Sims 3 Won't Start Up

[gamemaster468]

So for some reason, my copy of Sims 3 won't start up. Everytime I try to boot up the game's launcher, I get this messege: https://gyazo.com/3bab4801966764f23953456aa6b05e78 I have no idea why this is happening, cause it was working just fine a few moments ago, then this randomly started happening. Can anyone out there give me some advice?

[Kiya]

Have you tried Verifying the integrity of the game cache? If not - in the Steam client, right click on the game in your library list, select properties from the dropdown list then in the local files tab select Verify the integrity of the game cache.

[gamemaster468]

Just now tried it. Still hasn't fixed it. :/

[Kiya]

Right click on the taskbar on your desktop and select Start Task Manager from the list that comes up. In the processes tab of the box that comes up does it show anything to do with Sims 3 or the Sims 3 launcher? If it does, right click on the it and select End Process

[gamemaster468]

Nope, nothing. The first thing I tried when this issue started was restarting my computer, which would've closed The Sims 3 immedietly if it was already running somehow, so I know that can't be the issue.

[Kiya]

Windows can sometimes get bugged and keep processes running even after a restart of your PC but if there's nothing showing in task manager then I'm not sure what else to suggest apart from taking a look at cruinne's troubleshooting guide to see if anything in there can help.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=279488894

It is possible to bypass both steam and the launcher by navigating to the steamapps->common->The Sims 3->Game->Bin folder and using the TS3 application file there to start the game - you can right click on it to create a shortcut then drag the shortcut onto your desktop.

However that doesn't fix the problem with your launcher - though once you are in game you could try bringing up the launcher by selecting it from the '...' button list to see if that works.

[cruinne]

Did you uninstall an EP or SP? This often happens when you do that. If that's so, my guide (linked to by Kiya, above) has instructions on how to fix it in section 4.

[gamemaster468]

I was considering trying to uninstall and reinstall the game, but I haven't tried that yet cause I'm worried that it might delete my save files if I do that. I have no idea what EP and SP is, so no.

[cruinne]

Hahah, OK. EP is Expansion Pack (like World Adventures, Supernatural, &c.) and SP is Stuff Pack (like Town Life Stuff and Movie Stuff).

Anyway, look into the guide above, and try section 3.4 (remove temp files), then (possibly?) 2.3 (run secondary installers). If your game doesn't start at all, it can't hurt, eh?

[gamemaster468]

Nope, neither of those worked. I removed all of the temp files listed, and it still gave me the error messege shown in my first post. As for the secondary installers, I manages to successully reinstall all but one of the programs you listed, which was the one in the Dot Net folder. When trying to reinstall it, it gave me this messege. "This product is not supported on a 64-bit operaring system. Setup will now exit."

I feel like I should also point out that I tried the method that Kiya mentioned a ways back, where you just bypass the launcher entirely by opening TS3.exe file. When I tried this, I got another error that said, "Unable to start game. Service initialization failed. (0x0175dcbb)" This makes me believe that this is less of an issue with the launcher, and more of an issue with the game itself.

[Kiya]

Here is the EA help page to do with that error - see if there is anything in there that you havn't already tried.

http://help.ea.com/en/article/sims-3-error-service-initialization-failed-0x065d0274/

[gamemaster468]

Lots of these solutions seem to bring up mods. The only thing that I added to the Sims 3 recently was the "Future DLC" pack, but I don't think that really counts as a mod, as it's an actual part of the game. I've never really used mods in any of my games, so I don't know if most of these solutions really apply to me. Regardless though, could the DLC possibly have something to do with this issue?

[Kiya]

it doesn't have to be something that you added recently - mods can get corrupted the same as any computer file so if you have ever used them or ever added custom content to your game try removing them as per the instructions.

If it was the future dlc then verifying the integrity of the game cache should have sorted it out.

Otherwise all that I can suggest at this point is backing up then removing everything out of the my documents->the sims 3 folder then if the game still won't start, uninstalling and reinstalling the game again from scratch.

If the game works after reinstalling then try putting foldersthat you backed up back into the my documents->the sims 3 folder one at a time, checking that the game still works after replacing each one.

[gamemaster468]

The only thing of major importants that I have on my game are my save files. So can I just drag the same files somewhere else, then put them back in the "Saved Games" folder once it's reinstalled?

[Kiya]

If you have any favourite sims saved to the library you may also want to back up the SavedSims folder but otherwise yes.

To uninstall I would recommend that you first uncheck all of the dlc, either by the window in the library or by right clicking on the game in the librarylist, selecting properties from the dropdown list then unchecking all of the dlc in there.

Then right click on the game in your Steam library list and select Delete Content - then navigate to where the game was installed in Steam->steamapps->common-> The Sims 3 and delete anything that it left in that folder manually

Then when both the sims 3 installation folder and the my documents, electronic arts, sims 3 folder are empty reinstall just the base game (don't check any of the dlc options) then reinstall each dlc in the order of their release.

Release order is here -> http://help.ea.com/uk/article/the-sims-3-installation-order/

If you have to reinstall, good luck and I hope it finally fixes the problem for you

[gamemaster468]

I figured out what was wrong. You see the day this issue occured, I noticed that the "Future" DLC pack started up when I loaded my save file, before I was ready to play it. So I closed out of the game, and unchecked the DLC to try and get the normal game....Well appearently Sims 3 doesn't like that, so it would keep giving me the error messege unless I had that DLC pack checked. I don't know why, I don't know how, but that seems to be the reason, cause the minute the DLC finished downloading, the launcher worked again like normal. So I guess I've gotta have a time machine in my front lawn for all eternity now. :P