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[NobodyXIV14]

This unfortunately seems to be quite a prevalent issue, one without a solution, so I'll just keep this simple.

I used to play The Sims 3 on a Toshiba laptop. It ran badly with and without mods, so I obviously used a lot of mods to at least make it somewhat meh. Some performance mods, custom content, etc was used, all the time.

I recently got a gaming laptop with an Nvidia GPU and a quad-core processor. It runs FF13 with minimal stutter, and runs Skyrim decently as well.

I just decided I wanted to try making something in TS3 again. I downloaded Origin, retrieved my old copy, waited for the download, and...

...was promptly met with the Sims version of the Blue Screen of Death.

I searched for fixes, but everything I found gave me long-outdated 'fixes' that I can't use.

So, does anyone have a working fix for this? I've tried everything from running it as an admin to reverifying the game, but nothing's worked so far.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@NobodyXIV14  Alright, I see a couple of issues here.  First of all, even though your graphics card is fine for TS3, your processor is not.  It's under the recommended 2.4 GHz speed, and it's U-series, for ultra-low power, meaning it's designed to save power whenever possible instead of providing consistent performance.  Still, that's probably not why you can't launch the game at all.

Another issue is your RAM.  8 GB is more than enough for the game itself, but you don't have enough memory to be running very much alongside it.  Your dxdiag shows a few TS3 crashes (and one from the launcher) due to lack of memory.  So it's best to try to launch the game right after rebooting your computer, to free up as much RAM as possible.  You can also check the Task Manager to find out what else might be hogging memory; Chrome is a typical culprit.

Your computer's registry has nothing to do with your game folder, although the game folder should be deleted or removed from the picture while you're troubleshooting.  The registry contains critical information for your computer to function, but it's also where TS3 deposits its product keys and the like when it's installed.  The guide to uninstalling shows how to find and delete TS3's registry entries, under "how can I manually uninstall it?"  Here's the link again:

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/the-sims/the-sims-3/manually-uninstalling-the-sims-3/

One reason this could help is that your error logs are reporting crashes from TS3w.exe, which is the executable used to start the game on a Steam or disc install.  Origin installs in Windows use TS3.exe, without the "w," so I'm not sure why your computer is using the old .exe.

While you're uninstalling and reinstalling, it's best to install TS3 onto your D drive.  Your C drive is too small to comfortably hold the game's program files and your saves and other content.  Windows 10 needs at least 35-40 GB free storage to maneuver, and you'll have trouble keeping that much available once you start playing and generating saves.

[puzzlezaddict]

@NobodyXIV14  The most common cause of this error is, or at least used to be, leftover registry keys from an incomplete uninstall of TS3.  I take it you haven't uninstalled and reinstalled the game on your new computer.  But this could also be due to trying to move program files from one drive to another, or trying to switch install locations partway through the process.  In these cases, you'll need to uninstall, clean the registry either manually or with a tool like Piriform's CCleaner, and then reinstall.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/the-sims/the-sims-3/manually-uninstalling-the-sims-3/

If none of that applies to you, please make sure your .NET framework is active.  It's likely installed with Windows 10 but may not be on by default.  Under Control Panel > Programs and Features, select "turn Windows features on/off" (or words to that effect) and make sure .NET version 3.5 or later is on.  You may need to restart your computer afterwards.

If this doesn't help either, the other approaches that are still relevant are running both Origin and TS3 as an administrator, uninstalling Create a World and/or Create a Pattern (if you've installed either one), and doing a clean uninstall and reinstall of Origin.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/

This is off-topic, but I hope you've set up a frame rate limiter for your graphics card.  TS3 has no working fps limiter of its own, so you'll need an outside tool.  For Nvidia cards, the first choice is the built-in Control Panel, and if that doesn't help, Nvidia Inspector (free download).  To see your in-game fps by bringing up the cheats console (crtl-shift-c) and enter "fps on" without quotes.  A number will appear in the upper right corner.  ("fps off" makes it go away.)  The frame rate should never exceed the refresh rate of your monitor.  In case it helps, here are screenshots of setups for both tools:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16540301/#Comment_16540301

[NobodyXIV14]

I have uninstalled and reinstalled, but only through Origin, twice. My computer does not have a disk drive, so I can't resort to using the discs.

I did not move program files, and I did not change install locations at any point.

I tried the .NET fix, restarted, and it still didn't work. After that, I tried the administrator run, and the clean reinstall(as I do not have CAW or CAP). Neither worked, and I'm still getting the same error as before.

At this point, an FPS limiter isn't very high on my priority list, since... I'd rather get into the game in general... So I can play it...

I really wish I could bypass the launcher, but then my .sims3pack content wouldn't work.

[puzzlezaddict]

@NobodyXIV14  Regardless of sims3pack content, you can't bypass the launcher on an Origin install, at least not in Windows.  That's one of the things that changed with patch 1.69 a few years ago.

Uninstalling through Origin isn't always enough—you may need to clean your computer's registry before reinstalling.  Origin won't remove the registry entries that might be causing you issues now.  But before you go through all that work, do you have an existing TS3 game folder in place?  (This would be the one in Documents.)  If you do, move it onto your desktop and try launching the game again.

If that doesn't work, a clean uninstall and reinstall is your best bet.  If that doesn't work either, the next step is to run a dxdiag and attach the results to a post here (use the Browse button).  Even if your computer is more than powerful enough to handle TS3, there may be some info in the dxdiag that will help.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

[NobodyXIV14]

Alright. I re-attempted a clean install, but it still didn't work, so here's the dxdiag file.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by cleaning the registry, but the TS3 game folder contained nothing but a file named launchermanifest.pid, no subfolders or anything of the like.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@NobodyXIV14  Alright, I see a couple of issues here.  First of all, even though your graphics card is fine for TS3, your processor is not.  It's under the recommended 2.4 GHz speed, and it's U-series, for ultra-low power, meaning it's designed to save power whenever possible instead of providing consistent performance.  Still, that's probably not why you can't launch the game at all.

Another issue is your RAM.  8 GB is more than enough for the game itself, but you don't have enough memory to be running very much alongside it.  Your dxdiag shows a few TS3 crashes (and one from the launcher) due to lack of memory.  So it's best to try to launch the game right after rebooting your computer, to free up as much RAM as possible.  You can also check the Task Manager to find out what else might be hogging memory; Chrome is a typical culprit.

Your computer's registry has nothing to do with your game folder, although the game folder should be deleted or removed from the picture while you're troubleshooting.  The registry contains critical information for your computer to function, but it's also where TS3 deposits its product keys and the like when it's installed.  The guide to uninstalling shows how to find and delete TS3's registry entries, under "how can I manually uninstall it?"  Here's the link again:

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/the-sims/the-sims-3/manually-uninstalling-the-sims-3/

One reason this could help is that your error logs are reporting crashes from TS3w.exe, which is the executable used to start the game on a Steam or disc install.  Origin installs in Windows use TS3.exe, without the "w," so I'm not sure why your computer is using the old .exe.

While you're uninstalling and reinstalling, it's best to install TS3 onto your D drive.  Your C drive is too small to comfortably hold the game's program files and your saves and other content.  Windows 10 needs at least 35-40 GB free storage to maneuver, and you'll have trouble keeping that much available once you start playing and generating saves.

[NobodyXIV14]

Alright, solution found! Apparently, a lot of my games seemed to dual-install, as well as somehow a few SPs I don't even own. I removed everything, reinstalled only the base game, and it worked fine on startup. After fully reinstalling all the games in my list, the launcher still opens just fine.

I never would have thought to use the Control Panel! It's not easily accessible on my computer.

Thank you!