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Question about super patcher
shalinathekucing
Posts: 33 Member
Hi everyone
First off, I'm not very tech-savvy and have a hard time understanding computer-speak, so I apologize in advance if the things I'm asking about have already been answered, directly or indirectly, on other threads. I have read the stickies on the first page of the Mac forum (thank you to the people who put those together, so useful!), downloaded the superpatch, done a clean uninstall-reinstall and installed my EPs and SPs (some are in disc form, some are digital) in the order they were released (with the exception of the ones I don't own - Supernatural and some stuff packs). I also made sure to purge ram as I went along (thanks for that useful tip!).
I use the 2014 imac with 8GB RAM, 1.4GHz dual-core i5 processor, intel HD 5000 graphics card - it is about a week old, out of the box, and I have used it for nothing else except playing the sims. I have a rather-old-but-still-hanging-on-for-dear-life MBP for everything else.
Some questions:
1. Is there a limit to the number of times you can run the superpatch? Every time my game gives me issues, I've been running it and sometimes, admittedly not always, that fixes it. Sometimes I cave and use the game launcher to update and then my game "works" after.
2. I say "works" because I'm experiencing a lot of lag/delay when I try to start my game using the launcher. When I right click on the sims icon in the dock while waiting for the launcher to appear, it says application is not responding. If I wait long enough, the launcher appears. Sometimes two of the icons will appear and the game will work. Is it "normal" that this happens or is it indicative of some other issues that need fixing?
3. Other times four icons appear and I get the pop up that says the game process could not be started. Recently, running the superpatch manually has not fixed this. When this happens, should I keep uninstalling/reinstalling again?
4. While re-installing, I noticed that the installer would tell me that my base game was not compatible with the EP/SP i was trying to install. I believe this started with the master suite SP (disc form) onwards. When I tried to play, it said the game process could not be started. So I uninstalled everything from the Master Suite onwards and suddenly the game worked again. Could this be due to the fact I have a bad disc? Or should I try to run the superpatch after every install of every EP/SP?
5. Last night I also got the dreaded "debug" popup. I tried to rename the EA folder with an underscore and that worked. However the next time I tried to play I got the same error again. Should I just keep renaming the folder and repeating the steps or is there a permanent fix for this?
6. I have tried bypassing the game launcher but I am a little confused - the "show package contents" option is only available for the base game icon, not the most recent EP I've installed. So, I followed the instructions and changed to "TS3" to bypass the launcher. But if I click on the most recent EP icon, the launcher still appears - so, can I confirm that I am *not* supposed to click on the most recent EP but the base game icon instead? Sorry if that's a stupid question!
7. If I click on the base game icon, it does bypass the launcher but either of two things will happen - either the screen turns black and will stay stuck there until I switch to windowed mode or else it just closes itself immediately, failing to open. Is the first thing that happens "normal" and what can I do to fix the second thing?
--
mini rant: i know that TS3 has very well known issues, particularly for mac users, and I can't say I wasn't aware already, but it is sooooo frustrating not being able to play and spending hours trying to troubleshoot issues when I just want to play! my heart sinks every time i see a pop up now.../end rant
Thank you very very much in advance for your time.
First off, I'm not very tech-savvy and have a hard time understanding computer-speak, so I apologize in advance if the things I'm asking about have already been answered, directly or indirectly, on other threads. I have read the stickies on the first page of the Mac forum (thank you to the people who put those together, so useful!), downloaded the superpatch, done a clean uninstall-reinstall and installed my EPs and SPs (some are in disc form, some are digital) in the order they were released (with the exception of the ones I don't own - Supernatural and some stuff packs). I also made sure to purge ram as I went along (thanks for that useful tip!).
I use the 2014 imac with 8GB RAM, 1.4GHz dual-core i5 processor, intel HD 5000 graphics card - it is about a week old, out of the box, and I have used it for nothing else except playing the sims. I have a rather-old-but-still-hanging-on-for-dear-life MBP for everything else.
Some questions:
1. Is there a limit to the number of times you can run the superpatch? Every time my game gives me issues, I've been running it and sometimes, admittedly not always, that fixes it. Sometimes I cave and use the game launcher to update and then my game "works" after.
2. I say "works" because I'm experiencing a lot of lag/delay when I try to start my game using the launcher. When I right click on the sims icon in the dock while waiting for the launcher to appear, it says application is not responding. If I wait long enough, the launcher appears. Sometimes two of the icons will appear and the game will work. Is it "normal" that this happens or is it indicative of some other issues that need fixing?
3. Other times four icons appear and I get the pop up that says the game process could not be started. Recently, running the superpatch manually has not fixed this. When this happens, should I keep uninstalling/reinstalling again?
4. While re-installing, I noticed that the installer would tell me that my base game was not compatible with the EP/SP i was trying to install. I believe this started with the master suite SP (disc form) onwards. When I tried to play, it said the game process could not be started. So I uninstalled everything from the Master Suite onwards and suddenly the game worked again. Could this be due to the fact I have a bad disc? Or should I try to run the superpatch after every install of every EP/SP?
5. Last night I also got the dreaded "debug" popup. I tried to rename the EA folder with an underscore and that worked. However the next time I tried to play I got the same error again. Should I just keep renaming the folder and repeating the steps or is there a permanent fix for this?
6. I have tried bypassing the game launcher but I am a little confused - the "show package contents" option is only available for the base game icon, not the most recent EP I've installed. So, I followed the instructions and changed to "TS3" to bypass the launcher. But if I click on the most recent EP icon, the launcher still appears - so, can I confirm that I am *not* supposed to click on the most recent EP but the base game icon instead? Sorry if that's a stupid question!
7. If I click on the base game icon, it does bypass the launcher but either of two things will happen - either the screen turns black and will stay stuck there until I switch to windowed mode or else it just closes itself immediately, failing to open. Is the first thing that happens "normal" and what can I do to fix the second thing?
--
mini rant: i know that TS3 has very well known issues, particularly for mac users, and I can't say I wasn't aware already, but it is sooooo frustrating not being able to play and spending hours trying to troubleshoot issues when I just want to play! my heart sinks every time i see a pop up now.../end rant
Thank you very very much in advance for your time.
0
Comments
1) No, there's no limit. However, after patching once (assuming you used the latest and the patching succeeded) any subsequent run of the patcher will do nothing at all. It's like reading the errata to a book multiple times: after the first reading you won't learn anything new. I'm afraid that the 'sometimes working again' is just coincidence.
2) Starting the game always will take ages, more so when using the Launcher. In this case the 'Application not responding' just proves the sloppy programming job EA did but doesn't matter. Same for the double icons: it happens all the time and you can safely ignore it.
3) That should not happen and is most often the result of not having enough patience and thus trying to start the game a second time, while the first try still is being processed (i.e. The Sims is busy for quite some time, though not yet visible, nor stopped). This doesn't 'break' anything though, so ignore and try again as soon as all Sims application icons are gone.
4) That will happen because a CD/DVD is never updated on the little disc itself. So if the Base Game is updated properly and you install something from CD or DVD that something will be outdated compared to the updated Base Game. Best practise (re)installing is: install the Base Game, patch it using the Superpatcher (not the Launcher!), install EP's and SP's in their release-date-order (as you did) and finally use the Superpatcher one last time. Next add any Store bought items you own using the Launcher. The next time you start the Launcher you'll probably be prompted to DL an update for Store Content; accept that.
5) This could happen if there're files left after (only) uninstalling with the official Uninstaller and then installing the game anew. In the posts you mentioned, you'll find how to hunt these critters down— look for clean install. The renaming trick is foremost meant to find out whether the problem resides in that The Sims folder or elsewhere, hoping you could later replace as much of the contents of the new one with items out of the renamed one (the folder Saves contains all your saved games, Screenshots contains, well, your screen shots and so on).
6) You only need to get into the package contents of the base game and make the change there. You can safely start by double clicking the Base Game icon. The game will check which EP's and SP's are installed, see if they're legit and start those with the rest of the game. So: not a 'plum' question at all.
7) Luckily for me, I've no experience with that problem but it is mentioned by a lot of people. To make life somewhat easier, go to Options…, first tab (Graphics) and remove the tick before Enable Fullscreen Mode. Next time you start the game, it should launch itself in windowed mode.
Good Luck and Happy Simming!
Thank you so much for the super informative response, it's helping me to understand the whys and hows of the 'fixes' a little better. If it wasn't for all the guides and help on this site, I would have given up on the sims years ago. Thank you again!