Anonymous
7 years agoSims 3- how many games exist?
Hey all. I was wondering how many Sims 3 games are out there? I tried googling the question but it doesn't give me a proper answer. I just want to know how many there are. Thanks!
@pinkgirlforyou Normally, you'd add mod files to your TS3 game folder in Documents; there's a simple configuration and one additional file you need to make them work. But I don't think they'd even work in your setup, or if they did, they'd break your game. You can install TS3 via disc, but without an internet connection, you can't patch the game. So many game files will be outdated, including some that the mods need to work correctly.
Using a mod that's incompatible with your patch level can often corrupt your current save to the point that it's unplayable. This isn't just a matter of finding older mods that work with your discs. The base game wil be updated to some extent, but your earlier expansion packs won't be, meaning that you'll have game files at several different patch levels at the same time. Other than perhaps a few small tuning files that are narrow in scope, I doubt there's a mod out there that would work well with an unpatched disc install.
What you really need to do is find a way to patch your game. Buy or borrow an external hard drive or thumb drive, and go somewhere with a computer and internet connection available (a school, a library, a friend's house; whatever). Download the Super Patch, which is a little over 1.5 GB, as well as any mods you want, and put them on the external/thumb drive. Then you can transfer them to your home computer. EA still offers a direct download of the Super Patch:
And I understand you don't want to do this, but it's important that you make sure your computer can run TS3. I hate to keep asking for your specs, but given that your old computer has already broken once, I really think you need to make sure that your hardware can support the game.
@pinkgirlforyou While we're talking downloads... if you're playing in the EA version of Isla Paradiso, it's no wonder you're having issues. That world is so poorly made that it's almost unplayable, no matter how powerful your computer is (or how many mods you have installed). Just to be clear: The pack itself is fine, and the activities that come with it work well in any other world that has enough space for them. It's only the unedited world itself that causes problems.
You can download the fixed version of IP made by ciane, or you can do the necessary edits yourself (which she also detailed), but either way, you'll have to do something to address the routing issues and horrible world design.
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/811253/removing-ip-lag/p1
The other thing to take into consideration is your computer's hardware. Whether it's under- or overpowered, there are some steps you should take to protect it from the stress of running TS3. I know I must sound like a broken record, but either a dxdiag or a report on specs (pretty sure I described how to find that info earlier) would be useful here.
And I can help you install the mods, if you're interested. It's really a lot simpler than it looks, and the NRaas site gets a lot easier to navigate once you learn the basics. But, and I cannot stress this enough, you WILL break your saves if you try to use mods on an unpatched game. Every mod is written with a particular patch in mind; if that mod calls on files that don't exist or read differently than expected, game corruption is inevitable.
For the internet issues, I'd try downloading Firefox. It works better than Chrome for a lot of things, and I've never had any issues with it. If the most recent version doesn't play nicely with your operating system, you can look into Waterfox, which is an earlier iteration updated only to enhance security. And if necessary, you can always disable your antivirus/firewall while downloading a browser; just remember to enable it again when you're done.
Hi again! I've been nagging and nagging my dad to fix this internet on my computer. I tried plugging in my cellphone into my significant others laptop, and the internet worked perfectly fine! I was on any site, no problems. Now , I try here at home, but my computer gives a bunch of error messages. It won't let me download Chrome, which it says it needs. I don't know what to do further. I really want to give that computer info for you. I didn't forget. Lol. Would you able to give advice? Would it help if I uploaded a few pictures of the error messages ?
@pinkgirlforyou You probably don't need Chrome; there are other browsers you can download instead. (I mostly use Firefox myself.) The issue with Chrome may be that your computer hasn't had any updates in a long time, seeing as how it's not usually connected to the internet. So the current version of Chrome may not be compatible with your computer's older operating system files.
I'm not sure why your computer thinks it needs Chrome, unless you set it as the default browser at some point. You should have Internet Explorer on your system, no matter which version of Windows you have, and all the newer ones have Edge as well. They're not great, but they should let you download a better browser. Just type in either name in the box in the lower left corner of your screen, and the app will pop up. Then you can download Firefox or Opera. There's also a variant of Firefox called Waterfox, which is an earlier version but with updated security; this runs well on older systems. But even if you can't get any other browser, Explorer will work in a pinch.
And sure, if you want to upload pics of the error message, that's fine, but it's not necessary unless you can't get any other browser to work at all.
By the way, the term "patch" is preferable to "upgrade" because many patches aren't really upgrades in that they don't change how an app is supposed to work. A patch might fix a glitch or a security flaw; not all of them introduce new features. So "patch" covers any new data that should be added to an application's program files.
For TS3 in particular, there were many patches added on to the base game, and the code for later packs was written with the assumption that the packs would be installed on a computer with a fully patched base game. For example, I believe that Island Paradise was released shortly after patch 1.55 (I could be wrong about the number), and it wouldn't work properly with a base game that was still on patch 1.27 or something. But earlier discs were released long before the later patches, so of course their code doesn't take those patches into account.
It's therefore necessary to make sure a disc install is fully patched before you try to run the game. The TS3 launcher was supposed to take care of the patching process, but it's kind of fragile and doesn't handle that kind of load very well. So EA made an app called the Super Patch that does the job instead. It's much more efficient and doesn't fail like the launcher so frequently will.
For the dxdiag, while I'd love to read the whole thing, you could start by copying the most relevant information into a post here. This guide covers how to read a dxdiag, but it shows where you can find that info:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Academy/How-to-read-a-DXDiag/td-p/3325775
I'd specifically like to know your operating system, system model, processor, and memory (first screenshot of the initial post); card name, dedicated memory, current mode, monitor model, native mode, and driver date (second screenshot); and free and total space (this is shown in the screenshot in the fourth post, but it'll be below Sound Devices and PS/2 Devices, so you'll need to scroll for a bit).