Re: Can't run The Sims 3 on macOS Catalina

Yep (: I am running it on my bootcamp, but my preffered playstyle for this game will always be my main Mac. I did know it, because I got warned by the Mac before I updated. Just sad that we managed to jump swiftly over every obstacle that came with every new macOS, there of course had to be one that were just like NOPE --

This was meant to be a comment to EA as a little complaint that it was quite depressing seeing this amazing game getting discontinued on macOS on its very tenth birthday.. Have a nice day ^^ 

i also have catalina does that mean i will never be a ble to play sims 

@kingcharlie2005  You can't run Sims 3 in Catalina at all.  If you want to play the game, you have two options.  The first is to install Mojave on an external hard drive.  You'd need temporary access to a Mac running Mojave to do this; maybe you can borrow one from a friend.  Bluebellflora wrote a guide for the process here:

https://bluebellflora.com/running-32-bit-apps-after-macos-mojave/

You could also install a virtual machine on your Mac, as described in the above article.  Or you could partition your hard drive and install Windows on one side of it.  This is known as Bootcamping, and it's surprisingly easy on newer Macs.  Sims 3 runs better in Windows than it ever did in macOS, and some of us (myself included) have set up our Macs this way just to play the game properly.  The way it works is that you restart your computer and choose to boot into Windows, and then everything works like it would on a PC.  If you'd like more information on this, let me know.

All of the above applies to Sims 3, not Sims 4.  The reason that Sims 4 currently doesn't run on Catalina is that the ActivationUI is still 32-bit, even though the game is 64-bit.  EA will sort this out sooner or later, hopefully by the time Catalina is released to the general public, and when it's fixed, Sims 4 will be playable again.

Hi!

Can I have more info on how to run my Mac like a Windows and play the game that way? I would really appreciate it!

@aprahl4  How you go about installing Windows depends partly on your preference, and partly on the specs of your Mac.  So please post those specs, as described here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-3-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/4756624#M2878

Please also let me know how much free storage you have.  )On the About This Mac screen, click the Storage tab to see.)   Windows needs quite a bit of space to maneuver.

LMAO I almost threw my MacBook at a wall five minutes ago because i just updated to Catalina this afternoon, tried to play Sims and now I read this....if only EA developers were as easily scared by words as my boyfriend was minutes ago. Gonna go mourn my dysfunctional families and lavish houses now...

@Seh_Strom  If you have some time on your hands (and haven't hurled your Mac out the window yet), you can try reinstalling the original OS that came on your computer, then updating to Mojave.  Sims 3 should run fine then, plus or minus some extra workarounds that are often necessary.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/reinstall-macos-mchlp1599/mac