I'll try to recreate it on my computer.)
1. If you don't have the list of updates window open, you can find the instructions above in the top. (Before the backup paragraph.)
2. Once you have the list of updates window open, right-click on the searched file and uninstall it.
3. Afterwards, restart the computer. Unless the computer restarts after the uninstalling the update.
4. Once you login, click start and go to Control Panel and head into System and Security.
5. Under Windows Update, click Check for Updates. Now wait as your computer searches for updates.
6. Once your computer is done, you should see a new update(s). Click on important updates.
7. It will list the important update(s) for your computer, you should see the uninstalled update. Look for KB3086255.
8. Now right-click on the update and hide update.
This will prevent your computer from installing the update in the future. (There is a slim chance your computer will try to install the update again when it has new updates.)
(That concludes the third method.)
Hope this helps!
