Anybody else hyped for the possible upcoming The Sims 3 64bit Version on Windows?
I am hyped! I cannot believe that I am more excited on the 64bit version without new content rather than Sims 4 EP10 :D :D . I can ran TS3 pretty good on my laptop but Island Paradise is just lagging even with mods. If this means that I can finally after years I can play Island Paradise with scuba diving and more I cannot wait any longer!!
It's my understanding that news is about Mac, not Windows. https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/973281/hasnt-the-64-bit-metal-version-of-the-sims-3-been-yet#latest
I hope you don't mind me tagging you @igazor since you seems to know about stuff like this and are well-informed.
There are no plans in place by EA that anyone who would know what they are talking about are willing/able to discuss to make a 64-bit version of TS3 for Windows. There is a "soon" to be released new version of TS3 for Mac that by definition has to be 64-bit because the current Mac operating systems will not run 32-bit apps any longer, it's showing up for many players now as a placeholder within Origin with no download available yet, and that's pretty exciting. But that's Mac-only, not Windows.
The issues with Isla Paradiso can be fixed, they aren't resource related if the player has a strong enough system to carry the EP. It's the world that is flawed by design in several places. The world is not likely to run any better, unfixed as it comes, if it just gets more RAM to work with. https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/811253/removing-ip-lag/p1
When the OS for Mac was announced, it was made clear that Apple was dropping 32bit applications which meant that no Mac players could play Sims 3 and had to sit on the sidelines while we Windows players were still able to play.
The Sims 3 64 bit Metal version for the Mac was supposed to rectify the problem so that Mac players could get back in the game.
This was EA's original announcement back in Oct. 2019. Even in Sept 2020, there were websites urging people to not be hasty in upgrading to OS Catalina because not only will 32 bit applications be unable to be run, but Apple's own uninstaller would be unavailable since it too was a 32 bit application and unable to run on Apple's own OS that they'd just created so they had put Apple users into a box. If you are an early adopter, you were stuck with Catalina and no way to uninstall it. https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/12/20908567/apple-macos-catalina-breaking-apps-32-bit-support-how-to-prepare-avoid-update
So in this case, EA was left with no choice but to make certain that a game that people had paid good money for was still able to be run.
So...will we see an eventual 64 bit upgrade for Windows? Perhaps? Perhaps not. We Windows users did not experience the same interruption in gameplay that Mac users had (for those who inadvertently decided to become early adopters of the Catalina OS) The only way that we'll see a 64bit version of our Windows based Sims 3 game is if Microsoft decides to pull an Apple move and drop support for 32 bit applications on their OS. And considering Microsoft's propensity of "pushing the Windows updates automatically on the Windows users" and forcing people to upgrade to the next version of Windows; that time may come, sooner than you or EA thinks.
But as of October 2020 - the question was asked on Microsoft.com forum https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-support-of-third-party-32bit-applications/227db050-3f65-4f7c-ae35-b316c094d492
Microsoft's independent advisor (Dave, in this case) has stated that they will be continuing to support 32bit applications for quite some time and that they plan to give several years heads-up notice before dropping 32bit applications entirely. So EA still has some time on their hands. But my suggestion to EA is to not rest on their laurels and get a 64bit version out for Windows ahead of time so that when the time comes that a notice is in place that Microsoft will be dropping 32bit support for all 32bit applications that EA has already beaten them to the punch and will not be scrambling to put out a release causing an uproar and a serious inconvenience to significantly more Windows gamers who play Sims 3.
But of course that would be the obvious move to make...
...and EA isn't known for doing the obvious thing.
The blood in the water should have been noticed with the dropping of 32 bit support for Windows 10 in the last major update. "A sign of the beginning of the process". This move should be seen as the "canary in the coalmine".
https://youtu.be/O-8kJ3Ikjl4
"igazor;c-17701934" wrote: The issues with Isla Paradiso can be fixed, they aren't resource related if the player has a strong enough system to carry the EP. It's the world that is flawed by design in several places. The world is not likely to run any better, unfixed as it comes, if it just gets more RAM to work with. https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/811253/removing-ip-lag/p1
It's not just the issues with Isla Paradiso. It is the overall propensity for Sims 3 to Error 12 crash when it runs into a lack of memory issue. The 64 bit version of that will prevent the Error 12s from ever occuring since it would get more RAM to work with.
The issues with IP is an internal game routing issue, not an interaction with Windows and access to hardware like the Error 12 problems.
For me, IP isn't so much a problem as the Error 12 issue. Error 12s cannot be fixed with the way the system interacts with RAM. It can only be resolved with recoding to 64bit.
It should be noted that not all Mac users brought this upon themselves by upgrading to Catalina too soon. If you buy a new Mac today, that is the operating system you get pre-installed. Players with new Macs then find that they have no way to install the game they had already been playing on other systems and had no reason until now to follow the discussions about what to them became the sudden lack of 32-bit backwards compatibility.
EA did have a choice, though. From their perspective, the system requirements for TS3 for Mac (the older and still current version) clearly say that it won't run on Catalina or higher. They didn't have to do this new version, but it's great that they are doing so. And many of us are very excited to see what it brings to the table and what it might mean for the future of TS3 for all players if it turns out to be a positive experience.
"igazor;c-17701965" wrote: EA did have a choice, though. From their perspective, the system requirements for TS3 for Mac (the older and still current version) clearly say that it won't run on Catalina or higher. They didn't have to do this new version, but it's great that they are doing so. And many of us are very excited to see what it brings to the table and what it might mean for the future of TS3 for all players if it turns out to be a positive experience.
Hence the reason why I said "inadvertently" meaning that they had no choice since new Macs came prepackaged with OS Catalina.
The fact of the matter is that the end of 32bit support for 32bit applications is being written by the moves that both Microsoft and Apple have made in the last year. And the "didn't have to" is going to end up becoming a "must do". It's whether EA learns from the "scramble" and disaffected Mac players experience and decides to be pre-emptive in converting their game to 64 bit for Windows and thus avoiding further and more numerous disaffected players who will more than likely give EA major headaches if they haven't learned from the previous lesson.
@Nikkei_Simmer - That's one way to look at it. Another is that EA could also have chosen/may later choose to discontinue the game. Of course we don't wish for them to do that, we would rather quite the reverse happens. But it's their game, they can do whatever they like with it (thinking of what happened with both TS1 and TS2 after they each reached a certain age). No one who purchases a license to run a program that does work on what is at the time a currently supported operating system should realistically expect it to keep working on all future systems, forever.
"igazor;c-17701998" wrote: No one who purchases a license to run a program that does work on what is at the time a currently supported operating system should realistically expect it to keep working on all future systems, forever.
People who don't understand this should take some time out and educate themselves on technology.
There is no requirement of technical knowledge to post in this forum, there is no need to show contempt or to lecture those reading the threads here.
This is by definition a forum adapted to teenagers; I would not expect all to possess that kind of knowledge, and therefore see no reason to post such a comment here; but for flaming.
