Sims 3 black screen, tried everything.

LaraPennington wrote:I'm really about to give up on my sims 3 game. It has decided not to work no matter what I do...

Did you Read and Follow the proper steps to install the Sims 3 and its Expansions/Stuff Packs found HERE ?
Yes. I did.
Have you tried searching our Forum for the answer to your problem?
Yup. Didn't solve my problem. also I've wandered through over 20 google sites.
What where you doing prior to the problem? (i.e. installing new content, adding a Mod, etc)
I wanted to update my driver. I did. Catalyst Control Center conflicted with the new driver. Black screen. Did a system reboot. More problems in-game; I couldn't play for 2-3 minutes without the game freezing and crashing to the desktop. Decided to go and uninstall and reinstall all my drivers. Did. The black screen problem showed up again.
What OS are you running? (Windows Vista, Windows 7, etc)
Windows 7

I tried literally everything. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Sims 3 TWO times now. My game is completely clean, there is no CC or ANYTHING. When I uninstalled I did it very thorough, deleting the registry keys and all that too.. Still black screen when I reinstalled.

The really simple deal is: When I start up Sims 3 in full screen, the screen is black. I can hear the music playing and all that, but I don't get a picture. Sometimes it freezes and not just Sims 3 but my whole computer screen blacks so I can't see what I'm doing. When playing in Window mode everything is fine and dandy. I tried messing around with my graphics in game, but it didn't solve anything.

ALL my drivers (and I mean ALL OF IT) is completely up to date.

The folders in the Electronic Arts folder in Documents are as CLEAN as it can be.

I'm using DEP, Razer Game Booster, running the TS3W.exe with adminstrator rights. NOTHING seems to work.

I really hope you can help me, cause I really don't wanna stop playing Sims 3.

That's it for now. Please keep us updated so that we can "troubleshoot" further. Good luck !  

LaraPennington wrote:Hello, and thank you for the fast answer!

I explained that in the third question: I wanted to update my driver. I did. Catalyst Control Center conflicted with the new driver. Black screen. Did a system reboot. More problems in-game; I couldn't play for 2-3 minutes without the game freezing and crashing to the desktop. Decided to go and uninstall and reinstall all my drivers. Did. The black screen problem showed up again.


I updated my driver.


I think you're right with the dysfunctional hardware.. Sigh..
I don't have any other games installed on my PC. My computer is a 64 bit version and has 8 GB ram.


Like I said: it works FINE in windowed mode, but that isn't what I'm seeking. I tried all that's suggested in your link.
I deleted the stuff you said, isn't working. The game is totally "fresh" and newly installed. There hasn't been any saved games or anything because I can't get it to show me in fullscreen.

No, don't give up yet.   Hardware failure is ALWAYS the last thing we suggest, if nothing else works, and I might have a few more ideas "until then". 

Re-start the game then, from the TS3W.exe shortcut, and see if anything improved. Good luck again !   

LaraPennington wrote:I did what you said, and unfortunately the game wouldn't start with the suggested settings.

It says: " Unable to start game. Service initialization failed 0x0175dcbb "


I got all the expansions btw.

1) improper un-installation -----> leftover registry keys of the game(s). Generally you should never un-install anything, unless you are absolutely sure that it can help you.

Good luck again !   

LaraPennington wrote:I did as you said with the video solution, but there weren't any leftover registry keys. They had been removed correctly.

I'll try downloading and applying the patch and fix again.

//EDIT


Unfortunately.. I have the latest patch AND the latest fix. Nothing works.... I've uninstalled my games again, because I had everyone and thought maybe one of them had a bad registry key. But now it's all removed and I'll try installing again and test if the problem's still there.

//EDIT

I tried starting up the game, without your suggested settings. It worked fine and no error message, but the black screen is still there....
I tried starting up the game, WITH your suggested settings and then the error came back.

I unchecked the boxes again, so I don't have your suggested settings and then the game won't start at all. Then I have to uninstall to get it to work again.

Another thing: please, use the "edit"-button on your original post if you want to add stuff to your original message. I just merged your posts into one, because you posted three times in a row. Not only is this against the forum rules, but personally, I find that impolite too, since this means more work for me.