I have a rant that is at how poor the service is. Since 12/24 so now about 2 months later my issue is still not solved. Its that whole shop mode thing that does not work. I have the latest macbook with snow leopard and 4 GB of ram. I had to have a new hard drive installed and everything and after the fresh install which was done repeatedly by the applestore there is no shop mode still. I have the collectors edition of the game and both the expansion and the high end loft and I am unable to use ingame shop mode. Here is the correspondance:

12/24 Me: I can't seem to use the shop mode on my mac. I read in the topics that the game needed an update but my game is fully updated and tells me its up to date. Also when I log in and play there is no trace of the shop mode icon anywhere only the tutorial that shows where it is supposed to be. Is there anything that can be done about this?

1/08 Me: question was posted 12-24 and 2 weeks have passed with no recognition or response

1/16 Them: Hi,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts

I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused to you. I would like to ask you some question regarding this issue.

- Have you done any troubleshooting step to solve this issue?
- If it is a game disk, have you encounter any error before? If so, what is the exact error message?
- Have you read the minimum system requirement of the game?

Please try to answer this questions to help us streamline your issue. Also, in the meantime, try the steps listed in the help articles mentioned below as they can help in resolving this issue.

End all background task to maximize your memory (RAM) usage. Click here for instructions on how to End all Background Processes:
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=10700

Clean your Temporary files tomaximize your hard disk.Click here for instructions on howto delete your Temporary Files:
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=10705

If the issue persists, we'llneed additional information. Please follow the steps listedbelow to send the required information to us.
. Go toStart -> Run.
· In the box, type the following:dxdiag
· Click "OK"
· Click the "Save AllInformation" button on the first screen of the application.
· Then on top of the "Save As" box that pops up,select Desktop (if it's not set to save there already), thenclick Save.
· Finally, attach the dxdiag.txt to youremail reply.

If you do not have a Runselection:
Right click on the menu bar and selectProperties.
Click on the Start Menu tab.
Click onthe Customize button.
In the upper window scroll downuntil you see Run command.
Click this check box andclick Ok.
Click Start.
Click Run.
Type dxdiagin the available text field, and press OK.

Afterwe receive this file we can continue troubleshooting theissues at hand and hopefully come to a solution.

1/16 Me:Again I run on a mac, this does not help. I have upgraded the ram to 4 gigs since and still no improvement. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling and still nothing. I tried the method featured in the forums for the other mac that is also having issues and all it did was improve speed. I still have no access to the store in the game. Is there anything else that can be done in order to fix this. Nothing has been able to help. The file you ask for is not found on the mac as it is in windows I just went into the system profile and saved it as a rtf. Please Help

1/18 Them: Hi,

Thank you for getting back to us.

I do apologize for any inconvenience caused. I really feel sorry for the delayed response. Please ignore the previous response. If you have a variety of programs running in the background on your computer, they may be using a considerable amount of system resources. Closing these unnecessary background processes will help boost system performance in your game, as well as free up system resources which may be conflicting with the game.

1. From the Finder menu open the Go menu and select Utilities.
2. Open the Activity Monitor program.
3. In the top right cornor, make sure the My Processes option is selected from the pull down menu.
4. Highlight the programs listed one at a time and click the Quit Process button in the top left.
5. When the confirmation window appears select Force Quit to close the program.
6.Repeat those steps until only the following four are listed:
7.
- Dock
- Finder
- Login Window
- Activity Monitor

Note: there will be other programs that either will not close, or will re-appear after being closed. Those processes can be skipped.

7. Close the activity monitor and attempt to run the game.

Be aware that this is only a temporary change, restarting the system will restore it to the default state. If closing these programs helps resolve performance issues you may want to go through them one by one to narrow down which program is causing the conflict.

Please update us on any significant development with your issue.


1/18 Me:I did as you suggested and closed all processes I did not think that it would do anything as all things tend to be off already when I play the game, if I want music I still use my cd player instead of itunes, well anyways when closing several did reopen as you said so this was the end result: (Insert systeminfofile.rtf here)

Active Memory: 396.1 MB
Free Memory: 2.17 GB
Wired Memory: 718.2 MB
Used Memory: 1.83 GB
Inactive Memory: 761.5 MB
Total VM: 82.37 GB
Number of processes: 36

PID Process Name User CPU Real Mem Virtual Mem
0 kernel_task root 3.0 122.6 MB 1.69 GB
1 launchd root 0.0 1.1 MB 2.34 GB
10 kextd root 0.0 2.5 MB 2.33 GB
11 notifyd root 0.0 676 KB 2.33 GB
12 diskarbitrationd root 0.0 1.4 MB 2.33 GB
13 configd root 0.0 3.0 MB 2.35 GB
14 syslogd root 0.0 816 KB 2.34 GB
15 DirectoryService root 0.0 4.6 MB 2.34 GB
16 distnoted daemon 0.0 1.2 MB 2.33 GB
21 ntpd root 0.0 1.2 MB 2.32 GB
26 securityd root 0.0 2.7 MB 2.35 GB
29 mds root 0.0 40.0 MB 2.46 GB
30 mDNSResponder _mdnsrespo 0.0 2.0 MB 2.35 GB
31 loginwindow pfluegs127 0.0 9.5 MB 2.62 GB
32 KernelEventAgent root 0.0 1,004 KB 2.33 GB
34 hidd root 1.5 2.0 MB 2.33 GB
35 fseventsd root 0.0 2.1 MB 2.34 GB
37 dynamic_pager root 0.0 788 KB 2.32 GB
42 blued root 0.0 4.2 MB 2.35 GB
43 autofsd root 0.0 976 KB 2.33 GB
53 coreservicesd root 0.4 16.5 MB 2.36 GB
55 WindowServer _windowser 5.2 47.4 MB 2.67 GB
61 cvmsServ root 0.0 864 KB 2.33 GB
70 coreaudiod _coreaudio 0.0 1.4 MB 2.33 GB
76 launchd pfluegs127 0.0 976 KB 2.34 GB
80 Dock pfluegs127 0.0 15.6 MB 2.65 GB
82 Finder pfluegs127 0.0 15.3 MB 2.66 GB
86 pboard pfluegs127 0.0 836 KB 2.32 GB
87 fontd pfluegs127 0.0 4.8 MB 2.38 GB
105 Monitor pfluegs127 0.0 7.3 MB 908.2 MB
664 Activity Monitor pfluegs127 10.8 23.8 MB 2.69 GB
667 activitymonitord root 0.8 1.1 MB 2.33 GB
677 mdworker pfluegs127 0.0 4.8 MB 2.35 GB
678 SystemUIServer pfluegs127 0.0 11.0 MB 2.63 GB
679 usbmuxd _usbmuxd 0.0 1.1 MB 599.0 MB
680 UserEventAgent pfluegs127 0.0 5.0 MB 2.35 GB
and again when launching the program even after closing the process for activity monitor the Shop mode in the game still will not appear on the mac and the game claims it is up to date. Is there anything at all that will fix this as I have tried everything and since I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling it still will not appear.. please fix this

1/18 Them: Thank you for getting back to us.

I do apologize for the inconvenience it may have caused.Can you also please try uninstalling the game and reinstalling it under a different MAC admin account.
1) Delete the "[The Sims 3 World Adventure]" icon from your Applications folder.
2) Delete the additional files can found in /Users/[Username]/Library/Preferences/[The Sims 3 World Adventure] Preferences/p_drive, including your saved games.

Creating a new user account:
1) Click on the Apple Menu select System Preferences.
2) From the View menu, select Accounts.
3) You may need to click the Padlock icon to allow changes.
4) Click the + icon to create a new account.
5) Log into the new user account and reinstall the game.

Hope this information addresses your issue. Your patience and understanding is much appreciated. Thank you.

I would love if I could be of any help to you in the future.

1/19 Me: As I stated before I already tried that, and I did it again just last night and still it will not show the shop mode in the game.

1/22 Me: Im gathering at this point since no help exists that this is a matter that the mac will never be able to do regardless what EA has promised. I was hoping I could use the shop mode in game but nothing is helping.

1/27 Me: Once Again I tried and I tried by creating a new account and labeling it admin and trying to install and than a second time as a standard account and still when installing the game on the computer the result reveals absolutely no Shop Mode on the mac. Will this be fixed with a new patch anytime soon. Ive checked the forum and I see I am not the only one. Also no CS person has responded to me in over a week.

Can someone help me get this fixed and answer questions?


2/6 Them: Hello,

Thank you for contacting us.

Due to the nature of your issue, more time is required for investigation. I apologize for any prolonged delays this might cause, but please rest assured that we are trying to handle your issue in a timely manner. During this time, you may still update your incident with additional information that might help us resolve your issue without causing any additional delay. To update your incident click the link above that says, "To view or update your question from our support site, http://support.ea.com ."

We appreciate theopportunity to assist you and look forward to getting youback in the game. Please accept our apology for any troublesor errors you may experience from time to time and yourhelp.

2/8 Them: Hi,

Your issue has been escalated to Tier 3.

What's the serial code/authorization key for your copy of Sims 3?

Also, could you send a screenshot of your game showing the missing function?

To save a screen shot, simply hold down the [Shift] and [Apple] Keys and then hit the [3] key when the screen you want to save appears. This will save an image of your screen in your system clipboard. Just paste in an image program (Photoshop, PhotoImage, etc.) and save it as a .jpg file (to keep the filesize down), then attach it to this ticket, or to your reply.

I look forward to hearing back from you,

2/9 Me: here are the reg codes for my sims 3 and all expansions I have for it:
<Insert Codes Here>
The screen shot shows the buy/ build mode with the tutorial on top of it so you can see that it tells me that shop mode is supposed to be there but when you look at the indicated spot in the same photo shop mode is not there.

Is that everything you needed?


2/10 Them: Greetings,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.

It sounds like something is corrupt with the permissions of the local user account you have on your Mac. To rule this out if you have a second local account that has full admin rights on your Mac please log into that account and then attempt to install the game on that account. If you do not have a second account please create one with full admin rights and then attempt to install and launch the game on the new account.

If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email or visit our extensive knowledge base online at http://support.ea.com.

2/10 Me: I already tried that and still the same thing was occuring, the shop mode would not appear on either account. I also had apple look into it as I had my hard drive replaced if you saw my history of requests from you. The last one was to replace missing codes because paperwork was lost and anyways on the new hard drive with a fresh start I had the apple store attempt to set it up since I am good friends with an employee who was curious about it and he said he does not understand it because he tried everything, uninstalling and reinstalling and doing the same on a new account created on the computer and made into admin and still nothing. He even tried repairing permissions and nothing appears to fix this. He said it appears to be something in the coding of the game itself. Is there anything that can be done.


2/12 Them: Some times if an object is stuck it will prevent access to the Buy Mode. If you would try the following:

- Open the cheat window by pressing Ctrl+Shift+C altogether
- Type 'moveobjects on' into the cheat window.

You should then be able to move the objects around to make sure nothing is stuck and then access the buy mode.

If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email or visit our extensive knowledge base online at http://support.ea.com.

2/15 Me: ok I tried the Control/shift/ C and move object thing as told and it did nothing to fix this. I rebooted the game and still nothing. Is there any way to get the shop mode to work on the mac?

2/16 Them: Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.

The only thing that I have seen that causes this error would be there there is a stuck item or sim. If you would please go to your Documents Folder/Electronic Arts and move the Sims 3 folder to the desktop. You will then start a new game to see if the shop mode is accessible .

If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email or visit our extensive knowledge base online at http://support.ea.com.

2/17 Me: OK that did nothing, I still do not have shop mode at all. I did everything that was asked moving the file from Documents Folder/Electronic Arts folder and opening the game, plus full removal of the game and disc repair and fresh installs and absolutely nothing. Is there a way that I as a apple/ mac user can have shop mode in the game and use it cause I dont see it.

2/17 Them: Greetings,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.

The shop mode is accessible after you have created a house or sim. If you would please take a screen capture of your sim's screen after you have created a house or sim.

If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email or visit our extensive knowledge base online at http://support.ea.com.

2/20 Me: The images are practically the same as the other uploads, all show no shop mode, I took pictures of both the buy and build modes and the shop mode is still missing. Is there anything else that can be done because I am still unable to find it anywhere.

2/22 Them: Greetings,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.

From my understanding the game is identical to the US version except that it is coded for the UK region. The only thing that I can think of is if there is some form of custom content installed that is preventing the game from working correctly.

If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email or visit our extensive knowledge base online at http://support.ea.com.


OK *** I bought the game and expansions from Best Buy in Chicago. I had to fresh install on a new hard drive, there is NO custom content. This is getting rediculous. That message series is what has happened over the last 2 months and not one piece of information they have given me has put me a step further in the correct direction. Anyone else having this problem because I am now thinking they know nothing about MACs and are making up stuff while the rest of us sit here with unanswered questions. Anyone with a mac solve it yet?

my final comment to them was this:
This is the US version. I live in America, the game was bought at a chicago best buy as was the expansions. Since I had to put in a new hard drive there is no custom content at this time. Where is this mess about UK there is no reason to think about any foreign versions. This is the US game. Please fix this problem.

Seriously I need someone to solve this.