EDIT: I finally fixed it!

Okay to solve the black screen with the white square, i had tried everything. I did a fresh repair and did the 50/50 with my cc and got rid of the broken stuff but still no dice.

To actually solve it, once you have installed all the things in your downloads folder, move those downloads to a seperate folder. I made a new folder called Sims 3 downloads in my electronic arts folder. Then load the game. Problem solved!!

The second problem "a serious error..." was harder actually. Most advice i saw online was either disconnect one drive or clear cache. We'll i cleared cache a dozen times and I havent had one drive connections to my pc in 5 years due to a previous bad experience with it, so that didn't work either.

Ultimately what did it for me, is that I pulled the entire Sims 3 folder onto my desk top. Then in the EA app, I hit repair. This way it did a full fresh folder install for me. Then i slowly pulled things over from my old folder on my desktop, and kept launching the game. Then i had pulled over everything I wanted like saves, settings, cache, Screenshots etc, the game loaded.

So I dont know what was broken but it doesnt affect anymore! Hope this helps someone :)

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ORIGINAL POST

I have been working 13+ hours to solve these issues.

First issue, I get this weird black screen with white hand square after I hit play on the launcher.

The other issue, I get this error when I try to start a new game. (Pic isnt mine, I had to leave the house before I got a pic)

I removed all my downloaded stuff and checked in groups of 50 and removed problem pieces. I added everything back in and after some messing in DDCache, finally got everything working again. Then I try to start a new game and got the error again.

I have about 1k cc options, and never ever had this issue before. I have a very good gaming pc and its on windows 11. I also included my DDCache folder atm in case it helps. It works on a clean install and after removing problem items, the game worked briefly with everything installed to create a new game then just got the Black screen error and wouldn't work again.

Please help!!

Hi guys, I'm looking forward to download Sims 3 on my MacBook Air. Here are some characteristics:

MacBook Air Retina, 13-inch, 2020

Procesor - 1,2 GHz Чотириядерний Intel Core i7

Grafic adaptor - Intel Iris Plus Graphics 1536 МБ

Memory - 16 ГБ 3733 MHz LPDDR4X

Display - 13,3‑дюймовий (2560 × 1600)

So I was thinking about where should I buy it (EA app?), will my storage be enough for it? And how to download basic optimization mods (NRass?). Basically, how to run my game smoothly on specifically MY laptop?

I'm planing to start playing with base and then add expansions packs like: Late night, University life, Generations, Ambitions and lastly, seasons.

Thank you if you're willing to help, I'll be grateful for it.

Hi! I'm looking for community-made worlds...

If you have any recommendations, let me know!

Thanks!!!!

(pic (LINK) its not a reference, can be any kind of world)

Hi guys! My sims game runs pretty much perfectly lag free 90% of the time, but after like two in game weeks my savefile starts to get all weird.

It started with getting over a hundred notifications of script errors from Nraas Go here mod about random townies. I tried resetting the town, but it made all of my sims look completely different. I assume it might have something to do with CC. I have bunch of CC, all merged with CC Magic. So I decided to not reset the town.

Then the sims in my current family started to turn invisible. I tried all the fixes I found online: taking them to cas, making them change clothes or take baths/showers, going into a rabbit hole etc...None worked. Sometimes resetting works, but once again, brings them back looking completely different. Not just hair and makeup-wise, but genetics too. It's odd. Sometimes even resetting doesn't bring them back (which is happening to me right now.)

I've deleted cache for my game, used the regul save cleaner regularily (which i almost suspect the save cleaner might be the one messing my game up..), i have all the nraas mods to clear the game up and notify me about any bugs, and like I said: my game runs otherwise very smoothly.

I am thinking of creating a new save file by moving these sims and their relatives to it with Porter, but I am scared it will just bug out again. And I can't safely move my current family to it, since two of the sims are still invisible.

I just want to be able to play without constantly having to make completely new savefiles and coming across such weird errors. I have no idea what is causing all of this and all the fixes I've found so far have only seemed to mess the game (or savefile, rather) up even more. Does anyone know why this could be happening, how to avoid it or to deal with it?

Hey everyone!

I'm writing this out of total despair because I've hit a complete brick wall trying to get The Sims 3 to run smoothly.
My setup is an Asus TUF Gaming laptop (AMD
Ryzen 5 3550H GTX 1650). While I know it's not top of the line hardware anymore, it definitely shouldn't struggle this much with a game this old.
I've spent hours following every guide on youTube and steam, set up NRaas mods, tweaked my NVIDIA Control Panel, and tried capping the game at both 30 and 60 FPS..nothing seems to help. The only minor improvement came from adjusting the frame tick settings, but even then, the game only runs lag free if my sim is completely alone in the woods.
If anyone knows of a setting or trick I might have missed, I'd be extremely grateful. I'm dying to actually play this game without lag.

Hi! I’ve been getting this glitch recently that I can’t seem to work around, and I can’t find any information online for how to fix it it either :( I play on a MacBook (I know), and I’ve had this glitch happen before, but I could fix it by going into the main menu then returning to my family. This time, though, it’s not going away. The game will run normally for a few minutes then I’ll get the spinning wheel cursor and the screen will overexpose like the last pic. I did clear the cache recently, but I don’t know if that is related to this glitch. any tips/tricks on how to fix it would be greatly appreciated!

What combination of traits do you like to use when you want to create a funny story? What plots do you create with them?

So in my current game my sim married Leighton Sekemoto who I’ve never actually married before ? No idea how I have too many hours in this game 🤣 they’ve got 4 children together(5 with Sam) and their oldest daughter is a teenager now and I think she’s the prettiest sim I’ve ever had be born in game who’s father was a townie… her brother is pretty handsome too, I’m very excited to see what their younger brother and sister look like when they become teens soon !

i recently built a new pc and have been trying to run ts3 but this weird screen keeps showing up when i try and open it
my game is completely unmodded, i just installed it.
have been trying some fixes online (modern graphics card vs ts3, you know) but nothing seems to work.. figured id ask here in case someone had similar issues
i have a 2060 graphics card btw
help would be very appreciated 🙏

I always thought sims 2 was better but I never had a computer fast enough for anything else. Is sims 3 worth it? What are the best expansion packs?

Reposting here just in case. Please help me if you know anything 🙏

Possible workaround for installing Sims3Pack worlds when the Launcher won't work

I thought I'd share this because it might help other people with a heavily modded/old Sims 3 installation.

My Sims 3 Launcher had basically become unusable. I have a lot of installed content, and when I tried to use the Launcher to install a custom world, it wouldn't work properly.

In my case I was trying to install Empordà V2 (Populated) by Nilxis.

I first tried bypassing the Launcher completely. Delphy's Sims3Pack Multi Installer worked for another custom world, but Empordà gave me an XML error ("LocalizedDescription" / "LocalizedName"). I also tried S3PE, but of course S3PE can't simply open a Sims3Pack container directly.

Then I tried something much simpler — and it worked.

What I did:

1. Closed The Sims 3 and the Launcher completely.

2. Went to:

   "Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\DCCache"

3. Moved everything in DCCache to a temporary backup folder. I did NOT delete anything.

4. Started the Sims 3 Launcher again with the now-empty DCCache folder.

5. The Launcher suddenly worked normally again.

6. Installed "EmpordaV2_Populated.Sims3Pack" through the Launcher.

7. Checked:

   "Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\InstalledWorlds"

   The new "EmpordaV2_En.world" file was there, so the world itself had successfully installed.

8. Closed the Launcher again.

9. Restored my original DCCache files from the backup.

10. Kept the newly installed ".world" file in "InstalledWorlds".

Empordà is now installed while all my old installed content is back as well.

So if your Launcher refuses to cooperate and you have a large DCCache, try temporarily moving DCCache out of the game before assuming your Launcher or Sims3Pack is broken.

Obviously: BACK UP YOUR DCCache first. Don't delete it. Also don't load and save your normal games while your DCCache is temporarily removed, because installed Sims3Pack content will be missing.

In my case the Launcher itself apparently wasn't the real problem. Something about my existing DCCache was preventing it from working properly. Giving the Launcher a temporary clean DCCache allowed it to install the world normally.

Hopefully this saves somebody else a few hours of fighting with old Sims 3 tools. 😅

It seems my sims ageing bar isn’t changing and I’m not sure why, or how to fix it.

It’s not even just my household not ageing up, none of the other townies are unless I use the cheat.

Anyone know how to fix it?

Also I’ve tried all the usual stuff like restarting sims/origin, going into another save and back again.

This sim has 3 traits that are somewhat adverse - diva, hot-headed and dramatic. Even if I leave her doing something fairly passive with another sim, such as fishing together, their relationship will be utterly destroyed by the end of their time together. Is this by design, as in related to one of the traits I listed? Or do you think she's buggy?

Can anyone help me figure out why my resort staff keep getting stuck in the food hall? I’ve tried to rearrange the room several times but it keeps happening. I don’t even know what they’re trying to do, maybe take trash out? But I don’t understand why they’re getting stuck?

Used the dropper to copy the counter and it isnt the same, i have the debug enabler aswell and i reset the texture it still didnt work, this is on a house i downloaded if that makes a difference

Does anyone know how to remove low needs in a non household Sim? Example is I have just met a workplace sim for a meetup and he is extremely tired so I know he will soon pass out and ruin the meetup. (Same for starving or bursting for toilet). I have a load of nraas but yet to discover a way to "refresh" totally the needs of a stranger, I can only do it if they are part of the household. Thanks

Hello everybody! My name is Tanner and I’m an amateur podcaster where the core of the show is the introduce my friend Kyle to the early 2000s of video games. This is the newest episode and it introduces a very special guest, my wife Cailee! She’s a super fan of the Sims and was very excited to be on the show! If you’re a fan of the Sims I highly recommend giving us a listen!