@InducedSpirit What exactly do you need help with? If you're looking for the Steam CD keys, the original response has a helpful screenshot. These codes are 20 characters long and can be registered to your account either in Origin or the Sims 3 Store. For the store, be sure to click on "register a game" rather than "redeem a code."
If there's something else, please post back describing precisely what isn't working for you.
@UsuallyMusic01 Steam does in fact provide what it calls "CD keys" for the base game and each pack you own. The keys are product codes that can be registered in Origin the same way disc codes can; these codes can be found in your Steam game library:
If you click on "CD key" (shown in red), a popup appears with the codes.
In case it matters to anyone, these codes cannot be seen in mac OS. Steam doesn't even show the category.
How did you get there
@SGUYY_11 The setup in Steam has changed a bit. Now you need to click the gear icon (in the red box below), then Manage > CD Keys.
@wired4sims When did you buy the game, or do you only have an EA Play subscription for Sims 3? I just loaded my Steam library and can still see my CD keys, but I've owned the game for three years. More recently, there was an issue with Steam keys and EA Play which led to... I guess Steam pulling the keys? I'm not sure what the official stance is, but it would help if you let me know when and how you got the game.
Hi, I am having the same problem ☹️ I have had mine since Feb 2020 but having the same problem, it's not giving me an option for CD Key. I did not download it from a CD, but purchased and downloaded directly from Steam. I am looking to download some extras from EA and have created an EA account now but it is asking me for my game's serial number. Not sure how to get around it. Help appreciated.
@littlegamingdoll This is an unfortunate side effect of a recent change to the way Steam handles CD keys for EA products. I don't know whether it will work, but you could try contacting Steam support and asking for the key directly.
If that doesn't help, please let me know, and I'll ask someone from EA what else can be done. This isn't the way Sims 3 on Steam is supposed to work, so hopefully there's another approach to retrieving your product key.
unfortunately, i cant find the cd code for just the base game. any idea where that is? i have a whole lot of other cds, but not the base game.
@DerPestd0kt0r Please let me know whether you end up getting the CD key from EA support. If not, maybe there's something else to do here; I'll ask around.
@thatwhichisi I was under the impression that Steam support was supposed to provide the base game CD key if it was requested. That didn't work for the other recent poster, but you can try asking and see if you get a different outcome. Otherwise, try contacting EA customer support instead.
I have the same Problem btw. I just bought the game on steam and have no CD-Key. Has anyone who had the same problem already gotten his cd-ey?
@JuliaMarasha That is not clear at this point. It would be great if you could try contacting Steam support, and EA support if Steam support doesn't help. Even if no one is willing to help, it's still good info, and maybe someone from EA will be able to look into it.
Ok, update: I'vb chatted with the customer support for 40 minutes now, I have downloaded origin, linked my ea account to my steam account and they have adeded the steam game in my origin-library after I send them proof that I bought the game from my account. When you now log in to the sims3-website with your ea-account, then the game is automatically registered and you don't need a cd-key anymore.
My advice for people with the same problem: First link your ea-ccount to steam (log out and then in the log in window on the bottom is a steam symbol.) Then contact them and let them add the game to your origin account. Saves them time.
@JuliaMarasha Are you going to play through Steam or Origin? If Steam, I'd be interested to know whether you can download any items from the Sims 3 Store. Now that your Origin account owns the game, you have access to the Store: just sign in with the same email and password you use for Origin.
Even if you don't want to buy any store content, you could try installing Riverview, which is free:
https://store.thesims3.com/riverview.html?categoryId=12642
But it's encrypted, like all other store content, which is why I'm curious whether it would work on your setup.
I had the same problem as you, but as soon as I bought DLC for the sims 3 on Steam, I got the CD keys option.. I only got them for the DLC but when I used them, somehow it automatically installed the base game as well.. Really weird...
So after reading what you said I tried again to enter all my dlc keys in without caps lock (I read that caps can mess it up) and weirdly enough they all worked this time. Although I was having the same issue as everyone else by getting the “null” message before, it worked perfectly fine this time. Though the sims 3 base game isn’t there and the CD key indeed does not show up on steam keys. I just don’t understand why only the base game key isn’t there? I even tried to regedit to find the keys but alas all my base game says is %CDKEY%, whatever that means
@BellowYellow The base game key doesn't show up because people were abusing EA Play in Steam to acquire keys to older games, so Steam pulled the keys for affected games rather than coming up with a more nuanced approach. You can try contacting Steam support to request your base game key, although I'm not sure whether you'll get any help.
Someone else posted that this helped them:
Did you look at that specific entry? There are two entries for the Sims 3 base game in the registry.
That’s actually good to know. I assumed something like that was going on. Just sad it had to be that way. Fortunately though I think I figured it out. As long as you can at least put in one DLC key into your sims 3 account game register it should register the original sims 3 base game in your origins games along with the DLC’s . So if you have the origin app on your computer you can go ahead and start installing the base game + the DLC’s onto your computer through there. So you don’t even need to register the base game onto the sims 3 site as long as you have any DLC. For anyone out there struggling with this issue (since I found no other platforms helping with it) I’d recommend to put in any DLC key into thesims3.com. Don’t worry about not having a base game key if the DLC keys work for you. After that just go to your origins app and the sims 3 base game plus all your DLC’s should be there to install. So for anyone unwilling or unable to contact EA support id recommend trying this first. Hopefully you get to play some sims 3 soon!
ps. If you’re putting the key into the site in all caps and it’s not working, I’d reccomend to try putting it in in lower case with no caps lock. It worked for me
