Sims 3 crashing before opening at all

[shannara76]

So I'm having the same issue it seems most are having.  I last played TS3 months ago, prior to d/l Windows 11 and was loading fine.  Now it's doing what everyone has described, sending me back to the EA app when I click on play.  I'm attaching the DxDiag.txt file in hopes that you can fix this problem for me.  

I'd just like to add, THANK YOU puzzlezaddict for all the work you have been doing on this problem.  I'm sure everyone here is grateful to you for your help, I know I am, and thought I'd let you know.  Your efforts are much appreciated mate!!!

[shannara76 · Accepted solution]

@puzzlezaddict okay, so I did the rest of it as well and no codes, but still can't play Sims3. I opened EA and hit to play Sims3 and it just keeps bouncing me back and forth between the Sims3 launcher and EA.

[puzzlezaddict]

@shannara76  Thanks for the dxdiag, which shows that you don't have an Alder Lake processor or another model that's similarly affected.  I've therefore split your post into its own thread since the root cause here is different even if the effect is the same.

To start, please move the entire Sims 3 user folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  If the folder copies instead of moving, or you get an error when trying to move it, stop here and let me know.

Otherwise, when open the launcher, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you moved but temporarily not read by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just let me know whether you can get far enough to start a new save and play in live mode for a bit.

If you still can't play, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.  Today is on the right.

Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempt to launch Sims 3, specifically after you've moved the user folder.  If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.  If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

[shannara76]

I'm not sure what the problem is, why I can't open up the Sims 3 now that I have Windows 11.  It worked mostly okay when I had Windows 10.  I've tried some of the solutions on the 1st page in here, but now I'm having a different problem.  I ran a DxDiag and have attached it to this.  I'd really appreciate any help.  

Thanks in Advance

Shannara76

[puzzlezaddict]

@shannara76  I've merged your new post with your existing thread.  Please see my previous reply.

[shannara76]

Ok, so I moved my Sims 3 folder to desktop and tried to start it again.  It did what you said, it created a new folder, but it still won't load.  I got the following message "The code execution cannot proceed because .DLL was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.  

So what should I do now?

Thanks

Shannara76

[puzzlezaddict]

@shannara76  Please manually reinstall DirectX 9, as described here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-launcher-won-t-open/m-p/10711778#M247861

You don't need to uninstall anything; just run the installer over the top and restart your computer.

If that doesn't help, please reinstall .NET Framework 3.5.  Hit Windows key-R, enter "appwiz.cpl" without quotes, click "Turn Windows features on or off," and you'll see .NET 3.5 near the top of the list of features.  Click the filled-in box to uninstall, and restart your computer.  Then repeat the process, except this time, click the now-empty box to reinstall, and restart again.

If that doesn't help either, please uninstall and reinstall VC++ 2005 x86.  Hit Windows key-i, select Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables, click on the 2005 version, and select Uninstall.  You can get a fresh copy directly from Microsoft:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26347

You only need the x86 version, not the other two.  Restart your computer after installing and before trying to play.

If you get the same error, or a different one, please post a screenshot.  Please also post a new dxdiag either way.

[shannara76]

So I tried all that  you said, still no joy.  I'm attaching a SS of the error and another DxDiag as well.  I haven't moved my old game from the desktop folder you had me do prior to this latest. I wasn't sure if I was or not, so I didn't.  

Again, let me thank you for your work on this, I really appreciate it.

Shan

[puzzlezaddict]

@shannara76  Please run a couple of checks of your Windows system files:

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the box to check for updates.  If any install, restart again afterwards.

If you get the same error, please try playing in a clean boot:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-...

The one service to leave enabled is the EABackgroundService, which the EA App needs in order to run.  Disable the rest as described.

When you reboot your computer, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down any service that doesn't absolutely need to be running, for example anything from MSI Afterburner to RGB software might still be enabled.  That goes for Asus software too—it doesn't need to be running for this test.  If you accidentally kill a critical process and it doesn't restart on its own, just reboot your computer again.

Don't open anything other than Sims 4 and the EA App while testing, not even a browser window.

Please do leave your Sims 3 user folder on the desktop for now.  Until the game is working again, it's best not to reintroduce any potential source of error.

[shannara76]

So this is what it said after I did the sfc/scannow stuff.  "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log For offline repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag." I'm about to restart my computer and do the rest of the stuff you said, I'll let you know what happens after that.

Again, thank you so much!

[shannara76 · Accepted solution]

@puzzlezaddict okay, so I did the rest of it as well and no codes, but still can't play Sims3. I opened EA and hit to play Sims3 and it just keeps bouncing me back and forth between the Sims3 launcher and EA.