I recently bought the Sims 3 and installed it, which took 2 and a half hours on my macbook. Everything seemed fine but when I launch the game i get a message that reads "unable to start game service initialization failed 0x039e8474". I read that its a registry problem but I don't know what that means or how to fix it. Please help, I'd rather not spend another 3 hours uninstalling and installing the game.
PS I KNOW that i don't meet the suggested RAM GB but I know that other people don't who are successfully using the Sims

I have also seen it might be because of a previously downloaded pirated copy. I did download a version of Sims3 through a torrent to see if it would work on my computer. The same day i bought the CD. I thought I had erased anything from it before the download.

Please help EA customer support did nothing but direct me to a page about a different issue.

I have a Macbook, with Mac OSx leopard, not windows.

I've also tried everything suggested in the FAQ. I don't have a Mods folder, and theres only two things in the cache, sunset valley and TCCVersion.txt

I have a cache folder in unrelated to sims, though. Is this what theyre talking about?

Edit: I did find two of the caches mentioned in the Wiki, deleted them and tried to start the game. Same thing happened as before. I still can't find a mods file

I think on a Mac, equivalent of clearing registry is to delete the user preferences?

And you're looking at the wrong Cache folder.
It should be in Windows OS's equivalent of the Documents path? I don't know where it is in a Mac, sorry!

Moving to Mac Help...more stickies and players more knowledgeable on Mac

Thanks, I found the right Cache folder, and deleted the caches. It made no difference

Found! Mac OS document path, in readme.txt, wiki and archived threads: /Users/<Username>/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/

You didn't mention if you had cleared this: /Users/<Username>/Library/Preferences/The Sims 3 Preferences/

If you hadn't installed custom content or the CC framework before, you wouldn't have a Mods folder to delete.

I still think you need to do a full uninstall, just to ensure the torrent copy is totally wiped. I don't think an install should have taken that long? Anyway, some pointers that might help in this https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=381457 has uninstall and other instructions.

You're sure the machine meets the system spec to run the game?

Please post your complete specs – not only Hardware Overview, but also what it says in the Graphics tab.

Also, uninstall the game completely (delete your game files, user files, and preferences) before reinstalling.

The fact that the game took 2.5 hours(!) to install is a very bad sign. Installation under OS X should normally take less than 10 minutes.