New Forced EA App on Origin Thin

I am in the same situation. I tried EA app twice since last fall and ended up reinstalling Origin over this very issue. Today I was forced to use the EA app, the same way you have described. So I get half a game. 6 of my EP/ stuff packs aren't loading either even though they show in the launcher. These are ones that were installed from disk. From what I have read at EA answers EA is well aware of the issue but has not yet resolved it. I own everything from the store. Even when I reinstall, including all the worlds, and they show as installed in the launcher they are not present in the game. I've taken all the usual steps - resetting the game folder, repairing, reinstalling none of it works. After 23 years of playing and many thousands of dollars spent on the game, I am considering leaving the franchise. I am so frustrated and heartbroken.

You can find solutions and workarounds here: https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=674586. So far, they've worked for me, particularly the one that was posted on Reddit and Twitter, where you add a line of code to prevent the forced upgrade.

Thank you @ts1depot - that does work. I wonder for how long. I also located the "solution" for now from EA_Cabe at EA Answers HQ in response to a related issue. It is to redownload and reinstall all the store items. I have had backups from my store item downloads for years. They don't work now. I tested it and it does work to redownload and reinstall - it's just that I, like many others, own everything in the store. That will take at least a week maybe more depending on how the store website behaves. I followed several threads before arriving these with the answer that works.

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-3-Store-content-uninstalls-won-t-reinstall-EA/td-p/12151016

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/The-Sims-3-Saved-Games-Not-Loading-After-Store-Content-Download/m-p/12299672#M4213

Just had origin try to force it on me, would not allow me to open sims 3, found a line of code on Answers HQ which finally got rid of that annoying pop up so my game works again but for how long.

You guys can shut off all automatic updates if you need to. That should at least prevent it from forcing you to switch over. The only problem is you might not be able to update the Sims 4 beyond a certain point or play any of the really new EA games.

@Damienf519 I was mid game today and when I exited there was the graphic as described above. None of the menus on Origin were accessible. I even forced Origin to quit and restarted it. I no longer even have an option to install Origin. The only two options were still install EA app or more information. I have a copy of the Origin installer but when I run it it gives me an error about needing to be online and exits. EA no longer offers a download for PC users to download the Origin installer either. Mac users still do though.

There must be a way to backup and manually reinstall Origin or we are in serious trouble.

@jemlia that will work until you restart your computer. Then you will have to redownload and reinstall all of your Store content again. And again the next time you restart your computer.
I'm going to check out the solutions ts1depot gave
Who cares about not being able to upgrade 4? On principle since a few years ago because of the behaviour of the makers to 3, I haven't touched 4 and won't.

Ah I didn't realize everything would uninstall again. I am using the workaround ts1depot suggested. I hope it keeps working.

"Jemlia;c-18234853" wrote:
Ah I didn't realize everything would uninstall again. I am using the workaround ts1depot suggested. I hope it keeps working.

I tried the workaround. However, with the older Origin, the Origin Games folder didn't end up with a Sims 3 folder to be able to slot in the 'smooth patch', nor to be able to locate the "local" file for correcting that line of text for stopping the updates with the reddit instructions. So I tried playing to try to generate it. The launcher loaded, the game played. Saved as ... whatever 1. Exit. Still no Origin Games/Sims 3 folder or 'local.xml' file. So I tried later versions of the Origin, but every one later got the EA app time-to-update popup. So now its all totally messed up and I don't have whole-day sessions to deal with it again until semester break.
When there is a guaranteee that my Store content isn't going to uninstall, requiring a re-download re-install every time I restart my computer, is when I will update to the EA app on the PC I play it. I have updated on the laptop for accessing the SimPoints, but not for playing.