Sims Medieval Won't Launch on Mac

[gabby_nottle]

I bought the sims medieval on origin several months ago and after installing it, it hasn't been able to launch successfully. The game crashes and pops up with a message saying:

Unable to start game

Service initialization failed (0x039e8474)

Not sure what this means? Can anyone help?

[tygereyes812 · Accepted solution]

I was reinstalling it on a new system and yes it was the identical code. I was finally able to fix it with the following steps (I basically spent 12 hours on the boards her until I found a fix).

I was able to fix it by first installing everything, then repairing origin, and then installing the base game alone (which gave me a different error code frequently mentioned on the boards here). After that I repaired origin again, launched the game to get the error code, disabled origin in-game while the error code window was opened, closed the error window, repaired origin a third time, downloaded Pirates and Nobles to get the original "Unable to start game Service initialization failed (0x039e8474)" error code, repaired origin a 4th time, cleared the cache one last time, and launched the game successfully. 

It still crashes ever 2-3 hours but is other wise playable I just have to remember to save every 15 minutes or so to prevent losing game play, annoying but workable. Y'all should really work on your Mac support and the crashing issues. I have a PC but I like my MacBook for potability and seamless syncing with my mobile devices. Plus I am pretty much required to use iOS for certain job related software. 

[EA_Mai]

Hi @gabby_nottle,

We can definitely try to help you

Could you tell us what troubleshooting steps have you tried so far? Have you tried to reinstall the game to make sure there were not any issues during the installation?

Also, if you could follow these steps to give us some information about your Mac, that would be very helpful!

Thanks,

-Mai

[leeserrae]

Hi @EA_Mai -- I'm not the original poster, but I'm having the same issue. 

Bought The Sims Medieval Deluxe with Special Edition and Pirates and Nobles yesterday. Installed both through Origin at the same time, received the error "Unable to Start Game-- Service Initialization failed (0x039e8474)"

Uninstalled, tried installing Special Edition on its own, then received a similar error (0x0175dcbb). Here's a screenshot:

I've tried opening directly from the Applications folder, deleting all my .package files, reinstalling again -- nothing.

Short of asking for a refund, what else can I possibly do? I've attached my Mac's specs for more reference.

[leeserrae]

I just talked to EA Help and got it to work! Just follow these steps:

RESET ORIGIN ON MAC
https://help.ea.com/en-gb/help/origin/origin/how-to-reset-origin-on-mac/

DISABLE ORIGIN IN-GAME
https://help.ea.com/en-nz/help/origin/origin/how-to-use-origin-in-game/


DISABLE GATEKEEPER
https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT202491


CLEAR CACHE FOR ORIGIN
https://help.ea.com/en-tr/help/origin/origin/origin-my-games-list-is-blank/

[EA_Mai]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us @leeserrae! If someone with your same issue finds this thread in the future they will be grateful. I'm glad to read you could make it work

Welcome to Answers HQ!

-Mai

[ntanimalia]

Hello--

I have just purchased Sims Medieval on my Mac (mid-2014 13-inch) and my game won't launch. Attached are the screenshots of the messages I got when I downloaded the game and tried to play it. I have also downloaded the additional Pirates and Nobles content.

I've tried to repair the game with the pack, which has not worked. I have tried uninstalling and installing ONLY the base game, which has not worked. I have tried to repair only the base game, and it looks like the game is about to start up with the loading screen until the service initialization error pops up again.

I'm not sure what other external service I'm supposed to play the game on, either. Anywhere I've looked it all says that the game should be opened via Origin.

There have been other posts that there is not a solution to this problem, but I was wondering if anyone has had any luck?

Thank you. 

[tygereyes812]

I've done everything listed here and it still isn't working. I've owned the game for years. What do I do now?

[EA_Mai]

Hi @tygereyes812,

Do you remember having made any changes in the computer that could have caused the game to stop working after years (updating your OS, reinstalling the game,...)?

You are getting the exact same error message, right?:

Unable to start game

Service initialization failed (0x039e8474)

Could follow these steps to give us some information about your Mac?

Thank you,

-Mai

[tygereyes812 · Accepted solution]

I was reinstalling it on a new system and yes it was the identical code. I was finally able to fix it with the following steps (I basically spent 12 hours on the boards her until I found a fix).

I was able to fix it by first installing everything, then repairing origin, and then installing the base game alone (which gave me a different error code frequently mentioned on the boards here). After that I repaired origin again, launched the game to get the error code, disabled origin in-game while the error code window was opened, closed the error window, repaired origin a third time, downloaded Pirates and Nobles to get the original "Unable to start game Service initialization failed (0x039e8474)" error code, repaired origin a 4th time, cleared the cache one last time, and launched the game successfully. 

It still crashes ever 2-3 hours but is other wise playable I just have to remember to save every 15 minutes or so to prevent losing game play, annoying but workable. Y'all should really work on your Mac support and the crashing issues. I have a PC but I like my MacBook for potability and seamless syncing with my mobile devices. Plus I am pretty much required to use iOS for certain job related software. 

[EA_Mai]

Hi @tygereyes812,

I'm glad to hear you were able to make it work, thanks for sharing what you did with us.

We could try to find out what's making it crash, please, open a new thread for that issue if you are interested in getting help from the community. It's better to discuss different issues in different threads.

Thanks, and happy simming!

-Mai