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Pets issues on the Mac: my conversation with EA

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  • wearegoldenwearegolden Posts: 10
    edited December 2011
    we should have expectations to play a game that they say will be playable on our computers... :?
  • GameKyuGameKyu Posts: 23
    edited December 2011
    I purchased TS3 Pets yesterday and installed it today. When I try to create a sim most of their body is black. not too happy right now.
  • GameKyuGameKyu Posts: 23
    edited December 2011
    oops! double post
  • peacenikchick13peacenikchick13 Posts: 26 New Member
    edited December 2011
    The final word from Kenny Benedict is quite as I suspected:

    Hi [Peacenik],

    As I mentioned in a previous email, I have had similar luck fixing this with other players that have the same operating system and graphics card. In short, The Sims 3 Pets needs the graphics card to be updated to the latest driver version. Leopard’s most current driver for this card was back in 2009, which is causing the issue at hand.

    The best option at the moment I can recommend is to upgrade your operating system to Snow Leopard. This will update your graphics card driver to the most current one available for the Mac (2011 driver). If you are interested in please visit Apple’s website for purchase details - http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A. I was informed that this costs $29.99 and they throw in free shipping. Apple will be able to clarify the exact details. The customers that have upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard have stated this has resolved the crashing/freezing.

    We are also actively collecting all user data associated to this issue. This information is being sent to the team responsible for The Sims so they can identify and address the problem. There is not an estimated time for a fix at the moment.

    If you are not interested in pursuing this recommendation, I completely understand. Please let me know your thoughts on this, and if I can do anything else for you.

    So they are aware of this problem, they are compiling data to send to the Sims team (I wish Kenny B worked on the Sims team, he seems like 10x smarter than they are!) but there is no ETA on when those users who can't afford Snow Leopard will actually be able to play their game. Here is my answer:

    Hi Kenneth,

    As I'm sure you expected, I am not at all satisfied with this response. I understand that it is the best that you can offer at this time, and I do appreciate your honest attempt to help solve my problem.

    However, the issue remains that you are now asking me to spend $30 to fix a $40 game that obviously should not have been sold in the first place, given the vast number and severity of problems that have been experienced by both Mac and PC users since its release. That is $70--nearly twice what the game is worth--that I would rather spend on more important things, particularly as these issues are, as I have pointed out before, ultimately the fault of the manufacturer rather than the consumer. According to the system requirements on the back of the Sims 3 Pets box, I need "Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard or higher" and "Nvidia GeForce 6 series or better" to run the game. My computer exceeds both of these requirements, meaning that what is advertised on the box is in fact patently false. If Sims 3 is not compatible with a Mac system, then EA should not advertise it as such. It's that simple.

    It's clear from looking at the Sims 3 Mac forums that my OS/graphics card combination is a pretty common one, and the box itself states that the game should work on my machine. The game should have been product tested on as many Mac and PC environments as possible before it was released, and it evidently was not, or these issues would have been spotted and resolved before your customers wasted their money. This is not the first time that EA has sold a game riddled with problems, glitches and "features" that don't work--this is just the first time the game has been completely unplayable.

    I feel EA owes its Mac customers a serious apology and a full refund for selling them a product that does not work despite all promises to the contrary, and then going on to tell them that they really need to spend nearly double the price of the game if they actually want to play it. It feels a little like your company is holding our game ransom (though I am aware that, thankfully, what I spend at the Apple store doesn't flow back into EA's bloated bank account).

    I am glad to hear that your team is compiling information and that a fix is in the works, though it's highly disappointing that this fix does not seem to be forthcoming. While you personally have been a pleasure to work with, EA's customer service is, by and large, abysmal, and I am appalled at the treatment of Mac customers. Although, from what I have heard, PC users don't fare much better. Again, I would like to register my serious dissatisfaction with this solution and with the fact that this issue wasn't caught and solved before the product ever went on the market.

    Thank you again for your assistance. I will let you know if I decide to purchase Snow Leopard and, if so, whether or not it actually works for me--some other players I have spoken to on the forums reported no change, while others claimed that the upgrade fixed everything. I'm sure that information would also be helpful for your report to the Sims team.

    Poor Kenny. I tried to let him know that I am actually quite pleased with the way he has dealt with me, but I just absolutely hate his company and everything it stands for. :wink: Don't let that come between us, Kenny B! I'm unsure if he'll respond to this one, as his last line sounded rather final. I suppose this is a temporary end to our saga.

    The big question is, though: why was I able to get this information only after going through a whole song and dance with an EA representative? Why hasn't this information been freely offered on the forums or the website by the "gurus" who supposedly monitor this place? Why hasn't EVERY Mac user suffering from these issues been told exactly what I was just told, without needing to send email after email?

    I imagine they're worried about the effect the information might have on their sales--"Yeahhhhh, we know your game doesn't work at all and we don't know how to fix it yet, and we don't know when we WILL be able to fix it, and we don't know why we didn't catch this massive issue until after the game was released, but hey, don't worry about it! Spend your next $40 on Sims 3 Showtime! We promise, it won't be the catastrophe that Pets is! WE PROMISE! Don't you trust us anymore?!" :roll:

    As I stated in my email to Kenny B, I remain on the fence about purchasing Snow Leopard. I guess it would be good to upgrade my system, as it is almost three years old at this point, but that is also money that I could certainly find much better uses for. I have heard from some of you that the upgrade worked, but others have reported that it didn't do anything, so it's really just a $30 gamble.

    At any rate, I hope this has been helpful, although I fear it has also been disheartening, for those of you suffering from this issue. Again, I encourage everyone to get in touch with EA and let them know exactly how you feel. Executive contact info is in the first post on this thread, or go on the website and email tech support.
  • peacenikchick13peacenikchick13 Posts: 26 New Member
    edited December 2011
    But this brings up another issue I have with computer users, you cannot force a machine to do something it is not made/programmed for. One does not expect the dishwasher to wash clothes or vice versa, do we? We know the dishwasher is not made to handle clothes, so we don't even try! :) Each machine has its own set of limitations.
    The Mac has and always will be labelled as a non-gaming machine as long as game developers never bother to develop on Macs natively - porting code over is a poor substitute as compatibility and other performance issues are introduced.

    I think the point that is missed here, though, is that a lot of this is not information that the average user can be expected to have.

    For many players, it's not about which one is a gaming or non-gaming machine, how well the game is ported, which graphics card is running on which operating system or any of that other stuff. It's about "Hey, look! This is a computer game, and I have a computer. And hey, look! According to this box, this game is able to run on my computer, because I meet or exceed all of these requirements. Well, this looks like fun!" Sally Simmer doesn't know that her computer is not "made/programmed" for gaming. She just knows that this Mac works well for her lifestyle, and according to the manufacturer, she can also play a game on it.

    You can argue that Sally Simmer can always google "Macs + gaming" and see what comes up, and that's true; the information is certainly out there. But why would she? It wouldn't occur to her. She's buying a computer game, not a car, and it's not the type of purchase that many people do a whole lot of research for--other than maybe reading some Amazon reviews. Sally Simmer wouldn't think to study up on the specifics of drivers, graphics cards, processors or any of the other things that make up a computer. She would think to verify that the information in the System Requirements matches the information that comes up when she clicks "About This Mac," because according to the manufacturer, that means the game will work on her machine.

    Sally Simmer can't be blamed for not knowing that her specific combination of parts actually won't work with the game, because the manufacturer has already promised her that they will. Her expectations are reasonable, because the manufacturer has already promised to meet them. It's all right there on the box. If EA wants to not be a nightmare garbage company, it needs to make its products accessible not only to the superfly gamer who reads WIRED, is an enthusiastic participant in the Mac/PC debate and can build a computer in her sleep, but also to the average user who only knows that the machine she uses for everything else can, according to the manufacturer, also be used for this cool game.
  • Kkatie193Kkatie193 Posts: 6 New Member
    edited December 2011
    For those who are debating upgrading to Snow Leopard to fix the problem, I wouldn't bother...I'm running Snow Leopard and am still having the problems with constant freezing and crashing. Save your $30. =/
  • peacenikchick13peacenikchick13 Posts: 26 New Member
    edited December 2011
    Hi Kkatie, would you mind letting us know what operating system (10.6.6?)/graphics card you're using, or what you were using before you upgraded? That way we can sort of see if there is a pattern as to whether or not Snow Leopard works with the game. Like I said, I've seen a lot of people who have upgraded reporting either that it fixed everything or that it made no difference, and as far as I can tell so far it just seems to be random. And that doesn't seem right...logically, there shouldn't be any randomness involved here!
  • Kkatie193Kkatie193 Posts: 6 New Member
    edited December 2011
    I am running 10.6.8 with a NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M card. My game ran surprisingly well before the installation of Pets...rarely crashed at all! Totally unplayable now, though, unfortunately.

    Other users running 10.6.8 have said the game runs great, so...who knows. Maybe it's my graphics card.
  • greylocksgreylocks Posts: 13
    edited December 2011
    I had the same experience with Pets, bought it the first day and after two months of frustration and finally the purchase of a new computer I'm playing it. And having lots of fun I'll add.

    Details for those really interested: Loading Pets on my not so very old computer wracked out all the other games. I could not play anything. Had to uninstall/reinstall everything up to Pets which was impossible to play on my Macbook Pro OS 10.58. I lost all my saved games, but could play again.

    I finally bought the latest Macbook Pro with Lion and everything worked like a charm. I got a 2.4GHz quad-core with a AMD Radeon HD 6770M. I also elected to get the faster hard drive and high resolution screen. I was able to transfer my recently saved games and now they can all adopt pets. It was a very expensive, time consuming and exhausting experience, and I hope worth it.

    In the meantime I adopted a real dog, a six year old border collie from a rescue organization.
  • KyJonesKyJones Posts: 6 New Member
    edited December 2011
    Kkatie193 wrote:
    I am running 10.6.8 with a NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M card. My game ran surprisingly well before the installation of Pets...rarely crashed at all! Totally unplayable now, though, unfortunately.

    Other users running 10.6.8 have said the game runs great, so...who knows. Maybe it's my graphics card.

    Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's your graphics card sweetie. I can't remember if it was on here or not but I've read quite a few times that a lot of the lower graphics cards don't work :/

    Edit:
    Yeah, it's even on the requirements on the case. GeForce 6 series or higher..
  • wearegoldenwearegolden Posts: 10
    edited December 2011
    I just updated today and my game works perfectly now with horses and everything. I got snow lep. 10.6.3! woo!
  • KarinLKarinL Posts: 3,989 Member
    edited December 2011
    KyJones wrote:
    Yeah, it's even on the requirements on the case. GeForce 6 series or higher..

    Actually on my case for Pets it says "NVidia GeForce 6-series or higher plus al G-, GT, GTS, GTX cards by Nvidia"

    GeForce 6-series are 2004/2005/2006 cards, which are much older and 'lower end' cards than the GeForce GT 100 series and GT 300 series which are in the 2009 and 2010 Macs respectively.

    After the 6 series there was the 7-series, 8-series and 9-series, which are all 'higher' than the 6-series.
    Then when they got to 9xxx they decided to go back and start with 100 again.

    I have a GT130 which was supported for the base game in 2009. At that time the GT 330M wasn't even out yet. The GT 330M is a much better, higher-end card than the 6-series.

    Of course this doesn't mean that it couldn't still be the graphics card that's causing the problem - but if it is, it's not because the card is crappy, low end or below specs.
  • lilrosebud211lilrosebud211 Posts: 47
    edited December 2011
    Thank you for posting! It makes me feel a bit better that someone had contacted you... I actually had a rep from Apple make a statement that I sent to EA, he filed a complaint and said that if more complaints are filed, Apple will reconsider doing future business with EA. I bet they'd make a patch then.
  • l0lbool0lboo Posts: 15 New Member
    edited January 2012
    Hello Taylor,

    I understand that you have been experiencing persistent issues with The Sims 3
    Pets on your Mac and I wanted to reach out to you in regards to the matter. I am
    sorry that the game and the issues that have come with it have been such a
    disappointment for you. You expected a new, functioning game when you purchased
    it but instead wound up with a game that has been having difficulties running
    well on the Mac system. That is definitely not something anyone wants to get
    when they spend good money on a product, and that is also not what we want you
    to receive when we put out a game.

    So I can get the most accurate information for you, what operating system and
    graphics card are you running? Also, what processor does your Mac have?

    I don't want to waste your time with additional troubleshooting that you have
    already done or that won't make any difference, so once I get those
    specifications back from you I will find out whatever I can as to what can or
    can't be done for the matter. I want to get you the best answer possible and I
    intend to do whatever I can to obtain that.

    If you have any other questions or concerns that you would like to bring to my
    attention please feel free to do so. I am happy to assist you in whatever way I
    am able. Thank you for sharing your time with me and I will look forward to
    hearing back from you!

    Sincerely,

    Kyle Cooper
    World Wide Customer Experience | Executive and Customer Relations

    I sent a general email to all of the emails that bluebellflora (I believe it was her) posted as important and I just got this back today. Since my game is actually running fine and I was emailing in more of a general sense, I'm not sure how to respond but I found it kind of nice that someone took the time to email me back. I emailed them about two to three weeks ago, but stil. I know they have other concerns and such.

    Anyway, I guess the reason I posted it is to show that one of the guys at EA shows some sort of interest in helping and to email him if you have problems.
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • lilsis1996lilsis1996 Posts: 9
    edited December 2011
    okay so i read basically this entire thread and what i've gathered is that this update is supposed to fix my problem, but it isn't. im having the same issue with the horses and the game randomly freezing but when i try to install the update it tells me to reinstall my game, which i do, only to get the same message the next time i try. can someone please help me? this is so confusing and seeming as though everything i've read here is far more helpful than anything i've read from EA i hope someone can help me.
  • VyineVyine Posts: 4
    edited January 2012
    First off, I am extremely jealous that you've even been able to open Sims 3 Pets at all.

    After installing Sims 3 Pets onto my mac (running 10.6.8) I have not been able to play one minute of Sims 3 pets. Not a single **** minute. I have spent 4 days doing everything that support representatives have suggested, and everything I've found online. (Uninstalling and reinstalling both the expansion and Sims 3 itself at least a dozen times, restarting my computer with and without the disc in the drive, repairing disk permissions about 5 times now, creating various mac accounts and trying to install the game from them, etc. If it's been posted online or suggested by customer support, I've done it nearly half a dozen times, at least.) I even exchanged my game, believing my disc was defective! And every time I try to open the game, I receive "cannot verify disc". Occasionally after closing the game, I have received another alert about the game being incapable of copying a specific file to a new location. (unfortunately, I do not currently have my note on the specifics of this file, or where it is supposed to copy to.) Even worse - I have received an alert of the game being incapable of even opening the title sequence. This alert announces to me that there is an "initialization failure." I received that message with BOTH copies of Sims 3 Pets, before and after uninstalling and reinstalling my entire sims 3 series.

    Even more frustrating is the fact that the support representative I spoke with on the phone failed to actually email me my case number for the problems so that I could contact EA support line again and not deal with the same ******** over and over.

    I, too, have been an avid Sims lover ever since the first series of Sims games. I bought nearly every expansion, or have received them as birthday or christmas gifts, for years. The pets expansions have always been my favorite, and ever since I heard of Sims 3 being released, I have desperately looked forward to what they will do for Pets, and when it will be released.

    At this point, I am furious that I wasted a single dime on this expansion pack. This was supposed to be a christmas gift to myself, and instead it has been the biggest (electronical) disappointment Of My Life. I have never had to suffer through such aggravating measures to try an open a game Once, and still fails.

    I still have a hard time believing that the company I have supported for so long would even consider putting out such a failure of a game. The idea of having hope that EA will solve this - in any sort of timely fashion - seems about as pointless as hoping ice cream will rain from the sky.
  • weirdartistweirdartist Posts: 5
    edited January 2012
    hi, I too have the horses issue eve after patch. Mac OS 10.5.8 plenty of memory etc etc. NVIDIA GeForce 9400 graphics card.

    All above requirements, all in working order (keep disc permissions checked and repaired, system well updated etc)

    I'll be honest its just heartbreaking, especially for my partner who brought this for my main christmas present. I just want to play the game I love please EA.

    I have the horse-freeze issue, although I am not sure if it is affected by horses running past on screen, since I don't think I have seen any of those, I cannot create, adopt nor buy a horse. I also get the "This disc cannot be verified please contact customer service" every once in a while. I know for a fact this is a genuine disc, it was brought from a big chain store, sealed, has all the correct logos&holos on. Fortunately this seems to resolve when the disc is removed and re-inserted, but it is incredibly frustrating, I have a full time job, a young child and have a part time university course going on, when I do get my 30mins to play Sims if 10-15mins are wasted starting, loading, having the game quit itself and then having to eject the disk, re-insert the disc, starting it back up, loading and then finally playing for about 10mins before having to push Save because that takes so darned long.

    Finally loading, yes I know its not a huge issue, but my loading time went from being reasonable to taking forever, loading the start of the game, then loading each town up... My mac has not changed EA, it is in beautiful working order, and meets you specified 'minimum requirements', in fact it exceeds them, it is you who misses minimum requirements: A game that does what it says on the tin, preferably before it turns 2013.

    Anybody in the UK reported false claims to the Office of Fair Trading yet? I think that is my next port of call.
  • VikkiPinkVikkiPink Posts: 16
    edited January 2012
    Hmm. So I've read through this entire post... basically because I have tried playing sims for the third time since I installed pets and it just isn't working. I can play for five to ten minutes before the whole game just freezes and I need to hit the power button to turn the **** thing off.

    I'm so upset. And frustrated. I JUST WANT TO PLAY!

    So later this week I will update my software, especially since its way overdue, and see if it works. If it does, or doesn't, I can definitely send a post this way and let you guys know.

    I think its bull that we can't enjoy the sims the way a PC gamer would. I agree with a lot of you on here that say they shouldn't be advertising the sims as working on a mac if it does not and they know it. I'm just too mad...

    I'll do the update and see. Theirs no way I'm purchasing a piece of crap PC so that I can play the sims. Macs are the best out there for EVERYTHING ELSE why can't they run this ONE **** game?
  • ERAustenERAusten Posts: 3 New Member
    edited January 2012
    The final word from Kenny Benedict is quite as I suspected:

    Hi [Peacenik],

    As I mentioned in a previous email, I have had similar luck fixing this with other players that have the same operating system and graphics card. In short, The Sims 3 Pets needs the graphics card to be updated to the latest driver version. Leopard’s most current driver for this card was back in 2009, which is causing the issue at hand.

    The best option at the moment I can recommend is to upgrade your operating system to Snow Leopard. This will update your graphics card driver to the most current one available for the Mac (2011 driver). If you are interested in please visit Apple’s website for purchase details - http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A. I was informed that this costs $29.99 and they throw in free shipping. Apple will be able to clarify the exact details. The customers that have upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard have stated this has resolved the crashing/freezing.

    We are also actively collecting all user data associated to this issue. This information is being sent to the team responsible for The Sims so they can identify and address the problem. There is not an estimated time for a fix at the moment.

    If you are not interested in pursuing this recommendation, I completely understand. Please let me know your thoughts on this, and if I can do anything else for you.

    So they are aware of this problem, they are compiling data to send to the Sims team (I wish Kenny B worked on the Sims team, he seems like 10x smarter than they are!) but there is no ETA on when those users who can't afford Snow Leopard will actually be able to play their game. Here is my answer:

    Hi Kenneth,

    As I'm sure you expected, I am not at all satisfied with this response. I understand that it is the best that you can offer at this time, and I do appreciate your honest attempt to help solve my problem.

    However, the issue remains that you are now asking me to spend $30 to fix a $40 game that obviously should not have been sold in the first place, given the vast number and severity of problems that have been experienced by both Mac and PC users since its release. That is $70--nearly twice what the game is worth--that I would rather spend on more important things, particularly as these issues are, as I have pointed out before, ultimately the fault of the manufacturer rather than the consumer. According to the system requirements on the back of the Sims 3 Pets box, I need "Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard or higher" and "Nvidia GeForce 6 series or better" to run the game. My computer exceeds both of these requirements, meaning that what is advertised on the box is in fact patently false. If Sims 3 is not compatible with a Mac system, then EA should not advertise it as such. It's that simple.

    It's clear from looking at the Sims 3 Mac forums that my OS/graphics card combination is a pretty common one, and the box itself states that the game should work on my machine. The game should have been product tested on as many Mac and PC environments as possible before it was released, and it evidently was not, or these issues would have been spotted and resolved before your customers wasted their money. This is not the first time that EA has sold a game riddled with problems, glitches and "features" that don't work--this is just the first time the game has been completely unplayable.

    I feel EA owes its Mac customers a serious apology and a full refund for selling them a product that does not work despite all promises to the contrary, and then going on to tell them that they really need to spend nearly double the price of the game if they actually want to play it. It feels a little like your company is holding our game ransom (though I am aware that, thankfully, what I spend at the Apple store doesn't flow back into EA's bloated bank account).

    I am glad to hear that your team is compiling information and that a fix is in the works, though it's highly disappointing that this fix does not seem to be forthcoming. While you personally have been a pleasure to work with, EA's customer service is, by and large, abysmal, and I am appalled at the treatment of Mac customers. Although, from what I have heard, PC users don't fare much better. Again, I would like to register my serious dissatisfaction with this solution and with the fact that this issue wasn't caught and solved before the product ever went on the market.

    Thank you again for your assistance. I will let you know if I decide to purchase Snow Leopard and, if so, whether or not it actually works for me--some other players I have spoken to on the forums reported no change, while others claimed that the upgrade fixed everything. I'm sure that information would also be helpful for your report to the Sims team.

    Poor Kenny. I tried to let him know that I am actually quite pleased with the way he has dealt with me, but I just absolutely hate his company and everything it stands for. :wink: Don't let that come between us, Kenny B! I'm unsure if he'll respond to this one, as his last line sounded rather final. I suppose this is a temporary end to our saga.

    The big question is, though: why was I able to get this information only after going through a whole song and dance with an EA representative? Why hasn't this information been freely offered on the forums or the website by the "gurus" who supposedly monitor this place? Why hasn't EVERY Mac user suffering from these issues been told exactly what I was just told, without needing to send email after email?

    I imagine they're worried about the effect the information might have on their sales--"Yeahhhhh, we know your game doesn't work at all and we don't know how to fix it yet, and we don't know when we WILL be able to fix it, and we don't know why we didn't catch this massive issue until after the game was released, but hey, don't worry about it! Spend your next $40 on Sims 3 Showtime! We promise, it won't be the catastrophe that Pets is! WE PROMISE! Don't you trust us anymore?!" :roll:

    As I stated in my email to Kenny B, I remain on the fence about purchasing Snow Leopard. I guess it would be good to upgrade my system, as it is almost three years old at this point, but that is also money that I could certainly find much better uses for. I have heard from some of you that the upgrade worked, but others have reported that it didn't do anything, so it's really just a $30 gamble.

    At any rate, I hope this has been helpful, although I fear it has also been disheartening, for those of you suffering from this issue. Again, I encourage everyone to get in touch with EA and let them know exactly how you feel. Executive contact info is in the first post on this thread, or go on the website and email tech support.
    I'm so glad someone put this down for them. I'm surprised they haven't been sued or something since this does qualify as false advertisement.

    However I will say after talking to someone at the local Genius Bar while he checked my mac in to have a fan replaced he basically told me that the updates aren't that big of a deal and until I need it for software, he was talking more like Adobe programs, not to bother with it. He said that it will change a few things such as interaction with minor programs and locating programs int he finder. So nothing big. Additionally it appears that the Snow Leopard and Lion are not the ultimate solution from scanning the various threads. I too have been messaging them but have been straight to the point with every message. I won't be doing anything until they give me something more concrete.

    As a college student whose major was inspired by what I spent most of my time on back in the days of the original, I am very saddened and disgusted by this obvious lack of competency in EA Games.
  • medivialprincessmedivialprincess Posts: 774 Member
    edited January 2012
    i have the horse issue. i have actual gone so far to completely avoid pets in my game(never can find the unistall file). i bought this with my christmas money and i can play a few hours but constatly have to save. my laptop is from 08 or 09 but its up to date and so is my game. and i'm a 16 year old i can't or do i have the money to go buy a new computer, video card,etc .
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  • ERAustenERAusten Posts: 3 New Member
    edited January 2012
    i have the horse issue. i have actual gone so far to completely avoid pets in my game(never can find the unistall file). i bought this with my christmas money and i can play a few hours but constatly have to save. my laptop is from 08 or 09 but its up to date and so is my game. and i'm a 16 year old i can't or do i have the money to go buy a new computer, video card,etc .
    From what I'm getting the only possible fix is having Snow Leopard. But from searching through the internet that's not even 100%. This is not your laptops problem. I think at this point it is pretty clear that it's the game. Specifically the Pets expansion pack. I know that's still disheartening in your position but this is again not your fault and until they follow up with something concrete there isn't anything you can do.

    As for the uninstall you can select pets to be uninstalled through the regular uninstaller. Only one appears for The Sims 3 and it will ask you what you want to uninstall. Hope that helps.
  • AlexRoz9AlexRoz9 Posts: 309 New Member
    edited January 2012
    But this brings up another issue I have with computer users, you cannot force a machine to do something it is not made/programmed for. One does not expect the dishwasher to wash clothes or vice versa, do we? We know the dishwasher is not made to handle clothes, so we don't even try! :) Each machine has its own set of limitations.
    The Mac has and always will be labelled as a non-gaming machine as long as game developers never bother to develop on Macs natively - porting code over is a poor substitute as compatibility and other performance issues are introduced.
    This is a (no pun intended) apples to oranges comparison though. Macs have no problem playing games provided that games are properly coded in the first place. In fact, the Mac has several games available for it that one could consider "bug free," or at least free from any bugs that its Windows counterpart does not have as well; these are games that have been properly coded, and/or properly ported. Additionally, the Mac used to have many games on it; it was only in the '90s when Apple was facing bankruptcy that developers left the platform, and only around 2006 that many began to return to it, so while it's true that there was a ten year "gap" where the Mac had few games available, it's not true that the Mac has "always been a non-gaming machine." Likewise, EA may be programming their games in Windows, but they're programming on Mac Pros that are clearly visible in pictures of their offices used in their promotional materials; there's really no excuse for their games to be so poorly written/coded on the Mac platform. EA wanted to cut corners with Cider and we're (literally and figuratively) paying for that decision.
    I think the point that is missed here, though, is that a lot of this is not information that the average user can be expected to have.

    For many players, it's not about which one is a gaming or non-gaming machine, how well the game is ported, which graphics card is running on which operating system or any of that other stuff. It's about "Hey, look! This is a computer game, and I have a computer. And hey, look! According to this box, this game is able to run on my computer, because I meet or exceed all of these requirements. Well, this looks like fun!" Sally Simmer doesn't know that her computer is not "made/programmed" for gaming. She just knows that this Mac works well for her lifestyle, and according to the manufacturer, she can also play a game on it.
    I know I'm only quoting a portion of it, but this was an amazingly well-written and insightful post, Peacenikchick13. I admit to being tech-savvy, but just because I'm tech-savvy doesn't mean that I prefer to run Windows. When I purchase something, I expect it to work, and that's part of the reason that I switched to Macs in the first place; when I installed software on them, they worked without wasting time troubleshooting things out of the box. My Mac, (a Mac Pro,) meets or exceeds every system spec required for The Sims 3, yet the game crashes roughly every two minutes, and I've had problems from the day that I received it. To be fair, those were related to promotional content, and EA did fix them after several phone calls, but the simple fact is that I should not have had problems out of the box, nor should I have had the continued problems that have accompanied each EP/SP that I've purchased. These aren't occasional glitches; these are game breaking bugs, and this is the only piece of software that I have this issue with on my Mac, be it a game or something else. EA had no problem promoting the game as being WIN/MAC compatible back when they released it, so they didn't just claim that it was Mac compatible, they made that compatibility a selling point. There's a reasonable expectation that products will work as advertised, and TS3 was advertised as being fully Mac compatible. The types of problems I've had with TS3 are inexcusable no matter what platform they're on; I paid for a game, not an automatic headache generator.
    I actually had a rep from Apple make a statement that I sent to EA, he filed a complaint and said that if more complaints are filed, Apple will reconsider doing future business with EA. I bet they'd make a patch then.
    Good! :) Hopefully this will be the wake–up call EA needs to fix the mountain of problems on their Mac version of TS3 that have gone unresolved while they continue to push out expansion packs. I hate that it's coming to this, but EA's inability to resolve game-breaking problems is getting on my nerves. I want to play this game; I really, really, want to play this game, but EA doesn't seem to care that this game doesn't work once they've got my $40 dollars for each EP and my $20 for each SP. (They got my initial $60 for the collector's edition on preorder.) Hopefully Apple will put pressure on EA; that would probably get a lot of the bigger bugs resolved if Apple threatened to cease doing business with them. Just think of all the revenue they'd lose from their iOS games and their Mac games if Apple dropped them due to quality control issues. I really don't think that asking for a game to function "as advertised" is asking too much; I've thrown more money at The Sims than I'd care to remember. I have TS1 and most of its expansions for Windows, and I have TS1 and all of its expansions for the Mac; I've purchased TS3's collector's edition, the deluxe edition, and every expansion/stuff pack at least once, as well as Barnacle Bay. I think that I deserve a working game after I've sunk $400+ dollars into a game, and that's not even counting preorders for the "Master Suite SP" and the "Showtime: Limited Edition EP," or any of the TS1 purchases.
  • edenbeauty1edenbeauty1 Posts: 11
    edited January 2012
    Just making sure this is put on the front page of this forum.

    And to also say, if EA wants to keep TS3 open for business, they need to get a move on it. xD
  • BalooeyesBalooeyes Posts: 4
    edited January 2012
    Hi, I just wanted to post for everyone on here in case it helps anyone.
    I was running a late 2008 13" MacBook (updated to the most current version of Leopard) and all the details checked out fine in the requitements but I was having the issue that the game froze with the horse. Well, I tried to have the computer fixed from a totally unrelated issue and it ended up totally broken so I ended up buying a new MackBook Pro and the game (sims 3 plus Pets, no other expansions, but I do have some custom content) works perfect! I had planned to upgrade to Snow Leopard when my old mac came back but never got the chance, so now I have to sell that disc... :-/ $30 wasted there, but oh well... only took a new Mac to get a $40 game to work. ugh.
    Hopefully you all are able to find a fix!

    here are my current specs that work (taken from my "About This Mac" screen):

    15" MacBook Pro, late 2011
    Processor 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
    Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
    Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB
    Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2
  • edenbeauty1edenbeauty1 Posts: 11
    edited January 2012
    I'm glad your game works now but no one should have to buy a new Mac or update to Snow Leopard if theirs works perfectly okay and everything else runs fine on it (I know you had to buy a new one because of an. Especially since a new Mac would be more than $1000 alone AND the cost of the game would be added on top of that.
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