HiThis post concerns The Sims 3I have an all disc install of the game which is patched to v1.67. This is the patch level I want to stay on. I do not need or want to use my digital version of this game.Here is the problem I am currently having.Recently, I downloaded another copy of an item I own from the Sims 3 Store to replace one which became corrupted in my game. The download went as usual. However, when I went to install the item the program which actually installs the file started and suddenly stopped. I tried this several times. When this didn't work, I tried to install the file with a copy from my back-up files. My back-ups were created in 2014 and have never failed to install until now. When I install anything in my game I always do it when "offline". So, I was not connected to EA's servers when the continued fails happened nor continued to keep happening.Does anyone know what is going on? Why is my game which has NEVER used Origin or the EA app is suddenly having this issue? If this cannot be answered here, please forward my post to the department which can offer assistance. Thank You

@roberta591 - Because of the 2008 Class Action Ruling (concerning SPORE), EA never put secuROM on the 2009 base game discs or any other in the Sims 3 series. Instead, they opted to use the product key as the authentication protection tool.EXCERPT:Sims series executive producer Rod Humble has said that The Sims 3 will not use DRM (digital rights management). "To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed," Humble wrote on the Sims 3 website.Source: https://www.eurogamer.net/the-sims-3-will-not-use-drmEven if they had included it, on March 31, 2009 (months before TS3's release), Electronic Arts released a DRM Deactivation Tool to remove it. There are still many articles from various credible sources concerning the decision available to read online.EA Download Manager/Origin/EA App are all (optional) digital services which are not required to run the game or use the launcher. Each one of these services applies only to people who use the digital version of the game. Documentation concerning these can be found in the EULA of both the (1st) 2009 'Base Game' (EA Download Manager) and The (last) 2013 'Into The Future' (Origin).The introduction and purpose of Origin is still located on the The Sims 3 store. It states, "Origin is a newer and better integrated system, designed to support digital download, mobile devices, and the full range of EA games."Source: https://www.thesims3.com/gettingstarted/aboutoriginThe EA App states its purpose on the current EA site. "For our Origin players, we’ve worked hard to make the transition to the EA app as simple as possible. We will be inviting you to make the move soon, and by the time you receive your invite, all your games and content, including games previously installed, will be ready and waiting for you on the EA app."Source: https://www.ea.com/en-gb/news/ea-appSince I am not a 'digital' player, these changes do not apply to my situation. My base game came 'before' the mandatory change to Origin credentials in 2012. Not accepting (not--not installing) Origin only meant I could no longer sign into the Sims 3.com. It had no changes to the game or launcher.

@mw1525 Does this also happen in a clean user folder? I ask because my Steam install is thus far unaffected by any changes to the Store that came with the EA App. The only issue I run into is when I forget to unblock the game from writing to the FeaturedItems folder, which causes the installer to hang and corrupts most of my already-installed Store content.

@mw1525 I'm not sure what's going on here, but one question I have is whether your whole computer is offline when you try to install content, and if so, whether it helps to be online. And just to clarify, do you even have Origin or the EA App installed on this computer, or not? You shouldn't need to; I'd just like to know in case there turns out to be a pattern with other users.

@puzzlezaddict - Yep. I did all of the usual troubleshooting steps and the problem persists. There is another simmer posting the same issue on the official forum, but they have the EA app.https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/1006831/sims-3-installing-store-content-and-downloads#latestAs far as my game is concerned, it ended in 2014 when the Sims 3 did with update v167. It is a full disc install built on the pre-2012 base game, not on the Origin one which came after. I am not understanding why I am suddenly having EA app issues with a physical installation.

@mw1525My guess is your problem has to do with DRM and a couple of side issues. As I'm guessing I will not go into detail. Version 1.69 of the Sims 3 game runs under Windows 11. The problem here is your not running the game as prescribed by the publisher. You do not own this software. What you paid for is a license to use the software. Please read the EULA. The DRM has changed since this games release. I'm not going to bore you with the history. With a new version on the horizon this may have something to do with recent changes (one of my guesses). There have been several store patches that may solve your issue. The EA app installs the game differently then Origin. What worked under Origin may (or may not) work under the EA app. If this is a DRM issue then I don't think EA support is going to be much help. They probably don't know and even if they did they probably won't tell you. I once had a conversation with Will Wright about the DRM used in SimCity. Long time ago I belonged to a computer user group. If there was new software you can bet that before the end of the meeting everyone had a copy of it. The basic reason I don't run the game the way you do is that the disc version installs SecuROM which is a rootkit. It's not easy to get rid of and it is not longer supported by Microsoft or Apple. I now have the game installedthe way EA wants users to run the game and it works. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Good luck with your issue.

I Don't Have The EA App But I Have Its Problems

13 Replies

172e3cda0034987
3 years ago
@mw1525 - Thank you for your reply and notes on what you've tried.
I noticed I forgot to mention I removed all mods and custom content as well.
You mentioned you have your browser set to clear all data. So do I. Even though we use say Firefox as our everyday browser, the Sims 3 launcher still uses some parts of Internet Explorer to do it's thing. So we need to delete the cache files from Edge/IE to help make the Sims 3 launcher work.
That seems to be the only thing I did differently than you.

I did a quick test this morning using a few (8) of my back up store files from 2016 and am not getting the dcdbt.ebc file.
mw1525
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@roberta591 - There is definitely a miscommunication in the code somewhere because this issue popped up out of the blue at the very same time when other Simmers (who have Origin or The EA App) started having the same type of problems all concerning the Sims 3 store. In fact, on the official forums, I have dated this issue back into November of last year when apparently things were a lot worst for players and went beyond just store content.
When I purchased this game, I had a PC with a built-in cd/dvd ROM. Now I have to use my external DVD ROM to play the game. Where DRM is concerned, this is the path EA chose:
2009 EULA - 2009 Base Game
B. Technical Protection Measures. Your license to the Software is verified by inserting the disk in the drive and by entering the serial code enclosed with the Software. Thereafter, you must have the disk in the drive to use the Software.
2013 EULA - Into The Future
Technical Protection Measures. This software uses the same content protection technology that accompanied The Sims 3 base game. For more information, please refer to the End User License Agreement file found in The Sims 3 base game.

@ 172e3cda00349872 - I have to keep my PC as streamline as possible, so I don't have anything on it which isn't necessary. I also do weekly maintenance on it (cleaning, back-ups, update check and the likes) to keep it running as optimally as possible. This include maintaining my browser.
I just left the Sims 3 store not too long ago to try downloading and installing again. Downloading was time consuming because even though I own the entire store, the site told me I didn't. The number of 'You don't own the item you're trying to download' messages I received was borderline ridiculous. When I did get something to download, I tried installing while still online only to get the same result.
At least I gave it a shot.
172e3cda0034987
3 years ago
@mw1525- Thank you for confirming you've tried deleting Edge/IE's browser data.
I admit I haven't tried to download the whole store again, because like you said it's very time consuming, and the few tests I've done with my store content has been successful as well.
Re-reading your first post reminded me of something that happened the other day when I was testing freshly downloaded store content. The files would pause/stop downloading when I minimized the Sims 3 launcher. I thought it was odd, but figured it was just a hiccup. When I opened the launcher back up and had it sitting open on my desktop it resumed downloading the files. This is why I didn't mention it before and the files installed without any issue.

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I Don't Have The EA App But I Have Its Problems

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