To clarify:

System 1: unpatched, no mods --> plays fine. Are you planning to patch for comparison?

System 2: patched but poofs when accessing options menu? CTD or crash completely and need to restart? (you didn't mention which patch you applied, the latest or ...?)
1. Does this one have any mods, or you've removed them temporarily when the poof happened? If you play with mods in, you've confirmed they are all patch-compatible?
2. Have you tried bypassing the Launcher?
3. Are you loading a brand new game or a saved one? If a saved one that you play with a core mod, it might crash if the core mod is not in there.
4. "downloads\electronic arts\sims3 stuff" - Do you mean "My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3" (or the Vista equivalent)? Permission issue --> I take it you're on Vista x64?
5. Is the game installed in the default ..\Program Files (x86)\ directory or you created your own?
6. Are the drivers up-to-date and system is on latest service-pack for your OS?
7. I read that TS2 has some issues with multi-core CPUs, there was some workaround for that, not sure if it applies here, but might be worth trying out the workaround they had for this.

To: Ellacharm3d

System 1: unpatched, no mods --> plays fine. Are you planning to patch for comparison?
Nope. Installed SIMS3 on this cpu since it's gonna be my gaming machine and was patching through before I put mods on it.

System 2: patched but poofs when accessing options menu? CTD or crash completely and need to restart? (you didn't mention which patch you applied, the latest or ...?)
Latest patch. The poof was meaning that my options menu flickers. It's there for less than a second.

1. Does this one have any mods, or you've removed them temporarily when the poof happened? If you play with mods in, you've confirmed they are all patch-compatible?
I removed mods to a back up folder prior to patching.

2. Have you tried bypassing the Launcher?
Yep!

3. Are you loading a brand new game or a saved one? If a saved one that you play with a core mod, it might crash if the core mod is not in there.
New game

4. "downloads\electronic arts\sims3 stuff" - Do you mean "My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3" (or the Vista equivalent)? Permission issue --> I take it you're on Vista x64?
Yes to both.

5. Is the game installed in the default ..\Program Files (x86)\ directory or you created your own?
Default

6. Are the drivers up-to-date and system is on latest service-pack for your OS?
Yes. All drivers are up to date and system is not overclocked.

7. I read that TS2 has some issues with multi-core CPUs, there was some workaround for that, not sure if it applies here, but might be worth trying out the workaround they had for this.
O.o? Work around? I hope it's not a multicore issue. What was the previous incarnations workaround. I can try that one and see if it works.

More follow-up, @Myaku1313.

This never happened before you patch? on either machine?
So, after it happens, just the options menu becoming inaccessible, but you can still play? Weird!



I don't understand that, you're not planning to patch the game on this machine, what does "patching through" means?

http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?t...ual_Core_Issues

I found the wiki link for you. I would have thought EA had ensured this wouldn't be an issue anymore for TS3. Imagine a better rig having more problems than a single-core system! I suppose to be fair, they cannot possibly test it out on every hardware configuration out there, though.

Anyway, gd luck!

Back at ellacharm3d

This never happened before you patch? on either machine?
So, after it happens, just the options menu becoming inaccessible, but you can still play? Weird!
Your tellin' me. I also sent this question into the guys at EA hoping they could help. --,-- Yeah...their response was maybe my video card isnt updated and it was. Their tech is clueless on how to help.

I don't understand that, you're not planning to patch the game on this machine, what does "patching through" means?
The one I patched on that messed up sims3 is just me seeing if the patch is worth it. which at this time it isnt. So I wont be patching through on my other machine since I dont want these same issues on it. Patching through just means I am applying a patch.

http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?t...ual_Core_Issues

I found the wiki link for you. I would have thought EA had ensured this wouldn't be an issue anymore for TS3. Imagine a better rig having more problems than a single-core system! I suppose to be fair, they cannot possibly test it out on every hardware configuration out there, though.

Anyway, gd luck!

Ty! Off to look.

I just installed the CD of the game. I've done nothng to it. No mods. N nothing. I haven't even played the game once. I try to update it, I get an invalid file error. I try to install the patch, and get the same message.


EDIT: Wait, intalling previous patch. Maybe that'll work...

EDIT: Nope. Still got "invalid file"

I keep getting an 'invalid file found' for the Resource.cfg located in the gamedata/shared folder whilst trying to patch to 1.4. Even after replacing that file with the one from the CD it still tells me it's invalid. The odd thing is I just tried deleting the file altogether to see what would happen, and it still says the file is invalid, even though it's not there.

EDIT: Disregard, I was trying to use the wrong patch. Still odd that it would say the file was invalid when it wasn't even there.

Really frustrated with this... (Skip to the bottom for a summary)

I have the CD version of TS3, not the Downloaded copy.

Didn't play TS3 for a while because of it's lack of replayability. But I figured I'd give it a shot again. After not getting ANY answers from EA, I thought I would try here.

First, my problem:

I tried to patch, and got the "Invalid File Found." I scoured the internet, posted a ticket to EA, and they just gave me useless links to useless forum posts that didn't help my problem.

Someone mentioned something about the "core" and "corrupt," so I did a total uninstall and clean reinstall. I did NOT back up any files, because I just didn't care to. I figured starting on a clean slate would solve my issue.

Wrong. I'm still getting the same error, on a clean game with no custom content, mods, hacks, or even downloads from EA.

My DxDiag: (Incoming massive amounts of text no one will read)



I used PatchLogViewer, and got the following:

"Sorry, we couldn't find the last patch log on your system! Error!"

So to review:

1) I have nothing custom, nothing downloaded from EA, just the game as-is on the disc.
2) My "core" is still apparently eff'd up, despite a clean reinstall.
3) I still have an "invalid file," although I can determine which one because the PatchLogViewer won't tell me.

I have a question wat if i dont install the update cuz i did and now im pissed cuz lik all of my 200 custom content from here, which is nice if i must say doesnt work now so is ther a way to fix this i tried wat u guys said 2 no avail can u plz reply soon thx ^_^

SnowKat, when you quote long walls of text, please put them in spoiler tags, so that people don't have to scroll so much. Like so: [ spoiler=Title Of Your Spoiler]long text[ /spoiler], only without the spaces after the [. Thank you!

killercpu, please post in English .. chatspeak makes everyone's brain hurt and isn't permitted here. Also, what do you mean by "tried wat u guys said" -- what did you try?

I'm also getting the installation error of Invalid File Found (no gorillas ^.^). I used Delphy's Patch Log thing and it says that my sims3launcher.exe file is the one getting the error. So i went into my actual Disk drive for the sims 3 and replaced most things that i could but there's 2 launcher files that aren't on the disk.

So my Sims 3 is installed on D:\ The Sims 3 \ Game \ Bin. It's here that I have S3Launcher.exe and Sims3Launcher.exe.

Which are not in my G:\ Game \ Bin. The actual disk.

Also did all the removal of mods and caches and replacing camera files etc.

Um Sorry about the chat speak well i cut my downloads out, then i deleted my cache, removed mods, and then i backed up my game, and now as i have said before nothing works.... only The Sims 3 store items work now

So it means your patch is already installed in your game, right?
And every CC from EA store work fine but another CC "don't show upW in the game, or they crashed, or what?
And what about your game before patch? Fine? Crashed? etc.
And what is the last patch you used?

Please kindly be more specific so we here can pinpoint the problem easier.


Thank you.

@SnowKat,
Since the PatchLogViewer did not work for you, you can try this method.
This might not work but, to find your temp path, type "%temp%" in the address bar of Windows Explorer. You can then look for some cryptic folder name in between braces {} with the timestamp when you ran the patch. Look inside these folders for file called rtpatch.log, open in notepad, press CTRL+END to go to the last line. That should tell you what file the patch program is having trouble with, which you can then copy+paste from your game DVD.

Also, if you're pretty confident and somewhat tech-savvy, you might want to update the above.

Just by going to the Dell website for your desktop model, I saw there is a BIOS ver A07. Read ALL instructions twice or more times before you attempt this or you might render your machine unusable!! If you're not confident, have a friend who knows his/her hardware do it for you or you can skip it, just that your PC will not be as "healthy" as recommended. You might want to update all the rest if they are newer than your current versions, but if you're of the mindset of "do not fix if not broken", the other updates are categorised as optional (except for graphics drivers which is best updated from the source manufacturers).

Catalyst Driver ver 9.8 (dated Aug 2009) via ATI website. Read instructions on how-to and you would want to verify it is updated by checking "Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6925" is changed in Device Manager (or simply run dxdiag again).

@ElmoLovesCyclops,
if you did not scroll that far back, there's a solution posted by @clynnc19 in post#556 for your problem.

@killercpu,
in addition to @little bee's questions,
are you saying that you have patched and the game can startup without crashing(from a save? yay! congrats!), but now only Store items appear and none of other CC do?
Have you remembered to put back your Mods folder and the resource.cfg file (or re-installed Helper Monkey)?

BTW, "The Sims 3 store items work now" - did you ran Launcher and re-install the items again after patching or they were fine and "untouched" by the patching process?

I tried to update earlier from the launcher (on 1.0) and it was telling me that i was up to date, I then went a head and downloaded the patch manually for worldwide and it told me it was the wrong region (I live in Australia?)

So, I reinstalled my game, when that had finished it told me I had an update, and the whole 'Would you like to update now?' thing came along with that. So I did, well...that's to say I tried. I've tried to update with the launcher three times now, and with the manually downloaded patch twice. Everytime I've gotten 'File not Found' or something along the same lines. I've installed the log viewer and its telling me 'Sims3launcher.exe' is missing, so I go to game/bin/etc. and its sitting right there.

Am I missing something or is it just being annoying? Should I even bother updating?
Help would be much appreciated.

-zombieeee,
yeah, the patch program is temperamental and likes to complain a lot. Patching from the Launcher compounds the problem. Did you copy the 'Sims3launcher.exe' file over from the game DVD and try again ? (you need to rename it manually from the .ex_ to .exe)

I'd patch from an .exe manually, if I were you. Make sure no .exe related to the game is running in the processes or you might try patching after a reboot.

I thought I may need to rename something 'cause I couldn't find the .exe on the disk.

I have now successfully updated
Thanks ellacharm3d!

You're welcome. Good to hear a successful outcome!

okay im having patching problem too here
the installation said "update error: invalid file found"
and then i run patch log viewer to see wats wrong
got red line there! "applying DFC Update for 'Game\Bin\code_version.txt' Error: err0031-Invalid file found! "
i thought that file shouldnt be there so i removed it -->error now it said file not found, so i undo move. hmmm maybe it's about the contenet of that txt file. here it is description=Version: 0.DL-0.0.11190 Changelist: 624575

fairy9,
did you use the correct patch for your region? Where did you purchase the game DVD from?
I found it is easier to just copy over whatever files the patch complains about from the game DVD and try again.

yes i use the correct one. (previously i downloaded the wrong patch so it didnt run). now i ve downloaded the right one and its running. guess no problem with the wrong patch.

i did replace it with the original file from dvd , still didnt work out.
thx for ur attention
..the problem is not solved yet..

I'm getting the error of Invalid File Found at 79%. I used Delphy's patch Log to see what is wrong and it says it is my sims3launcher.exe file.
I wanted to replace the file but it is not on the game disk, so I tried to follow clynnc19 instruction.
I pasted my Sims3Launcher.ex_ file from my game disk on desktop and renamed it Sims3Launcher.exe.
If I want to pasted my renamed flie now at my progam files it is not replacing the old one...

I just have windows xp, I hope someone can help me

Well the Custom Content worked before and it was all installed but then update and........................... no more custom content but the sims 3 store custom content still works so i was wondering if EA is now out to get all custom content that isn't ther plz reply quick dying of boredom thx

MitzeGretel,
if cannot replace file, just delete it manually and then copy+paste the new one and rename.

killercpu,
which type of content? All? That doesn't seem right. Either the patching process is incomplete (did you verify the game version after patching?) or your resource.cfg file got borked (try getting a new one) or that content is not compatible with new patch.

yep all of it the clothes,cars,eyes,hair,etc and the patching process went all the way through and what can i do about my resource.cfg file?

GAAAAAA!!! SINCE i DOWNLOADED THAT FREAKING STUPID PATCH MY GAME CRASHES RIGHT AFTER THE INTRO!!!!!!

Ive uninstalled twice and still no joy (no mods at all new game)

THIS SUCKS!!! >.<