[FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

by crinrict
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Original Post

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

★★★ Newbie

I had changed my in-game screen settings so that they were not fullscreen. It worked out well, until I closed out of my game. When I went to play it again, it only loaded the launcher and the sounds, the screen was still black. So, I decided to come on here and follow the trouble shooting steps.

However, I knew where I went wrong, so all I had to do was open up the options.ini file in both my Sims 3_Backup folder and my new Sims 3 folder, find the fullscreen setting, and change the 0 to 1 (So that it matched the default setting.)

It fixed my game, without making me have to copy and paste all of those files.

Message 61 of 71 (1,649 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

★★★★★ Novice

I did everything you said, and the game will actually launch, but when I try to open a saved game, the checkmark to load it is greyed out, and the town is missing - even though I put my Installed Worlds folder back.  I'm so upset because I can't open any of my games because the towns are apparently not there.  

Also, I have all of the expansions, and I know the load screen changes with each, but it's just the base game load screen; how do I put my expansions back?  I'm 99% sure that would fix my problem.

Message 62 of 71 (1,630 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

★★★ Newbie
  • Move the options.ini file from your backup folder to your newly created folder in documents\electronicArts\thesims3 to recover your graphic/sounds/gameplay options

i do not know where the options.ini file is in my backuo folder it is not there

Message 63 of 71 (1,609 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

★★ Novice

When you say the sims 3 file, is it only the one for sims 3 or all the expansions as well?

Message 64 of 71 (1,496 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

@VildaCullen  Crinrict's guide refers to your Sims 3 game folder and its contents, not your program files.  The game folder can be found in Documents\Electronic Arts, and removing it from there (or renaming it, as described) will force the game to generate a clean folder, hopefully without whatever corruption is causing the problem.

 

It might be easier if you made your own post describing the issues you're having with your game.  That way, you'll get help that's more specific to the problems you're seeing.  A clean game folder is a good place to start, though.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 65 of 71 (1,481 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

★ Novice

So this seems to have solved my problem - so thank you.

 

The issue I have now, is content in my game, such as tables, lamps, etc. are being replaced. It looks like content from the expansion packs.

 

Do I need to reinstall something? Including the expansion packs, and if so, how?

 

Do I need to reinstall any extra mod content (they are all replaced back into the folders, but I am curious if I have to 'run' the Sims Custom Content gain to install it. )

Message 66 of 71 (1,381 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

@lavagoddesss  When you go into Buy mode, there's a button that lets you sort items by the pack they came with.  Are all your packs listed?  If not, the launcher may be unchecking packs from the installed content tab, or it may be ignoring your selection.  The solution is simply to restart your computer, uncheck all the tabs, and then recheck them.  This is definitely tedious, but the launcher is finicky like that.

 

If your custom content is in your game folder (from your comment, I'm not sure what steps you've taken up to this point), just make sure to delete your cache files.  They should be cleared regularly anyway, and every time you add or remove content from your game folder.  For reference, they are:

  • CASPartCache.package
  • compositorCache.package
  • scriptCache.package
  • simCompositorCache.package
  • socialCache.package

If this doesn't help, or I'm misunderstanding the nature of the problem, please let me know, and I'll try to help.

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I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 67 of 71 (1,377 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

★★★★★ Newbie

Thank you. This fixed the error with me uploading to the Exchange. I was able to transfer most of my folders from my backup that I saved onto my desktop into the new Sims 3 files. The rest were never changed/modified, since I install this game back onto my new laptop back in 2017. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find the exact folder that caused the error, but I’m going to assume one of 3 things: 1. I kept some CC among Sims, but accidentally deleted the original Sim from the exchange. 2. I didn’t transfer all of my DC backup (1.47 GB) to the new version of my Sims 3 (826 MB), despite being able to keep all the most, if not all of my CC, or at least, the ones I cared about. The rest of the CC may have been items I deleted in the past, but still managed to get saved by my PC. Either way, the solution is fixed, and I never uploaded Sims to the Exchange, but I became more and more impressed by my Sims’ appearances, over the past few years, so I wanted to give it a shot today. Once again thank you, and have a nice day.

Message 68 of 71 (1,155 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

★★★★ Novice

i just want to say thank you

Message 69 of 71 (1,029 Views)

Re: [FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps

★ Novice

Thank thank thank you so much.

 

i was being careless and didn't back up or carefully test my cc before playing- even with a new installation my game was still not opening properly(black screen) but I used your factory reset instructions and its working like new! I learned my lesson, all CC is going to be tested meticulously before game start up! 

Message 70 of 71 (563 Views)