Hi SNEVEDS,

Sorry that the steps in this guide weren't helpful in getting your game up and running. I certainly sense your frustration and empathize. I will try and address your questions as best I can.

1) Why would a company release an 'expansion pack' to base software that requires anyone to go through such extreme efforts just to be able to even load the game--shouldn't the software be made to self configure properly 'out of the box'?

The short answer is yes.
Ideally developers have a responsibility to insure that their products are as "dummy proof" as possible right out of the box.
Looking at it objectively however it seems pretty evident that the Sims series offers several additional QA challenges not necessarily present in other titles.

The sheer size of the game, the endless variations of user configurations and the complexity of the coding make The Sims more of a QA challenge than most titles right out of the gate. Toss in the "X" factor of user created content and it becomes even more daunting to assure that the expansions will just "plug n' play" flawlessly on top of the original code.

2) Why would anyone want to risk loading such damaging software if warned in advance--should there be a sticker on the box saying something akin to "Caution--special instructions are required just to load this software and after even a proper loading please be aware that this software may very likely still not run properly"?

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say "damaging software".
I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and guess you are referring to the software programs I recommended in the OP.

The programs I recommended have been around for a long time and have been recommended many times in other help/troubleshooting threads.
However as highly regarded as those programs are, there is always the possibility of user error and/or that using these programs could produce undesirable results. Hence the disclaimer.

3) Because Sims 2 loaded properly as did all of its expansion packs without a major hitch--is it too much to expect that Sims 3 should work similarly?

No not at all. From a consumers point of view I would certainly expect that when I buy something it's going to work as intended.

However there is a bit of a problem with your statement.
That being it implies that the game didn't load correctly out of the box for anyone which is simply untrue. This is an important troubleshooting distinction because what it proves beyond a reasonable doubt is that the problem doesn't lie with the coding per-se, rather (more likely) with the compatibility of that coding with unknown or unanticipated variables.

Another very important thing to keep in mind is that the overwhelming majority of people using 3rd party CC are also using a third party installer which is definitely causing installation issues. I've experienced this myself.
As far as I know there weren't such problems with any of the auto-CC installers for TS2.

There isn't really anything extraordinary in the steps I have outlined in the OP.
At the very least they are basic maintenance tips that should be practiced by all PC users as GP, and at most they are additional steps that should be taken whenever loading a program of such massive size and complexity.

4) Sims 3 & expansions cost 25% more--shouldn't they run at least 25% or more of the time?

I'm going to go ahead and chalk this statement up to frustration and assume it was rhetorical. ..again I really do empathize....with your plight.

5) If Sims 3 WA will not run when sold 'as is', where the incentive to buy additional expansion packs?
Sorry, it just seems that such questions loom large over the future of Sims 3.

Obviously if most users could say with absolute certainty that....


a) Their computers are healthy
b) Their computers meet or exceed all minimum specs, and
c) they have not introduced variables such as third party hack/mods or CC
and the game still didn't load or run properly...

then yes I would say that it is a pretty safe bet that the franchise would be doomed to fail sooner rather than later.
At the risk of sounding glib however if this is not the case then I as a user would probably examine the above points a bit more thoroughly.

While the instructions provided may work for "Dummies" to load the game, it should be noted that there is still a good chance that the game still will not run using the current release & patches.

Indeed I did offer that caveat in the first few lines of the disclaimer. In looking back at the responses on this thread however I'm not sure I would phrase it quite as you have here, as it apparently has helped roughly as many as it hasn't.

Sims 3 + patch 1.46 does run for most people.

Again..while it's painfully obvious that this particular release has seen more problems than most in recent memory, in looking around the forums I see no evidence to suggest this statement is entirely true.

SNEVEDS I realize that I have probably said some things here that you most likely don't want to hear, and that some of the statements you made were probably made out of frustration....totally understandable.

From a troubleshooting perspective however it's important to put emotion and blame aside, and just look at the facts.

The fact is the game is running for many people but obviously not for everyone.
This fact absolutely excludes the possibility that the problem lies strictly with the coding, however it doesn't exclude the possibility that something relatively simple was overlooked in the QA process when assuring that the game works with as many different user configurations as possible.


In order to reach this conclusion however it is important that as many "user" variables as possible are eliminated.

In a perfect world I absolutely agree that the onus shouldn't be on the user to do this...however with such a huge & complex game where the use of third party code is rampant, it is important to establish a 'ground zero' or common point of reference for proper troubleshooting.

In order to establish with absolute certainty that the problem lies on EA's end we have to be able to say that we are playing the game exactly the way it was coded, and tested in their QA labs.

In your case SNEVEDS, if you have performed all of the steps in this guide, your computer meets or exceeds specs, and you are not using 3rd party content of any kind, the next thing I would suspect is a faulty disk, or a corrupt download.

Hope in the end you are able to get it all sorted,
Best of luck,

UZ

JKLEMON wrote:Thanks,just wanted to say it's nice to have someone willing to help those of us who know just enough about our computer and CC and the Sims 3 game to get into trouble, but not enough to get out on our own. Thanks again

YVW JKLEMON,

Glad you found it useful.

UZ

I just wanted to say thank you for this. I had read so much about bug concerning the latest patch and WA that I waited a long time to buy the EP and patch my game, even though I really wanted to. But, I actually added one step. I did not put my Sims3 folder back as it was, because allready had som technical issues and wasn't really sure about where all my cc was.

A lot of players don't seem to realise that by downloading sims, households and lots, a lot of custom content might be installed to the game! I had a lot of clothes, make-up etc, clearly installed via the launcher, but the orginal files not to find (I think they go as anonymous .package-files to the DC-backup folder...???).

I decided to only put back the CC that I had control over over. No sims, no households. Just my saved games, my downloaded package-files and the sims3pack-files that I had in a folder. And to download and reinstall all store items again. I actually found a tool at MTS where you could test and fix package-file objects for causing the blue lot-bug. It fixed a curtain for me. Not used in game, but anyhow.

Everything is so far running smooth here, no problems besides some minor glitches:

1. One hair I bought for my new sim points was in game, but then dissapeared. Then it came back, without me really do anything. I'm 100% sure because it was the hairstyle I gave to a sim in one of my test games, and in another game the hair wasn't there. When I came back to the first sim his hairstyle was changed to a base game one, but when I send my sim tio change it by the mirror, I found my purchased hair again.

2. My launcher is little unsteady. I've had to force it to close down, and some times I've had to retry to downloading stuff.

3. I found a fishing glitch but searched on this forum and there seems to be a solution. Not a big thing right now anyway and I haven't even tested it.

... And my technical issues in my legacy game hasn't appeared yet. I'm som happy, keeping my fingers crossed.

I had to have a new video card for my computer when i got sims 3

Thank you, Thank you I did everything you said to do and.... I am now able to play my Sims again. You are just wonderful to have taken your time to help all of use out here who needed someonr to show us how to do what was needed. I can't say thank you enough. Thank you

YVW Polly & Leslie,

Glad it worked out for you guys!

UZ

SNEVEDS wrote:After doing all this stuff and finding the game still doesn't run without invoking a blue screen error.

For this very reason, I am reluctant to do all of the prescribed procedures. I have 1 terrabyte of disk space so I can't even imagine how long it would take to defrag it. Plus, I don't understand why a registry cleaner is needed, unless WA left a mess in its wake when I first installed it.

As for the rest of your questions, SNEVEDS, I think the only answer is that EA released a buggy expansion and they are not quick enough to fix the problems. I'm a little mad at myself because I actually did some research before buying it and I did see all the complaints. I guess it never occured to me that my top-of-the-line gaming machine would not be able to run World Adventures.

What bothers me even more is that it's been two months since the expansion was released and people are still having these problems.

For now, I have decided to uninstall WA (and my game runs fine without it by the way) and just wait until EA fixes all the bugs. I do think that people should be made aware of all the problems so they won't sink their $40 on something they MAY NOT be able to play.

I just went through all these steps, I think.... a little confused though.

When I re-installed and went back into the game, all the stuff from the EA store that I bought previously was still there, as well as the game saves from my old family... but this was before I manually put them back in. What did I miss? I was pretty sure I deleted everything related to the game before I re-installed, so why would that stuff still be there?

As a side note, I'm still having the same bugs that I was before. But, maybe I just did something wrong.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for this helpful topic here.

but what i didn´t found here is how do you REinstall the game when you only purchased the download version with the download manager from EA?
i crashed my game and can´t fix it again- so i thought i try eliminating the whole game and reinstall it all new-
but i´m just really worried that i won´t be able to reinstall because it was a download digital download from the EADM and i don´t have the cd...

can i reinstall a digital download? and how please?

please help! i´m desperate!

Whew! So glad you made this. Currently updating to get back on track but so far so good with the reinstall.

Thank You so much!

Hi Uzone,

I also wanted to say a big thank you for this. I would never have been able to do it otherwise! Its do good that you are willing to help us out on something that I think EA should be more willing and openly helpful with.

I have used this to re-install world adventures and it has worked with the bugs. I havent installed any of the patches and so far so good! I cant believe that an official patch released by EA is the thing that made my game un-playable! Seems a bit crazy.

Anyway, thanks again Uzone, you have helped a lot of people I am sure!
x

I followed every instruction in the guide but for some reason... when I tried to install the game, it won't even start! I don't know what happened, maybe I deleted something wrong... but is that possible to delete something in the computer to make my disc reader stop working?

When I go to my computer it shows that the sims disk is in there, but when I double click on it (or right click and choose to install) it doesn't do anything.

Before it would register that the sims disk was in my computer, so I tried Fallout 3 and Spore and those just show up as a "DVD-ROM" and when I try to execute it, it tells me that there's no disk inside. I went back to the sims and it does the same for that now as well.

3/24 8:14 AM
I bypassed the disc error for now.. (still doesn't work though) and downloaded the game on the EA Manager. Now after I test ran a family to see if there were any quick bugs I could spot.. None. So I tried downloading the patch but it says something about my QtCore4.dll missing. I've tried to download it but I've no idea where to put this or how it works. The patches still don't update.

9:07 AM
Somehow the patch started updating without me fixing the QtCore4... But I unzipped it into my system files anyway. Just in case it's needed for something. Now, when I try to open TS3 (the launcher to be specific) it says that there was an error in startup and to check the log for more details. Then the whole thing freezes and I can't even close the window without having to go to my task manager.
I can play the game without the patch but I have to uninstall and reinstall it... Though that my be more because I don't know how to remove the patch alone.

So I uninstalled and resintalled it, much faster now after the initial loading off of the EA Manager, seems like it's like having a disk on my computer at all times, except non-functioning correctly. When I did the initial installation the first time, TS3 ran almost perfectly, I had no issues whatsoever... But now I can't even update the patch as I did before. The QtCore4 didn't come up as an issue until I bought World Adventures. Which I can't even begin intalling for some reason. The manager asks for my permission then just doesn't do anything.

I've run registry checkers anti-virus/malware programs and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my computer... it just seems broken now.

I really wish someone would read this and help...

9:55 AM

Alright, so I figured out that the QtCore4 was supposed to be a part of the EA Download Manager but it was missing a file. So I reinstalled the whole thing in case it was missing more. But now whenever I launch it, it says "EA Download Manager tried to launch an external application but the path was invalid. Please try again, or reinstall EADM"

Why is EVERYTHING breaking down now?

This clean install worked for me ... the second time I used it.

Long story short, I also had to remove the EA Launcher because I was getting that "error ... log" message with a launcher indicating nothing but zeroes in the version.

Then, of course, the same video card that's been running the game since release wasn't recognized, but on a third install, it was.

This is a work of genius.

Never mind, found my answer!