July 2018
I had the sims 3 for a couple of years and ran into zero problems with it until out of nowhere the sims 3 stopped working. I haven't found any fixes or straight up issues like this on different sites and i decided to ask for help. (This is my first time asking for help on a forum so bear with me)
The problem occurs when I open the sims 3 and the launcher opens and seems to not respond, also another thing is that the news and updates and announcement stuff doesn't even show. Also every time I load the launcher my computer nearly crashes (Had once) where I had to hard restart my machine (Aka when its open, everything is super slow where it gets to the point of freesing up). Heres an image of what happens.
Every time I load it, this is what pops up. Ive tried bypassing the launcher, uninstalling and reinstalling, keeping windows 10 up-to-date and it still seems to not work
July 2018
@CryptedVortex There are a number of possible causes for this issue, not all of which are game-related. But let's start with the easiest fixes first. It should also be noted that you can't bypass the launcher on patch 1.69.
If you didn't clean your registry before reinstalling TS3, remnants of the previous install could be interfering with your ability to launch the game. You can do so manually (check out the hard way in the link below), or use a tool like Piriform's CCleaner (the free version works fine).
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/the-sims/the-sims-3/manually-uninstalling-the-sims-3/
It's possible that the Origin handoff to TS3 is going wrong. You can try clearing Origin's cache to see if that helps. You can also right-click on the TS3 icon in your Origin library to repair the game. If other steps aren't working, it may be worth uninstalling and reinstalling Origin entirely (again, the hard way); this would not affect your installed games.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/
It's also worth trying to launch with a clean game folder. Pull your existing TS3 folder out of Documents and onto your desktop, and a new one will spawn with no content. If you can load and play a new game in this folder, you can move your saves and other content into it from the old folder.
If none of this works, it would be helpful for you to run a dxdiag and share the results. You can attach the file to a post here using the button next to the paper clip icon.
https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/HOW-TO-DxDiag-PC-Only/m-p/1049584/thread-id/47181
July 2018
@puzzlezaddict I've tried manually reinstalling the game and removing the TS3 folder out of my electronic arts folder to my desktop with no prevail, I also ran into an obstacle with clearing the cache because I do not have an Appearance and Personalization folder in my Control Panel.
My dxdiag is connected to this post (I hope, I chose the file with he paper clip)
July 2018 - last edited July 2018
@CryptedVortex That's so strange. I recently had a Windows 10 update, so I checked again (I just typed "control panel" into the search field), and my control panel has the Appearance and Personalization icon. Are you logged in as an Admin? Perhaps other accounts don't have permission to view or change certain settings. If that's not the issue here, you can try the methods listed in this link:
https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-open-personalization-window-in-windows-10/
It also looks like the Creator's Update (which I don't have) messed with the control panel. This brings up an entirely different potential cause of your TS3 issues. When the update came out a year ago, many players couldn't launch TS3 on computers that had been running the game without trouble. I'm not sure if the compatibility issues have been resolved with subsequent updates, but here's how to disable the more problematic features:
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/15902876/#Comment_15902876
Also, your dxdiag looks mostly fine to my admittedly untrained eye, although it's weird that your graphics card is listed twice. It should be noted as well that the card is older; I'm not sure how well it would be able to handle the highest in-game settings at this point. But pulling your game folder out of Documents would have reset the settings anyway, so that's probably not the source of the issue. (If you want a much more thorough evaluation of your dxdiag, perhaps roberta will be around to offer some advice.)
Edit: I should add one more thing to try, even though it's probably not the issue. After you sign into Origin, you can put it in offline mode. Then take your computer entirely offline and launch the game again. Since the launcher isn't loading properly, perhaps that would help. Or not, but it can't hurt.
July 2018 - last edited July 2018
@puzzlezaddict Firstly to clear up (For my sake) I've organized everything you said as a check list
Done
- My graphics card can not be the problem, I have played the game many times before without any problems
- I cannot confirm that I have the creators update, but I had the ability to disable Game mode and "disabled fullscreen optimization". Still, nothing works
- I believe I am logged in as an admin due to the fact I can run TS3 as administrator (Which I have due to troubleshooter saying so)
- I'm the only one with access to this computer
Questions
- When I open Personalize I have no clue where to find the File Explorer Options.(EDIT: Posted the picture at the bottom due to picture not being accepted as extensions)
NOTE: About the Edit, I tested it and it actually did something different where 1. The launcher was different (Quite hard to explain) 2. when I tried to use snipping tool (What I take screenshots with) It didn't respond aswell.
July 2018
@CryptedVortex I asked someone who knows Windows 10 much better than I do, and he described how to find and clear Origin's cache files:
"Press and hold the Windows logo on your keyboard and press the letter R, then type %ProgramData% and press enter. This will open the ProgramData folder. To make the subfolders appear, press the ALT button once, go to View and make sure the Hidden Files checkbox is checked.
"Go to the Origin folder, delete all files and folders EXCEPT the LocalContent folder.
"Then close the windows, Hold the Windows logo + R again. Type in %AppData% and press enter, open the Local folder and delete the Origin folder."
If that doesn't work, the next step is uninstalling and reinstalling Origin entirely.
July 2018
@puzzlezaddict Clearing my Cache didnt work so i'm on my to reinstalling Origin (Take this as a status update)
July 2018
@puzzlezaddict Unfortunately, TS3 still won't respond even after reinstalling Origin.
July 2018
@CryptedVortex Okay, I really don't know what's going on here; this might be over my head. Let's ask the expert.
@roberta591 If you have time, could you look over this thread (there's a dxdiag in post 3), and let the OP know what you think?
July 2018
@CryptedVortex Have you tried running the game with only one monitor connected? Have you tried lowering the game resolution - you can do this by editing the text file options.ini but try one monitor first. It could be the game does not know which graphics resolution to use as you have two different monitors which have two different resolutions attached. A guess would be this may be a video driver issue. You have two different HD resolution monitors connected. As this game does some post video processing this may be causing issues. When you are having technical issues the first thing to do is strip your computer of all hardware that is not necessary. There are other things that need to be known that may affect this like how are the monitors connected to the video card?