Freetime Patch is out

[Marvin Kosh]

And FWIW, there are legitimate reasons to use Alcohol (CD/DVD archiving, for example) and Daemon Tools (to run legitimately owned software without having to put the CD in every time, and to speed up game loading), so calling them 'pirate tools' is a sign of severe brainwashing by the companies who use invasive and/or harmful forms of copy protection.

QFE.

At some point game companies decided it would be cute to turn the CD/DVD drive into a glorified dongle.  PC games run mostly from hard disk these days, so the software company requiring that the original media be in the drive when you play is an offensive and annoying means of getting you the average legitimate user to spend time playing their game and not someone else's, or to waste time pissing about with the physical media.  So is it really any surprise when the average legitimate user gives them the finger and bypasses the 'GIVE ME DONGLE!' routine?

Using tools like Alcohol and DT to play the games you paid money for isn't piracy, but it will stop you from going insane if you haven't done so already.

[awrevell]

Currently I am in college working on my degree in Game and Simulation Programming.  I want to be part of the game industry but I sure as hell don't want to put crap like SuckuRom into my programs.  I do not and never will support piracy in any form, that would be like saying I don't want a paycheck for working.  However, I also do not support treating customers like criminals or putting invasive software on their computers that detracts from their enjoyment of the product I am producing.  As a game producer my job will be to make software that makes people, gives them an escape from reality, or otherwise improves their lives in some small way... crap like SuckuRom does exactly the opposite.

[Lord Darcy]

It's interesting the way some brainwashed people allow their property to be manipulated by some private corporate entities without judicial power. So today it may be just a trifle annoyance with a couple of emulation softwares. What makes them believe that the same corporations will not go further than that? How naive. Tomorrow it could very well be our personal information, sent home in encrypted form via "online validation", all done in the virtuous cause of "protecting intellectual property". Corporations in general do not give a flying fuck about respecting privacy of their customers. That's why we customers have to fight tooth and nail to protect ourselves from bottomless corporate greed.

[jsalemi]

It's interesting the way some brainwashed people allow their property to be manipulated by some private corporate entities without judicial power. So today it may be just a trifle annoyance with a couple of emulation softwares. What makes them believe that the same corporations will not go further than that? How naive.

See the recent flap about Google apps blocking the use of PayPal for more details....

[coltraz]

Hey, folks. Does anyone know if the instructions for this crack listed @ gamecopyworld is for patch 2? Or 3?:     

* Install the game - Full Installation.
    * Apply the official The Sims 2: Freetime v1.13.0.161 Patch.
    * Replace the original SIMS2EP7.EXE file with the one from the File Archive.
    * Play the Game!

Looks like it's probably the new one on the official site, but I just wanted to be sure, before messing with anything.

[tIIsuggas]

Hey, folks. Does anyone know if the instructions for this crack listed @ gamecopyworld is for patch 2? Or 3?:     

* Install the game - Full Installation.
    * Apply the official The Sims 2: Freetime v1.13.0.161 Patch.
    * Replace the original SIMS2EP7.EXE file with the one from the File Archive.
    * Play the Game!

Looks like it's probably the new one on the official site, but I just wanted to be sure, before messing with anything.

If you right click, scroll to properties on the download link for the official patch, it gives you the version number.

The new fixed exe at GCW is for the patch available for download today.  Not sure which patch that is though, but it is version 1.13.0.161.

This is the address it gives.
http://thesims2.ea.com/update/exe/ep7/1.13.0.161/sims2ep7_patch.exe

It also shows at the bottom of your browser window (IE) if you hover over the download link.

[coltraz]

^  thanks! yay!

[lordrichter]

Ok.  I am curious.  Why is the patch (1.13.0.161) a whopping 89 meg when the first patch I downloaded (from here I think) is only 18 meg? 

[geekgirl]

Because it bundles in the SecuROM several other fixes that ought to have been fixed years ago for other EPs?

I'm sticking with the first patch, now that my sim can catch all the butterflies I don't really care about the other problems.

[imyourboy]

So whose gonna do it first?   

[Liz]

Ok.  I am curious.  Why is the patch (1.13.0.161) a whopping 89 meg when the first patch I downloaded (from here I think) is only 18 meg?

89 Megs? Eighty-nine megs? For a patch?! That's ludicrous.

[coltraz]

Installed it, re-cracked it, seems to be working. I had a problem with the "overrides.package", where the game would quit patching there and claim a reinstall was in order. But referring to a different thread here (or was it earlier on in this one??) I found that mounting the iso of freetime (or inserting the dvd or disc 2 if you have the cds), extracting the "overrides.package" from the disc (in a compressed folder) and replacing the one in your ea folder with the one from the compressed folder on your disc allowed the patch to install.
ETA: It no longer brings up that box that informs you about updates when you click the freetime exe... Too bad, I sort of liked that. It gave me some time to reconsider bringing the game up, in case I wanted to do one more thing. Ah well!

[morriganrant]

ETA: It no longer brings up that box that informs you about updates when you click the freetime exe... Too bad, I sort of liked that. It gave me some time to reconsider bringing the game up, in case I wanted to do one more thing. Ah well!

What? The launcher? That's because the launcher has it's own exe. Click on that one. Although, I think some people had issues with getting it to start the game if they changed the game exe, but I think that may have been with the Securom supplied exe.

[coltraz]

ETA: It no longer brings up that box that informs you about updates when you click the freetime exe... Too bad, I sort of liked that. It gave me some time to reconsider bringing the game up, in case I wanted to do one more thing. Ah well!

What? The launcher? That's because the launcher has it's own exe. Click on that one. Although, I think some people had issues with getting it to start the game if they changed the game exe, but I think that may have been with the Securom supplied exe.

Oh? Ok, thanks. I must have created a shortcut to the wrong one then. 

[Gamblor]

This second patch that just came out for FT which I just found out goes with the new crack v1.13.0.161. Has any one tested it out yet to see if it will effect some of are awesome hacks. Would like to know if I need to remove some of them.

[Zazazu]

I haven't had any errors thrown or undesirable behaviors with the new patch and my hack cocktail. However, I'm not taking out anything I have. I almost always prefer Pescado's fixes to EAxis's half-assed hatchet job.

[X-Phile]

This second patch that just came out for FT which I just found out goes with the new crack v1.13.0.161. Has any one tested it out yet to see if it will effect some of are awesome hacks. Would like to know if I need to remove some of them.

You mean the third patch.
The second one is named v1.13.0.155.
The third is v1.13.0.161 Patch.
I see this on this website:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_24298.shtml

[coltraz]

I'm just glad my Sims can primp again. Why the fuck does EA manage to drop the "Primp" function from the menu every time they come out with an EP?

[Liz]

I almost always prefer Pescado's fixes to EAxis's half-assed hatchet job.

So say we all. Pescado's fixes tend to, for instance, fix things. As opposed to EA's Russian roulette approach, in which the error may be fixed but pretty much guarantees breakage elsewhere. I swear, it's like they have a finite number of things they're allowed to have working at any given time, so adding something to the fixed column demands an addition to the borkage to keep the scales balanced.

[lordrichter]

I haven't had any errors thrown or undesirable behaviors with the new patch and my hack cocktail. However, I'm not taking out anything I have. I almost always prefer Pescado's fixes to EAxis's half-assed hatchet job.

Since you installed it... Any idea what caused Patch 2 and Patch 3 to be 80+ meg while Patch 1 was skinny?  I've been holding off on installing FT patches until they get somewhere close to being right, but the larger size is a major red flag.  It is the largest patch they have ever released.

[Zazazu]

Patch 1 only fixed about four or five things, compared to Patch 2/3's 30+ bugfixes. Patch 2 and 3 also came with more yummy Securom updates, all for no extra charge.

[Cappuccino]

What if you have a Securom-free computer? Will the 3rd patch take care of that fact and install it? I didn't see any update between 2nd and 3rd patch (other than the Securom and EA Store things, which don't concern me at all) and so I'd prefer the 2nd patch instead (but then again, no crack for that yet).

[Zazazu]

If you don't run the game from the default .exe, you won't get SecuROM. Just patch with original .exe in place, apply crack, and run game from crack.

Still SecuROM free since BV!

[Drakron]

Patch 1 only fixed about four or five things, compared to Patch 2/3's 30+ bugfixes. Patch 2 and 3 also came with more yummy Securom updates, all for no extra charge.

Securom is in the main .exe, they are never relevant to how large a patch is because the .exe is always updated even if just to show its a new "version".

[inrez]

third patch?

What is the difference between the second and third patch?  (And I am really pissed at having to now download another 80+ meg patch)