Ok. So. Hello again! I just got back into the Sims about a month ago. I started with the Sims 2 (Since, well, my Sims 3 disc melted. </3). And recently, I just got money to go buy yet another disc for the Sims 3.
So I bought it last night after coming back home from a two week trip and installed it this morning. Once I installed it, and everything else, I clicked on the play button.
First, it wouldn't even go to full screen. It covered the middle of my screen in this black space, and then said, 'Unable to start game Server Initialization Failed (0x039e8474)'.
I had a rough day already and was like, 'Oh, that's great. Thank you computer!' So I took the game disc out, restarted the computer, and once the computer fully rebooted, I put the disc back in. Then I tried again, and the same thing had happened.
So, after reading up a little about what everybody did, I deleted all the cache files and tried again. When I did that, it atleast went to fullscreen before I received the error.
I read up a little bit more on it, and I renamed the Sims file 'Sims 3 Backup' and tried again. The screen was black for five minutes before I received the error message.
I got really frustrated and then went into my list of programs and clicked the uninstall button.
However, that didn't work, and I was quite confused on why it didn't. It gave me an error message saying it couldn't uninstall that program because it was open. I decided to restart my computer, tried it again (Without opening any other programs) and it said it was still open.
So, I'm in some need of help. I'm thinking my computer decided to break on me and since that isn't working, I'm deciding on factory resetting my computer (Not like anything is good on it that I can't redownload, )
Anyways, does anyone have any ideas on what I should do? Help would definitely be appreciated!

To SimGurus or whom it may concern, I hope you can help me resolve this/these issue(s). I have Sims Medieval, which has been one of my absolute favorite Sims games to play. I was never really able to play with the newer update, so I've stuck with the first version. I've also had the problem of not being able to build the Merchant's Market and play as a merchant, unless I build it first. I have the problem of the game stop working after a few hours too, so I have to start the game again (this particular one I have with the Sims 4 as well, unless I'm online).
However, here's the most significant issue I'm having. I've waited so long to get the Pirates & Nobles Adventure Pack (about five years, I believe), because either I didn't have the money to get it or I couldn't find it in stores and sometimes online. I finally got it yesterday and installed it today. I had to update the base game, and now it won't play at all. I've gone back to the launcher and clicked play, but a message popped up saying the action cannot be done because the game is already running (and to quit the game and try again). I'm at a loss, and I really want to play it. Please help, and thank you for taking the time to read this and look into it.