Riverview doesn't show up - AGAIN

[Frey]

I decided to make a new topic for this since I seem to be having every possible trouble with my game right now. If I should move it into another thread just let me know.

I updated to the last patch of Ambitions and my game went all crazy, so I decided to uninstall the whole game (base game + WA + A) and reinstall it. I deleted it manually following the instructions of this forum. Somehow during the process (deleting or reinstalling, no idea) the download manager disappeared from my computer, so it went even crazier and wouldn't let me open the launcher or update it, or open the game. It said that my base game was incompatible with my expansion and bla bla, and the version of my game was "0.0.0.0". So I uninstalled everything again, reinstalled only the base game, downloaded the download manager and updated the base game succesfully. But then I installed WA and chaos started all over again. If I open the launcher, it says that "there was an error at the start" or something like that, then I click OK and the launcher closes itself and won't let me do anything. If I try to skip the launcher and open the game directly in the EA folder it says (yet again) that my expansion is not compatible with the base game. At that moment, it said "version 2.0.86.002001" so I downloaded the next patch from this link http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/228949.page and it now says "version 2.2.8.002001", but the darn game still isn't working. Same error as before.

Now, my question is... should I try installing Ambitions and then updating? Should I update, then install Ambitions, then finish updating the last patches? The second one seems more logical but... how do I know which patch belongs to which EP? Or what am I supposed to do? There must be something wrong with the uninstall/install process, because before the Ambitions patch everything worked as perfectly as all the bugs allowed it... I just can't figure out what's wrong!

PLEASE HELP ME because I'm very close to throw my computer and all the Sims stuff I have out the window and then kill myself... I've been trying to make it work for 2 days! COME ON EA!!  

[Frey]

Just updating... I rebooted my computer and now, if I try to open the game directly from the EA folder, it says that "the version of my game is incompatible with my user data". No idea what that means, though... which user data, if I am installing it all again from the base game!?

[Pam]

Hi Frey.

So sorry to hear of all the trouble you're having.  I would stop where you are and uninstall everything again.  Then do a little maintenance on your computer with Disk Cleanup and Defrag, if you haven't already.  After that, start the install process again from the beginning.  Be sure to install everything in the correct order:  Sims 3 base game, World Adventures, High End Loft, and Ambitions.  As you go through the install process, the game will prompt you to install updates.  It will automatically install the correct update for each of the expansion packs.  You don't need to choose which one or guess at which is the most current.  Once you've installed the last of the games, try to start it up again.

There are instructions on the Technical Help board for all of this, so be sure to read up on it before starting.  This is the best I can think of to help you.  I hope you get it all worked out.

[Frey]

Thanks Pam. I was downloading the patches manually because my evil launcher won't launch anything for me, but I really don't think it would fix anything. I guess I will just go with it and uninstall everything (holy magic gnomes, it's been like 6 times in 2 days) and do as you say. Thanks for the help, I hope it works .

[Asleep]

 ..wow...  Someone's having the exact same problem I am. What are the odds...

[Frey]

Really? well... that's kind of good news somehow, it means that magic gnomes are not taking control of our computers .

I'm doing the defrag right now, I'll update with the results. It seems to be taking forever though hehe. Let me know if something works for you =).

[Frey]

Uhm... I have good news, at least for now... just installed the base game and the launcher works for the first time after like 7 attempts of uninstalling-reinstalling. It asked me to update before installing WA so I'm waiting for it to be ready. Just don't want to scream for victory yet .

But I have a (maybe silly) question: I backed up my saved game before uninstalling for the first time, when my game was all messed up. What are the odds of ruining the game once more if I copy the saved game in the saves folder after finishing the reinstall process? It's been a pain to get this thing to work and I don't want to risk it if there's a chance of having any issues again!

[Pam]

There's a fair chance that returning your save files to the freshly installed game will cause problems again.  It's possible that the corruption started in a save file and putting it back will mess it up all over again.  When I do a complete wipe and reinstall, I just say good-bye to my old Sims and make new ones to start fresh.

[Frey]

I thought this moment would never come.... but Ambitions is now running properly in my computer !! It's been 3 days of torture and struggling, but it worked!!!!!!!!! Thank you Pam, I'm really kind of loving you right now. You can't imagine the joy I feel .

Anyway, this is what I did, in case someone finds it helpful. I actually did a lot of things before reinstalling the game, so I don't know what was the decisive thing to do, though.

First of all I made sure my computer had no trace of the Sims, except for the Download Manager. From my experience, DON'T delete the DM or you will experience every human suffering possible. Well, as far as I remember I didn't delete it myself, but it got unistalled somehow and really messed up everything. I made sure the DM was working properly too. Then I did a defrag, scandisk, deleted every temporary file and cooky in my computer and rebooted.

After that, I installed the base game, and updated it as it asked me to. Then I opened the launcher to check how the whole thing was going and realized that some of the CC I had supposedly deleted was still there, so I erased it again just in case. There was not much of it and I doubt that was the real cause of the trouble, but I was not going to take any chances since this was like my 7th attempt at reinstalling. I started the game to check it was running fine.

Then I installed WA. At this point I almost had a panic attack: the WA launcher wasn't working, and I got the same error as before: "there was an error while starting" or something like that, and the launcher closed itself. Luckily enough, my base game launcher was still working, and when I opened it again it asked me to update once more. No idea why it didn't ask me to do this right before the WA install. I installed that second patch and opened the WA launcher, and amazingly it was fixed. So I started the game once more to check everything was fine...

After that I installed Ambitions... and the same thing happened once again. The Ambitions launcher wasn't working, but the base game launcher was, and again it asked me to install a new patch. Once I had done that, the Ambitions launcher was fixed as well, and it now works fine.

Hope this can help you, Simstar. I'm not much of a computer person... I just read a huge amount of topics and posts and managed to be patient. As I said before, I have no idea what exactly made the whole thing work. I just thought it might help others if I posted it here.

[Pam]

I am so happy you got it all up and running, Frey!  Woot!

[malteser60]

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much Frey. I've just tried re-installing the sims + expansion packs and ran into the same problem as you - the error message when running the launcher. I almost gave up and tried re-installing everything again when I remembered this thread, and read your solution of using the base game to update WA and HELS, which also fixes the launcher error. So it all seems to be running ok now. I'm just re-downloading my EA store bought stuff now.

[Frey]

Glad it helped! It seems like the launcher goes crazy from time to time . In my case, the first like... 5 times I tried, I couldn't make any launcher work, not even the base game's. Who knows what made the difference the 6th time (might have been the 7th, lol), but anyway... it worked at last.

Maybe the launcher has a life of its own and just decided to torture simmers! lol

[Telsey]

On my main computer I never had problems installing any of the Sims programs but now I am trying to install it on the laptop.  I installed the base game and we have played it for a couple of days and it works great.  Okay, so time to install WA.  It won't let me do it.  It keeps telling me that I need an update.  Then is says it can't do it, there was some error.  I am stuck and don't know what to do.  Is this because I am using a router connection?

[Pam]

Have you tried exiting and rebooting your computer?

[Telsey]

Yes Pam I have restarted several times.  I keep thinking all of a sudden I will hit paydirt but it isn't happening yet.  I think the most headaches I have are over this silly game.