Sims won't open past launcher

Let me just start by saying I have been following this forum for a while, just never made an account because I haven't had but a few minor problems when playing the Sims. I have been following the guides for downloading and installing the Sims and haven't had problems I couldn't search to find the answer to...until now. My problems came after downloading and installing patch 1.50 and University Life. When I press play from the launcher it loads like it is going to play but the game never comes up or starts. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling university life, and the manual patch. I have also tried opening the game from the bin folder. The last thing I tried was moving my current saves from the document folder to see if it would start then. Still nothing. I have been searching to see if I could find solutions and while the problem seems common even among people who actually bought the game no one seems to know how to fix it.

I have a few questions for you:

1) Did you already follow the instructions here and then install University after?

2) Do you have any game modifications in your Downloads/Mods folder that you've recently put there? Is there anything that my conflict with other mods, or your game in general?

3) What other expansion packs do you have on your base game?

4) Did you use The Ultimate Fix?


There are a lot of 'maybe' reasons as to why it isn't loading. The simplest would be if you are using mods, the second simplest would be if you have the base system requirements to run the game. If you do any steps he provides here a little backwards or if you skip anything, things can get messed up pretty easily. I'm running University flawlessly on my PC right now, so I'm not exactly sure why people are getting this error, especially if they've downloaded it from Games4TheWorld and/or follow the steps to a tee.

1) Yes I followed those instructions
2) I don't have any mods, but I did download store content when installing UL
3) I have Seasons, Diesel stuff, Showtime, Master Suite, Pets, Town life stuff, Generations, Outdoor stuff, Late Night, Ambitions, and World Adventures
4) Yes

The problems seem to come when updating 1.50, downloading UL, and applying the crack.

You don't need to update until the end of installing all the expansions you want. You also don't need to use any cracks at all, not even at the end of installing. Just use the Ultimate Fix. That is all in the instructions.

I tried the fix (for the 3rd time now) It seems like an issue bigger than what the fix. My game was fine and working before I installed UL and updated.

sorry for butting in, but i have a similar problem...you see i have sims 3 the base game and supernatural...everything went fine until yesterday when the "create household" screen was loading for hours and i had to use task manager in order to end the game and restart it. today i found out that all i had to do was to update my game, well that worked fine, but after that when i opened the launcher and pressed the play button, the game asks for a cd. i tried to validate through Origin but it won't accept the serials keys that i have. after that i uninstalled sims 3 and supernatural and i followed your steps, but i get in the same situation after i update i mean it asks for that stupid cd...what to do? i have uninstalled and re-installed the game 2 time in a row, it is getting me nuts so please help me out

nicopiconicolici wrote:sorry for butting in, but i have a similar problem...you see i have sims 3 the base game and supernatural...everything went fine until yesterday when the "create household" screen was loading for hours and i had to use task manager in order to end the game and restart it. today i found out that all i had to do was to update my game, well that worked fine, but after that when i opened the launcher and pressed the play button, the game asks for a cd. i tried to validate through Origin but it won't accept the serials keys that i have. after that i uninstalled sims 3 and supernatural and i followed your steps, but i get in the same situation after i update i mean it asks for that stupid cd...what to do? i have uninstalled and re-installed the game 2 time in a row, it is getting me nuts so please help me out

Please open a new topic so that it's easier for us to help you out.