An announcement for The Sims 3 players on Mac
Dear Simmers, If you currently play The SimsTM 3 on Mac, pay close attention to this announcement! Earlier this year, Apple announced plans to phase out support for 32-bit applications with their new macOS, Catalina. Due to this change, we will be releasing an updated version of The Sims 3 that will be compatible with the new macOS, The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal). We will also be making all DLC content available in this new format, as well. The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) will be available for download via Origin. We don’t have a release date for when Apple will release Catalina. However, if it occurs before The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) is out and you decide to update your Mac to macOS Catalina, you will not be able to continue playing The Sims 3 until after we release The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal). Once The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) is released, you will have to uninstall your current version of The Sims 3 and packs before re-installing, and you will not be able to patch your existing installation. We will post more detailed instructions when we make this update available. You will not lose your progress in the game and you will keep all the extra content you have acquired over time. The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) FAQ Where can I get The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition? If you are an existing The Sims 3 owner, we will have instructions on this page which will walk you through the steps to get your copy of The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition when it is released. When will 64-Bit & Metal Edition be available? This change is planned for early 2020. We will update you once we have a confirmed date. Will I be able to get the 64-Bit & Metal Edition through a patch to my current game? No. The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition will be its own version of The Sims 3 and carries significant changes from the currently available version. This means that the game will not be patched and will require the The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition and the packs to be installed like a new release through Origin. Will the minimum specifications be the same as The Sims 3? No. The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition will require the latest version of Origin which requires OSX 10.9 or later. Also, since the The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition adds 64-bit and Metal support, the minimum specifications will be adjusted accordingly. What if I can’t update my Mac? The Sims 3 and all the packs will be available in their current form for those players who choose not to or cannot update their Mac to Catalina. Will I need to buy The Sims 3 or my packs again? No. All The Sims 3 players who have registered their game and packs with Origin will have access to The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition when it releases. If you have the disc version of The Sims 3, you will need to redeem your code in Origin to access The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition in Origin. Will The Sims 3 (64-Bit & Metal) Edition release for Windows PC? There are no current plans to update the Windows PC version of The Sims 3. Version 1.6.9 is available to The Sims 3 players via Origin. What do I need to do to make sure my game is saved before I update to macOS Catalina? While updating macOS to a newer version should be straight forward, we recommend you backup your saves before updating to macOS Catalina. You can find The Sims 3 save files in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3. Simply copy the entire The Sims 3 directory somewhere safe like your cloud storage of choice (eg. iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.) or a USB flash drive. This will backup your downloaded content and your save files among other things.
[HSY] School daily tasks not appearing for all teens
I started playing a new save after the Lovestruck patch, and since aging my twin sims up into Teens, I've attended active high school with them each time. However, every time I load into high school, I get a new Last Exception error message, and only the first twin has the active schoolday tasks and bar. Edit By Crinrict: Adjusted Title fit bug report at AHQ Archived thread had around 918 me toos
EA App cloud sync enumerating save directory of games thousands of times
Product: The EA app Platform:PC Error Report ID (learn how to create an Error Report ID in the sticky post) 436d04a7-19a7-449f-a57e-98cdf6898538 Which client functionality are you experiencing this bug with? Launch Game When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm) 01.26.22 12:00 Summarize your bug (This is tested against Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect Legendary Edition). The EA app has forced cloud sync which has terrible performance when a large number (1000+) of save files are encountered - far worse than it should. When looking at the application behavior in ProcMon it is apparent that a huge amount of time is being wasted enumerating the save directory hundreds of thousands of times. Games take so long to run that it appears like the game will never actually launch. With the new forced EA-app that came into effect today, I have seen many of my mod developers (I head the ME scene) seemingly be unable to run their game. How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%) Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Add a lot of save files to the Mass Effect Legendary Edition saves folder: For example in the modding scene we use this set of save files for each game, labeled (internally) for us to jump to any point in the game. In total this has hundreds of saves. https://me3tweaks.com/permanent/LEDebugSaves.7z These are extracted to: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Save - with each archive being extracted into the respective game. The game must have been run at least once. What happens when the bug occurs? The EA app enumerates the save directory for this game hundreds of thousands of times - essentially running in O(N^2). It takes literally - I'm not even kidding - 5 minutes and 32 seconds for me to run the game. I don't know why it is constantly enumerating the folder list when it seems like it just needs to get a list of files and then cache that into a variable. This current implementation is extremely slow - on the levels of GTA 5 buggy login slow. It is faster when it doesn't have to do a full sync - we're still talking like a minute to launch - but when a save sync occurs (e.g. my other computer generates a new save) it's back to the 5 minutes to run thing again. It really wastes a lot of time, especially for my developers who constantly restart the game. What do you expect to see? I expect better performance. I don't expect miracles but I also don't expect it to take 6 minutes to compare a local and cloud version of a folder that is not more than a couple of megabytes. At the least, I'd want to see one of three things (preferably all of them): 1. Better performance for sync. Do not enumerate this directory hundreds of thousands of times. 2. Show something to the user that something is happening. The app currently gives you zero indication it's doing anything. 3. Give me the option to turn off cloud sync like we could in Origin. That's why this was never a problem before (it was still a pain in Origin but could be easily circumvented). Using ProcMon I was able to filter it to all activity by EADesktop.exe. When cloud sync occurs on game launch, you can see it querying the same directory thousands of times for some reason. I know a lot of this internal methods, but this seems far too excessive to be optimal behavior.
Address game download/install issues.
Hi guys, thanks to everyone for their participation in the EA Desktop Beta. Some of you are reporting install issues that may be related to locally stored data, so here are the steps you can take to clear this out. To start, close the EA Desktop app. Open the Windows Task Manager. You can press Ctrl, Shift & Esc simultaneously to bring it up. Now locate "EABackgroundService.exe" and close it by right-clicking the entry and selecting "End Task". The next step requires you to view hidden files. If you already have hidden files set to viewable, you can skip this part. In the Windows Search bar type "folder" and choose "File Explorer Options". Go to the View tab and look under Advanced Settings to see a checkbox to "Show hidden files, folders and drives", and select this. Be sure to Apply the change before you go to the next step. Now in Windows File Explorer go to C:\ProgramData\Electronic Arts\EA Desktop. Here, delete each file/folder except for the one marked "Logs". Restart the EA Desktop app and try your download/install again.
