The Most Abysmal Experience (unknown error) [ Edited ]

[meatjug]

So I again got back into The Sims 3 a few days ago and decided to give it another go. I was originally going to buy it on Steam, but they only have the Windows version for sale, and all around would've been a much finer experience, but here I am. I am not running OSX on the latest software, therefore the game can run without the need of 64bit, but my issue consists. I've had issues among issues today trying to get this to work and for the most part I was able to work around them up until every time I try loading the game, "an unknown error" occurs. Looked online, and apparently, essentially, you're just not suppose to download any DLCs before you play? So I went to the uninstaller. Turns out the uninstaller didn't recognize the game, like it couldn't find it at all, so that in itself was pretty ironic and abysmal to work around. Eventually I did find out how to uninstall it, read up on it some more, found out that people on Mac need to download a super patch for it to work, and this was a guaranteed fix. It did not work.

TL;DR - How does a Mac simpleton fix the immediate "an unknown error has occurred" message?

[puzzlezaddict]

@meatjug  The problem is that the unknown error has several different causes, and therefore several different potential fixes.  So please start by making sure you've removed all traces of Sims 3 from your computer.  This clean uninstall guide covers everything:

https://bluebellflora.com/how-to-do-a-clean-uninstall-and-reinstall-on-a-mac/

Install the base game only for now, no packs, and run the Super Patch (digital download version) to manually patch to 1.67.

https://bluebellflora.com/sims-3-manual-super-patch-for-mac-1-67/

Try to launch the game, and let me know whether you get the unknown error.  If so, you'll need to manually add your graphics card to the game's database.  I can help with this, if you'd like.  Just provide the full specs of your Mac, along with the device ID of your graphics card.  Here's how to find that info:

https://bluebellflora.com/2018/07/24/sims-3-mac-players-i-need-your-help/#Information

If the launcher opens and you can press play, you'll get the server instead.  You can ignore that for now, but please let me know which packs you'd like to install, so I can describe how to apply the workarounds to get them installed properly.

[meatjug]

I had actually just found out how to fix this issue on my own, which how I did it was a bit odd. When I was uninstalling I of course uninstall everything with The Sims 3 and all of the preferences as well, specifically transgaming. I've done this before, tried the super patch, and I've looked at every forum and help thread on this topic and they didn't work. So what I did was install the base game, tried loading, didn't work, went to only delete the transgaming files, loaded it up, launcher updated, and now I'm able to play the game. So I just assume the problem was that I initially, somehow, downloaded the game wrong. Usually you uninstall the game and delete the transgaming files to fix it but I only did the latter, so I just assume that I had left over corrupted files and that was the issue all along. So, human error.