RIP my wallet

@Rhiannon58 Not exactly—Steam installs don't mix with either discs or Origin. You could, however, do one of two things. The first is buy every new pack you want (you'd also need to buy another copy of the base game) on Steam and transfer it to Origin. Steam provides a CD key for each purchase, and these codes work in Origin in the same way the product codes from discs do. Everything would be available to download through your Origin library.

Your other option would be to rebuy everything you want, including the packs you already own, through Steam, uninstall the Origin version, and just play through Steam. Although more expensive, you'd be on patch 1.67 instead of 1.69 and be able to avoid Origin entirely, as well as the pack selector. The game plays exactly the same on either platform, and store content works fine too, as long as you manually download the store content patch.

You probably know that Steam is having a sale right now, but it should also be pointed out that the extra copy of the base game you'd need to buy would also net you 1,000 SimPoints if you registered it through Origin, regardless of which platform you used going forward. So would a copy, or another copy, of WA.

P.S. If you do buy packs on Steam, look for the discounted bundles. They're even cheaper than the individual packs.

I see. However the only bundle I saw was the base game combined with Pets. So it’s around $124 for everything I see on Steam that I don’t have plus the base bundle. Have to consider.

How is the stability now? I was playing it before on an older computer and it crashed a lot. Newer computer now. It didn’t recognize my vid card but let me up the resolution. The words on the screen are kind of funky looking. Is there a fix for that?

"Rhiannon58;c-16576811" wrote:
I see. However the only bundle I saw was the base game combined with Pets. So it’s around $124 for everything I see on Steam that I don’t have plus the base bundle. Have to consider.

How is the stability now? I was playing it before on an older computer and it crashed a lot. Newer computer now. It didn’t recognize my vid card but let me up the resolution. The words on the screen are kind of funky looking. Is there a fix for that?

Any video card not in the database won't be recognised. The database was last updated by EA a really long time ago. The game assumes you have a high quality gaming video card by default if it can't find your actual card in the database. So, if your card is a good strong gaming card you will be good - but if your card is not a good strong card as required by The Sims 3 then you will need to either lower your settings or change your database. Someone in the Technical Assistance area will be able to help you with that if that's what you need to do.

I feel your pain!

But trust me, it will be worth it!

I am sooo tempted to do this. I probably could do it, but I would soon regret not being able to pay rent and buy food for the month. I am weighing my options. Will get back to you.

Btw, enjoy! How many was that at once? I only have 1 EP right now so I have a lot of catching up to do. There are some I am just simply not interested in, though, so I will probably never buy all of them.

"MKSizzle;c-16578221" wrote:

Btw, enjoy! How many was that at once? I only have 1 EP right now so I have a lot of catching up to do. There are some I am just simply not interested in, though, so I will probably never buy all of them.

That price I quoted was everything but WA, Ambitions, and base game with one XP. I have those. But now I’m considering those as well to get away from Origin. I think that would add another $16. Right now until the 6th I think, it’s all on sale for $7.99 per EP or Stuff pack.

I’m still looking at this. No offense to the TS3 lovers but it annoyed me that I couldn’t control my neighborhood when it first came out (I’m a control freak TS2 diehard). But it came with so much cool stuff! I started playing around with it this weekend and think it could be another fun backup game to play along with TS2. And at that price for ALL of it? Very tempting.

@Rhiannon58 You can control your neighborhood if you are willing to use Mods. I didn't like Sims2 when I tried it because it didn't have the open world and I could not control all my family members all the time. I guess it is what you get used to. I started with 3 and got spoiled with what it offered. :)

@Rhiannon58 I know exactly what you mean about the Sims 2 and neighborhood control. That was the main reason I stuck with 2 until just recently. I am such a micro-manager, I rotated households and took care of everyone who grew up, moved out, started their family, and on and on. With 3, even though technically you could do that (with risk of story progression) I had to really just let it go. I find it a little liberating!

I am confused as to what you said you were "looking at" still. Anyway, I am trying to decide what EP I want next. I am thinking maybe Ambitions? I don't know.

MKSizzle I'm a mega micromanager. I did let my sims have a TINY bit of auto but mostly, I managed their every move. And I really enjoyed that. TS3 is a different type of Sim game that has totally different game play. I didn't understand that when I first bought it. I was just aggravated that the families I wasn't playing that the moment would get married, have babies, move out of town and even die without my control. When I first got the game, I hardly played it at all. Then I read about the Legacy Challenge where you play one family for 10 generations. I started playing around with that and it got me more interested in TS3 for a while. Then a move happened, a computer died, TS4 came along (hated it), found out I could get TS2U for free and I've been playing that for a year or so. Then I got to missing a lot of the really awesome features of TS3. I thought I might start with a legacy again and go from there.

As to what I was still looking at, that is purchasing the entire game series on Steam (I had previously purchased the base and two EPs via Origin). And I just did. It gives me a ton of fun content to check out and I am not tied to Origin. I can play offline with no problem.

As for mods, I'm one of the tiny minority that doesn't use them. The ONLY mod I have ever used was with TS2. I hated having to have 10 friends to advance in your career. I spent more time standing on the sidewalk trying to befriend someone than teaching my toddlers to walk. It was annoying. So I modded that out. So unless there is a game breaker I need for TS3, I will play with no mods.

@Rhiannon58 good luck with your game. I hope you enjoy it. I started playing it in June 2009 and didn't add any mods until after Sims 4 was released. Mods have given me a new game. If you do get stuck with frustrations NRAAS is a good place to start looking for something to fix any issues you might have. NRAAS Overwatch and Error Trap are two mods that can clean up most of the issues that the game creates without actually changing how you play.