Sims 3 Launcher Won't Open - Error During Startup

[ladygreeneyes649]

I see this posted many times, but the threads are all old, and none of the solutions works for me.  I will start by detailing the issue.

I play on Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit system.  I do NOT play through Origin, and in fact do not have Origin installed on my computer.  The game is installed via disc, other than store content, which was installed by downloading from the site, then via the launcher.  I have all expansions, all stuff packs, and all the store content.  None of it has been uninstalled.  So, this isn't some error from some missing content.  The launcher was working just fine, and nothing changed from the day it worked to the day it didn't.  Nothing. 

So, this isn't an uninstall and missing expansion issue, nor is it an issue with Origin, since that isn't a factor in my game.  The game is fully patched, as well, manually, and has had no issues till the past week or so.  Again, nothing changed.  No new content added, nothing removed, etc. 

I can open the game itself, bypassing the launcher, and play, but I cannot install anything new, such a a new pattern created with the tool, which is why I need the launcher.  This is beyond frustrating.  I do NOT want to uninstall everything, as it would literally take a week or more to reinstall all of the content.  Nor should I have to do so.

Yes, it's set to open as administrator, and yes, my Windows account is an admin one anyway.  I am the administrator, and only account on the system.  Yes, I am sure.  The compatibility for the launcher icon on the desktop is set to run for Windows XP (SP3), and privilege level set to "Run this program as an administrator".  It's always been set there, since it was installed.  Yet, for whatever reason, the last week or so, I can't open the launcher, that opened just fine before that.  I have tried deleting the "missing.dpx" thing that sometimes shows up in the DCCache folder, though it isn't always there, and even deleting it has no effect.  I don't have files labeled as "TS3.ex_" or "TS3.exe", in the game/bin file, instead I have "S3Launcher", "Sims 3", Sims 3Launcher", Sims3LauncherW". "TS3", and "Ts3W", all executable and all with a plumbob icon.  "Sims3" has a large one, the rest are smaller.  I don't know why there are three different ones labeled "launcher", or if that's part of the issue or not. 

Suggestions welcome, as long as they aren't "try uninstalling", or "do this ir that with Origin", since I don't use Origin, and do not, really do not, want to uninstall this game yet again.  Not once has that ever resolved an issue, and it's a huge pain in the neck reinstalling everything.  All the patches, all expansions, all stuff packs, all store content, and a good amount of custom stuff that also needs the launcher to install.  Uninstalling, then finding that still didn't work, and I couldn't even play.  Not a solution.  So, any other ideas?  Really frustrated with this.

[ladygreeneyes649 · Accepted solution]

@puzzlezaddict Lots of details, and much appreciated! I will try those, and see what happens. Only mentioned Origin because a lot of people who do use it apparently have issues with that, and wanted to be clear that couldn't be my issue.

As for the extensions, yeah, corrected that, and all are .exe except the "Sims3" one, which is a .ico. None labeled as ".ex_", though, as some solutions mentioned in other threads.

Interesting thing....I hadn't even considered IE as a possible problem, since I literally never use it, but went ahead and cleared everything. Tried again, and got several pop-ups asking if I wanted to open some sort of "update", showing the Firefox logo, and when I clicked the "what's the risk" option to get more details, had IE open with a notice about the Edge browser. Closed the multiple pop up windows (I think there were three of them, and for a very brief moment, the launcher remained opened, then closed as it's been doing. Why it would be trying to install another browser, I cannot imagine. The IE is up to date, version 11, so that shouldn't be a problem. Weirdly, looking at the compatibility settings, I might have found a solution. I clicked on the "shortcut" option, in properties, and then "advanced", just looking around, and noticed an option there to run as admin as well. Checked that, just to test, and the blasted thing opened!!

Will definitely hold onto your ideas, though, because this being EA, it's likely to break again, and they could be handy. Likely to help others, too! Any more issues, will respond again, and thanks.

[puzzlezaddict]

@ladygreeneyes649  First of all, no one is going to tell you that Origin will fix your issues, or that you need an Origin install to troubleshoot.  When the game itself works but the launcher does not, the issue is almost always in the Sims 3 user data folder (the one in Documents\Electronic Arts), not in the game's program files.  So the fix would be limited to, at worst, uninstalling and reinstalling store and custom content.  But you're not even at that point yet.

A few other notes:  It sounds like Windows is set to not display file extensions, which is why you see, for example, TS3 and TS3W instead of TS3.exe and TS3W.exe.  It's normal for the program files to have a number of executables, some of which are not used.  The relevant point is that one of them opens the launcher, and one opens the game without needing the launcher; you can ignore the others.

It's usually not necessary to run the game or the launcher as an admin, nor to use a compatibility mode for either one.  Personally, I'd undo the compatibility setting, at least to test.  I understand that it used to work, but that's just an additional variable unnecessarily added to the mix.  You can go back and forth if you want though.

It's also possible that the issue is in the cache for Internet Explorer, which the launcher uses for some purposes.  Even though this is an uncommon cause of the launcher not opening at all (as opposed to opening but not loading), clearing IE's cache is simple.  Be sure to uncheck the box to preserve data for favorite sites.

https://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=12313

The more likely issue though is that something corrupted in your user data folder.  The fastest test is to move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  If the launcher opens (which will spawn a clean folder with no content), you know that the issue is one or more files in your old folder, and you can start adding them back to test.

Add the contents of DCCache first: it holds installed store and custom content, the most common source of these kinds of issues.  If the launcher refuses to open again, you can test just the .ebc files (bundled store content), and just the .dbc files (bundled third-party custom content).  If necessary, you can test the files one at a time, using Method by Mell on this page:

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/tutorial-how-to-get-rid-of-unwanted-custom-content.html

If a single bundle is the issue, you'd only need to reinstall the content of that bundle, not the rest.

To be clear, there are other files necessary to make some store and custom content load in-game: .world files in InstalledWorlds, .package files in Library, ccmerged.package for premium store content.  But when trying to get the launcher to load in the first place, you can leave those until later.

If the files in DCCache aren't the issue, you can start testing your other contents of your user data folder.  Here's a complete list of everything in that folder, along with explanations of what the files are and whether you'd need to preserve them:

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html

Finally, if you can't or don't want to figure out what the issue is with your user data folder, there are ways to install content into a clean folder and then combine it with your existing content.  It can be a bit convoluted, depending on which content is involved, and it's certainly more annoying than fixing the launcher issue in the first place.  But it's a reasonable alternative to consider.  Let me know if you're interested, and what you're trying to install.

[ladygreeneyes649 · Accepted solution]

@puzzlezaddict Lots of details, and much appreciated! I will try those, and see what happens. Only mentioned Origin because a lot of people who do use it apparently have issues with that, and wanted to be clear that couldn't be my issue.

As for the extensions, yeah, corrected that, and all are .exe except the "Sims3" one, which is a .ico. None labeled as ".ex_", though, as some solutions mentioned in other threads.

Interesting thing....I hadn't even considered IE as a possible problem, since I literally never use it, but went ahead and cleared everything. Tried again, and got several pop-ups asking if I wanted to open some sort of "update", showing the Firefox logo, and when I clicked the "what's the risk" option to get more details, had IE open with a notice about the Edge browser. Closed the multiple pop up windows (I think there were three of them, and for a very brief moment, the launcher remained opened, then closed as it's been doing. Why it would be trying to install another browser, I cannot imagine. The IE is up to date, version 11, so that shouldn't be a problem. Weirdly, looking at the compatibility settings, I might have found a solution. I clicked on the "shortcut" option, in properties, and then "advanced", just looking around, and noticed an option there to run as admin as well. Checked that, just to test, and the blasted thing opened!!

Will definitely hold onto your ideas, though, because this being EA, it's likely to break again, and they could be handy. Likely to help others, too! Any more issues, will respond again, and thanks.

[puzzlezaddict]

@ladygreeneyes649  I'm glad that setting the shortcut to run as an admin was all it took, because the launcher can be a huge headache to troubleshoot.  And yeah, if you like custom content, it's likely to break again at some point.  If you have the extra storage, you may want to back up your entire user data folder from time to time, or at least before you add any new content.  That way, if it blows up in your face, you can simply restore the slightly older version and not worry about it.

For IE, I wonder if clearing the preferences also cleared some data that said you'd already been notified about the glorious new browser that is Edge.  I wouldn't get that on Windows 10, because Edge has always been there, but maybe it's different on 7.  And if Firefox is your default browser, any website with info about Edge that Microsoft wanted to show you would be forced to open in Firefox.  But that's purely speculation; there's a good chance I'm completely off the mark.

If you do have more issues, you know where to find me.

[ladygreeneyes649]

Only other issue I have is unrelated - when selecting certain items in buy mode, the game will completely freeze, and has to be shut down via the task manager and restarted.  Not custom stuff, either, for the most part, but EA content.  One or two wall televisions, and a shovel that I believe came with Ambitions, and one bulletin board - select one of those, and the whole game freezes.  Hot keys won't work, nothing.  Not sure if there is a way to fix that without uninstalling or not.  Can't remove the items in-game, though, since clicking at all freezes everything.  Annoying, if I forget which television is an issue. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@ladygreeneyes649  Does this always happen to the same items, even if you start a new save?  What about a new save in a clean user data folder?  (You could obviously put your old folder back when done testing.)  If the items themselves are broken, I'd expect them to cause problems even in a clean folder, and the only good way to address that, short of uninstalling and reinstalling, would be to run the Super Patch, which verifies the game's program files and should fix any corruption.

You can get the Super Patch here, under "Cumulative Base Game Super Patcher":

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/175477/official-ea-download-link-for-the-sims-3-cumulati...

That's probably not the likeliest scenario though.  More common is that an item is broken in just one save, and it's possible that some EA content gets broken by badly made custom content.  For the latter, test your cc in batches, etc., although you'd want to use a new save to test rather than dealing with items that might have been broken permanently in an existing save.  Or you could just avoid those items.

To remove something from an existing save, you can use NRaas MasterController, if you have it, to do a radius purge.  Click on the ground or floor near the object and select NRaas > MasterController: > Radius Purge.  (You want the MC option with the colon after it, not the bullseye, which opens the entire menu.  You could go that route too, there are just more steps involved.)  Select a radius, and you'll get a list of items in that area to potentially purge, from which you can select whatever is broken.

[ladygreeneyes649]

It's the same items, every time, and they don't get placed then break; they can't be placed at all.  If I select them in the catalog, the whole game freezes, and I have to shut it down via the task manager.  "The Digs" shovel, that came with Ambitions, The Ubervision Panoramic from Landgraab Industries television, and at least one bulletin board - can't recall which one.  Pretty sure the game is patched, so would running it again correct errors?  It's patched to 1.67.2.024001.  Not to 1,69, since I don't use Origin, but where the patch is, it is already.  Can always run it again if it won't hurt anything.  Otherwise, I suspect an uninstall and reinstall would be necessary, and I really want to avoid that! 

[puzzlezaddict]

@ladygreeneyes649  Running the Super Patch on an already patched disc install won't hurt, although it will revert any changes you've made to the game's program files (e.g. getting your graphics card recognized).  So if there are any edits you don't want to redo, save the affected files beforehand and put them back after running the patch.  And it's a lot simpler than doing a clean uninstall and reinstall.

Also simpler is testing in a clean user data folder.  I know you're not interested in getting rid of all your content, but at least you'd find out whether it's that extra content causing the issues, or something else entirely.  If the content is the problem, you'll know not to waste your time uninstalling and reinstalling the game itself.

[ladygreeneyes649]

No changes of that sort; the graphics card is Nvidia, and their programming manages those settings well, so no issue, thankfully!  Will try that and see what happens.  A clean data folder could be tricky, though.  Removing the mods folder is easy enough, but most of the custom stuff I have shows up as "store content" in game, since it's installed via Sims2pack files.  I've found that the game lags less loading with fewer package files installed.  Can you refresh my memory on how to do the clean user data folder?  Many thanks for all the help!

[ladygreeneyes649]

Oh, and do I need to remove mods and the like before patching?  Would that change?  They are in the documents files, not program ones, but don't want to lose that, either.