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GreyWolves6's avatar
GreyWolves6
3 months ago
Solved

Cannot Play Sims 3 Games/Expansion Packs That I Bought

I switched computers years ago, and most of the expansion packs I bought aren't available now. I can't even put in the product code to get them back. Even with the ones I do still have, they're so gl...
mac
technical issues
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    3 months ago

    @GreyWolves6  Options.ini is a file that holds the data about your in-game settings, everything from graphics options to age stage lengths to what types of pets or supernaturals you might have disabled.  The folder that contains Options.ini is the user folder, in Documents > Electronic Arts.  The Sims 3 Packs folder is wherever you installed the game, which is hopefully NOT in Documents > Electronic Arts; if it is, let me know so we can move it.

    The EA App may well be the cause of your disappeared packs.  It shouldn't be the cause of any in-game graphics issues.  If you want, you can try putting the App in offline mode before launching the game, but that shouldn't have any effect; it's really only relevant for games that have a more consistent online connection.

    As far as your packs' folders go, you can preserve them elsewhere before uninstalling and reinstalling the game.  I would suggest trying this at some point, while also removing (delete outright or preserve) the Installer Data folder here:

    ~Library > Application Support > Origin

    Open a Finder window, hold down the Optn key, and click Go > Library to open the user Library folder.  Then open the EA App, which will recreate most of these files; repairing the game will cover the rest.  The idea here is that the .plist files inside say you own and can play this content; if they hold stale data, perhaps refreshing them will help.

GreyWolves6's avatar
GreyWolves6
3 months ago

In strange news, EA gave me one of the expansion packs because it showed on my account but the others don't (I'll have to address that later), and I can use it, but instead of glitching out, the whole game just quits if I do anything more than make a Sim. Still unplayable but a different problem. For the system diagnosis, I am a (reluctant) Mac user, but maybe this will help? It's macOS Sequoia v15.2.

Thanks!

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
3 months ago

@GreyWolves6  The flickering might be a hardware issue, but hopefully not, or at least not to the extent that you can't work around it.  First, please delete Options.ini, in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3, to reset your in-game options to the defaults.  With a couple of exceptions, graphics settings should always be changed at the Main Menu, and then you should quit to desktop before loading a save; doing otherwise can sometimes cause strange graphical glitches.

Please try the following changes:

  • Toggle between fullscreen and windowed modes (this can be changed with a save loaded and without quitting)
  • Toggle the Advanced Rendering setting (some users report they need to use one setting in CAS and the other in gameplay)
  • Turn down lighting to the minimum
  • Turn down tree detail to the minimum
  • Enable object hiding

You don't necessarily need all of these changes; the point is to experiment to see what helps.  Many players with your graphics chip or similar find that only one or two settings matter, but not always the same ones.

If you see the same flickering again and can't change the graphics settings further, it's fine to delete Options.ini again and start over.  You can also edit it directly, but not all settings are named in a straightforward way.

  • GreyWolves6's avatar
    GreyWolves6
    3 months ago

    After my latest talk with EA, I switched the lighting and tree detail with no effect—same shutdown. The last one I spoke to considered it a bug that they can't necessarily solve right now, and they said I can't migrate back to Origin. They were super kind and I appreciate their help, but it is frustrating on the company's end that things are designed where I have to migrate to an app that hasn't worked well the entire time and now I can't access stuff I paid for. I also have no issues with other games I play, though those aren't from EA and don't use that app, so I'm hoping it isn't a hardware issue.

    I'll try the rest of that today, although I'm not sure about deleting something out of the folders. Whatever the EA app shows is not matched by what's in my folders, which I assume is partially because I have a Mac now but had a PC when I got the games? But my folders, for example, show all of the expansion packs I had while the EA app does not. With that in mind, is it going to lead to any serious issues if I delete Options.ini?

    Thanks!

    • puzzlezaddict's avatar
      puzzlezaddict
      Hero+
      3 months ago

      @GreyWolves6  Options.ini is a file that holds the data about your in-game settings, everything from graphics options to age stage lengths to what types of pets or supernaturals you might have disabled.  The folder that contains Options.ini is the user folder, in Documents > Electronic Arts.  The Sims 3 Packs folder is wherever you installed the game, which is hopefully NOT in Documents > Electronic Arts; if it is, let me know so we can move it.

      The EA App may well be the cause of your disappeared packs.  It shouldn't be the cause of any in-game graphics issues.  If you want, you can try putting the App in offline mode before launching the game, but that shouldn't have any effect; it's really only relevant for games that have a more consistent online connection.

      As far as your packs' folders go, you can preserve them elsewhere before uninstalling and reinstalling the game.  I would suggest trying this at some point, while also removing (delete outright or preserve) the Installer Data folder here:

      ~Library > Application Support > Origin

      Open a Finder window, hold down the Optn key, and click Go > Library to open the user Library folder.  Then open the EA App, which will recreate most of these files; repairing the game will cover the rest.  The idea here is that the .plist files inside say you own and can play this content; if they hold stale data, perhaps refreshing them will help.

      • GreyWolves6's avatar
        GreyWolves6
        3 months ago

        Something you suggested seems to have worked, and I haven't had any issues with glitching or crashing since I tried it out today, so thank you very much for working through this with me! If things start acting up again, I'll definitely try to options.ini thing and see how that works. Thank you so much again for your help!

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