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Thread for new members to post their Sims 3 game issues

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  • UhtredUhtred Posts: 25 Member
    edited February 2019
    (see previous post at the bottom of page 88 before reading this)
    Also, I just came up with an interesting idea for a new town - I could set it in Adventureland, and fill it up with the default families in the family bin such as the Baker family, so I'd like to reintroduce a question I had asked previously that was not addressed: besides Isla Paradiso, are there any other glitched towns?
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited February 2019
    @SekemotoFamily - I will answer one of your questions right away because it's an easy one and it is pretty well documented. The MC Progression add-on module is a bridge between the MasterController base mod (which you have) and the StoryProgression base mod (which you do not). If either base mod is missing, the MC Progression module will crash the game on startup every time. I wish it didn't do that, but the module wouldn't have anything to do if the two (both of them) base mods were not both present. None of this has anything to do with the other MC modules, although the Expanded Tattoo one does require an additional file to function properly.

    Okay, the final question is easy also. The mod script error logs will accumulate until there are 10-12 of them and then start overwriting themselves with the oldest ones going out first. There is no need to delete them. No harm in doing so either, but if you would like some assistance in understanding what they are saying and understanding which ones are really just routine reports vs. serious errors, we wouldn't be able to provide that if the logs are already gone and you cannot upload to share them with us. Having 10-12 script logs in the active user game folder adds no overhead to the mix.

    Sometimes adding mods that are intended to fix game issues into a game where a current ongoing save is already broken in many regards isn't really going to be able to fix everything. Overwatch, ErrorTrap, and Traveler, among some of the others, do the best they can but they are really more designed to prevent issues by being present all along.

    While I appreciate the attitude of putting things on our radar, etc., I will have to repeat that support for NRaas mods is provided at NRaas, not here on EA's forum. I am happy to answer individual questions about the mods as best I can and to save players some time, but for more involved assistance this really has to take place in "our house." The mods are not designed and do not have a reputation for breaking players games, making sims get stuck or disappear, or ruining travel transitions, quite the reverse. We have had tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of users over the years. Of course the mods aren't perfect as the game itself can never be exactly that, but they don't misbehave in the way described for the vast majority of those who have sought us out. :)


    Edit:
    The other EA made world that is known for causing issues is Bridgeport. But none of them even come close to the level of design flaws and mistakes that an unfixed instance of Isla Paradiso brings to the table. That one is a class all by itself, I'm afraid.
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  • OntariosVeryOwnOntariosVeryOwn Posts: 3 New Member
    This is for the sims 3. I have a windows 10. I recently bought disk space for my computer and my game is gone.I was able to recover all my custom content and expansion packs but my actual game is gone. This is so devastating I had my game on my old computer for years and i got a new computer for Christmas and had to start all over again and now im going through this all again. EA Help hasn't helped me at all they just keep insisting that its a corrupted file which its not and have hung up on me. I really need help recovering my game.
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    This is for the sims 3. I have a windows 10. I recently bought disk space for my computer and my game is gone.I was able to recover all my custom content and expansion packs but my actual game is gone. This is so devastating I had my game on my old computer for years and i got a new computer for Christmas and had to start all over again and now im going through this all again. EA Help hasn't helped me at all they just keep insisting that its a corrupted file which its not and have hung up on me. I really need help recovering my game.
    Hi there. Can you tell us what you mean exactly by you bought disk space? That isn't something that can be purchased exactly. Either you have replaced your former hard drive with a new, larger one or you have added a new second (or third, etc.) hard drive to the one(s) you already had installed.

    Memory (RAM) can be purchased and added onto, but that's different and doesn't seem to be what you are describing.

    If you purchased a new drive and replaced the one where your user Documents folder was, then all of its contents would be gone, not just saved games, unless steps were taken to backup and restore that which was there first. And if these steps were taken, were they done by you or by a tech who installed the new drive?
    o550pjoa47rpxo63g.jpg
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  • UhtredUhtred Posts: 25 Member
    edited February 2019
    @igazor
    Alright, I made a thread there - https://www.nraas.net/community/chatterbox/topic7010

    However, and this doesn't have to do with any mods, I think Appaloosa Plains may also be glitched. In the original Lothbrok game, before I had installed any mods, I had been playing for a while and one day I checked edit town and there were only 3 families in the town not counting mine. I assumed that the developers just didn't put that much work into the town until I checked the wiki a few days later and saw a bunch of other families listed under Appaloosa Plains.

    In the new Lothbrok game that I recently made, I have been going around and giving certain families age freeze potions (artificially boosting lifetime happiness with testingcheats) because I heard disabling aging can interfere with pregnancy, and I have noticed families disappearing over time. The first time I had noticed it happening with this town is when I was reading the description for the Miller family and it mentioned them being next door to the Riffins, and I didn't see the Riffins next door. Then later on I noticed the Miller family had also disappeared.

    EDIT: To clarify, by disappeared I meant I had noticed the houses where they used to be were empty, and I checked to make sure it was the right house by looking at the address and comparing it to the address listed on the Sims 3 wiki for the families. It's as if I had used Total Annihilation on them but I never did that.

    Is there any town that isn't glitched? How about Sunset Valley?
  • OntariosVeryOwnOntariosVeryOwn Posts: 3 New Member
    > @igazor said:
    > OntariosVeryOwn wrote: »
    >
    > This is for the sims 3. I have a windows 10. I recently bought disk space for my computer and my game is gone.I was able to recover all my custom content and expansion packs but my actual game is gone. This is so devastating I had my game on my old computer for years and i got a new computer for Christmas and had to start all over again and now im going through this all again. EA Help hasn't helped me at all they just keep insisting that its a corrupted file which its not and have hung up on me. I really need help recovering my game.
    >
    >
    >
    > Hi there. Can you tell us what you mean exactly by you bought disk space? That isn't something that can be purchased exactly. Either you have replaced your former hard drive with a new, larger one or you have added a new second (or third, etc.) hard drive to the one(s) you already had installed.
    >
    > Memory (RAM) can be purchased and added onto, but that's different and doesn't seem to be what you are describing.
    >
    > If you purchased a new drive and replaced the one where your user Documents folder was, then all of its contents would be gone, not just saved games, unless steps were taken to backup and restore that which was there first. And if these steps were taken, were they done by you or by a tech who installed the new drive?

    sorry I wasnt clear.I bought an external hard drive and now my saved game is gone. I was able to recover my custom content but my actual saved game is gone
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited February 2019
    > @igazor said:
    > OntariosVeryOwn wrote: »
    >
    > This is for the sims 3. I have a windows 10. I recently bought disk space for my computer and my game is gone.I was able to recover all my custom content and expansion packs but my actual game is gone. This is so devastating I had my game on my old computer for years and i got a new computer for Christmas and had to start all over again and now im going through this all again. EA Help hasn't helped me at all they just keep insisting that its a corrupted file which its not and have hung up on me. I really need help recovering my game.
    >
    >
    >
    > Hi there. Can you tell us what you mean exactly by you bought disk space? That isn't something that can be purchased exactly. Either you have replaced your former hard drive with a new, larger one or you have added a new second (or third, etc.) hard drive to the one(s) you already had installed.
    >
    > Memory (RAM) can be purchased and added onto, but that's different and doesn't seem to be what you are describing.
    >
    > If you purchased a new drive and replaced the one where your user Documents folder was, then all of its contents would be gone, not just saved games, unless steps were taken to backup and restore that which was there first. And if these steps were taken, were they done by you or by a tech who installed the new drive?

    sorry I wasnt clear.I bought an external hard drive and now my saved game is gone. I was able to recover my custom content but my actual saved game is gone
    Afraid that isn't quite clear enough yet. An external drive is one that plugs into a port, usually on the back of a desktop or maybe the side of a laptop. How did we get from there to recovering data that I assume should have originally been on the internal drive -- what steps were taken besides plugging in a new external?

    The game, the user game folder in Documents, and other programs of its complexity should never be installed on or run from external drives. No matter how good the connection is, they do not have the throughput to handle them that internal drives have and if the external connection is lost or goes bad mid-game, then everything related to the game on an external can become corrupt. External drives are for file storage, movies and photos can run from them usually quite well, but not games that require constant data access.

    If your game was never installed on or run from an external drive though, then its files should be in the TS3 user game folder in Documents. That is where your added content and saves would be. Is this not on the internal drive? Was the Documents folder moved from where it usually is?
    Post edited by igazor on
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  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited February 2019
    @igazor
    Alright, I made a thread there - https://www.nraas.net/community/chatterbox/topic7010

    However, and this doesn't have to do with any mods, I think Appaloosa Plains may also be glitched. In the original Lothbrok game, before I had installed any mods, I had been playing for a while and one day I checked edit town and there were only 3 families in the town not counting mine. I assumed that the developers just didn't put that much work into the town until I checked the wiki a few days later and saw a bunch of other families listed under Appaloosa Plains.

    In the new Lothbrok game that I recently made, I have been going around and giving certain families age freeze potions (artificially boosting lifetime happiness with testingcheats) because I heard disabling aging can interfere with pregnancy, and I have noticed families disappearing over time. The first time I had noticed it happening with this town is when I was reading the description for the Miller family and it mentioned them being next door to the Riffins, and I didn't see the Riffins next door. Then later on I noticed the Miller family had also disappeared.

    EDIT: To clarify, by disappeared I meant I had noticed the houses where they used to be were empty, and I checked to make sure it was the right house by looking at the address and comparing it to the address listed on the Sims 3 wiki for the families. It's as if I had used Total Annihilation on them but I never did that.

    Is there any town that isn't glitched? How about Sunset Valley?
    I've replied to your post on NRaas, others may also do so.

    The problem you describe here is not with the worlds, it's with the built-in version of story progression. The game does a horrible job of town management after a while and can come to the (incorrect) conclusion that your town is overpopulated or out of balance. When it gets stuck in that mode, it will systematically begin moving sims and households out of it and out of your game by way of emigration.

    What it's supposed to do is rotate some households out and new ones in over time so that things feel fresh and generations of play can continue but again it just doesn't work right for most players on long-term games and they end up with what we call Ghost Town Syndrome -- not actually ghosts, but the sims being played actively are almost the only ones left in town after a while. We can add more households in on our own, but if the game "thinks" that the world is overpopulated it will remove those too.

    This is partly why modded versions of story progression exist. NRaas StoryProgression is one such version, AwesomeMod. essentially our "friendly competitor," provides a different one. Or you could try playing with story progression off but many players find that pretty much the same thing can happen after a long while that way as well.
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  • deemary14deemary14 Posts: 5 New Member
    Hello everyone! I hope I'm posting this correctly...

    For a while now, I've been experiencing some serious lag while playing. I think I've tried it all - deleting cache folders, cleaning out my mods folder/merging package files, playing in offline mode, disabling the memories/scrapbook system, downloading NRAAS (almost all of the modules), disabling occult and pet story progression, capping the game to 60 FPS - but I still experience crazy frame drops and just jumpy/sluggish game play in general.

    I currently have the following packs installed:
    Ambitions
    Generations
    Island Paradise
    Late Night
    Pets
    Seasons
    Showtime
    Supernatural
    University
    World Adventures
    Master Suite Stuff
    Town Life Stuff

    I know many of the packs are pretty heavy, but I'd like to avoid disabling them if possible.

    And here are my current computer specs:
    Radeon RX 580 Series 4GB
    Windows 10 (64 bit)
    8 GB RAM
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7400 CPU @ 3.00GHz

    I've been debating getting an SSD just for the Sims 3, but as far as I understand, that would only help with the load times (?) which I don't have a problem with at the moment.

    Please and thank you for all the help in advance! I'm willing to try anything (within reason) (:
  • Aquasomnia99Aquasomnia99 Posts: 2 New Member
    Hi!
    I'm having a problem with my game on Mac. I have downloaded and installed the following expansion packs - Supernatural, Showtime, Generations and Pets. It all went without a problem, until I tried to launch them.
    Problem no. 1 is that the Expansions and Stuff tab is missing from my launcher completely.
    Problem no. 2 is that the only option I have is to launch the game with ALL of the expansion packs and I can't choose which one I want to play.
    And finally, I tried to solve it using Origin, only to realize that all of the EP's are stuck on the Finalizing stage (which wasn't the case yesterday, the Play option was there).
    I'm really running out of options - I tried clearing the Origin cache, rebooting my computer, reinstalling Origin...
    As a last resort, I guess I'll try reinstalling everything, but I'm not very hopeful. I'll edit this post with the result.
    I'm wondering if anyone has had the same problem?
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    @Aquasomnia99 - Hi there. The Expansion and Stuff selector is relatively new (well, from 2015 anyway) and a feature of Patch 1.69. The Mac version of the game does not have that patch level, the highest it goes is 1.67. There is no way to be selective about the EP/SPs that load at startup on that version of the game, I'm afraid. There is a popular program that looks like a mod out there that does this for 1.67 installs, but it's actually a game utility not a mod and does not function on the Mac OS. For what it's worth, those of us on Steam installs (on Windows) do not get this feature either for the same reason.

    Got a bit lost there on your stuck Finalizing issue. Does this only happen when you use Origin to launch the game, and can you do so by just using the Launcher or a bypass to the game itself to get things (with all of your installed packs) started?
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  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    @deemary14 - Can you describe the symptoms you are getting in-game a bit more? Your system sounds more than capable to carry the entire game, and it shouldn't be lagging. But usually when we say "lag," we mean that the game clock keeps freezing for what could be one or more real time minutes while the animations and sounds continue, then it lurches forward, then stalls out again repeatedly thus making proper gameplay nearly impossible.

    Where an SSD helps TS3 is with loadups, saving, Build/Buy and CAS catalog loading, and caching. Except for the caching part that happens silently and can impact scene rendering, there really isn't any direct benefit to gameplay or things like how quickly sims react to commands or their own autonomy. The simulation engine is what it is at this point.

    The newer more powerful cards will stutter, frame drop, and seem jumpy at times especially on higher game speeds or when swinging the game camera around quickly. There really isn't a total solution for that (except play more "slowly") as we are running a game developed in 2008-09 on much more modern hardware. The impact can be lessened by relieving some elements of stress on the game and by not playing in overpopulated or design-flawed worlds. May I ask which world(s) you are playing in or does this happen in all of them, and does starting a new test game in a gentle to play world like Sunset Valley, Riverview, or Twinbrook make any difference?

    Isla Paradiso and Bridgeport, among the EA worlds, should be off the table for such testing because of their design flaws. So should some (not all) custom made worlds that are beautiful but really too large and intricate for the game engine to handle properly.

    Although you may be familiar with this already, we do offer this page with further tips on how to improve game performance.
    http://www.nraas.net/community/TIPS-FOR-BETTER-GAME-PERFORMANCE
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  • Aquasomnia99Aquasomnia99 Posts: 2 New Member
    @igazor Thanks for the advice! I reinstalled everything and it seems to be solved. The game can be launched through external means, so it's not a problem. I just thought it might have something to do with the expansion issue.
  • UhtredUhtred Posts: 25 Member
    @igazor That's good to know, thanks. I made another thread on the NRaas forums essentially checking my bases when it comes to mods - https://www.nraas.net/community/chatterbox/topic7013
  • yoashmoyoashmo Posts: 528 Member
    Hello all.
    I fried the graphics card on my laptop last January. I purchased that laptop in 2009 specifically to play the Sims 3 when my Sims 2 laptop couldn't handle it. At first, I was heartbroken (tbh I'm still a little heartbroken) but once I realized it was definitely the card and that the HDD was more than likely perfectly fine I felt a little better. At least I wasn't going to lose my saves and all my custom content and mods.

    This prompted me to kick my lurking up a few notches and start gathering all the information and tips I could. Firstly, to help me narrow down what specifications I should be focusing on when customizing a new laptop. Secondly, fixes for issues I may or may not encounter when installing and playing an older (buggy) game like the Sims 3 or newer computers.

    So I think I've narrowed down the specs for a laptop and just wanted to get some outside opinions just in case I'm forgetting something crucial or not picking something strong enough. I also have a few questions about reinstalling that I'm still a little hazy on. I have all EPs, SPs, and most store content. I'm still sorting through and organizing the HDD from the dead laptop, but I think a safe assumption would be about 20GB of custom content and mods.

    My choice is an HP Omen 17t. This is how I customized it:

    Intel Core i7-8750H (2.2 GHz, up to 4.1 GHz, 9 MB cache, 6 cores) + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB GDDR5 dedicated)

    802.1 I b/g/n/ac (2x2) Wl-FI. and Bluetooth.
    4.2 combo

    17.3" diagonal FHD 144 Hz IPS anti-glare WLED-backlit (1920 x 1080) with NVIDIA G-SYNC technology

    No DVD or CD Drive

    No Additional Office Software

    HP Wide Vision HD Camera and dual array digital microphone with 1 Thunderbolt 3

    8-cell 86 Wh Lithium-lon Battery

    1 TB 7200 rpm SATA; 512 GB PCle NVMe M.2 SSD

    Full-size island-style backlit keyboard with numerlc keypad

    Security Software Trial

    OMEN by HP - 17t Laptop

    Windows 10 Home 64

    No Optane

    16 GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM (2x8GB)

    Is this okay? I had different options before but I came on here and realized I would need a bigger SSD, so I don't want to make any mistakes.

    Now my questions. I have all disc versions for the games, except Town Life SP is a digital download from origin. I want my game to only be patched to 1.67. I've read that that is only possible with the base game being a physical disc version and not having the internet on when installing ITF. Is that true?
    I had planned to reinstall using all disc versions with no internet and then super patching it to 1.67. Is it really that easy?
    I have purchased a disc version of Town Life if that would make it easier. Would it be possible for me to use my Town Life origin product key to install a disc version of it?
    When I purchased the base game it came with 1000 sim points, or something. I installed it on my laptop but didn't register it on the Sims 3 website right away. I let my niece install it on her computer and told her explicitly not to register it when prompted. She isn't a great listener and of course registered it. According to origin the game is registered to me, but she ended up with the simpoints on her Sims 3 account. At the time I solved this by logging into her Sims 3 account through my launcher, downloading and installing what I wanted into my game, and then logging her out and logging myself back in. This worked and I never had to uninstall my game so I never thought about how that may not be possible anymore bc of the antipiracy changes they made to store content. I've been able to retrieve my dead laptops harddrive and I've been copying everything over to one of my external hard drive. So I have my original Sims 3 documents folder. So instead of going through the hassle of reinstalling all my Sims 3 packs could I just copy over the dccache and/or dcbackup folders?
    I don't remember the difference between the two but I do remember reading somewhere that it's where the Sims3packs are installed.

    I think that's everything for now. I'm sorry it's so long. I have been thinking about what questions I have for awhile now. I appreciate anyone who has the time to read it an help me out.
    Thank You.
  • deemary14deemary14 Posts: 5 New Member
    @igazor thanks for a speedy reply!
    I’m experiencing exactly what you described, the jumping at higher game speeds and especially when I move my camera around. I’ve tried it in all of my game saves and they all suffer from the same thing. But my saves are pretty big too? They’re all around 3-6 generations deep, so that’s probably a big factor as well.
    I try to avoid the bigger worlds, so I play mostly in Lucky Palms, Hidden Springs and Sunset Valley. I think I’m going to look for a couple custom worls and give those a shot too.
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited February 2019
    @yoashmo - The specs on your new laptop are fine, in fact over the top for TS3. You may have other reasons for needing a GTX 1070, for example you may have other games in mind or will do so in the future, but the game cannot really use all of that GPU power. I wouldn't say that HP would be my first or even third or fourth choice for a brand name on gaming laptops (there are other products they make better) due to product quality reputation and value for the simoleon (dollar, pound, euro...) but perhaps you have a great reason for going with that one as well.

    The all disc install strategy to land on 1.67 that you describe will only work if your base game disc was manufactured before Sept 2012. Those made after that point changed and Origin is required, thus Patch 1.69. The vintage of your EP/SP discs won't matter. Does the base game disc say that Origin is required anywhere on its packaging?

    It is definitely worth trying to copy your DCCache folder over to your new install to see what happens. It will work for some, others find they have to redownload all of their TS3 store content. The DCBackup folder contents are not required to copy over except for the one small file in there called ccmerged.package that makes store premium content work. If you end up having to reinstall all of your store content anyway, then you should delete that file and let it rebuild with the fresh installs. We can't really answer as to what will happen with the items purchased under your niece's login, only Customer Support can help with that if it's still an issue or you may need to repurchase points for those items. Registrations aren't really meant to be shared among users.

    Not sure I understand the Town Life issue. The SP disc you have recently acquired is new or used? If it's used, then it cannot be registered. If it's new and you are the original owner, then it should come with its own registration/install code. I do not believe that you can use Origin codes on a disc install, could be mistaken though.
    Post edited by igazor on
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  • yoashmoyoashmo Posts: 528 Member
    @igazor Thanks for the quick reply. I do plan to play other games.
    My base game disc is the original 2009 limited or collectors edition whichever came with the poster and the plumbob flashdrive. Is that the only thing that determines if you can still stop at 1.67? Or do digital or physical EPs and SPs matter too?

    I purchased a used copy of town life, even though I already own a digital copy on origin, bc I wasn't sure if you can get 1.67 using a digital download. It was my backup plan if an all disc install is necessary to get 1.67. I was going to try it with the product key of the one I purchased through origin. If that doesn't work I would just use the key that came with it. There is a good chance it isn't registered though. I purchased KP Sweet Treats from her and that wasn't registered. So I don't think she ever played any online features, at least not any that would require her to register her games.

    I will try the DCCache then when I install, I had planned to backup a freshly installed clean version of my documents folder anyway, so it's worth a try.

  • EeveeRogueEeveeRogue Posts: 1 New Member
    Hello,

    I've been playing The Sims 3 for over a year now on Windows 10 with Steam. I recently bought a few expansion packs in a Steam sale, and had to uninstall/reinstall the game to add the packs. After doing so, every since then it will keep the download window up (even if Steam itself says the game is installed) and when I close out of it, it will undo the installation. Or, it will seem to successfully install, but then I get an error message when I try to open the Sims Launcher. Has anyone else had this problem?
  • puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
    @EeveeRogue It's strange that you needed to uninstall TS3 before installing your new packs. Did you clean your computer's registry before reinstalling? If not, that may be the reason you're having trouble now. It's probably best to uninstall again, then use a tool like Piriform's CCleaner (free download) to clean the registry, then reinstall and see if things work as they should going forward.

    If you have saves you'd like to keep, make sure to remove your TS3 game folder from Documents\EA and rename it (or store it somewhere else) when you run CCleaner, or your save data may be deleted along with the registry entries.
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited February 2019
    yoashmo wrote: »
    @igazor Thanks for the quick reply. I do plan to play other games.
    My base game disc is the original 2009 limited or collectors edition whichever came with the poster and the plumbob flashdrive. Is that the only thing that determines if you can still stop at 1.67? Or do digital or physical EPs and SPs matter too?

    I purchased a used copy of town life, even though I already own a digital copy on origin, bc I wasn't sure if you can get 1.67 using a digital download. It was my backup plan if an all disc install is necessary to get 1.67. I was going to try it with the product key of the one I purchased through origin. If that doesn't work I would just use the key that came with it. There is a good chance it isn't registered though. I purchased KP Sweet Treats from her and that wasn't registered. So I don't think she ever played any online features, at least not any that would require her to register her games.

    I will try the DCCache then when I install, I had planned to backup a freshly installed clean version of my documents folder anyway, so it's worth a try.
    There are (at least) two conditions. You must have an all-disc install (no digital versions of anything) AND a base game disc that was manufactured before Sept. 2012, which you already have. Once an Origin install enters into the picture for the base game or even one EP/SP, then you will land on Patch 1.69 with no choices given.

    Note that you can still use the Origin program or Origin.com to purchase additional items like store point bundles and store worlds they sell for cash (credit card) rather than points. Those items although technically digital are ultimately delivered by the store and in those cases Origin is only acting as a purchasing agent.

    There are a few ways to stay with digital installs that do not involve Patch 1.69, but likely they won't be very attractive to you at this point. One is to dump the whole thing and switch over to Steam for the base game and all EP/SPs (except Katy, that one they don't carry and it would have to be dropped). I did this myself over a year ago for just under $100 USD for the base game and all 20 packs during one of Steam's insane 80% off sales and have been very happy with the results. Steam pushes 1.67 (again with no choices given), there is no 1.69 nor Origin tie-in there. Steam and disc/Origin installs cannot be mixed together, it has to be all one or the other.

    A second way is to switch to the Mac version of the game, but that is typically undesirable because the Mac version is flawed/limited in other ways and, of course, you have to actually acquire a Mac with strong enough components to carry the game -- which is fine if you wanted one anyway but it sounds like not the case here. A third way is to have purchased the game and its EP/SPs as standalone downloads many years ago when some retailers offered their own pre-Origin versions of it with EA's blessings. No retailers are authorized to sell the game that way anymore, so this one is only relevant for those who purchased that way back then and can still access those installers, which happen to behave as if they were disc installs in the end.
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  • yoashmoyoashmo Posts: 528 Member
    @igazor Thank you. You're always so helpful. When I can't help people in the Sims3 subreddit I always send them here to you guys. I guess it will be an all disc install for me, I'll just use the physical Town life I purchased and ignore the origin download. Thanks again.
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    yoashmo wrote: »
    @igazor Thank you. You're always so helpful. When I can't help people in the Sims3 subreddit I always send them here to you guys. I guess it will be an all disc install for me, I'll just use the physical Town life I purchased and ignore the origin download. Thanks again.
    So that's where they are all coming from? Please stop, we have blown our annual budget on headache tablets already and it's only February...just kidding, always happy to help. :)
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  • EvitaStrauchEvitaStrauch Posts: 2 New Member
    Hi, I haven't been playing the game for several months, I used to have it on my mother's laptop but now I downloaded it on my own computer (over Origin). The game starts normally, I see the video, the loading bar, then I see the typical start up because I don't have any families started on my PC, with the option to choose the city. (I have Late Night expansion pack) When I click that I want to enter either Bridgeport or Sunset Valley, it always starts loadiong but then crashes and says "The file cannot be downloaded, we strongly recommend you to restart the game." I tried that, I even uninstalled the game and downloaded it again, but this box keep appearing and it won't let me into the game. I downloaded a few things from The Sims resource, the same that I was using on my mother's computer, I don't know if that has an effect on it.
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited February 2019
    Hi, I haven't been playing the game for several months, I used to have it on my mother's laptop but now I downloaded it on my own computer (over Origin). The game starts normally, I see the video, the loading bar, then I see the typical start up because I don't have any families started on my PC, with the option to choose the city. (I have Late Night expansion pack) When I click that I want to enter either Bridgeport or Sunset Valley, it always starts loadiong but then crashes and says "The file cannot be downloaded, we strongly recommend you to restart the game." I tried that, I even uninstalled the game and downloaded it again, but this box keep appearing and it won't let me into the game. I downloaded a few things from The Sims resource, the same that I was using on my mother's computer, I don't know if that has an effect on it.
    Hi there. Uninstalling the game triggers the need to clean up the Windows Registry in between that and reinstalling. Usually we recommend a tool for this such as Piriform's CCleaner (the free version is fine).

    But before we get into what might have gone wrong with the install, we should confirm that your PC is a strong enough system to run TS3 and the LN expansion or if some adjustments need to be made. If you could, please run a dxdiag report, send the results up to Pastebin,com, and provide a broken up link using something like h.t.t.p.s., so we can read it.

    How to run one: https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information

    Or if your PC is actually a Mac, please let us know as that would require a different conversation.
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