Sims 3 won't open: Alder Lake (Intel 12th-gen) CPU

[MamaBear460]

OMG thank you so much. The task manager one seems very easy although I can't seem to get back to the task manager once the game starts to load. What can I do to access the task manager while its loading? Again thank you so much for this fix. Sucks so much that this game won't run on Intel. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@MamaBear460  Put the game into windowed mode, then alt-tab to the Task Manager.

[puzzlezaddict]

@MamaBear460  Does the computer have a 12th-gen Intel processor?  If so, that's the issue: Sims 3 doesn't start correctly on these CPUs.  The workaround is to limit the game to one core while it's loading.  You can accomplish this with a patch Lazy Duchess made:

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

or by using one of the other approaches discussed in that thread starting on page five.

[MamaBear460]

Thank you. I managed to luck out hit the right key. 😊

[MamaBear460]

Thank you. Never in a million years would I think one of the best CPUs  on the market would render Sims 3 unplayable! And I have used the aforementioned patches to get the game to finally work. We just bought an Alienware laptop computer with some of the best components for gaming and I can’t thank you all enough for the work arounds. 

[iWolffe]

The Sims 3 Launcher opens properly and works fine, but when I press play on the launcher it just opens the Origin app and nothing else happens. I've already tried several things like clearing the cache, reinstalling, restarting my pc, etc.

I have no idea why this is happening or how to fix it, I would really appreciate some help.

[puzzlezaddict]

@iWolffe  I've merged your post with the master thread for this issue, which is that Sims 3 doesn't start correctly on 12th-gen Intel processors.  The workaround is to limit the game to one CPU core while it's loading.  You can accomplish this by running a patch Lazy Duchess created:

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

or with one of the other approaches discussed in this thread starting on page 5.

[OhCrapItsTBGP]

Okay, so i was scrolling through this here thread and I seen some people didn't quite understand my method and I'd like to repost it with some extra details.

The Task Manager Method:

Turn on The Sims 3 Launcher along with the task manager
before clicking play, go to details on the Task Manger and
scroll down and look for "Sims3Launcher.exe" when you find it,
left click it and click "Set affinity" once that window pops up
unselect the "All processers" box then check the box that says
"CPU 1".

After doing that, click OK and minimize the task manager and click play.

Once the game loads up, go back to the task manager and check the
"All processers" box and turn off the task manager then enjoy your game!

If you play on fullscreen, you'll have to use CTRL+ALT+DELETE to get to the task manager to select all processers again, 

If you want to make it easier on yourself, you should turn the game to windowed mode everytime you turn it off.

If you don't understand text (like myself sometimes) I made a video about it, I'll link it.

The Video Mentioned: https://youtu.be/MpUUZUJNGXM

I hope this is of help, I'll try to check this thread more often if anyone needs help but for now, I'll see ya'll on the flip side.

[Swushz]

I sat here for 5 hours straight cursing and yelling going from threads to threads direct x9 to seeing if it had to do with windows 11 or that I had installed via game pass but uninstalled so it was conflicting with fresh install so i heard did regi stuff you name it tried it and nothing worked,

Only to find a thread before this saying 12 series CPUs don't work thought i lost hope but you, you kind soul made this script and i gave it a shot and holy moly guacamole it worked thank you jesus words can  not explain what i felt seeing that ea pop up. Thank you so much

I LOVE YOU Mia

[kow375]

I have tried the following:

You'll get a file in Downloads called directx_Jun2010_redist.exe.  First, create a folder on your desktop called DX.  (You can right-click on the desktop and select New > Folder.)

Double-click on directx_Jun2010_redist.exe, and you'll get a license agreement.  Then you can choose a location to extract the files.  Scroll all the way up (or drag the scrollbar up), open the Desktop section, not the one at the top but the one with an arrow next to it a couple lines down.  Choose the DX folder, then click OK, and OK again.

Inside the DX folder, scroll down a bit and find DXSETUP.exe.  Double-click it, select Yes when asked if you want to allow the app to make changes, accept the agreement, select Next twice, and you'll see it installing.  This may take a minute.

When it's done, click Finish, then restart your computer.

It still won't run. I get the following error message:

C;\Windows\SYSTEM32|MSVCR100.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error... Error status 0xc000012f

I did uninstall and reinstall but no success

I have then followed your instructions and did the patch and it was successful but I still can't start and getting the error above

Any thoughts

Regards Karon