Forum Discussion

7 years ago

Solved

The Sims 3 Pets missing from my game library

2019 and I'm experiencing this issue and more! The game is showing as purchased and installed under expansion packs in origin client but not in my library. The expansion is also no longer showing up ...

technical issues

EA_Lanna
7 years ago
Hi @xboxbabe70,

I can see you've gotten in touch with the EA Help team and received the correct advice since making this thread.

If you still wish to to purchase and play The Sims 3 Pets pack, we would advise using trusted retailers to protect yourself and your purchase. This EA Help article has compiled a list of trusted retailers for EA products for more information on that front. 🙂

puzzlezaddict

Hero+

7 years ago

@xboxbabe70 I've merged this latest post into your existing thread, since it's all about the same topic. Please don't necro old threads, even if the underlying question is the same.

I've forwarded your original issue to an EA community manager, since it's not something I can address. But for your more recent questions, there are two things I can say. First, when you switch from an Origin install to one from Steam, or vice versa, your store content needs to be redownloaded and reinstalled. There's something about how the games are installed differently that causes already downloaded store files to stop working, whether you transfer the .ebc bundles from DCCache or the downloaded packs.

However, the content itself works just fine. I mentioned earlier that I now play via Steam. I have installed some store content, including a couple of premium items, and everything works in-game. I also installed Riverview, although I haven't played there yet since switching over. But a number of people on the official forums do play in store worlds on Steam installs, and none of them have reported any issues beyond the annoyance of having to redownload and reinstall.

As to your other question, I personally much prefer my Steam install to the Origin/Windows version. (The Origin/mac version presents entirely different issues.) There is no mandatory Origin tie-in—after the first time I launched the game, I've never had to open Steam or be online to play. There is also no pack selector, meaning no "feature" that loses track of your preferred packs between play sessions and sometimes blocks you from using a pack for no apparent reason. If it's installed via Steam, it works. The only players I know of who've chosen to switch to Origin from Steam are those that bought packs through both platforms and didn't want to lose some of their content.

Anyway, you can ask around on the official forums if you want; players are always happy to share their opinions. Here's a recent thread you may find interesting:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/953185/which-do-you-use-to-run-your-sims-3-game

xboxbabe70

7 years ago

@puzzlezaddict wrote:
@xboxbabe70 I've merged this latest post into your existing thread, since it's all about the same topic. Please don't necro old threads, even if the underlying question is the same.
I've forwarded your original issue to an EA community manager, since it's not something I can address. But for your more recent questions, there are two things I can say. First, when you switch from an Origin install to one from Steam, or vice versa, your store content needs to be redownloaded and reinstalled. There's something about how the games are installed differently that causes already downloaded store files to stop working, whether you transfer the .ebc bundles from DCCache or the downloaded packs.
However, the content itself works just fine. I mentioned earlier that I now play via Steam. I have installed some store content, including a couple of premium items, and everything works in-game. I also installed Riverview, although I haven't played there yet since switching over. But a number of people on the official forums do play in store worlds on Steam installs, and none of them have reported any issues beyond the annoyance of having to redownload and reinstall.
As to your other question, I personally much prefer my Steam install to the Origin/Windows version. (The Origin/mac version presents entirely different issues.) There is no mandatory Origin tie-in—after the first time I launched the game, I've never had to open Steam or be online to play. There is also no pack selector, meaning no "feature" that loses track of your preferred packs between play sessions and sometimes blocks you from using a pack for no apparent reason. If it's installed via Steam, it works. The only players I know of who've chosen to switch to Origin from Steam are those that bought packs through both platforms and didn't want to lose some of their content.
Anyway, you can ask around on the official forums if you want; players are always happy to share their opinions. Here's a recent thread you may find interesting:
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/953185/which-do-you-use-to-run-your-sims-3-game

Hi, no idea what necro old threads means, I should think I would be able to post where ever as long as the subject is the same, and if not than that thread should be closed? Also I haven't bought any other content but plan too. Let me explain what happen, I had the game long long time ago on disk but I either lost the disk, or got damage and I thru it out in garbage. Now, I saw the sale on steam so I bought all the ep and packs but when I went to load it, it took FOREVER like 2-3 hours,when it did finally load my computer shut down, and it did that everytime i tried to load it, sometimes it would shut my computer down before it even finished loading, well by this time steam was telling me that I had already played 82 minutes even though I didn't even get to play it at all, so I was afraid that with their "you must have played less then 2 hours" refund policy I just decided to ask for a refund. So I put in a request for a refund. right after I did that a friend of mine mentioned that loading all of them at once could cause issues and to try only 1 or 2 EP's, so I quickly uncheck the packs and ep accept for 2, then tried loading the game and it came up much faster and didn't shut my pc down, but by this time I didn't have time to test play it, my 2 hours was almost up and it was the last day of the sale, so I quickly closed the game, said screw it and continued with the refund, I thought maybe if I buy and play the game thru origin it might play better since EA is the one that made the client and the game and that's when I found out that games bought on steam can be transfered to origin, and a few days later I notice I forgot to request a refund for island paradise so bonus I figured I will keep island paradise and register my keys from steam to origin, everything was going great until I decided to buy pets again but the sale was over, my friend mentioned another site to buy games from that were cheaper, so I bought pets from there and then poof after 2 days it was gone from my account, still not sure why( personally I think origin client and/or launcher doesn't work correctly), and well here I am wondering what to do next. I currently still have the base game and island paradise that I bought from steam but I'm assuming I can't transfer those back to steam, and if I should just buy them again and play them from steam but if I do that would i be able to buy other worlds from the sims store and play them on steam?

EA_Lanna
Community Manager
7 years ago
Hi @xboxbabe70,

I can see you've gotten in touch with the EA Help team and received the correct advice since making this thread.

If you still wish to to purchase and play The Sims 3 Pets pack, we would advise using trusted retailers to protect yourself and your purchase. This EA Help article has compiled a list of trusted retailers for EA products for more information on that front. 🙂
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
7 years ago
@xboxbabe70 Necro'ing, or necroposting, is replying to a thread that's been dormant (dead, hence the term) for a long time. It's considered bad form for several reasons, among which is that the details of the conversation may have changed in the intervening years. Another reason is that the original poster has probably moved on and may not appreciate getting notifications for the replies and tags.

It would be incredibly inefficient and time-consuming to manually close all the old threads, and I doubt an autolock function is high on anyone's priority list here. So we have to resort to asking that people not necro and splitting their posts when it does happen.

It sounds like EA_Lanna has looked into your case and confirmed that you were helped appropriately. I don't know the details myself, obviously, but it's not surprising that a code purchased cheaply from what sounds like an unauthorized third-party seller would be cancelled. Many of these sellers will buy from just about anyone, including people that may have originally stolen the codes from EA or otherwise fraudulently obtained them. When EA identifies a code for which it was never paid, it deactivates the pack, regardless of what the player knows about its origin. That's why it's always better to buy from an authorized vendor; EA_Lanna provided you a link.

There is no reason that TS3 would run worse in Steam than in Origin. In fact, Origin's online component takes some resources that you're better off devoting to the game. The difference is small for most people; others put Origin into offline mode and don't worry about it. But playing with all packs could definitely slow down your game, especially if you're playing on underpowered hardware. If you want to know how your computer can be expected to handle the most demanding packs, you can post a dxdiag here.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

Finally, you can still play your owned packs in Steam, if you want. Registering the codes in Origin doesn't cancel your ownership in Steam. The game has to be cleanly uninstalled before it's reinstalled, but you don't have to rebuy anything (aside from the packs that were refunded, of course). So if you wanted, you could try out playing in Steam and buy more packs as you went along. Your saves would also transfer over, although any that you had played while Pets was installed would probably not load unless you bought that pack again.
- xboxbabe70
  7 years ago
  @puzzlezaddict wrote:
  @xboxbabe70 Necro'ing, or necroposting, is replying to a thread that's been dormant (dead, hence the term) for a long time. It's considered bad form for several reasons, among which is that the details of the conversation may have changed in the intervening years. Another reason is that the original poster has probably moved on and may not appreciate getting notifications for the replies and tags.
  It would be incredibly inefficient and time-consuming to manually close all the old threads, and I doubt an autolock function is high on anyone's priority list here. So we have to resort to asking that people not necro and splitting their posts when it does happen.
  It sounds like EA_Lanna has looked into your case and confirmed that you were helped appropriately. I don't know the details myself, obviously, but it's not surprising that a code purchased cheaply from what sounds like an unauthorized third-party seller would be cancelled. Many of these sellers will buy from just about anyone, including people that may have originally stolen the codes from EA or otherwise fraudulently obtained them. When EA identifies a code for which it was never paid, it deactivates the pack, regardless of what the player knows about its origin. That's why it's always better to buy from an authorized vendor; EA_Lanna provided you a link.
  There is no reason that TS3 would run worse in Steam than in Origin. In fact, Origin's online component takes some resources that you're better off devoting to the game. The difference is small for most people; others put Origin into offline mode and don't worry about it. But playing with all packs could definitely slow down your game, especially if you're playing on underpowered hardware. If you want to know how your computer can be expected to handle the most demanding packs, you can post a dxdiag here.
  https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
  Finally, you can still play your owned packs in Steam, if you want. Registering the codes in Origin doesn't cancel your ownership in Steam. The game has to be cleanly uninstalled before it's reinstalled, but you don't have to rebuy anything (aside from the packs that were refunded, of course). So if you wanted, you could try out playing in Steam and buy more packs as you went along. Your saves would also transfer over, although any that you had played while Pets was installed would probably not load unless you bought that pack again.
  
  I'm sorry but I am not proficient in EA forum rules and/or policies, but from my experience on other forums it is customary for forum admins to close old threads. Personally I have been looking for answers on this forum for a long time for different issues on different games only to be even more frustrated because there are too many threads new and old that I have too search thru for answers. I guess we can argue all day about this but that's not going to accomplish anything, so I will leave the matter alone and take it all as a lesson learned,Thank you for all your help!
  - EA_Lanna
    Community Manager
    7 years ago
    Yes, various forums can differ on how their rules like with necroposting which can make things tricky when posting on a new forum. You can find the Answers HQ's forum rules on the faq page under 'User Rules and Guidelines' tab and If you'd like to understand more about the necroposting rule specifically, I've put together a FAQ page here that may answer any questions you have. If it does not, please pop your necroposting question in this thread here.
    
    Thank you @puzzlezaddict for looking to help and share your knowledge with players. :eahigh_file:
    
    @xboxbabe70 , I can close this thread here if you're happy your original question has been addressed with EA Help and have no additional questions on this? 🙂