The Sims 3 Won't Launch

[wiry961]

Hello, 

I recently got a new gaming computer, and installed The Sims 3 hoping to play it. However, when I press "play" on Origin, the Sims 3 Launcher will open just fine. Pressing play on the launcher causes it to exit the program and then reopen Origin. I have tried thoroughly uninstalling both The Sims 3 and Origin, as well as clearing my caches, running as an admin, running in compatibility mode, and manually installing DirectX9. 

I have attached a dxdiag; is anyone able to shed some light on the issue?

[puzzlezaddict]

@wiry961  The issue here is your processor: Sims 3 doesn't load properly on 12th-gen Alder Lake CPUs. You have a couple options here. You can try using this PowerShell script another user posted:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11...

Or you can use Process Lasso to limit the game to one CPU core while it's loading. You'll want to close Process Lasso once you have a save loaded for better performance.

I also want to point out that your dxdiag lists a few Windows update failures and a number of crashes of the Dell Alienware Command Center.  For the latter, Dell released a new version a couple of days ago, and you can get it here, along with any other updates for your system:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/alienware-aurora-r13-desktop/drivers

For the Windows update issues, try manually running updates through Settings > Update & Security.  Let me know if you get an error; otherwise, just let the updates install and then restart your computer.

[BeekyD2001]

@puzzlezaddict Hey so I have tried process lasso and the powershell those work however my sims 3 still will not launch. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@BeekyD2001  When you say that the script and Process Lasso work but the game won't launch, what exactly do you mean?  If either workaround is doing its job, the game is supposed to launch properly.  You do need one or the other since you have a 12th-gen Intel processor, but there could of course be another issue.

On that note, please post another dxdiag so I can see what's going on now.

[BeekyD2001]

@puzzlezaddict What I mean is I have to have EA app and origin app installed for the launcher to even pop up.

[puzzlezaddict]

@BeekyD2001  Of course you need Origin or the EA App to be running if you're trying to play Sims 3.  It's by design, a way to make sure that the player owns the game.

The errors in your dxdiag are the same ones as before: the PowerShell script and Process Lasso aren't doing their job.  Are you sure that you followed the instructions for the script to the letter?  Even one character out of place, or not using the script to launch the game for that matter, would prevent it from working.  And with Process Lasso, you'd actually need to have it running and limiting TS3.exe to one CPU core; it's not enough to set it up once.

[BeekyD2001]

@puzzlezaddict I have to have both of the apps downloaded for sims 3 to launch. What errors are in my dxd? The script does work but for me to get it to work I have to have the EA app because it will not launch in origin. 

[hgeary15]

@BeekyD2001  open origin and bring up the sims 3 launcher first. Then right click on the powershell script and choose run with powershell. Go back to the sims 3 launcher and click play. The launcher and powershell window should close and your game should launch. If I’m correct, you don’t need to use both the script and process lasso. Just one or the other. 

you can also pin the sims 3 launcher to your task bar if you like. That way you don’t even have to open origin. Just click it to bring up the launcher, and then follow the other steps. 

edited to add: not sure if you meant that origin won’t bring up the launcher for you. You can also try using the ea app to open the launcher and then follow the steps, or try opening it by double clicking on the launcher .exe in your program files and trying the script again that way. Good luck and hope I helped! 

[BeekyD2001]

@hgeary15 I can't even find the .exe file. maybe it's an origin issue? I dont have the 64 bit unlocked and thats what my pc runs.

[hgeary15]

@BeekyD2001 I couldn’t get the image to load unfortunately.

But are you looking in C:/program files (x86) /origin games/the sims 3/game/bin ? I have 2 launcher .exe’s in my bin folder, the one that successfully brings up the launcher for me is ‘Sims3LauncherW’. It’s possible it may have another path if it’s installed with the ea app instead of origin, but it will still be found in the program files and NOT in the sims 3 folder in documents where your mods folder is (if you use them). 

if you are looking in the correct place, try repairing the game in the origin or ea app and see if they reappear. If not, you may need to reinstall the game to get them back.