My Sims 3 launcher won't logon. [ Edited ]

[nycbigl]

All day today I have tried to logon at my Sims 3 launcher. At first it kept crashing over and over again but after restarting my windows 10 desktop Dell PC and cleaning out ALL the caches several times in Explorer and Firefox and in Google Chrome I was finally able to get the launcher to stop crashing. But now it refuses to logon. The welcome page at first was only a blue screen but now it is an error notice on it. I had trouble logging on several times before in the past and it has gotten fixed but this is the first time the Welcome page on the launcher has disappeared and have given me an error page instead. I tried to logon in the download page but it won't work. I type in my password but the box just keeps blinking and nothing else happens. I checked my Origin account and it's signed in.

I am trying to download some items I bought at the Sims 3 store but being that the launcher refuses to login I can't download it into the game. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the new way the Sims 3 website logs on now. I have noticed for the first time that when I longed onto the Sims 3 website today it logged into EA network.

[puzzlezaddict]

@nycbigl  There are occasionally reports that the login issues are caused by having a large number of screenshots or videos in the TS3 game folder.  You could try moving those subfolders (Screenshots and RecordedVideos) elsewhere, and clearing your caches again.  If that doesn't help, drag your entire game folder out of Documents and onto your desktop, clear your caches yet again, and see if you can login.

Having said that, you don't need to be logged into the launcher to download or install store content.  I never login unless I'm testing, as I did just now.  (And it worked, but then again I'm on a Mac.)  Just download your store stuff from the product pages, and the launcher will let you install.

On the other hand, if you get a blank page on the Downloads tab before you try to login, I can see why you wouldn't be able to install anything.  Please let me know if this is what's happening.

[nycbigl]

First and most importantly of all I want to thank you so very much for replying and helping out. You are greatly appreciated and you rock.

I don't have any screenshots and videos in my Sims 3 folder. The Screenshots and Recorded Videos folders are completely empty right now and they always have been. I have never bothered with pictures and videos but that's just me. But I checked it anyway right now to make sure I had not accidentally pressed the key while playing the game and the folders are indeed empty.

I had tried to download from the Sims 3 store without logging into the launcher but it didn't work. I did try when the problem started yesterday to download from my purchase page but it asked me to login into the launcher even though I was already signed in in the Sims 3 website and in Origin. 

Today I cleared all of my caches again with a privacy eraser that clears all browsers at the same time like I usually do everyday when I turn on my computer. The Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome, caches, history and so forth.  I did it twice to make sure I did a thorough job. Then I clicked on the Sims 3 at my desktop and I tried to login again at the launcher. I was able to log in but the launcher is glitched. The launcher screen is white with only bits and pieces of the screen showing.

I tried again to download the items I had purchased from the Sims 3 store via the Purchase History page despite the glitch and nothing happened. It won't download. 

I'm sure it will eventually get fixed but I know that I have to report the problem in order for it to get fixed.

[puzzlezaddict]

@nycbigl  Thanks for the thorough report; it makes troubleshooting so much easier.  One thing I'm still wondering about though is if it helped to remove your entire game folder from Documents.  I know that downloading into a clean folder and then transferring the downloads isn't ideal, and that it may not even be useful if you still can't load the launcher with your existing game folder in place.  But it does help narrow down the source of the issue.

I just tried downloading something from the store, without logging into the launcher.  It was fine, but Firefox did initially block the store's popup window.  (There was a yellow banner across the screen.)  I had to manually allow the popup, and then it worked; I also already had the launcher open because otherwise downloads don't start on my computer.  Anyway, this makes me wonder if your privacy settings are messing with the launcher somehow.  You mentioned your cache clearing app; perhaps some other setting is blocking the store site and launcher from communicating, or the launcher from verifying your logins at all.

The other relevant bit of information is that the store underwent maintenance eleven days ago.  You may have noticed that the login changed, and the goal was to sync it better with other EA sites, according to EA_Mai.  (You're not the only one with issues, although these are a bit different.)  So it's entirely possible that EA's strengthened connection or increased tracking or whatever is disallowed on your system.

I know that's not much to go on, but these issues can be difficult to troubleshoot.  I'll forward your thread to someone from EA as soon as I get a chance.  In the meantime, I'm sorry I don't have a better fix to offer.

[nycbigl]

Again, Thank you so very much for replying and helping.Sorry I did not comment back sooner today. I was downtown all day shopping for Mother's Day gifts. LOL!

I just checked the launcher again today and though it is still a little glitchy, it did finally allowed me to download the items that I purchased from the Sims 3 store. My other items that I have downloaded in the past is missing from the launcher but it's not the first time that it has glitched this way. I know those items are installed and they are not missing from the game. Perhaps tomorrow the launcher will be back to normal fully.

In case you are curious, I never removed the file from documents. I have no idea why the launcher had gotten so bad. It's not the first time this year it's gotten glitchy but it had never been this bad as to not allow me to download items and to last for more than a day with a white error page. Usually when the launcher starts to glitch just rebooting the computer helps it and everything goes back to normal. But last night, this morning and afternoon my usual trick wasn't working.The good news is that very late this evening I found that the launcher is slowly getting back to normal and like I said, I was finally able to download and install what I had purchased from the Sims 3 store.

Again, thank you for all of your help. It is indeed greatly appreciated. I don't know if you're a Mom, can't tell by in your profile picture. LOL! But just in case, hope you'll have a very Happy Mother's Day. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@nycbigl  There's never any reason to apologize about a late reply, even when you don't have such a great excuse.  I'm glad to hear the launcher is (mostly) cooperating again, although it would be nice if it were more reliable.  If you have more issues with it in the future, please post back, and I'll send it to a CM.

And no, no kids here.  (I think furball would object to sharing, anyway.)  But we do have some nice things planned for my mom.  I hope you have a great Mother's Day too, whoever you're spending it with.