Sims 3 Game won't launch despite uninstalling and reinstalling [ Edited ]

[poppingmythik]

So I downloaded Sims 3 on steam, and i've been buying alot of stuff from the Sims 3 store. However, today, my Sims 3 game suddenly won't launch saying that there's an error during startup. I have tried verifying my game files and they say that there is indeed 2 game files that failed to validate, however, for some reason, despite that, Steam doesn't seem to be reacquiring those files despite them saying they would, because when I verify the files again, they again said that there are indeed 2 game files that failed to validate and that they would reacquire those files. I've tried deleting The Sims 3 file in Documents > Electronic Arts. Nothing's changed.

I don't know what I need to to do get my game running again.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@poppingmythik  When you say you disabled University Life, how exactly did you do that?  And are you saying that you were in fact able to launch the game afterwards, and UL wasn't loading in-game?  If you just unchecked a box within Steam, that would leave the registry entries for UL intact, and last I checked, that would also lead to the error during startup until those entries were removed.

At any rate, the simplest test here is to reenable University Life and see whether the game loads.  If it does, that's the issue; if not, it's time to look somewhere else.

[puzzlezaddict]

@poppingmythik  Have you ever had Sims 3 installed on this computer before now (I mean before this time around), and if so, did you clean the registry of any leftover Sims 3-related entries?  Did you happen to uninstall any packs, this time or before, that you haven't reinstalled?

The Steam error with failing to validate files is probably not a real issue.  I saw it myself the last time I verified my own game files, and the game itself ran fine before and after.

[poppingmythik]

This (being this year) would be the first time i owned Sims 3. I have only uninstalled it and reinstalled it once other than the two times i’ve done so with the current problem i have now.

I haven’t uninstalled any packs tho i have disabled my Sims University DLC, though I started a new game afterwards.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@poppingmythik  When you say you disabled University Life, how exactly did you do that?  And are you saying that you were in fact able to launch the game afterwards, and UL wasn't loading in-game?  If you just unchecked a box within Steam, that would leave the registry entries for UL intact, and last I checked, that would also lead to the error during startup until those entries were removed.

At any rate, the simplest test here is to reenable University Life and see whether the game loads.  If it does, that's the issue; if not, it's time to look somewhere else.

[poppingmythik]

As for how I disabled University Life, I just went to the Steam app, opened up Properties, and turned it off in the DLC section.

But now that I turned on UL again, it worked!! Now I just need to figure out how to get back the deleted files (including some of the mods) I've deleted in my attempt to fix this problem.

[puzzlezaddict]

@poppingmythik  Unchecking the box in Steam did uninstall the pack, but it didn't remove the associated registry entries, or at least it didn't last time I tested.  If you do want to uninstall University Life, you can uncheck that box again, then delete the two relevant registry entries.

Hit Windows key-R, enter "regedit" without quotes, and then click File > Export and export a copy of your entire registry, just in case.  (Deleting the wrong entry can brick your entire computer, so it's best to take precautions; you can reimport your registry as-is by double-clicking the saved file.)  Next, expand this path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > WOW6432Node > Electronic Arts > Sims(Steam) > The Sims 3

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > WOW6432Node > Sims(Steam) > The Sims 3

In each section, you'll find a folder for the base game and each pack you've installed.  Right-click on the entries for UL and select Delete, and the game should load without the pack installed.

By the way, you can also export a single section of the registry if you want, for example preserving the two Sims 3 sections and restoring them alone as needed.  It's fine to restore the entire registry right after you've changed something, but you wouldn't want to use a weeks-old copy: you might have installed something in the interim that would then have its own registry entries wiped out by the restore.