Sims 3 wont open past Launcher

[AlexMcAdams]

Hi, so I've been trying to figure out the issue with my sims 3. I have bought it on the ea app and also steam to see if that would resolve the issue. I've searched the internet for an answer and have still not come to a satisfactory conclusion.
So, I bought a PC so it was able to run my sims 3 and 4 better, sims 4 works fine however, i have windows 11 on my PC and when I open sims 3, it opens the launcher, but when i try to play the actually game, it doesn't crash just doesn't open and send me back to the ea app or steam.
I can play sims 3 on my laptop which has windows 10, but not my PC with windows 11. I know that there has been issues for some other people because EA didn't optimise sims 3 for windows 11, could this be the cause and is there any solution, WITHOUT changing back to windows 10. I have also changed my processor and CPU to accommodate the issue as the forums have suggested and still no luck
This makes me really sad because I love the sims 3 and the inability to play is soul crushing.

[Schluppdidupp]

You can try the following, hopefully it works for you:

If you want to start playing from Steam, first link the EA App with Steam:
https://help.ea.com/en/help/pc/link-ea-and-steam/

Then go to my profile, scroll down a little and try the single steps I write in the 2nd showcase. This works perfectly for many players and for me, so hopefully for you, too. If it does, you must follow these steps every time before you start playing, it takes only a few seconds and there is no patch or anything else needed.

If you want to start playing from DVDs, you just follow the steps on my profile.

[HiFive]

There are always lots of threads in this forum about the game not starting. If you look down the list of threads, and even go back 2 or 3 pages, you'll see a bunch of them. If Schluppdidupp's fix doesn't work for you, perhaps something else in one of those threads will. Good luck!

[Heatmiser]

Why can't EA fix this game?!?! They are selling a game that is broken and requires sooo many fixes and steps to get this game running. EA FIX YOUR GAME.

[Sparkflames]

Originally posted by Schluppdidupp:

You can try the following, hopefully it works for you:

If you want to start playing from Steam, first link the EA App with Steam:
https://help.ea.com/en/help/pc/link-ea-and-steam/

Then go to my profile, scroll down a little and try the single steps I write in the 2nd showcase. This works perfectly for many players and for me, so hopefully for you, too. If it does, you must follow these steps every time before you start playing, it takes only a few seconds and there is no patch or anything else needed.

If you want to start playing from DVDs, you just follow the steps on my profile.

I have tried to do your method but it doesn't even open EA like your tutorial says, still doesn't open the game. Is there a tutorial VIDEO I can watch or something cos I don't know what I am doing wrong?

P.S. It will only appear if I load up sims 4, not sims 3, to the EA app sims 3 doesn't exist on my PC. I'm getting so frustrated with this it's unreal...

[HiFive]

Originally posted by Sparkflames:

I have tried to do your method but it doesn't even open EA like your tutorial says, still doesn't open the game. Is there a tutorial VIDEO I can watch or something cos I don't know what I am doing wrong?

P.S. It will only appear if I load up sims 4, not sims 3, to the EA app sims 3 doesn't exist on my PC. I'm getting so frustrated with this it's unreal...

If the method Schluppdidupp posted doesn't work for you (it doesn't work for everyone) then there are other things you can try. Here is a short list of mostly recent threads on the topic. There are a ton more threads on getting the game running, so there's always more stuff to try.

(copy/paste of stuff I put in another thread)

https://steamcommunity.com/app/47890/discussions/0/4358998287110298414/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/47890/discussions/0/4138312860560215773/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/47890/discussions/0/4292566446026773217/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/47890/discussions/0/4358998116399495577/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/47890/discussions/0/4349988612572805934/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/47890/discussions/0/4292564952444238050/
Someone's fix on page 2 of this thread:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/47890/discussions/0/4292566446026773217/?ctp=2

Note that the Smooth Patch and NRAAS don't work well together, so choose one or the other.

[HiFive]

Here are some good guides, as well. The first 2 contain information about getting the game running, but I don't know how much of that information is still pertinent. Again, the Smooth Patch and NRAAS conflict with each other. The second guide listed is very large. You don't need to do everything in there, and it hasn't been updated in quite a while so a bunch of stuff might no longer apply, but you can skim through the topics and find small things here and there that might give some clues for what to try.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=279488894
Island Paradise (Make the DLC map playable fix)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1681308025
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2978681548&searchtext=isla+paradiso
This is also good for just launching the game from the .exe file. It will do a cleanup of the extra stuff that accumulates in certain cache files before the game launches. It won't connect to Steam, however, so your game hours and such won't be counted by Steam.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1853224297

[kaspajka]

its redicilous what happened to this game, i want my money back. i spent so much on expansions etc just so it doesnt work anymore

[Chaze]

For me, everytime I needed the Intel Alder Lake Patch from modthesims. EA has never optimized their Game for 12th Gen CPU.