Sims 3 - game won't launch on windows 11 new pc

[puzzlezaddict]

@ImThatKateGirI  I've merged your posts with the master thread for this issue.  As far as I've seen, everyone trying to play on an Alder Lake processor has the same issue.  It also looks like this can only be addressed by either EA or Intel, not by the end user.  You can see from the accepted solution (marked for visibility) that EA is aware; keep an eye on this thread for possible updates.

[ImThatKateGirI]

@puzzlezaddict I saw this article earlier and was thinking about that as well. Thanks for the merge. I hope that they come out with something soon.

[Kiasimsx]

I've recently re-installed The Sims 3 on a new PC and when it was done I pressed the play button as normal the launcher opened as normal but when I press the play button in the launcher the origin screen pops up with the bright orange play button like I just closed the game

**I went ahead and attached my DxDiag file for reference

[puzzlezaddict]

@Kiasimsx  Sims 3 currently does not run on 12th-gen (Alder Lake) Intel processors.  I've merged your post with the master thread for this issue.  As you can see from the accepted solution (marked for visibility), EA is aware of the issue, but there's no fix or workaround as of yet.  And since the problem is likely on the EA/Sims 3 side, there apparently isn't anything players can do either.

You can keep an eye on this thread, or subscribe, for updates.

[Kiasimsx]

@puzzlezaddictaw man tht sucks hopefully one of the two come out with a solution soon thanks for the response tho

[ViridianPoem473]

My computer has got similar specs, and it also doesn't work for me.
DDR5 i7 12700KF, but it works fine on my i7 4790MX DDR3L from 2014, so I just have to use my custom laptop I made a while ago for now.

[Makanar56]

Is there any update or ETA on this? Or anything identified as the issue beyond being on Alder Lake that you can pass on? Perhaps with more info there is a workaround that the community could find. This definitely appears to be a software issue as running a virtual machine on the same Alder Lake PC allows the game to launch.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Makanar56  I would guess that there won't be an update until the new year, given how many people are taking time off or working limited hours.  As for a community workaround, I haven't seen one, although I haven't looked closely.  Since I don't have an Alder Lake CPU myself, I have to rely on others' reports.

It's interesting that the game works in a VM.  Perhaps there's a Windows setting somewhere that's interfering, but it's not strictly about Windows 11 given that people running 11 on other CPUs can play.

[Miaa245]

I also have this issue, brand new computer with an Alder Lake CPU. Opens the Sims 3 Launcher just fine but when I click play it just crashes.

I was able to get the game to launch through using a program called Process Lasso and setting the affinity of TS3.exe to only 1 processor. It runs very poorly though. :P

[Fuchie]

Hi @Miaa245 ,

Thanks for the tip with Process Lasso

I confirm that when I use Process Lasso & enable 1 core only, the game launches correctly. After some tests, it seems that after launching the game you can switch the affinity back to normal without any issue. The game will run faster (it was a nightmare with only 1 core, the game was slower than with my old 2600k ).