If you – like me – would like to run The Sims 3 on Windows 8.1 and have problems with crashes and compatibility I`ve got the fix.

This is easily fixed by applying the latest official patch to the game, which is TS3_1.42.130.0190xx_update.exe and can be downloaded by clicking the link.
After appplying this patch The Sims 3 will start!

the sims 3 savegame can be multiple gigabytes large
in Windows, you could use a symbolic link to trick the game where the savegame is located;

in DOS run the following command, and replace Ramon by your Windows Username

mklink /J "C:\Users\Ramon\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3" "D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3"