Still trying to get Sims 3 working 5 days later......helpppp meeee

Ethsmum wrote:Hi - Please I'm hoping someone can help me
My son really wanted this game so when he unwrapped that shiny package he was most excited but now 5 days later i'm still at a loss how to get this thing to work.
(please imagine i'm your mum now computers weren't invented when I was young!!)
but anyway he did the run disk set up an origins account etc but the game just wont play
the message we get is

C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\Sims3Launcher.exe
The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please 
see the application event log or use the command line sxstrace,exe tool for more detail.

So anyways I have called EA help they hadn't heard of this before (apparently) but told me to download some files from the microsoft website which I did. Didn't work
I found this website and did the fix files on here, no joy 
and I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling numerous times
It to me does not seem to have a working exe file - when I go into the folder every launcher for the game comes up with this message.

I hope someone can help I have already spent far to many hours trying to get this thing working.
Thank you

(Re-)do the steps from #2 to #4 from this little guide here (do these steps as precisely as possible and don't skip anything !)

https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t1171-must-read-how-to-install-the-sims-3-correctly

After you've done that, don't start the game with the launcher. Instead, go to your base game location, which is probably (?) in C:\Program files(x86)\Origin games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin.

Look for the TS3W.exe file and make a shortcut to the desktop from it. This means, right-click on the file and choose "send to...desktop (create shortcut)". Use that shortcut then to start the game.

Also, if you have any "Windows updates", please download and install them all; in Windows Vista or later, you should get - by default - an automatic prompt in your taskbar, saying something like "Windows updates are available"....

Good luck - and keep us posted !