Any news on Sims 3 eventually getting the 64bit update? «12...Next Go

BrittanyChick22

I'm so wanting the update for sims 3, it definitely needs the update.

puzzlezaddict

The only news is that an update is coming for the Mac version of the game. Here's the announcement from back in October:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/An-announcement-for-The-Sims-3-players-on-Mac/td-p/8271641

The official EA position has always been that it's coming some time in early 2020. I've always taken that to mean some time between May 2020 and never. I guess we'll see.

BrittanyChick22

puzzlezaddict wrote: »

The only news is that an update is coming for the Mac version of the game. Here's the announcement from back in October:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/An-announcement-for-The-Sims-3-players-on-Mac/td-p/8271641

The official EA position has always been that it's coming some time in early 2020. I've always taken that to mean some time between May 2020 and never. I guess we'll see.

Thank you, I hope it will happen but you never know...

igazor

It should be noted here that we have no idea whether the upcoming Mac version update will really give us a game that can address more RAM than the current Mac version already does on Mojave and prior. We hope that it does, but such has never been mentioned. All we do know is that the new version has been promised to somehow, in some form, run on Catalina whereas the current version cannot.

And, as this also tends to cause some confusion among players, there have been no plans whatsoever announced for a 64-bit version of the game to run on Windows.

Surreal

igazor wrote: »

It should be noted here that we have no idea whether the upcoming Mac version update will really give us a game that can address more RAM than the current Mac version already does on Mojave and prior. We hope that it does, but such has never been mentioned. All we do know is that the new version has been promised to somehow, in some form, run on Catalina whereas the current version cannot.

And, as this also tends to cause some confusion among players, there have been no plans whatsoever announced for a 64-bit version of the game to run on Windows.

Thanks, @igazor - I was wondering how I could possibly have missed THAT announcement!

JustinRide

This is news to me! So wait, does that mean the game is only limited to 4GB of RAM? Even if you have more? @igazor

igazor

JUSTIN12566532 wrote: »

This is news to me! So wait, does that mean the game is only limited to 4GB of RAM? Even if you have more? @igazor

TS3 for Mac is currently 32-bit only, is further crippled by the way in which its implementation on the macOS was done, and can only address 2 GB of RAM no matter how much the player has installed. We do not yet know how/if this will change when the new Mac version or patch is released later this year.

TS3 for Windows is 32-bit only but is also as of Patch 1.17 long ago Large Address Aware, so it can only address 4 GB of RAM (the real upper limit is ~3.7 GB due to some overhead) no matter how much the player has installed. There has never been an announcement about that changing.

Part of the game, so to speak, becomes keeping RAM usage below either of the above limits at all times throughout gameplay. One spike above the danger zone, which will be a bit different for different players but on Windows that's usually somewhere above 3.5 GB, and the game will crash or Error 12 upon trying to save which is just as bad -- no one would want to play a game that they cannot save. This is also why there is such a strict limit, that again will vary by player as there are so many variables, as to how large, complicated, and populated our individual worlds can be.

JustinRide

@igazor Wow, well thank you for explaining this. Honestly this is something i never was aware of. :open_mouth:

LovingSims

I saw the announcement back in October about a update being released as a patch for 64-bit early 2020 but still no news. Shame really as I want to update my Mac but I do not want to lose sims 3

kevdayray

@igazor Is there anyway to 'un'update my mac so that I can play? And is it true that we can play TS3 from Origin?

AlexaKry

@igazor : just tagging you in case you haven´t seen the question above.

igazor

kevdayray wrote: »

@igazor Is there anyway to 'un'update my mac so that I can play? And is it true that we can play TS3 from Origin?

TS3 for Mac on recent operating systems (but not updated to Catalina) almost has to be an Origin install. The systems starting with El Capitan and those that came after will not recognize the retail store discs for authentication and there is no Steam option. The game doesn't need to be started by way of Origin like it now does on Windows, it's just needed to manage the installation and the authentication that used to be done by way of having the disc of the base game or most recently released expansion/stuff pack in the drive.

In theory you should be able to downgrade your Mac to Mojave or High Sierra by formatting the boot drive and installing that instead. But that will wipe everything you have off your drive, all applications and all data. Another way would be to have a second boot drive or a bootable removable device with Mojave or High Sierra on it and boot up from that instead. I'm not sure I've seen anyone report back after trying those options though, perhaps others here might.

This is going to depend on the Mac in question, but I wouldn't bother with any of those strategies given how crippled TS3 for Mac is. An arguably better way to enjoy the game would be to Bootcamp Windows onto it and then install TS3 for Windows through Origin, retail store disc, or repurchase the game on Steam. Then the Catalina issue goes away because you aren't running the macOS anymore whenever you wish to play. But your Mac does need to have enough drive space for the Bootcamp partition, a retail standalone purchase of Win 10 would be required, and you would need enough patience to manage two independent operating systems. How well the game performs on Windows would then be a matter of the hardware specs on the Mac you are working with.

Talonflare

Aww, man. I remember seeing somewhere that the Sims 3 would be getting an updated 64-bit version but I had no idea the update would only extend to Mac users, and even that seems to be iffy. I'm actually really bummed out about this.

discoduck227

I am glad I found this topic! I tried redownloading my Sims 3 game so I could play and didn't realize the game was 32 bit and my Windows 10 is 64. I was disappointed that I couldn't play it again. I would love to see them upgrade it.

GraceyManor

discoduck227 wrote: »

I am glad I found this topic! I tried redownloading my Sims 3 game so I could play and didn't realize the game was 32 bit and my Windows 10 is 64. I was disappointed that I couldn't play it again. I would love to see them upgrade it.

You could still possibly play it.I play on a windows 10 laptop, and its 32 bit.It all depends on your computer.

igazor

discoduck227 wrote: »

I am glad I found this topic! I tried redownloading my Sims 3 game so I could play and didn't realize the game was 32 bit and my Windows 10 is 64. I was disappointed that I couldn't play it again. I would love to see them upgrade it.

That is not correct, 64-bit Windows systems can still run 32-bit applications and will be able to do so for an extremely long time to preserve backwards compatibility. There has been no noise coming from Microsoft whatsoever about this changing. This is why we have a Program Files folder and a Program Files (x86) folder side-by-side. The "regular" one is for 64-bit applications and the (x86) one is for 32-bit applications. When an application is installed, Windows puts in the correct folder for us automatically.

In fact, we would never recommend a 32-bit system for TS3 or much of anything else today because even though they are still officially supported, they can't address more than 4 GB of RAM total. And Windows can hog up so much of that for itself that there isn't enough left to service a game.

This is strictly a macOS issue right now. The macOS had already been 64-bit for ages, but what they did with its most recent version was remove the backwards compatibility. Most players on Win 10 64-bit can run the game just fine, or fine as they ever could anyway.

ramon475

They actually announced an official update to 64 Bit for Mac users last year somewhere but they haven't said anything about it since...

igazor

ramon475 wrote: »

They actually announced an official update to 64 Bit for Mac users last year somewhere but they haven't said anything about it since...

What they announced was an upcoming fix to make the game function in some way in a 64-bit only environment on the macOS. That's not the same thing as updating or enhancing the capacity of the program, it would just be to make it run quite possibly exactly as it does now on pre-Catalina systems, though that of course remains to be seen.

An EA Staff person reported on Answers.HQ just a couple of weeks ago that this effort is still very much a work in progress on their end.
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/the-sims-3-64-bit-amp-metal-release/m-p/8820136#M6265

The_dreamer2001

Does anyone know any updated news about it since the coronavirus is now here and they still working on it?

igazor

The_dreamer2001 wrote: »

Does anyone know any updated news about it since the coronavirus is now here and they still working on it?

If you mean the patch/update for the Mac version on Catalina, the thread I linked to above on Answers.HQ is the one to watch. The last word from an EA Staff member involved with the project was three weeks ago. We can be reasonably sure that the pandemic is not helping the project move along any faster.

Misslizard

I miss TS3, The depth of it the story, TS4 graphics are better but you cant have everything now can you.....i'll be happy when TS3 is working on macs again......

Whiskeyismehlova

I’m glad I found this comment section! I just found out a few mins ago that there was announcement about and updated version of Ts3 back in October 2019. I was going to get a new Mac bra size my own is outdated and I can’t play any new sims 4 games. But I see now if I do get a new model I won’t be able to play sims 3 games until they come out with a new update... decisions decisions lol

Whiskeyismehlova

Sorry I’ve been trying to delete that post and I can’t 🤦🏽‍♀️

I’m glad I found this comment section! I just found out a few mins ago that there was announcement about an updated version of Ts3 back in October 2019. I was going to get a new Macbook because my own is outdated and I can’t play any new sims 4 games. But I see now if I do get a new model I won’t be able to play sims 3 games until they come out with a new update... decisions decisions lol

Simsophonique

Anyways that's so unfair for windows users because who still have a 32bit computer in 2020? nobody even me ... I hopethe team will rethink the question about 95% of their players are windows' users.

igazor

It is not "unfair for Windows users."

I am not making myself clear enough, I guess. TS3 is a 32-bit game only. It will run as best it can on 64-bit Windows systems just like other 32-bit applications do. It will not (currently) run at all on macOS Catalina because Apple removed the backwards compatibility portion of the operating system on that release. Microsoft is not removing theirs for Windows, it would be silly of them to even try because there are 32-bit versions of Microsoft products like Office and Internet Explorer that are still officially under support and need to run, among other reasons. It will happen eventually, but not likely in the next few years or anything. Maybe when 128-bit systems come out some day.

We have to predict that whatever it is that is being done with this upcoming patch or new version for Mac players is not going to magically make the game be able to use more than 4 GB of RAM. We don't even know if it is going to be able to use more than 2 GB, we hope it does, but it is the limit Mac users have been stuck with for this particular game all of this time unless they Bootcamped Windows onto their systems. If anything has been unfair since 2010 when TS3 for Windows became Large Address Aware but TS3 for Mac did not, it would have to be that.

Gothangel

look like ms to phasing out window 10 32 bit