I absolutely love The Sims 3, however, after the change was made to make EP & SP's selectable playing became frustrating as the game itself would unselect choices between play sessions. Not only that, but, many of my owned packs would simply disappear from the selection area in the launcher. So, a while back I did a new reinstall hoping this might help. It had been perhaps a year since I had given up on a game that I very much enjoy. So, earlier this week I decided to actually play. I found that after downloading and reinstalling all of my owned worlds it was needful to re-select my choices. I am opening the launcher via Origin and before each session check to be certain that all remain active. Also, I've ignored the caution to "select only a couple" ( too limiting!) and have all but one of my EP &SP's activated. My game is running on Windows 10 with the highest graphic settings and continues to run smoothly after several LONG play sessions. Who else is yet playing or has returned to Sims 3 ?

No one here has played TS3 for ages. We're a bunch of bitter old players who now don't play anything at all. We congregate here every day and post up a storm (a relatively mild one but a storm nonetheless) on this section of the forum about how much better things were in the past. Sometimes we exchange recipes and knitting patterns. >:) Igazor, stop that. The OP might not realize you are joking! :angry: Okay okay, hi there and welcome back. You may be amazed to find how popular TS3 still is. And yes, Patch 1.69 was a royal pain but even while I lived through it before repurchasing and switching over to Steam/1.67, for me it was still playable. It just didn't add anything to the game experience for me except annoyances. :) @SimCaity - Hate to say this, but TS3 for Mac is a mess. It's the only iteration of sims games where EA did not do a proper port into the Mac OS and they never went back to redo it. If you have the ability to Bootcamp your Mac within reach, and have the drive space and patience to manage two operating systems, you could put Windows and the Windows version of the game on it. I've been playing that way for years on my iMac here. In my case at the time I needed the Windows partition for something work-related anyway, but now I spend all of my time (at home) in OS X except for when playing TS3.

Haven't left, just small simming breaks here and there. Packs randomly unchecking themselves was one of the reasons I ended up going back to patch 1.67It's nice that you're enjoying the game once again. :) Steam host big 75% off sales for the Sims 3 collection almost every holiday & season. I'm not sure about an upcoming Spring sale but it's possible. You can defiantly count on it during Steams popular Summer sale. The catch is you must purchase the base game through Steam as well before they let you purchase packs. Mac still has it's downsides even with the Steam version so most Mac users end up bootcamping as igazor explained.

"pattyheart;c-16370630" wrote:So, today opening the game launcher via Origin several packs were not there. They had been unselected and were not availble to activate. Closed the game and opened the launcher via the launcer icon in my taskbar. The packs are now avaible for selection. Was this becasue I had earlier today downloaded and reinstalled items from my purchase history (at the Sims 3 Home) ?@igazor Can we play Sims 3 via Steam ?? ( I began using Steam when I started playing the Fallout series)I had purchased 2 copies of Sims 3 and because one is installed on an offline PC EA was unable to get in and insert the pack select mess. I've occasionally had the launcher auto deselect packs when I've installed/uninstalled things from the store. It doesn't happen every time, but often enough I've learned to check them before playing.

Welcome back!I still play and love the sims 3. Can't beat it! I feel your pain with the launcher issues. It's frustrating.

There are plenty of us still playing, including some people like you (and me) who came back after a break. This time around, I bought all the packs I didn't have before (although I haven't installed them all yet), and there's so much new stuff that makes the game compelling to me. I think a lot of us feel like TS3 still has more than enough to keep us entertained. There are some fun conversations that go on here, that is, when we get done yelling at the TS4 types to get off our lawn! Which somehow never gets boring.

Return To Sims 3 !! Who else is playing?

igazor
7 years ago
No one here has played TS3 for ages. We're a bunch of bitter old players who now don't play anything at all. We congregate here every day and post up a storm (a relatively mild one but a storm nonetheless) on this section of the forum about how much better things were in the past. Sometimes we exchange recipes and knitting patterns. >:)

Igazor, stop that. The OP might not realize you are joking! :angry:

Okay okay, hi there and welcome back. You may be amazed to find how popular TS3 still is. And yes, Patch 1.69 was a royal pain but even while I lived through it before repurchasing and switching over to Steam/1.67, for me it was still playable. It just didn't add anything to the game experience for me except annoyances. :)

@SimCaity - Hate to say this, but TS3 for Mac is a mess. It's the only iteration of sims games where EA did not do a proper port into the Mac OS and they never went back to redo it. If you have the ability to Bootcamp your Mac within reach, and have the drive space and patience to manage two operating systems, you could put Windows and the Windows version of the game on it. I've been playing that way for years on my iMac here. In my case at the time I needed the Windows partition for something work-related anyway, but now I spend all of my time (at home) in OS X except for when playing TS3.
SimplyJen
Rising Spectator
7 years ago
Haven't left, just small simming breaks here and there. Packs randomly unchecking themselves was one of the reasons I ended up going back to patch 1.67

It's nice that you're enjoying the game once again. :) Steam host big 75% off sales for the Sims 3 collection almost every holiday & season. I'm not sure about an upcoming Spring sale but it's possible. You can defiantly count on it during Steams popular Summer sale. The catch is you must purchase the base game through Steam as well before they let you purchase packs. Mac still has it's downsides even with the Steam version so most Mac users end up bootcamping as igazor explained.
booknovice
7 years ago
"pattyheart;c-16370630" wrote:
So, today opening the game launcher via Origin several packs were not there. They had been unselected and were not availble to activate. Closed the game and opened the launcher via the launcer icon in my taskbar. The packs are now avaible for selection. Was this becasue I had earlier today downloaded and reinstalled items from my purchase history (at the Sims 3 Home) ?

@igazor Can we play Sims 3 via Steam ?? ( I began using Steam when I started playing the Fallout series)

I had purchased 2 copies of Sims 3 and because one is installed on an offline PC EA was unable to get in and insert the pack select mess.

I've occasionally had the launcher auto deselect packs when I've installed/uninstalled things from the store. It doesn't happen every time, but often enough I've learned to check them before playing.
MidnightAura86
New Spectator
7 years ago
Welcome back!

I still play and love the sims 3. Can't beat it! I feel your pain with the launcher issues. It's frustrating.
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
7 years ago
There are plenty of us still playing, including some people like you (and me) who came back after a break. This time around, I bought all the packs I didn't have before (although I haven't installed them all yet), and there's so much new stuff that makes the game compelling to me. I think a lot of us feel like TS3 still has more than enough to keep us entertained. There are some fun conversations that go on here, that is, when we get done yelling at the TS4 types to get off our lawn! Which somehow never gets boring.
anthonydyer
Seasoned Traveler
7 years ago
I like the ability to select and deselect expansions. Say one gets on your nerves or you just need to start the game without it... just deselect it. No need to uninstall. I acknowledge from time to time certain packs get deselected for no reason.

I think it would be neat if Sims 4 adopted this.
GamingTweety
7 years ago
I tried to play it month ago and after 10 minutes it crashed. Ahh the nostalgia. Just like the old days :relieved:
SJNorway
Seasoned Newcomer
7 years ago
"igazor;c-16370614" wrote:
No one here has played TS3 for ages. We're a bunch of bitter old players who now don't play anything at all. We congregate here every day and post up a storm (a relatively mild one but a storm nonetheless) on this section of the forum about how much better things were in the past. Sometimes we exchange recipes and knitting patterns. >:)

Igazor, stop that. The OP might not realize you are joking! :angry:

Okay okay, hi there and welcome back. You may be amazed to find how popular TS3 still is. And yes, Patch 1.69 was a royal pain but even while I lived through it before repurchasing and switching over to Steam/1.67, for me it was still playable. It just didn't add anything to the game experience for me except annoyances. :)

@SimCaity - Hate to say this, but TS3 for Mac is a mess. It's the only iteration of sims games where EA did not do a proper port into the Mac OS and they never went back to redo it. If you have the ability to Bootcamp your Mac within reach, and have the drive space and patience to manage two operating systems, you could put Windows and the Windows version of the game on it. I've been playing that way for years on my iMac here. In my case at the time I needed the Windows partition for something work-related anyway, but now I spend all of my time (at home) in OS X except for when playing TS3.

Igazor...you are too funny! Anyway...I went back to TS3 when I found TS4 to be...ahem...boring and expensive. I have all of this stuff for TS3, a game I still absolutely love, why not continue to play it? I still continue to work toward badges and goals for the game. I have a goal of having one sim earn all six degrees from University...the closest I have ever gotten is four before they died from old age. This was without life fruit and elixir. So, I really want to achieve this goal!
igazor
7 years ago
"GamingTweety;c-16371062" wrote:
I tried to play it month ago and after 10 minutes it crashed. Ahh the nostalgia. Just like the old days :relieved:

There is help available right here on the TS3 Tech Discussions board if you ever want to revisit and find out why this is happening.
LiniSim
7 years ago
I took a "break" from Sims 3 a few years ago when the "other one" was released and was quickly right back at Sims 3 because I missed it all - all the building tools, open world and Create-A-Style so I haven't really stopped playing. And I never let my launcher do that dreadful update. I have all the EP's and SP's and the game plays just fine.