Sims 3 launcher losing Ep's constantly patch 1.69

Tartacus

Ok so the title says it all and the helpful guy at EA tech support says that this forum is read by a team that will fix any patch if needed. Not sure that I believe that one. Every time I want to play sims 3 I have to start sims 3 launcher multiple times before it see's that I have Ep's from Origin, my whole game is on Origin and all in the same game folder under Origin Games, Several times I have been given instructions on how to reset windows 10 dns and also reset my internet explorer that I do not use. Am I honestly expected to do this list of things in order to play a game that has just cost me good money. It was bad enough finding out that EA no longer update the video cards in the SGR files and being told that I have to do that myself. On top of this every time Sims 3 launcher starts it gives me a script error regarding facebook. If EA cannot support this game or fix the last patch that is causing so many people many issues let alone update it with the latest video cards why is it still almost full price on Origin or being sold at all. Patch 1.69 needs some serious attention and is well overdue an update. As it stands in order to play this game you need to mess with game files and all sorts thats without the mods you need to make it run smooth. This is all getting beyond a joke EA either fix it or remove it from sale so people don't get ripped off.

mysterionz

Same here..

igazor

While your points have some validity to them, I'm afraid there is a piece of information missing here. TS3 has been out of its development cycle for coming up on four years now. There is no TS3 team at EA and hasn't been for ages. The last meaningful patch we got was in Jan 2014, this 1.69 stuff was all about the Origin Launcher tie-in, not anything having to do with the game files themselves (except for their internal build number). Sounds to me like your tech support person was reading from a very old script when it comes to anyone from EA reacting to bug reports here -- we are your fellow players on the TS3 section of this forum helping each other out as best we can.

While Origin can and should certainly be made to be more stable, no argument there, I'm afraid the game itself is what it is. The sgr edits and the need to cap frame rates are indeed annoying, but for most players they should be one-time annoyances upon each installation. Not things that need continuous servicing at the start of each game session or throughout gameplay.

I could go on about why we players keep servicing this eight year old game on our own and the annoyance vs. pleasure ratio that it gives many of us who manage to keep it going well enough with or without mods on hardware of all different vintages, but guess that's not really on-topic. Instead, I like many others just wish EA would fix the Origin instability. In my case, I repurchased the entire game during one of the twice per year Steam sales (most of it was at least 75% off so it didn't really cost that much) a few months ago and no longer need to worry about Origin or Patch 1.69 as Steam installs work differently. But popular though that move is with some, certainly many players are not going to be willing to take such a step nor should they be really be expected to.

I do hope that EA figures out how to fix the Origin tie-in properly, they've certainly had enough time to work on it by now.

Tartacus

Thanks for the reply igazor, to be honest I am quite knowledgeable regarding sims 3 to the extent of making a few mods for it and such. I did have 1.67 for ages but then in a flash of inspiration I upgraded to 1.69. Worst mistake I ever made. I am trying to make a point of this with EA as I know the studio no longer exists but as long as the sims 3 series is on sale on Origin for close to £500 then someone should at least be updating it with new video cards and sorting out this embarrassing 1.69 patch. As it stands at the moment I believe EA are selling this in an unfit state for purchase which is illegal in the Uk and as I have just purchased it I am intending on upholding my consumer rights.

TreyNutz

The Facebook script error on the Launcher is limited to the Launcher. It doesn't have anything to do with the game, nor (in my experience) anything to do with the Launcher recognizing installed EPs and SPs.

Over the past few weeks I was experiencing the missing packs issue with the Launcher too. I had to restart multiple times before the Launcher would work correctly. It's really quite exasperating when the game keeps loading up without any EPs or SPs that should be installed. I finally uninstalled the Origin client (just the client, not my games), cleaned the registry with CCleaner, then reinstalled Origin. Once I signed in, Origin recognized that my games were installed, judging by my Origin Library. That is, I didn't need to do anything for Origin to recognize that the games were there (and I have them installed to a custom location, so I was actually impressed). Reinstalling Origin seems to have helped quite a bit for me for the missing EPs/SPs issue with the Launcher. I haven't had to restart the Launcher multiple times to get it to recognize my installed packs since then. You might try reinstalling Origin to see if that helps.

Later I started getting the Facebook script error on the Launcher itself and deleted IE's cache, but that didn't help that issue.

Tartacus

I did all of the above and more yesterday TreyNutz and again today its missing Ep's again, Its just a joke of a situation, If they offered a way of going back to 1.67 I would be happy. In my opinion 1.69 should never of been released if there was no one to back it up or fix it.

igazor

It's not Origin that is out of development, it's the game itself, and technically it's Origin that needs to be fixed. You might have a better reach if you posted this on the Origin (or TS3) support board on EA's Answers HQ forum rather than here. You also might not want to specify that you have played this game for ages but have only just purchased it without clarifying that a little (or leave that part out entirely), as such can I'm afraid too easily lead to a misunderstanding.

TreyNutz

Tartacus wrote: »

I did all of the above and more yesterday TreyNutz and again today its missing Ep's again, Its just a joke of a situation, If they offered a way of going back to 1.67 I would be happy. In my opinion 1.69 should never of been released if there was no one to back it up or fix it.

Sorry to hear that reinstalling Origin didn't help. I truly don't know whether that fixed the issue for me or whether I just got lucky. Hopefully the issue won't start up again for me or otherwise I'll be moving over to Steam and 1.67 if the packs are on sale this winter.

bob007

The version 1.69 patch (that can only happen through Origin if your game is at version 1.67) disables and/or removes SecuROM and SafeDisc. SecuROM imposed the install limit and SafeDisc makes you require a disc in the optical drive to run the game. This happened because Windows and OS X no longer support SecuROM and SafeDsic that were poorly supported to begin with. Existing games were allowed to run unless you reinstalled the game or added DLC. Store items and packs were upgraded for version 1.69 and will no longer work with older games. I'd rather deal with Origin then imbedded DRM that never worked right in the first place.

Tartacus

I am very grateful to this community and its users for the help it provides,

I did have a lengthy conversation with Origin yesterday on the web followed by a phone call. Yes I do understand all the problems and issues but as I said to Origin "If you are going to sell something at the price that they want for the sims 3 series then you have to service it." They have known about the 1.69 issues for more than 3 years yet done nothing about it and continue to sell the product,

I am sure it would not take a qualified programmer more than a day to sort out at most and maybe another day to test it. The sgr files bit yes it's a one time thing for us to do, but you can't expect all game players to be able to do this. This would take someone with the available information less than 2 hours to sort out.

I also pointed out to Origin that players are opting to buy the game from steam as they can have the 1.67 option and use it without a disc courtesy of NRass and not have the launcher issues, this in itself should be embarrassing to EA.

As consumers we all have rights and unless more people speak up rather than just putting up with the situation then nothing will change, things in general will just get worse, and we have all seen over many years that EA tend to do things like this with many of their games and disregard their customers.

The fact is that 1.69 needs to be fixed and if no one makes any noise about it then it will never happen. Origin are more than capable of fixing it they just need to be pushed into doing it and if they want to continue selling the product I believe they have an obligation to fix it. All it is going to take is to pay a person a couple of days wages to sort it out.

Maybe it's because I am over 50 but I strongly believe that if you buy something it should at least turn on with little fuss.

Anyway enough of a rant, thanks again to this community and its great members like, igazor that are so helpful, also a massive thank you to NRass for all of their work who without the game would be close to unplayable,