# The Sims 3 Patch Downloader



## FordGT90Concept (Jun 14, 2010)

There's lots of complaints across the interwebs about the inability to update The Sims 3, expansion packs, and stuff packs.  It was tedious to hunt down numerous links everytime there was an update so I decided to throw this little time-saving gem together.

Further information and a link to download is at Mod the Sims.


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## sneekypeet (Jun 14, 2010)

Used this earlier today, well yesterday now, but it is the answer to a lot of headaches.

For quite some time I was left with an un-update-able SIM3, which isnt so bad, but due to some bug with the EA downloader, I couldnt run the expansions or even get the original game up to date.

This did exactly all that, and wen off without a hitch.


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## Loosenut (Jun 14, 2010)

Thank you, maybe now the wife will stop bitchin' about the game not updating properly.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 15, 2010)

1.1.0 is available which adds an "Automatic Install" option as well as automatically opening the save directory when the path is double-clicked.


Note: Automatic install does work (it runs the installers silently) but I couldn't verify if it actually installs the updates because my version is already current.  If someone could verify that the installs are being committed, that would be great.

You can tell if the install worked by closing the application and starting it again.  The update should not appear in the lower list.


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## anonemus (Jun 16, 2010)

Thanks for this, Ford! Wifey is back to playing Cafe World at Facebook. Hope these updates interest her to do 3D gaming again


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## mlee49 (Jun 16, 2010)

I thought I was done with Sim3 but guess ill have to reinstall.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 16, 2010)

1.2.0 added with offline updating capabilities.  See the Version History for details.


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## DrPepper (Jun 16, 2010)

This is good stuff.


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## gvblake22 (Jun 16, 2010)

Should we make you a plate of Perfect Ambrosia for this?  Nice work!


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 16, 2010)

Heh, good luck finding the Death plant.  Oh, and don't plant it because it just dies. XD


Edit: Doh!  It's death fish, not death flower.  Death flower is only useful to keep the grim reaper away a little longer.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 17, 2010)

*The Sims 3 Patch Downloader!  Now with Large Address Aware!* 


Ehm, 1.3.0 is up and it supports enabling and disabling large address aware across all Sims 3 executables with one click.


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## SimJett (Jun 17, 2010)

FordGT90Concept said:


> 1.1.0 is available which adds an "Automatic Install" option as well as automatically opening the save directory when the path is double-clicked.
> 
> 
> Note: Automatic install does work (it runs the installers silently) but I couldn't verify if it actually installs the updates because my version is already current.  If someone could verify that the installs are being committed, that would be great.
> ...



Greetings,

Thanks again for all the work on this subject. The Automatic install does indeed work and the installs are being committed. Once started, the "status" column will go from, "installing" to "installed". Rerunning the program will show the updated version numbers.

In short what I did, was installed HELs on a fully updated Base and WA game, then ran the Patch Downloader. Good to go after that.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 17, 2010)

Awsome, works as advertised.  When I run it silent like that, all I can see is the installer is running in the task manager.  I can't tell if it is doing anything.  Nice to know that it is.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 18, 2010)

1.3.1 uploaded.  It has had 6-8 hours of bug smashing.


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## Easy Rhino (Jun 18, 2010)

damn ford, all of these happy wives and girlfriends should ship you a plate of cookies in the mail for your effort 

edit: in fact it deserves to be stickied. i am sure a ton of non-tpuers will google for something like this so i want to make it easy to find.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 18, 2010)

Heh, I couldn't find the thread because it was stickied. XD


1.3.2 uploaded.  You can now double-click on the "Detected Products" list to copy the table to your clipboard to be pasted elsewhere (great for assisting in debugging).  It will also now be able to handle the odd 107 SKU by properly converting it to 017.


*NOTE:* I just realized that there's holes in the patching where you must perform incremental updating before the patch becomes available to reach the current version.  Unfortunately, there is no easy fix for this but it likely to be addressed at some point.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 20, 2010)

1.4.0 uploaded.  It now supports incremental updating and you can now right-click on Detected Products for several options for copying it to the clipbloard.

It will now work for those with base game versions:
1.2.7
1.3.24
1.4.6
1.6.6
1.7.9
1.8.25

And World Adventures versions:
2.2.8
2.3.33

Again, if something doesn't work right (like it says "Unavailable"), copy the Detected Programs table (by right-clicking on it) and paste it here.  I will get it fixed server-side ASAP.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 20, 2010)

1.4.1 uploaded.  It displays a dialog as it gathers information and I fixed some offline bugs.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 23, 2010)

I put an important warning on the OP.  Please read it if you haven't done so already.


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## Easy Rhino (Jun 23, 2010)

FordGT90Concept said:


> I put an important warning on the OP.  Please read it if you haven't done so already.



did they contact you about this? just curious because you created software that actually makes their product easier to use. leave it to EA...


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 23, 2010)

Yes, my account was suspend 72 hours and this is coming straight from EA Customer Service.  Patching is apparently part of their anti-piracy scheme (one that would never work) and that's what my application specializes in.  Rules is rules so no discussion about it at EA.

Ironic how they provide direct links to manual patches in the forums and there is zero protection on the downloads themselves...

I take it they just want to waste customer's time digging for the patch that actually works and make sure those that have problems never come back for more.  Their loss.


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## sneekypeet (Jun 23, 2010)

Seriously Ford, my girl swore off EA and was just short of getting someone on the phone so she could "vent" to them

If anything, your little application will return a lot of love to the SIMS for EA....I say you make a deal and sell them your version


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 23, 2010)

I'd have to travel to Redwood, CA, and go knocking on their door for that to even be remotely possible.  EA, like most corporations, are extremely detached from their end users.


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## Easy Rhino (Jun 23, 2010)

this is sad. if people use your program how will EA know? how did you they find you, btw?


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## sneekypeet (Jun 23, 2010)

We could always spam EA forums with this link, that may raise an eyebrow Not that I in any way condone spamming some POS forums, or our awesome one for that matter.

I'm sure he went to the marketplace / online.


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## Easy Rhino (Jun 23, 2010)

sneekypeet said:


> I'm sure he went to the marketplace / online.




huh?


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 23, 2010)

Easy Rhino said:


> this is sad. if people use your program how will EA know? how did you they find you, btw?


Because I pointed people on The Sims 3 forums that were having problems patching to this thread.

At least two new threads which could be quickly resolved by the downloader show up on a daily basis.  The "official" solution never works for them.

I added the list of issues The Sims 3 Patch Downloader addresses in hopes of drawing people through search engines.  e.g. "The Sims 3" "0.0.0.0" gets is ranked 11 on Google.  The higher the rank, the more likely people are to find it and fix their problems (albeit against EA's wishes).




sneekypeet said:


> We could always spam EA forums with this link, that may raise an eyebrow Not that I in any way condone spamming some POS forums, or our awesome one for that matter.


I wouldn't want EA to come after TechPowerUp for hosting something they deem a "piracy" program.


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## Easy Rhino (Jun 23, 2010)

this is just proof that EA really is a disorganized mess dedicated to putting out games with crap support. they have a great marketing department though! now, it most likely is a bunch of low level morons at EA that are enforcing some lame policy that they don't even understand. perhaps somebody on the executive level of EA would actually find this useful...


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 23, 2010)

I'm thinking I should give The Sims 3 Patch Downloader a different name (make it less official sounding) and also separate out the Large Address Aware functionality to another application that EA wouldn't have a problem with.


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## SimJett (Jun 23, 2010)

Yeah, let EA stew in their own filth for awhile. Today I had posted in a couple of EA threads about Googling "the sims 3 patch downloader techpowerup". I guess I might have to stop doing that. I can spread the word on a couple of minor forums out there.

 I don't venture into EA's Tech section too much, outside of patch and game releases, but you'd be a valuable asset there, Ford.

Edit: They have robots replying to threads http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/217890.page

Big Guy didn't mention my post so maybe I'm safe


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 25, 2010)

I just realized there was code I commented out in release 1.4.1 that prevents it from getting version information from the server.  This is fixed in 1.5.0 as well as some other changes.  I will get it up ASAP.  In the meantime, 1.4.1 will only work following the offline instructions (download ts3ver2.bin) unfortunately.

So I don't forget, here's the other changes:
-Double clicking on Detected Programs no longer has any effect (that functionality was moved to right-click). 
-Added a right-click option to Detected Programs to refresh both lists (programs and downloads).  It will only work if the application is idle (not installing and not downloading).
-If it can't find ts3ver3.bin, it will prompt you to navigate to it instead of just giving up.
-Fixed the bug in 1.4.1 where it would not download the version file.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 25, 2010)

1.5.0 uploaded.  In addition to the fixes listed above, I found two other fatal flaws that would prevent the application from running.  Those are now corrected.  It should be far more stable now.


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## mlee49 (Jun 30, 2010)

Ford, can you please tell me how to delete the stupid intro movies?  I'm not sure if you know how to do this but probably would help.

Did see some people going to modthesims.info for some app to do it but I dont want to do that.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 30, 2010)

I've never looked into it so I can't help on that, sorry.


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## Kreij (Jun 30, 2010)

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=342922

This mod will remove intro movies for all regions.


Disclaimer : I don't have this game. This mod was listed in PC Gamer magazine as what to use to remove the Sim3 intro videos.

Edit :Oops : Sorry mlee, didn't see you mention you didn't want to do that. It's the only way I know of to accomplish it though.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 8, 2010)

1.5.1 uploaded (fixed some minor bugs).  The versions file will be updated soon to support the new round of updates (1.14/2.9/3.5/4.2).


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## Solaris17 (Jul 8, 2010)

Program has been updated for a new wave of patches.


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## SimJett (Jul 9, 2010)

Sure would be fun to be able to spam the EA Tech Forum with this

Maybe when the Guru's clock out for the night...


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 9, 2010)

Yeah, there are tons of people posting on the forums about EADM not working right (base incompatibility error).  This would fix almost every single one of them but no...can't do that.  Everyone must suffer under the dominion of EADM. 




SimJett said:


> Maybe when the Guru's clock out for the night...


They'll banstick you in the morning.


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## grillcheesesammich (Jul 10, 2010)

Your app patched everything with reported sucess 100% but when I try to launch my game, even after a computer restart, I get this error msg.
I was posting over on MTS but decided to carry on over here.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 10, 2010)

A complete shot in the dark but the only Services I know of that applys to The Sims 3 are related to EADM.  Uninstall EADM and Adobe Air and reinstall it.  You can get it from here:
http://eastore.ea.com/eadm


If that doesn't work, you'll have to uninstall and reinstall.


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## grillcheesesammich (Jul 10, 2010)

Thank you for replying, I did reinstall but just the base game, one of the issues was that despite your app telling me that all the patches were successful, 2 out of 4 ( I have base, hels, WA and Amb) patches were not properly carried out (ambitions and base game) so I used PatchLogViewer to see what the hiccup was and it turned out to be a .dll issue for Ambitions, so I replaced that from the .iso bin folder but oddly that didn't work for base game. Then reading the forums I realized I've messed with the regedit before for base game long before I knew how patching worked. Even my skuversion.txt was all mismatched.

You plainly stated that this would work well if registry was in order, clearly mine was not for base game.
I'm sharing this for whatever value it can have for your future troubleshoots.
The patch log viewer really helped isolate the invalid file--perhaps you could integrate something like this into your app? My main concern is just the false success report.
 Now I think you may be right about adobe air, but that didn't cross my mind.

Btw I think the LAA addition was really sharp. 
I won't hesitate to use this in the future.
Thank you

*edit* upon further reflection, I realize that something was equally amiss with EADM of late. My launcher wouldn't launch at all. Honestly I didn't think reinstalling would take so little time


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 10, 2010)

I will be releasing an updated version soon (hopefully sometime today) which parses the patch log like the PatchLogViewer and will notify the user, and behave appropriately, if the install failed.  As more information becomes available, I might actually be able to repair some install issues automatically and reattempt to reinstall.

I'm glad you got it sorted.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 10, 2010)

1.6.0 is up.  There's many changes but the most important ones are related to automatic install.  See the Version History for detailed info.


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## Widjaja (Jul 20, 2010)

This will be useful.
This game is about as buggy as the Sims 2.

Possibly worse since there is this stupid online update thing now.

I may give this updater a try.

But what i have been doing is downloading the patches and manually installing.
At one stage I updated and ended up with the base game issue and ver 0.0.0.0.

So i uninstalled AM and reinstalled it with the previous patch and the same thing happened!

So i uninstalled everything and reinstalled everything......and it happened again!

Then I found what the issue was.
The "The Sims 3" folder in the Electronic Arts folder has some file(s) altered as well when the patch is implemented.

So when i removed the folder and launched, the game worked again.

Had some odd issues with this game (Resurrected Sim still walking like a ghost) and also noticed how much it makes the HDD work!


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 20, 2010)

The Patch Downloader should take care of updating issues so long as the patches themselves install without error (the files it finds are the files it expects).


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## Widjaja (Jul 20, 2010)

Just tested the app.
Works well and it is possible to save the patch files to install manually later.

On a side not, totally unrelated to the app, after patching the game I had an issue with returning from France.
Instead or going to the loading screen to return home, the Sim just stayed in the same spot not letting me do anything. : /


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 21, 2010)

Open up the console: control + shift + C

Type the following and hit enter:

resetSim YOUR_SIM's_NAME

e.g.

resetSim Kim Kersplat


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## Spicey57 (Aug 1, 2010)

For some reason my launcher stopped working and I had to uninstall/reinstall everything. I spent more than an hour, frustrated and looking for a fixed that worked. I found a link to this thread @ MTS and could kiss the poster for it. Your program has me up and running...minus the launcher which is fine by me. 

I reinstalled the BG, HEL, WA and AMB without EADM and ran your program to patch everything. After I restored all my cc my game ran perfect. I'm still debating if I should install the download manager and launcher.

I just had to join here to say a big THANK YOU for a great program!


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## FordGT90Concept (Aug 2, 2010)

The launcher is installed by default (pretty much every patch updates it).  You don't need EADM though unless you buy/have bought content straight from EA.


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## FordGT90Concept (Aug 4, 2010)

1.6.2 is up.  The double-click to download feature was fixed and some other changes.  See the version history for details.


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