https://youtu.be/Mco8_xmtCto Here, I took a video of it.

Anyway the issue is that I got a new computer and had my files transferred over to the new one. This included all of my CC but for some reason not my actual games, so I got Origin again and loaded them all again. But now only Origin opens, and not the actual game. I click on it in Origin, I click on it in the toolbar, I click on the icon on the desktop, nothing happens. I right click and tell it to open that way, nothing happens. So what the heck is going on"

Ok a few suggestions not sure what you have done yet.
1. Did you register your graphics card?
2. If you put your mods in already copy the Sims 3 folder to a safe place and see if you can let it do a fresh install and try again
3. You could try when you right click to run as administrator and tell it to run in Windows 7 compatibility.

And I still don't know what all I need to tell you about my specs.

Register my graphics card?

Since this is an old game and you have a new laptop with a new graphics card it may not read it. Tons of tutorials and even a youtube or two out there that show you how to do it. Try this and see if it fixes your problem.
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title...zed_by_the_game

Hm, the file displays as 1 and not 0, but that also seems to be about if the game displays poorly, not if it doesn't open at all.

Just that topic talks about if it displays poorly. I just bought a laptop and had to go through the process of registering my graphics card because it's a new graphics card and the game wasn't reading it. If you google this issue you will find that it is needed to be done.

Ok I'm trying but I can't find where or how to register it, only other confused people trying to find where and how. It's not even in the program itself.

You use the Graphics Rules file that's in the game.
I did a general google search for you because maybe it might be easier to watch someone show you how to change it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sim...chrome&ie=UTF-8

Wait the graphics card in this game? I thought you wanted me to register the graphics card that's located in my computer so that's what I searched for, and it's kinda weird that those apparently are obtuse to do as well.

Ok I saw it on Carl's site and it's weird because that's an in-game notice, while mine doesn't start the game at ALL.

Seeking formal recognition (not registering) of an otherwise unrecognized graphics card is not going to help a system that cannot run the game to begin with. And it's totally not necessary. Unrecognized does not mean the game won't use it when things are working properly, that would be undetected, although the recognition thing can be fixed later on if desired and in a much easier way than Carl's site outlines.

We are still at square one here. We know nothing at all about this computer except that it is new. If you are unable to provide its basic specs (processor, RAM, hard drive size with space free, graphics card) then please run a full dxdiag report, send the results up to Pastebin.com (the free version is fine), and provide a link so we can read it. The report would be much too long to paste into a response here.

If you prefer to get assistance elsewhere without some of the overhead involved here, a good place to try is EA's AHQ help board for TS3. They will ask for the same dxdiag report to begin with. Common culprits with new Win 10 machines currently are that the correct version of .NET needs to be activated (it's installed by default but not activated) and that DirectX needs to be reinstalled. The game will not function without both of those things properly in place, but it could still be something else as we are flying blind thus far.

https://pastebin.com/gC9RtquD Ok I hope this works.

I know there's a lot that I forget over times, and how to find this information is one of those things. I know you all are sick of it but it's a real problem.

Your new laptop is over the top capable of running TS3 with all EPs and graphics settings on their highest options, although we always recommend that Water and Reflections is set to the 2nd highest and Detailed Lots is set to around 2 (maybe 4) on just about any system. As TS3 is failing to load, we must conclude that some of the elements of Windows that it requires are missing as is often the case with new systems.

1 - Go to Start Menu > Settings > Apps > Programs and Features (on the right) > Turn Windows Features On and Off. You can also get there by way of doing a search on Control Panel, then sort by name (small or large icon) and Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features On and Off. Look for .NET 3.5, it should be listed at or near the top, and check the box if it is totally unchecked (a white square). Don't worry about the two submenu items, also don't worry about .NET 4.8 just under it as they run independently of each other. If 3.5 needed to be activated, this might take a while (minutes, not hours) and then you will need to reboot your machine.

2 - Your system shipped with DirectX 12. That's fine, but the game requires DirectX 9. You can download and run the installer directly from Microsoft. There is no need to uninstall anything first.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/dow...ls.aspx?id=8109

3 - Right-click on your desktop and launch the Nvidia Control Panel. Either set up a profile for TS3.exe (not TS3w.exe as you are on Patch 1,69 you want the one without the "w"), you will have to Browse into Program Files (x86)\Origin Games for it* or do this on the general default profile. As you have dual cards, set the choice to run the Higher Performance Card as opposed to the one that saves power. Turn on vertical sync (Adaptive or just On), turn on Triple Buffering, and set the Maximum Frame Rate to 144, as this is the refresh rate of your monitor/screen. TS3 being an older game has no functional built-in fps limiter.

*The full path to Browse to TS3.exe should be something like Program Files(x86) > Origin Games > The Sims 3 > Game > Bin.

Can you get the game started now?

If so:

4 - This is very important to help protect your hardware from working the GPU too hard for no reason and/or running too hot. Once in-game, do Ctrl+Shift+C to bring up the cheats console and type fps on (enter). As you play and move the camera around, the displayed frame rate should never exceed 144 as per Step 3 above. If it's not staying locked in or if you have screen tears, go back to the Nvidia Control Panel and try setting the Maximum Frame Rate to something like 60. If it's still not staying locked in and the number is wandering around much higher values in the higher hundreds, then report back and we'll talk about adding in Nvidia Inspector. To make the fps display go away, cheats console again and type fps off (enter).

Net 3.5 was checked already.

Where should I put DirectX? It wants me to decide that entirely and I'm not sure where the optimal place would be.

I opened Nvidia Control Panel but the only options are "adjust image settings with preview", "manage 3D settings", and "set PhysX configuration". Nothing about making a profile even under the dropdowns.

1 - On .NET good, then we can skip over that step. But only that step.

2 - What I linked you to was an installer. It doesn't matter where you download the installer to, that can be your desktop, your browser's downloads folder, anywhere you can reach. Then once downloaded, you have to RUN the installer (like open or double-click it). It will put DirectX 9 itself and all of its components where they are supposed to go automatically. Once all finished, delete the installer that you downloaded as you won't require it anymore.

3 - I can't help you with screenshots as my graphics cards are not Nvidia, I have all AMD on my end and the controls look entirely different. But I'm sorry, what you are describing is not the Nvidia Control Panel as I know it. If you can't find where to do what I instructed, then either someone else here will need to help or bring this one remaining question to Answers.HQ and they can walk you through it from there.

Um. I saved the installer to my desktop and now I have like 100 icons that weren't there before. Every spare space is taken up and they're oozing off of my visible space.
I got rid of them but DANG I don't think that was supposed to happen.

No. Let's try that again.

Navigate to your C drive (or anywhere else you want) and create a new folder called DirectX Temp. Download the installer and put it in this folder. If it still asks where to unpack everything, direct it to this new folder.

Within the 100 or whatever files that will now be neatly residing in this folder after they are unpacked instead of splattered all over your desktop, there will be one called DXSETUP.exe. Double-click that one to run the installer and it will take over and put everything where it needs to go. When finished, delete the temp folder you created and its contents.

As for the Nvidia Control Panel, you set up the sims 3 profile under Manage 3-d settings.
1. Click manage 3d settings. You should see a global settings tab and a program settings tab.
2. Click the Program settings tab.
3. Where it says select a program to customize, click it and scroll till you find sims3. Select it.
4. I have the second option set to use global settings.
5 The 3rd option is where I set things specific to Sims3 like Igazor mentioned previously and that is where I have my FPS cap set.