Update Error.

[genialuv]

Hello everyone. I hope your day is going good. My name is genia and I have been trying to fix my little brother's game for about 3 days now. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to fixing it. (he is 12). Alrighty where shall I start. We have had TS3 game for a while now, along with World Adventures. Now in Sept he received Ambitions for his bday, however the game hasn't work since then. Poor thing! I told him I would try to fix it over Christmas break.

Our first prob was the launcher was inactive and the game said our version was 0.00.000 or something or another. So I was recommended to download a super patch b/c our EP was not compatible with our game base. I did this and install the update. It made the launcher work but I got a new error msg.

"Unable to start game service intialization failed. 0x039e8474."

So I went to the microsoft website and downloaded a new version of DirectX and restarted. Afterwards the computer recognized Ambitions (it previously wasn't, it only recog. World Adventures) but when I tried to play I got another new error msg.

"The verson of the game that you are running is incompatible with the data. Please update your game."

So on the launcher it says to update my game. But I have already downloaded that update and installed. So just in case I downnload it again and install it again and sure enough when I do it says...

"The setup detected that version 1.18.009 of TS3 is already installed. This setup updates TS3 to the same version that is already installed therefore this update is not needed. Do you want to install the update anyway."

I"m not sure what to do next, any suggestions?

[Naga]

My best guess is a full reinstallation, including AB, WA and the base game. Your little brother can keep his saved files, though; Just go to Documents\Electronic Arts and copy the The Sims 3 folder to somewhere else (like Desktop), and after you're done reinstalling, paste the folder back there. It's recommended that before pasting it back, you run the game to test it around, just in case.

[Teresa]

I would add the suggestion to patch after installing the base game and then after installing each expansion.  After each patch, load the game to insure that particular install and patch worked, then installing the next expansion.

[Naga]

When you try to install each expansion, the game gets patched automatically, as it prompts "You must update your game before installing the expansion. Do you want to update your game now?" or something like that.

[genialuv]

Thanks so much you guys for the quick response! I figured I'm going to have to uninstall and reinstall everything which is a pain, but if it works, it will be well worth it because I like playing The Sims also.

I've read on the forums that I should do a disc clean up and defrag on my computer after manually uninstalling, however is there anything that I need to be warned about. This is not my computer it is my mom's and my brother's I'm just trying to help them out, but I don't want to harm their precious computer!

And does anyone know if there is a faster way to do the defrag, because when I did the disc cleanup it took about 45 minutes.
Any suggestions would help.

[Naga]

You should really just do a default reinstallation, using the Add Or Remove Programs tool from Control Panel to uninstall, before rushing yourself into the manual way. Sometimes, the "classic" method fixes these kind of minor problems, while the manual method (read "complete wipeout") is for more complicated and unsolvable issues.

[Pam]

I've read on the forums that I should do a disc clean up and defrag on my computer after manually uninstalling, however is there anything that I need to be warned about. This is not my computer it is my mom's and my brother's I'm just trying to help them out, but I don't want to harm their precious computer!

And does anyone know if there is a faster way to do the defrag, because when I did the disc cleanup it took about 45 minutes.
Any suggestions would help.

I suggest you look through the topics on the Technical Help Board to make sure you've got everything covered.  As for the disk cleanup and defrag, if it hasn't been done for awhile on that computer, it will take longer.  There's not much to be done about it.  Sometimes folks have to let their computers sit overnight to finish the defrag.  If you keep it up regularly, however, it won't take as long in the future.

[pepperpizzapal]

I've had this same problem, too - it happened after I installed the patch that came out after Late Night. I've done a complete uninstall/reinstall and here's the things that have happened.
1. I reinstall vanilla, WA, and HELS, but don't patch after I finish installation. The game works, but all the sims have black skin and neon hair, and the game freezes when I try to save.
2. I reinstall vanilla, WA, and HELS, but don't patch after I finish installation. The game insists it cannot run because the base game is not compatible with the currently installed expansion pack, but it also insists that the game is up to date.
3. I reinstall the games, and I patch after installation. The game cannot run because the base game is not compatible with the currently installed expansion pack, but the launcher claims the game is up to date.
4. I reinstall only vanilla, and regardless if I patch after installing or not, the game says something along the lines of "The Sims 3 is not up to date with the latest patches. Run anyway?". If I run it anyway, the game freezes within minutes. If I don't run it, the next time I try to open the game it won't work.

It didn't occur to me to run a defrag, so I'll try that next, but I'm almost afraid that the only fix might be to replace the base game or buy Late Night. If that's the case, I'll probably just walk away. (It'd be the Spore controversy all over again...)

EDIT: Tried a defrag and disc clean this time before reinstalling. Worked.