Technical issue about expansions connecting......

Scorpina2009

Has anyone else had an issue with their expansions not connecting? Meaning, if I want to make a pet, I must select pets. If I want to make a fairy, I must select supernatural. Used to, when everything was installed, you just click on the latest icon on the desktop and ALL of the expansions and stuff packs were active. Now if I want to make a witch with a cat, both pets and supernatural must be selected. Is this because I downloaded a couple of the expansions from Origin? When I do select more than one, a message pops up about choosing more than two could interfere with game performance. But what if I want to give my witch a familiar AND a job that is available through Ambitions and then wants to travel which would requires World Adventures, then wants to make a robot or travel to the future? (Into the Future)

Is there a way to make sure they all connect to one another without having to physically select the ones you want to play at that time?

I know this must sound confusing. I'm at work and trying to hurry. Sorry

TreyNutz

There was a patch for the game (1.69) last Nov. It was delivered through Origin, and now if you install any SP or EP through Origin your game will be updated to 1.69. Patch 1.69 adds a new tab to the Launcher, the Expansions and Stuff Packs tab. More info here.

If you want to play all EPs then select them all before pressing the play button. No one is sure exactly why EA added that message suggesting that you don't play with more than a few EPs at once, but you can dismiss it if you want. I, and many others, ignored it and continued to play with all EPs/SPs that I own.

If you want "to give my witch a familiar AND a job that is available through Ambitions and then wants to travel which would requires World Adventures, then wants to make a robot or travel to the future? (Into the Future)" then you just need to select all those EPs before starting a game.

Deselecting an EP which a save game has "seen" (and then loading that save game) is not recommended. Also, sometimes the Launcher deselects all your EP/SP choices for no apparent reason. If you ever load up a game and get an unexpected "some objects replaced" message you should probably immediately quit without saving and check the Launcher's EP/SP tab. I've had that happen maybe twice since I started playing 1.69.

Lastly, this isn't really a technical issue, it's just how EA redesigned the Launcher in an attempt to spin the 1.69 patch as beneficial to users. What 1.69 really did was tie TS3 to Origin. I think most people just select everything and play like they did before.

edit:

Is there a way to make sure they all connect to one another without having to physically select the ones you want to play at that time?

No. That's the point of this new "feature": you can choose to play TS3 with only some EPs active without having to uninstall the others. The flip side is that if you want to play with certain EPs then you need to select them in the Launcher before pressing the play button. Unselected EPs/SPs will not be loaded and the game will behave as the aren't even installed. That's by design.

Another way to answer your question: to make sure all your EPs "connect" to one another, you need to physically select them in the Launcher at that time. And you should probably always select at least those EPs when playing that particular save game.