Yep - I have seen all of that - mostly in other peoples games as I am super cautious in my own, but I have also helped a few simmers locate their problems by duplicating their game and going in and finding the craziness that is causing everything to go kaput.
The only thing I have not experienced but have heard others had problems with was trouble with the horses and Unicorns. So I am still not exactly sure if that is something to do with how they play their game, or a config problem, or a game needed software problem because something is mismatched (by that I mean sometimes people get the wrong update for their system - like Java and adobe problems - some people do not know they have to match java to the browsers on their machine and the browsers have to match the machine - like if you have a 32 bit machine, you need 32 bit browsers, and you need the 32 bit versions of java. It gets more complicated with Windows 7 on a 84 bit machine which can use both 32 and 64 bit browsers and java's but many people do not know this. I was even one of those people until I learned as I have both IE 32 bit and 64 bit versions on my machine and that I also had to go get both versions of java. Windows 7 is far more complicated when you have a 64 bit system - and you also have to have adobe flashplayer - but in it's case you have to make sure you get the 64 bit version as it contains also the 32 bit (it's not seperate downloads like Java. Don't even get me started on the .net frameworks and adobe air - it all took a lot of "reading and trying everything" as unlike my hubby I didn't have formal computer training - learned it all myself - but now I am glad I did as it has helped me a lot dealing with Sims 3.
Yeah - your Origin has gone through a lot of updates - I make sure I check it at least once a week to make sure no new updates have come up. I do not click on the Origin client when I am running the game - I believe digital copies have to, not sure - I don't buy digital EVER! But I do know they have gotten out a lot of the problems Origin had as long as it is up to date - it is not a proble,. I only click on the client generally to make sure it doesn't need an update or to check what's going on in the Origin store. I sometimes check their forums too to see what's going on with Origin users etc. But other than that I don't mess with Origin much - it's just there. Unless I plan on doing any simporting, I also do not launch through the launcher because then I lose the protection for my video card. It's not the best - but it still cost me a couple hundred dollar back in the fall and I don't want to burn it out - this game can do that - as you apparently saw and the only solution I have found for it is to run an FPS limiter - which I run through an app called the 3 booter so the limiter is just on my sims game. This way I can control my fps. The limiter sets it low at 30 fps - too low for me actually so I generally bring the rate up with each game session manually to about 80 fps max. Without the limiter I have seen framerates blossom up to 350-500 frames per sec and in no time a video card can overheat at those rates .I use arctic silver coolant on both the processor fans and video card fans - plus I also have a super V8 140 mm fan on my processor - the thing is huge - but running at those frame rates will overcome all that protection - so I run the limiter. It keeps my card at a fairly stead 30-36 debrees C which it can tolerate with no problem. But yes this game is hard on video cards for sure.
But I still have no clue what causes the freakiness with Unicorns and horses in some pcs and not others. I do get there is a real problem with Mac and the horses but in the pc it makes no sense that only some have these problems and not all machines do. I have seen first hand what you talk about in family members pcs, but so far have not been able to decipher why. The only common thing I had found was it seemed to be more of an Intell problem than an AMD, as the only family members I saw with this problem had Icores. But other simmers tell me they have also seen it on AMD - so that blew that theory out of the door. But I have an AMD and have never had any problem with any of the pets in game. Advice - don't download pets - make your own. I did see some go wacky when I downloaded some in households. So I got rid of the whole household. I have no problem with any of the ones I have made in game. So what ever the problem is if it is on your pc it will go with the pets you make and upload. How or why - I have no clue.
I know this whole post really does not give you any usable answers - but at least it does tell you that you are not alone in the problems you have had.
As far as cheats go - not all destroy your game - but overusing some or leaving on cheats that are toggled off and on or true/false - can be the worse problematic if they are left on all the time - as they are basically debug tool and not actually cheats - Kaching is a cheat. Testingcheatsenabled is a dubug tool. So even though many people swear up and down they have never had a problem leaving these thing on - there is a higher chance of it eventually happening. Just like the Moveobjects on/off command eventually turned troublesome and now is super touchy about using - debug tools can become troublesome and even damaging as game programming changes and expands. The newest example was the problems Amjoie had making her sims needs static (another tool type cheat) and the new premium content fryer. It put her sims in loop where the game was basically unplayable. If we never installed new eps or content with new programming - then they wouldn't be a problem, but we do - and there in lies the problem. Even though some people have done these things since - as they put it - forever - and that they never had a problem before is missing the whole picture - as this is NOT the same game it was before. Every new bit of new programming made it a new game. Ask the modders - they will tell you just how much the game can change from ep to ep. Look at Pets alone even EA store stuff went bad with that one - so using a debug tool from when this game was just a base game - is a bit chancey in my book. But if people want to do it - it is their game - not mine. I just wouldn't ever leave any toggle command turned on. At most I would turn it on to use it if I had to, then immediately turn it back off. But that is me. I severly limit use of all the cheats in my game anyway - it's so much more fun to watch the sims suffer being broke and be kept within the confines of real life like I have to live. No Kaching for them I say, and definitely no indefinite static needs for my sims. I don't even use Buydebug except for building sometimes. But all that is me being cautious as much as I don't like to "cheat". Although I will use the rewards if they earn them. I have never cheated to get my sims rewards. Still those are my preference - not any rule. It may be just a coincidence I rarely have game problems - and have to duplicate those in others games to see them happen. Which half the time I can't even duplicate them.
