Black Startup Screen w/Text Overlaying Eachother, Missing Menu Text

Hello all,

I must first apologize if there really is a fix currently, because I've done searches on this site for the better half of today, and all came up with no fix or simply no replies.

Let me explain my situation: I recently downloaded the base game, it played perfectly fine, was able to play on high graphics, the whole 9 yards. Then, I decided I wanted some expansion packs. Of course, I don't have the money to legally buy them, so I stumbled over this forum and decided to give it a shot. I have downloaded and installed the following expansion packs (and stuff packs) IN ORDER OF RELEASE:

Ambitions, Diesel Stuff, Fast Lane Stuff, High-End Loft Stuff, Late Night, Town Life Stuff, and World Adventures. (these are ordered alphabetically but I assure you that I installed by release date.)

After following the "How to Install the Sims 3 Correctly" guide on this site AND using the "Ultimate Fix" + guide, I have run into a problem that I assume quite a few people have themselves. The game itself, started via TS3.exe in the main directory, boots to the loading screen, which appears completely black, except for the green loading bar and miscellaneous text that appears below it. However, this text overlaps whenever a new phrase appears, leaving a solid colored line where the text once was.

Then, the main menu appears. Starting from scratch, I am of course given the option to choose a map. All the map names appear correctly, however, ALL OTHER BUTTONS are missing their text. When clicking the "..." button, everything appears correctly except for whatever the last option (the one at the bottom of that tooltip) is. In the options menu, MUCH of the text and where it should be is missing.

Anyways, I have tried going about repeating the Ultimate Fix procedures a few times now, each ending with the same result. When I get to Step #11, there IS no update for me to install, possibly because I attempted installing the latest patch before even attempting to install any EPs or SPs, I am not sure. That being said, I move right onto Step #12 and copy the items from the '#Crack' folder into the main directory. Now, I'm not entirely sure if I was to do this or not, but I copied all the crack files from their respective folders in the Ultimate Fix folder over to their directories, and then copied the "All EPs After..." to the main. The instructions for the multiple guides I used seemed to conflict with one another..

I am open to any and all suggestions, and while I am reluctant to uninstall everything or redownload everything, if I have to I will. I just won't be looking forward to it because it will take up at least a day and a half to get back to where I am now.

If it's needed, here are my computer specs:
Windows 7 64-Bit
Intel i3-2120, 3.30 GHz (Sandy Bridge)
4 Gigs of RAM
AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (couldn't tell you the exact 77xx, don't have my old order form)

Thank you in advance to anyone that might be able to help me solve this problem. I also apologize for being inexperienced with TS3... Been stuck on TS2 for ages, so I'm more used to how its mechanics work.

Hello there, and welcome to the Games4theworld Forum!

As you have an EP/SP after Generations installed, you should use TS3W.exe to start the game instead of TS3.exe.
Not sure if this could cause such an issue, but you should keep it in mind. TS3W.exe can be found in the same folder where TS3.exe is.

Did you use the Manual Patch before using the Ultimate Fix? Even if your game is already updated to 1.67, please try using it again to check if it fixes anything.

And regarding to the Ultimate Fix, you should apply it again, but this time only use the #Crack folder inside if it. Ignore the rest of the folders, and definitely don't copy them again after the #Crack folder was used. 

Just do the following: re-download the Manual Patch and Ultimate Fix; apply the Manual Patch; take the .dll and .exe from inside the #Crack folder in the Ultimate Fix and copy them to Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin (if your base game is from Origin, copy them to Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin instead); select Copy and Replace when prompted.

Please, try this and let us know how it goes! Good luck!

Thank you for the welcoming!

That will be noted, I just attempted to start via the TS3W.exe and got the same result. (This is before any further troubleshooting.)

As for the manual patch, I have not ever downloaded it yet. I hate to ask, but could I have a link to the topic? (The link in the "How to install...correctly" post gives me a "The topic or post you requested does not exist" message.)

So, since I did copy all every separate patch in the Ultimate Fix download instead of just the base game/#Crack, do I need to replace these .exe and .dll's with the originals or should I be fine continuing where I am at?

As soon as I can find the download to the manual patch, I will retry and let you know how it goes!

mtloya wrote:Thank you for the welcoming!

That will be noted, I just attempted to start via the TS3W.exe and got the same result. (This is before any further troubleshooting.)

As for the manual patch, I have not ever downloaded it yet. I hate to ask, but could I have a link to the topic? (The link in the "How to install...correctly" post gives me a "The topic or post you requested does not exist" message.)

So, since I did copy all every separate patch in the Ultimate Fix download instead of just the base game/#Crack, do I need to replace these .exe and .dll's with the originals or should I be fine continuing where I am at?

As soon as I can find the download to the manual patch, I will retry and let you know how it goes!

No problem!

Regarding the Ultimate Fix, you should just replace the .dll and .exe from the The Sims 3\Game\Bin folder with the ones from the #Crack inside the Ultimate Fix. You can ignore the Base game folder, too. You are good continuing where you are, just re-do the #Crack bit.

As for the Manual Patch, yes, it seems that the topic for it was accidentally deleted. I'm sure the Mods will look into that as soon as possible.

As for now, here are the two links to download the Manual Patch:
http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/TS3_1.67.2.0240xx_update.exe
MEGA Mirror (High Speed): http://goo.gl/ZiGC6I

Please, do tell us how it goes. Good luck!

Alright. Got the manual patch downloaded and patched. I copied over the .exe and .dll from the #crack folder in the ultimate fix folder (which I redownloaded, just in case ). Unfortunately though, I was still met with the black startup screen and while it DID fix some of the menu text, all of the buttons still were missing their text.

Is there anything else I can try, or should I attempt a clean and complete reinstall??

mtloya wrote:Alright. Got the manual patch downloaded and patched. I copied over the .exe and .dll from the #crack folder in the ultimate fix folder (which I redownloaded, just in case ). Unfortunately though, I was still met with the black startup screen and while it DID fix some of the menu text, all of the buttons still were missing their text.

Is there anything else I can try, or should I attempt a clean and complete reinstall??

Yes, I think there are some other things you may try. For example, take a look at this post:
https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t859-the-sims-3-text-balloons-not-showing-missing-fix

If I may ask, where exactly did you put the .dll and .exe? And is your base game from a disc, downloaded from here, or from Origin?

Thanks for the constant replies, means a lot!

I've downloaded the game from TPB, not entirely sure if it was a G4TW download though. Could that be the issue?

I copied the .dll and .exe and pasted them under C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 3\\Game\\Bin.

As for the dark startup screen, I don't believe it has to do with the game being in fullscreen mode, because prior to trying to add any EPs or SPs, it was running perfectly in that mode. I did however take a look at the registry, and sadly, every EP/SP and the base game is running in the en-US format. For the \SavedSims or \DCCache, both of those are currently nonexistent in the directory.

I will attempt the other small fixes to see if that helps, and will report back.

Update: I tried editing the properties of the TS3W.exe in the \bin folder as one of the topics that Carlos referenced to instructed, and sadly it didn't change anything. It seemed to start the game faster, though, so that's a plus!

I also looked through the Options menu, and a lot of the text is back, (probably because of the manual patch) but there are still a few sections that are missing quite a bit.

mtloya wrote:Thanks for the constant replies, means a lot!

I've downloaded the game from TPB, not entirely sure if it was a G4TW download though. Could that be the issue?

I copied the .dll and .exe and pasted them under C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 3\\Game\\Bin.

As for the dark startup screen, I don't believe it has to do with the game being in fullscreen mode, because prior to trying to add any EPs or SPs, it was running perfectly in that mode. I did however take a look at the registry, and sadly, every EP/SP and the base game is running in the en-US format. For the \SavedSims or \DCCache, both of those are currently nonexistent in the directory.

I will attempt the other small fixes to see if that helps, and will report back.

So, you got the base game from TPB?
Well, unless you tell us exactly which torrent was the one that you downloaded, it's going to be hard to say. But yes, it's possible that that is the cause of the issue, if it wasn't the one from G4TW. If I'm not mistaken, the Ultimate Fix is only guaranteed to work with G4TW downloads, or 'compilations' of the ones from here.

The good news is that you would only need to replace the base game.

If you do decide to uninstall it and replace it (should nothing else work for you), you should do it with Your Uninstaller! Pro, that you can found in our downloads server here:
http://www.games4theworld.org/downloads.html

Please, keep us updated on how it goes. Good luck!

The more I think about it, the more I can guarantee that the base torrent that I downloaded was not G4TW related, unfortunately.

However, are you saying I can actually just uninstall the base game, redownload the CORRECT torrent, install it, and not have to reinstall the EPs and SPs?? That would actually be amazingly helpful (but also very unlikely knowing the shared files and everything). Anyway, I will download the G4TW Base torrent in the next day or so and I'll see if I can get it working!

Thanks again for all the help!