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Decided to install sims 3 today

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  • MiSFiT203MiSFiT203 Posts: 278 Member
    I just learned something new today!

    DONT USE THE IN GAME DOWNLOAD DASHBOARD! lol

    so i just re-installed the sims 3 from disks, tired of being tied to Origin, i kept my current sims 3 documents folder, but when i started my game all my store content was gone. i started going thru the 1 by 1 download process that took me what 5 hours? last time i did it and posted here in this thread. so by download 5 i probably was already at 10 minutes into the process, i decided screw this, there's got to be a better way and so i shutdown the game and went to the sims 3 website.

    after poking around a bit i noticed my purchase history located here: https://store.thesims3.com/purchaseHistory.html

    wow look at all the download buttons! and it even has a select all option with 1 single download button to push for each page. so i decide... let me try this!

    well, here it is, 10 minutes later and all my 100s of items of store content are now already downloaded AND installed!

    5 hours saved! yey!! :)
  • MiSFiT203MiSFiT203 Posts: 278 Member
    edited August 2019
    .....
  • ZeeGeeZeeGee Posts: 5,355 Member
    @MiSFiT203 Unless you own very few store items, downloading and installing from your purchase history can create a real mess of duplicates and content not showing up. I highly recommend Caine’s thread showing how to install the store with no duplicates or disappearing content

    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/866577/how-to-install-store-items/p1
  • MiSFiT203MiSFiT203 Posts: 278 Member
    edited August 2019
    @ZeeGee thanks for the heads up.... i went to that link and my head almost exploded. lol

    when i download thru download dashboard in game, i have about 300 files, downloading from purchase history it was only about 125, not sure how that happened but, i think id prefer the duplicate method, lol no offence.

    I have A.D.D. so i'd never follow all that info. plus for every 8 hours i dedicate to the sims 3 i probably spend 6 of those hours troubleshooting, this stupid game has so many issues. i already uninstalled my disc based installation i did just hours ago cause i left origin version to for one... leave origin and play how i wanna play (with no origin) and two i was sick of dealing with some problems i was having, so i install the disc based version only to aquire a whole new bunch of problems like launcher not closing at game start, missing store content, game refusing to shutdown when i close it and i hadnt even started playing the game yet. so now, or eventually i will go back to the origin version and stick with my old problems. or i might just quit cause this games to frustrating to deal with.

    now i see why i played the sims 4 so much over the years when all i did was hate it and complain about it, sims 3 is the best sims game and quite possibly the worst game ever made.

    i would gladly pay a 5$ fee per pack if it would get them to finally fix this stupid game so i can be happy actually just playing all day. maybe they can make a bug fix expansion pack lol

    Expand the way you play your game with the new Sims 3 Bugfix EP!
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited August 2019
    The game (and the Launcher, I think) refusing to quit after a session is over is a relatively new issue for everyone on Patch 1.67. It's not that the game is flawed this time, it's that EA changed something with the servers on their end last summer and did not take 1.67 players into account. They now refuse to fix it (or they can't). That affects everyone on 1,67 who uses the Launcher to start the game, including disc, Steam, and players on the Mac version of the game.

    Many of us routinely use a Launcher bypass to get the game started, so for us this doesn't happen unless we really need the Launcher for something. The fix is a pretty simple file security rights change on a log file in the TS3 user game folder to disallow read access.

    Yes, many of us do jump through a lot of hoops to keep this game going. But for some reason we find that it's still a satisfying experience and (mostly) worth it.
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  • ZeeGeeZeeGee Posts: 5,355 Member
    MiSFiT203 wrote: »
    i think id prefer the duplicate method, lol no offence.

    None taken. :wink: It does seem daunting at first but after many computer failures and having to do it over and over again I can do it in my sleep. :lol:

    This game can be frustrating but for those of us who have persevered (and with a lot of helpful mods and advice from NRaas and igazor) we've gotten to a place where the bugs and issues are fixed and we can happily play our Sims 3.
  • simmerLellasimmerLella Posts: 612 Member
    igazor wrote: »
    @MiSFiT203 - Your sim got excited and cheered because they no longer have to suffer from hearing the low quality guitar noise all day long. >:)

    If I have to put up with what low skill level sims do to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on the violin before they skill up for one more day...okay, this is my fault for using NRaas Relativity to throttle skill gains and make everything more complicated to advance through, but that scratchy mess is enough to make anyone bleed from their eardrums. I try to send my sims out to the garage or some other out of the way place to practice until they get good enough to play in the company of others (and me). :p

    To be fair; low quality, scratchy/squeaky violin is much worse than all the others. I don't mind the others. I'd have the kids/sims who learn violin across town from me. :D
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  • simmerLellasimmerLella Posts: 612 Member
    Karritz wrote: »
    MiSFiT203 wrote: »
    @Karritz thanks,

    yeah i thought when i started the sims 3 that Origin would go into offline mode since i had no internet, but it wanted me to sign in, but obviously you cant sign in online to go offline when you cant access internet. why have an offline mode that requires online? kinda rediculous.

    You have to set it to Offline mode manually. Do it next time you go online and leave it in offline mode. That way it will be offline automatically when you next load the game.

    I like to play online while I can, but I still want to play when I'm offline. OP's right, it doesn't work correctly. We need to be able to set it to offline while offline, period.
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  • KarritzKarritz Posts: 21,908 Member
    Karritz wrote: »
    MiSFiT203 wrote: »
    @Karritz thanks,

    yeah i thought when i started the sims 3 that Origin would go into offline mode since i had no internet, but it wanted me to sign in, but obviously you cant sign in online to go offline when you cant access internet. why have an offline mode that requires online? kinda rediculous.

    You have to set it to Offline mode manually. Do it next time you go online and leave it in offline mode. That way it will be offline automatically when you next load the game.

    I like to play online while I can, but I still want to play when I'm offline. OP's right, it doesn't work correctly. We need to be able to set it to offline while offline, period.

    I was not trying to explain how I thought it should work. I was simply saying how it does work and what needs to be done to be able to play offline if you have your game installed through Origin. If you want to have it changed to work in the way you think it should work then you need to take it up with the people who own it and who have the power to change it.

    My personal solution to this issue for my own game, has been to not install Origin on my computer thereby avoiding the issue altogether.
  • SPARKY1922SPARKY1922 Posts: 5,965 Member
    MiSFiT203 wrote: »
    asking myself why did i ever buy 286 items from the sims 3 store.

    trying to download everything and the download dashboard is sooooooooooo slooooow.
    im over an hour atleast and only at about 70. ugh

    OMG you are so lucky lol i had to download the whole store and back everything up once for my digital game then again on another laptop using the S3 disc version of the game because after I decided to play the disc version on a seperate hard drive I had no clue that digital versions of the store downloads will not work with the disc game haha I nearly went insane-)

    IP is one of my most favorite worlds but without following some of the instructions on Ciane's site to alleviate the lag and using several NRASS mods it would have been quite unplayable for me even on my pretty decent desktop build. You can fit in most showtime lots if you use player made lots that fit in with the world for example I use a live venue version of the paradiso pub in the square and have added a beachy looking dive bar on surf Island and a nightclub houseboat with casino objects so it can be done so it can be done if you choose your lots carefully.

    @ciane's link to all things IP

    https://www.thesims3.com/myBlog.html?persona=ciane&year=2017

    @ciane also remade several IP lots that that caused bugs and lag that can be found in her studio as follows:

    https://www.thesims3.com/mypage/ciane/mystudio

    I also have a ton of player made CC free lots saved and backed up for many worlds including IP so if you are looking for anything specific i may be able to help but am not promising as your idea of what you might like placed in IP may not be mine :)
  • FairyGodMotherFairyGodMother Posts: 7,406 Member
    I have patch 1.67, on a Mac with no disk tray. I have to use Origin to download my games. I use my "launchpad" and click on S3, it doesn't ask me to sign on to Origin, never, and doesn't pop up the origin box to sign in. I can go to Origin when online and play S3 thru Origin, but I don't except when I reinstalled it the first time. Doesn't matter if I am offline or online either. Maybe its different for a Mac, but I cannot go without my S3. Thankfully I have all my disk if something goes wonky with Origin, cause I would dig up my regular HP desktop just for my S3!! <3
    When I knew I was cancelling my internet a year ago? I made sure I went to settings in Origin and made it offline. I played it with no problems without internet.

    I hope you fix your issues, I don't know what I would do without my S3 <3
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited August 2019
    @FairyGodMother - It is quite different on a Mac. The 1.69 Patch that ties digital versions to Origin and the Launcher and provides all this mess about online vs. offline but not staying offline is Windows only.

    You aren't missing much by not having a disc drive, none of the Mac operating systems from El Capitan forward (macOS 10.11 and higher) can authenticate the TS3 discs anymore so Mac installs have to be Origin now unless one is still on Yosemite or prior. But Origin for Mac is not required to launch the game once it's installed nor does it take control like on Windows.

    Just a word of warning if I may. If you stay current with your macOS, the one we are running right now is Mojave (10.14) and that's the last one that will run TS3 for Mac at all. When Catalina (10.15) comes out in a couple of months, that's it the game is over, last one out turn off the lights because Apple is dropping the ability to run 32-bit applications entirely. If you are still running an older OS or are planning to stay on Mojave or earlier, then of course this warning doesn't apply.

    I have to hand it to folks who are still running the Mac version of the game, though. Its built-in 2 GB limit on RAM usage drove me right up the wall and nearly ruined my long-running ongoing game years ago when Pets and Seasons came out, before the rest of the EPs were even released. That's where I made the switch over to the Windows version by way of Bootcamp, since at least that version can address almost twice as much RAM and my game gets so complicated and my worlds stuffed full of sims that I need that in order to continue in the way I choose to play. :)
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  • MiSFiT203MiSFiT203 Posts: 278 Member
    seems by installing the disc version of the game i created even more trouble for myself cause i assumed it would be ok to install it while leaving my existing origin version also. figured if things didnt work out i could always easily switch back. just tried to start up the origin version which then told me i need to have origin installed to play, Origin is telling me i need to download the game when the game is already downloaded, i tried using the locate files option in origin under sims 3 settings, that does nothing, so i hit the download button to download the files again and all that got me was 21 dialogue boxes of errors to exit.

    im so done with this game. the universe is obviously telling me im not meant to play it. thanks to everyone that tried to help me thru all my stupid issues, sorry for wasting your time. i just dont have it in me to push thru this never ending mess. guess i'll go back to crappy sims 4 til i feel like giving this another try some other time. sorry, im mentally ill and overly frustrated, not a good combination. time to give it a rest.
  • SPARKY1922SPARKY1922 Posts: 5,965 Member
    Hi @MiSFiT203

    Don't give up just go at it slowly step by step I am not sure what what PC setup you are playing on?

    For example while I own all the digital version of the game via Origin I had to pay again for the game discs I did not own to enable me to play the game on an extra hard drive I had fitted in my desktop so i could play sims 3 via disc and without an internet connection or origin. I personally had to go this route because after the patch went from 1.67 to 1.69 plus a windows 10 upgrade my graphics have played up terribly despite a lot of help from some very great techie players on this forum so I have reverted back to disc as i did not want to give up my game.

    The only thing as i said above is that store content connected to the digital game will not play on a disc game it has to be re downloaded using disc only which is a pain but doable.

    What has happened is that because you have origin already installed and running on your PC it will always automatically revert your discs when installing them to the digital version of the game now not matter how you try and avoid it there is no longer any choice for the player about that. If you wanted to play disc version only you would probably have to uninstall origin and turn your internet off while installing. plus the base game disc needs to be prior 2012 version when installing/playing a disc only game because after that date the base game requires origin to play and you are back getting stuck with the digital version of the game again.

    I am certainly no expert but perhaps if you post your PC specs and what discs you have including the year of your base game disc techie players are usually more than happy to help you :)
  • bekkasanbekkasan Posts: 10,171 Member
    @MiSFiT203 I'm sorry you are having troubles. Sims 3 does need a bit of TLC with certain computers and if you cannot or are not willing to give it the TLC then it won't be enjoyable for you. You've gotten great suggestions here and if you concentrate on learning one aspect at a time you could do it. I do understand that you have issues that affect your concentration, but if you try just learning one part, you might eventually figure it all out. It is worth it. :love: Good luck!
  • KarritzKarritz Posts: 21,908 Member
    MiSFiT203 wrote: »
    seems by installing the disc version of the game i created even more trouble for myself cause i assumed it would be ok to install it while leaving my existing origin version also. figured if things didnt work out i could always easily switch back. just tried to start up the origin version which then told me i need to have origin installed to play, Origin is telling me i need to download the game when the game is already downloaded, i tried using the locate files option in origin under sims 3 settings, that does nothing, so i hit the download button to download the files again and all that got me was 21 dialogue boxes of errors to exit.

    im so done with this game. the universe is obviously telling me im not meant to play it. thanks to everyone that tried to help me thru all my stupid issues, sorry for wasting your time. i just dont have it in me to push thru this never ending mess. guess i'll go back to plum sims 4 til i feel like giving this another try some other time. sorry, im mentally ill and overly frustrated, not a good combination. time to give it a rest.

    I suspect your registry has been messed up with two versions of the game installed. You might fix the problem by using a registry cleaner. You'll probably need to uninstall the games first, then clean your registry then install the version you want to have installed and install it.
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited August 2019
    Karritz wrote: »
    I suspect your registry has been messed up with two versions of the game installed. You might fix the problem by using a registry cleaner. You'll probably need to uninstall the games first, then clean your registry then install the version you want to have installed and install it.
    This.

    Am afraid the game cannot really handle being installed two different ways on the same computer (for the same user). The Windows Registry would indeed cause the two intended installations to trip over each other. Similar bad things happen when players attempt to install the Steam version while still having what was a viable Origin or disc install in place, it can't really be done that way without a total uninstall and Registry cleanup first.
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  • jillbgjillbg Posts: 4,600 Member
    @thuggishsplicer I have a question - I own the store and I have everything on a harddrive, too. But when I buy a new computer, I have to download from the store anyway as all the items show up as small boxes and the loader says they don't exist... So how do you do it?
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  • FairyGodMotherFairyGodMother Posts: 7,406 Member
    Karritz wrote: »
    MiSFiT203 wrote: »
    @Karritz thanks,

    yeah i thought when i started the sims 3 that Origin would go into offline mode since i had no internet, but it wanted me to sign in, but obviously you cant sign in online to go offline when you cant access internet. why have an offline mode that requires online? kinda rediculous.

    You have to set it to Offline mode manually. Do it next time you go online and leave it in offline mode. That way it will be offline automatically when you next load the game.

    I like to play online while I can, but I still want to play when I'm offline. OP's right, it doesn't work correctly. We need to be able to set it to offline while offline, period.

    Sometimes I turn my wi-fi off, but I don't go to Origin to change it to offline prior. I restart the computer and when the Origin box pops up (it says you are playing offline mode) I just sign in and it lets me play my S3.
  • FairyGodMotherFairyGodMother Posts: 7,406 Member
    @igazor I am so glad I use the patch 1.67. I love my Mac, it has two slots of 4GB each for memory (1 TB) and I haven't had a problem, then again, I don't play one world for too long before starting another one. It's good to know that there is no need to even buy a disk tray since it doesn't recognize it anymore. I am going to stay on El Capitan, and when things change over, I just hope I can still play my games.

    I will be erratic when the day comes I can't play my sims :s

    *starts rolling up the newspaper*
  • thuggishsplicerthuggishsplicer Posts: 1,745 Member
    edited August 2019
    @jillbg I've never installed my stuff in a different computer. I've formatted the machine twice, but the .sims3pack files worked normally when I copied them to the Downloads folder. Maybe they have a different behaviour in a different machine?

    EDIT: I've just remembered that I avoid installing all items at once. I copy batches to the downloads folder, open the program, install, close the program, change the files. It doesn't read all packs if I add them at once.
    Post edited by thuggishsplicer on
  • FairyGodMotherFairyGodMother Posts: 7,406 Member
    edited August 2019
    @MiSFiT203 I did something like that too. I uninstalled Origin thinking that I could still play S3 because it showed the icons on my computer, but I couldn't. I was very upset with S4 because of the "gamebreaking bugs" is why I uninstalled Origin, so I can see how stressful it is when you can't play the game you want to play!

    After that stressful situation with S4, I just went and removed S3 and S4 from my computer and then uninstalled Origin. I had to wait and de-stress myself for about 4 days till I tried it again. I installed Origin and and when reinstalling S3 I just installed a few of them at first, and played the game for a bit. I then would go back and reinstall some more packs (I only installed the ones that interest me, guess because I have played it so long that I realize I don't need all of them). I just add them as I go, if I decide I need them.

    Its not stupid issues and you were not wasting anyones time. This is an awesome group of simmers here, although I dislike asking for help and letting people see how little I know about computers, but they are always there for me!

    I have an illness too, stress is something I cannot take a chance on. I take it a day at a time...and slow :D I am always installing, uninstalling, you name it, I start over quite a bit....but thats me, I mess with my games but not the computer tech stuff :D and I have fun doing it! LOL.

    S4 was my limit though, so I have a few packs installed so I could finish making my 40 years of being with hubby sims for the gallery. Now I just use the gallery to support the ones I follower. I realized without the base game, I can't access the gallery. I don't play S4 though, I walked away from the game, not the gallery :D

    I hope you can one day get your sims3 working again, if not, I sure hope you can enjoy your sims4!

    *many hugs for you*
  • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
    edited August 2019
    @FairyGodMother - Just to clarify in case I was misunderstood, it's not that your Mac won't recognize a CD/DVD drive. It's that it won't authenticate the TS3 discs in particular any longer. If you wish to have an external optical drive for other purposes in the future, such as to install something else or watch a movie on a DVD, then that should be fine and the drives really don't cost very much.

    If you are staying on El Capitan, then the upcoming Catalina release and the doomsday end of 32-bit apps, etc. will not affect you at all. At least not until it's time to buy a new Mac some day, then things get a bit more challenging.
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  • MiSFiT203MiSFiT203 Posts: 278 Member
    hi guys

    so after starting Origin again to play sims 4, it found my sims 3 directory and tried to repair but download kept failing, so i re-installed Origin and the repair appears to have worked. so sometime soon i'll give things another try. :)

    btw did you guys see the new paralives video on twitter? click and drag lot size creation. OMG
    cant wait til that game releases. and it uses unity which also has me excited. there is a game company that i cant mention here because of the kiddies that uses unity and the character creator options are the best i ever seen, as well as the characters themselves. i always hoped the sims would someday reach that level of customization but i doubt it. i just hope paralives can achieve something close to it. man, cant wait to see what that game becomes.

  • KarritzKarritz Posts: 21,908 Member
    @MiSFiT203 interesting. I started learning Unity a few years ago but haven't touched it for about 3 years now. It seems I'd rather paint pictures and sing than learn another computer program. As for games, I don't have Origin installed so I can't get to most of my games that are all available through Origin. This means Sims 3 is it for me. I will probably stop playing games if it stops working on my computer.

    I hope you are able to make your game work for your fun and enjoyment. Happy Simming
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