The Sims 3 on mac- game won’t start

[kirstenfergusson]

so, i recently moved house, meaning that, obviously, i had to unplug the computer. the problem is, when i plugged it back in at the new house, The Sims didn’t start, full stop. the logo appears in the sidebar as if it’s going to launch, but the launcher never opens, and if i go to the ‘force quit’ option, the sims application is highlighted in red and listed as ‘not responding’. I’m running it on Mac OS, the Sims is downloaded from Origin, with one expansion pack installed from Origin and one installed via a disk. if anyone can come up with a solution that means i don’t have to uninstall/reinstall and lose my family, that would be ideal! thanks

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@kirstenfergusson  Did you happen to update your mac since the last time you could play TS3?  Did anything else change?  It would be helpful to know the specs of your computer; the link below lists the relevant information:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-3-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/475...

One thing to know is that even if you end up having to uninstall and reinstall, you can still preserve your existing saves.  All of the files you might want to keep are in your game folder, in Documents\Electronic Arts.  It would be a good idea to copy that entire folder and paste it somewhere else, like on your desktop, or (even better) load it to an external storage device, if you have one.  To copy, right-click on the icon for the TS3 folder; you can paste by right-clicking in the location where you'd like the copy to go.

Once you've done this, you might try dragging your existing TS3 folder out of Documents and launching the game again.  If you can load a new save, you can move your existing one into the new folder from the old one.  This clean folder test will remove any corrupt files in your game folder that might be preventing TS3 from launching.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@kirstenfergusson  Did you happen to update your mac since the last time you could play TS3?  Did anything else change?  It would be helpful to know the specs of your computer; the link below lists the relevant information:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-3-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/475...

One thing to know is that even if you end up having to uninstall and reinstall, you can still preserve your existing saves.  All of the files you might want to keep are in your game folder, in Documents\Electronic Arts.  It would be a good idea to copy that entire folder and paste it somewhere else, like on your desktop, or (even better) load it to an external storage device, if you have one.  To copy, right-click on the icon for the TS3 folder; you can paste by right-clicking in the location where you'd like the copy to go.

Once you've done this, you might try dragging your existing TS3 folder out of Documents and launching the game again.  If you can load a new save, you can move your existing one into the new folder from the old one.  This clean folder test will remove any corrupt files in your game folder that might be preventing TS3 from launching.

[kirstenfergusson]

thanks! just copying the file over to my desktop and relaunching did the trick. i didn’t delete the existing TS3 game from documents or change anything else, so i have no idea why this fix worked, but it did! besides, who am i to question the ways of my computer ?