Steam sale—base game only

Just a follow-up note here if I may, there's a hundred or so very annoyed players on the Steam forums complaining that they "ran out of" base game keys for the current sale. The fact that this happens every time there is a TS3 sale on Steam isn't stopping the complaints from flowing in, but what generally happens is that the supply is replenished within around a day, so a bit of patience is required when purchasing this way.

No one knows why only the base game only is on sale this time, but maybe the EP/SPs will go on sale later or before the usual fall/winter sales.


Edit: The "out of stock" keys have reportedly been replenished, as they always are. The angry mob threatening Steam and EA with pitchforks, tar, and feathers because they didn't or refused to understand how things work can stand down now, at least until they find something else to complain about. :)

I just got this game on Steam. First time playing the Sim series. I decided to use the steam key on Origin as well just to add it to my steam library but I prefer to play on steam anyways.

On registering at the Sims website, I received 1000 simpoints. Can I use this points on both steam as well as Origin?

@FireDrakeZ Welcome to the forums and the Sims. :) The simpoints are for extra buyable content at the Sims 3 Store: https://store.thesims3.com/

"FireDrakeZ;c-16640660" wrote:
I just got this game on Steam. First time playing the Sim series. I decided to use the steam key on Origin as well just to add it to my steam library but I prefer to play on steam anyways.

On registering at the Sims website, I received 1000 simpoints. Can I use this points on both steam as well as Origin?

Sort of. We really shouldn't have the Steam and the Origin versions of the game installed at the same time on the same computer, if this is what you are working towards. The two DRMs will quite likely trip over each other and both game program installs will try to control the same user game folder in Documents, where our player added content and saves are. That's never a recipe for success. On different computers/partitions, a dual install would be more sustainable.

But maybe I've misunderstood what you were doing by trying to use both Steam and Origin at the same time, perhaps you weren't really installing both? If we're talking about one computer and one user account only, we really have to pick one and go all one way or the other, Origin or Steam, for the installs regardless of which of the two sources the keys came from.

On the store points, I'm assuming you only have (and should only have) one store account. The purchased content can be used on either Origin or Steam installs, but the downloads and Launcher installs of the store content have to go one way or the other per install. That is, we can't download an item we have purchased while logged in on a Steam install and expect that particular download to work on an Origin install (nor the other way around). When many of us switched gears entirely from Origin to Steam (or the other way around) we found that we had to download our already purchased store content all over again.

Does that help or have I made things less clear without meaning to?

@FireDrakeZ When you buy something from the store, it belongs to your account, and you can download it as many times as you please, into a game folder that corresponds to an install from Origin or Steam (or disc).

@FireDrakeZ I know it works because that's what I've been doing (and @igazor as well) for a while now. Many of us play through Steam or disc installs, and it's not a problem.

I'd also like to say that if you're shopping at the TS3 store, you should know that there are some great deals to be had. The Daily Deal is a rotation that hasn't changed in a couple of years, so you can predict what will be on sale when, and for how much. There's also a Complete Your Set feature that lets you buy a set for cheap (or even free) if you've bought enough items in the set. But you get credit for the full price of the item(s) you own, even if you bought them on sale.

Some helpful users have tracked the available discounts, and @Me1620 has compiled the information into a very useful master list and spreadsheet. Another player, @Merelhyn, has made a wonderful list of the cheapest way to own every store set offered. Using these resources, you can stretch your points a lot farther than they'd otherwise go.

http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/866448/daily-deal-dd-2018-rotation-list-and-sales-help#latest
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/939145/cheapest-way-to-own-compilation-sets-venues

Combining the Daily Deal and Complete Your Set can net you collections worth thousands of points for only a few hundred. For example (this is a thing I'm doing right now), you can buy the basketball hoop on the Daily Deal for 130 points instead of the usual 593. But you get credit for paying 593, so when the Level Up Collection shows up on the DD for 560 points, it becomes free. And then the Man Cave compilation, normally priced at 3,000 points, is offered for 750, that's free too.

While we're overwhelming @FireDrakeZ with info, should we also mention that you can register multiples of that 2.99 base game on Origin and get the 1000 simpoints for each one, which would be a lot cheaper than buying the points?

@FireDrakeZ No, you WILL get them more than once, unless EA just changed something very, very recently. I would just suggest, if you do it, don't install any store content until AFTER you've registered the last code. I registered a Steam code for base game on my Origin account that already had a disc code registered and got the points, but Origin then tied my account to the new code and I had to re-download all my store content to get it to work.

Will also add here since I don't see it mentioned yet that there should be an additional 1,000 points granted for registering the WA expansion without involving multiples. :)

> @puzzlezaddict

"Combining the Daily Deal and Complete Your Set can net you collections worth thousands of points for only a few hundred. For example (this is a thing I'm doing right now), you can buy the basketball hoop on the Daily Deal for 130 points instead of the usual 593. But you get credit for paying 593, so when the Level Up Collection shows up on the DD for 560 points, it becomes free. And then the Man Cave compilation, normally priced at 3,000 points, is offered for 750, that's free too."

Thanks for the links. I couldn't wait for basketball hoop Daily Deal, but decided to get the Level Up Collection with its game room for 560 points today. I will use this to get the Man Cave compilation later as you suggested.