Urgent help needed! Suddenly can't launch Sims 3

Zei

So, suddenly I can no longer launch my Sims 3 or my Sims 3 launcher. I read up some suggestions online and I eventually changed my The Sims 3 folder's name to something else, and then the game launched just fine, of course without all my saved games, cc etc. Now I want to move everything back in one by one, but I don't know which files are important to my game and which ones shouldn't be moved. Can you help? I can't move the complete folder back because I already tried that, the game doesn't launch.

puzzlezaddict

Your saves will be in Saves, your saved households and lots (the entries in the in-game bin) in Library, and sims saved in CAS in SavedSims. Store content is bundled into .ebc files, and third-party cc in .dbc files, both in DCCache. You'll also need the ccmerged.package files from DCBackup for your premium store content to work. Store venues will also have a corresponding file in Library, and store worlds in InstalledWorlds. Here's a more full explanation of everything in your game folder:

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html

It's a good idea to move content into your clean folder a few files at a time, making sure the game still launches. If it doesn't, you'll know that at least one of the files in the batch you just moved is a problem, and you can sort through that small batch.

Zei

Thank you @puzzlezaddict. I moved everything back in a couple of batches, and discovered eventually that it was a group of package files (rugs! can you believe it?) that was causing the problem. I'm really happy to get my game back.

Emmieroe

Says game is playing and but doesn't show up anywhere. ??/???

puzzlezaddict

@Emmieroe Could you provide a bit more information? What exactly do you see that says the game is running, and what did you do to launch it? What operating system are you running? Have you been able to play TS3 before on this computer? Does it help to restart and then try to launch the game again?

It might also be better if you posted in the dedicated thread for new members, since this OP's issue was solved. But wherever you post, more info is always appreciated.

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/893122/thread-for-new-members-to-post-their-sims-3-game-issues#latest

Speaking of more information, you could run a dxdiag and post the results in pastebin.com or some other free site. You'd have to break up the link here (for example, h.t.t.p.s), but that way we could narrow down the source of your issue much more quickly.

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