May 2020
To simply put it, I've been having recent trouble properly downloading my content as well as it starting up. This didn't happen a week ago, but now, for some reason it does pretty much nothing. The only way I was able to download .sims3packs was to manually double-click each item so that it could install. And for whenever I press the play button, the launcher will either grey out, startup mid-launch (which sooner than later will exit out and return me to the desktop), or my screen will be black w/o a loading cursor. I even fixed the compatibility to Windows 8 and to run through administrator, but nothing has changed. I also tried deleting the caches from The Sims 3 folder, so that it could regenerate, but whether or not it'd let me play, that would not happen.
So, I thought if I transferred my files to my new laptop that it'd fix my problems, but the issues follow. I re-installed several times, but no avail. I'm seriously out of loss.
May 2020
@0213962012 Please undo the compatibility setting: Sims 3 doesn't need it, and compatibility mode often causes more problems than it solves. Move your entire Sims 3 user data folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop. When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content. Let me know whether it loads and you can start a new save, as a test.
May 2020 - last edited September 2020
June 2020 - last edited June 2020
This is what shows up now when attempting to launch. If not this, then the re-opening of origin's app or the graying out from the launcher, but nothing changes much in the end, unless I dared to play a vanilla game.
@puzzlezaddict I've done that while leaving my saved files in with my saved content, which ends up to where I am now.
June 2020 - last edited September 2020
Bye
June 2020
@0213962012 What happens when you play in a clean Sims 3 user data folder with nothing else added to it? The black screen with the white line is normal for Sims 3, but it's supposed to disappear in a second or two when the intro starts. If the game only hangs on the black screen when you have content added into the user data folder, it's some of that data that's the issue. I can help you sort through it if you want.
If you get the black screen even in a clean folder, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
June 2020
June 2020
@0213962012 An element of the 2005 VC++ runtime, which Sims 3 uses, is crashing when you try to play. That might just be a symptom of bad cc, but it's worth uninstalling and reinstalling the runtime. Hit Windows key-i, select Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 x86 Redistributable, click on it, and Uninstall. Don't touch any other version. Then download and install a new one from Microsoft:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26347
However, since the game works fine without your existing content, the issue is likely something in your old Sims 3 folder. You can add it back in batches, testing each time to make sure the game still works. Any batch that causes another hang on the black screen needs to be split and tested again until you find the problem file(s). Any individual file that prevents the game from launching probably just needs to be trashed.
I'd start by going through the .dbc files (bundled custom content installed through the launcher) in DCCache, as those are the first suspect when the launcher starts acting up. If you want to test the files individually, you can use "Method by Mell" on this page to do so:
https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/tutorial-how-to-get-rid-of-unwanted-custom-content.html
If you don't want to bother with all that, you could delete all the .dbc files entirely and reinstall your cc in a clean Sims 3 folder. If you test after every few .Sims3Packs, you'll know as soon as the launcher or game stops working, and you can sort through the most recent content you added. In fact, if you save a copy of the Sims 3 folder you're installing the content into after each successful test, you can ditch the folder whenever it stops working and restore the most recent working version, so your other content doesn't get corrupted.
This can be kind of tedious, but it's the best way to make sure your game continues to work properly. Once you start getting black screens, the only real solution is to uninstall the problem content, and if tracking it down is too complicated, then it might be better to start from scratch.
June 2020
June 2020
@0213962012 Look, I know you want to play with your added content, but from your description, it seems overwhelmingly likely that some of that content is the issue, not Origin, not the game's program files, and probably not your computer. Did any of the suggestions I posted yesterday help? Sorting through your custom content, or rebuilding it from scratch, are probably the only ways to fix the issue.