THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[DigiGekko]

I bet most of you haven't played around with community lots yet, but here's a small discovery I made today. All the rabbit hole buildings in town are available to build on community lots, meaning that you can totally customize the town. You can probably remove/move city hall and build a house where it used to be. Too bad you can't recolor anything yet. Still, this gives some interesting possibilities if we can eventually make our own rabbit hole/career buildings.

[Sigmund]

Some comments on there hint that perhaps the reason there is little content in the game people are seeing is because EAxis cut it back to enable them to sell it via the Store.  People are pissed.  Not exactly a surprise to cynics here but perhaps an indication that the copy of the game we're seeing is the final copy.

Unfortunately that makes sense, at least when you look at how money-grubbing EA is. I know it's just a base game, but even so there's only a handful of actual meshes for each section... it's pretty weak, especially when you've gotten used to having tons of CC choices in TS2.

[Lyndon Baines Johnson]

Do we know if its the Beta or Final yet?

[literatebse]

Do we know if its the Beta or Final yet?

Nope.  And as much as we can hypothesize, we won't know for sure until June 2, when dumbasses like me buy the thing and compare versions, etc.  Or, you know, if EAxis tells us...not that we can trust them, of course.

[Rhayden]

Do we know if its the Beta or Final yet?

Nope.  And as much as we can hypothesize, we won't know for sure until June 2, when dumbasses like me buy the thing and compare versions, etc.  Or, you know, if EAxis tells us...not that we can trust them, of course.

Hello stupidity. Meet an answer several hours old already.

if you check the .exe date, you'll notice that it's about april !
that's means the version around the net of ts3 isn't the final release, but probably and RC. (Release Candidate)

So what you're saying is that EA has managed to discover a process where they can make modifications to the game up to the very minute it's put on shelves? Or perhaps you're just an idiot.

[Lyndon Baines Johnson]

Anonymouse at Snooty has confirmed its the Beta version:

http://www.snootysims.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=29110

Rest easy, folks.

[Aner-Dyfan]

Snooty Sims is a pile of wank maybe? And your link fails you balls for brains, be more intelligent.

[Lyndon Baines Johnson]

Here is a working link

http://www.snootysims.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=29046&start=440

Anoynmouses most is closer to the bottom end of the page. 3 cheers for anoymouse and his detective work!

[Zazazu]

It's Snooty. They would remove it pronto. Snooty can be very BBS-esque.

Anonymouse at Snooty has confirmed its the Beta version:

http://www.snootysims.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=29110

Rest easy, folks.

And who is Anonymouse? SBlade under another name? I trust nothing without credentials. .Exe date is in April, approximately 2 months before release date. Considering time for burning, packaging, and shipping, having a two month span between close and release is perfectly within parameters.

<reading updated link now, but I'm holding to my opinion so far>

[Rhayden]

Just a bunch of wank from an anonymous source, most likely a shill or bootlicker trying to obfuscate the matter.

[Khaleesi]

Aww we're all d-nozzles and Anonymouse is their god. Be more easily lead, sheep.

[Aner-Dyfan]

2 months is that all? If game puplishing is anything like book publishing I'm surprisied it's not much longer than that. In fact I take the evidence of 2 months as PROOF it's the real copy. Any shorter and I would be more wary of the file.

Printing 1 DVD doesn't take long, printing many thousands and installing them in cases, then distributing them? Now that takes time.

[Kyna]

Anonymouse at Snooty has confirmed its the Beta version:

Nobody knows for sure one way or the other until the official release - except in the extremely unlikely event that whoever cracked it steps forward to tell us where this was leaked from.

All we have until then is speculation, and all Anonymouse is doing is speculating.  Reading other posts by the same poster in that thread, it's clear that there is an element of wishful thinking in their speculation.  They've expressed disappointment several times in that thread and they clearly want this to be the beta version instead of the final release, so they went looking for evidence to support the "beta version" theory but didn't look too hard for evidence to support the "full release" theory.

[Zazazu]

Quoting for posterity, my opinions in bold:

EVIDENCE:

1. Empirical evidence. There are far too many obvious and strange bugs, that just don't make sense. The installation of the game doesn't even have any decent pictures, vids, information, sound, music, anything, no packaging at all. Installation of the last few EP were the same. As for bugs, have you played TS2? It's riddled.

2. It is unlikely that the gold master DVD's and printing press would not be under watch. It is far more likely that this DVD fell off the wagon to a Sims fan event. Same shit has happened time and time again with other titles. Leak is not surprising.

3. The file structure is whacky. There are many things missing. There is no finalized and presentable structure to the core game. I've no idea what he means here, but I suspect he's looking for a structure like TS2. It's already been decided that the game is scripted completely differently, most likely in C#. We knew ahead of time that they wouldn't be using the same format.

4. There are third party developer software files that shouldn't be there, like graphics, audio and code compiler logs and dependency files. Can't speak to that.

5. Some of the files are timestamped several months back. You're point? I'm looking at two other games I have on my D drive, full .iso's. I'm seeing widely different timestamps. These are HER Interactive games, but potato potahto.

6. File sizes make no sense. Package and cache sizes are too large, obviously meant to run on powerful developers computers (like mine <g>). I've no idea what you mean. We have evidence of people with middling computers easily running it.

7. It has SecuROM. And the wrong version to boot! Duh. No SecuROM cake was a lie. If you paid attention to the PR, they never actually stated it wouldn't have SecuROM. The only EA-adjacent person who said that was MaxoidDrea, who lost all credibility when BV hit the SecuROM fan.

8. Several announced fan event features are not present. This is par for the course. Same thing happened with TS2. Where are my fire-breathing toddlers? Look at some of the old TS2 gameplay videos pre-release. Features are present we never have actually seen in-game.

9. Graphics have since changed, or do not appear to be working right. For instance smoothing/antialiasing and filtering are not working as intended. Anti-aliasing does have an effect, but it is minimal.

10. The version, while labelled 1.0 in some description and help files which is probably what most people have opened, is in redundant files that should have been removed called Content.Devtest.1397 Changelist:622971. No idea what you mean.

When games are created many different version are compiled tested. This game appears to have been compiled for the SOLE reason of testing content, that is, the textures, objects, sims etc. everything that goes into the game, and as such, it has to be one of the most stable and available tested builds... in other words it's not strange that people think it's the full game. There are just so many bizarre things and obvious bugs and missing features in it, that have long made me suspicious.


I found this in three seperate descriptors and logs.

description=Version: 0.DL-0.0.11190 Changelist: 624575

Version:1.TCC.dl.1209

Version:1.Content.Devtest.1397
Changelist:622971

TCC is a third party compiler. It shouldn't be there. No coder with any self respect would label a game devtest 1397. Nor would he put a changelist on it unless they needed one to refer to in order to see what was a bug and what wasn't.

CompositorCacheSize = 104857600
SimCompositorCacheSize = 524288000
WorldCompositorCacheSize = 524288000
SimWorldCompositorCacheSize = 524288000

This is just wrong. Why are the caches so large? Why are the packages so large? Why are they encrypted in a non-standard format no modders recognize? It doesn't make sense... unless they're developer versions encrypted/coded in a format that they use for their software.

And if there is not supposed to be custom content, why do we have this? Dumbass, we are able to share textures, which they have always called custom content in the interviews.

EnableCustomContent = true
ExportsFolderName = Exports
ImportsFolderName = Downloads
BackupFolderName = DCBackup
PackageThumbnails = false
PackageThumbnailsInSims3Pac = true
DeleteTempExportFolder = true
RemapCollisionsOnly = true

Ladies and gentlemen, hope lives... we may see an even BETTER final version of this game, hopefully void of the problems and bugs, and a vibrant modder community to BOOST!

So...anyone who actually knows shit here have an opinion? The dev code stuff has me stumped.

[Solowren]

I want to believe, but I am out of Blind Belief tokens for today.

[Kyna]

I want to believe too, but not even my extreme F-liness can stretch that far.  Logic keeps getting in the way.

3 x INFPs posting in a row, and none of us F-ly enough to believe it.

[Zazazu]

The guy doesn't even understand the different between a rar'ed file and an untouched one:

The size of the game is also a bit out of whack. 5.6 or 4.8GB depending on which pirate version you download. Anyone have a clue as to why they're different?

Yeah...

[madamejeanie]

News is released about the first Sims 3 paysite (Sorry, Sims Store)

http://simmersnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/sims-3-store-set-prices.html

Some comments on there hint that perhaps the reason there is little content in the game people are seeing is because EAxis cut it back to enable them to sell it via the Store.  People are pissed.  Not exactly a surprise to cynics here but perhaps an indication that the copy of the game we're seeing is the final copy.

A new level of disgust for me.  This is flat outrageous.

[Tyyppi]

The only argument I have that the leaked version is a beta is that the Finnish translation isn't fully complete, although this being EA it doesn't necessarily mean anything. I just found it weird that Sunset Valley is Sunset Valley even in Finnish even though in Sims 2 all the neighborhood names were translated. Also some of the street names are in Finnish while others are in English. Also all the townies and pre-made families have "foreign" names while in Sims 2 they were all... err... "Finnished". But as I said this doesn't necessarily mean anything.

[Kyna]

News is released about the first Sims 3 paysite (Sorry, Sims Store)

http://simmersnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/sims-3-store-set-prices.html

Some comments on there hint that perhaps the reason there is little content in the game people are seeing is because EAxis cut it back to enable them to sell it via the Store.  People are pissed.  Not exactly a surprise to cynics here but perhaps an indication that the copy of the game we're seeing is the final copy.

A new level of disgust for me.  This is flat outrageous.

Not the first time EA have done this.  It happened with the baby items that were initially going to be part of FT.  There were pre-release screenshots of the objects in-game and Maxoid promises of "new objects for babies" in pre-release videos.  But they were pulled from FT, and are now available in the Sims store.

[rohina]

Here is why the game sucks donkey balls as far as I am concerned, based on my massive play time of 2 hours-ish.

Most of the action in the game takes place only in the sim's head, aka the control panel with the wants and the moodlets. For instance, my sim got in a bad mood because she had a cold shower. The indication that this happened was that it popped up in her moodlets. Looking at her sim with the GIANT BLUR in the shower, I had no idea this happened.

Later, she was talking to someone and was "humiliated". How do I know? The control panel told me. Her squishy cupcake of a face changed not one whit during the experience.

Useless. Useless and boring. What am I supposed to do for 6 hours when she is at work? I tell you what I did, I knitted. Also, I figured out that "motherlode" works, so then we could fuck the job thing and go get humiliated by some more random townies.

[Chain_Reaction]

and why the hell can't you make their eyebrows thicker or thinner?

You can... Look in CAS.

anybody else think that the torrent might not be the final build... or might be a developer/executive copy to show the big wigs at ea, i say this because it does seem awfully light on content and whatnot...

Lol, you make me laugh. Google 'The Sims 3 Store' and get a clue.

Ugh, my computer has crashed twice while trying to torrent it from Demonoid.  Complete crash - I can't even restart, I have to turn the computer off and on again.  

I'm on Vista, using uTorrent and downloading from Demonoid.  I use Windows Firewall and NAV 2009.  Can someone troubleshoot this and figure out why this is happening?

Sure, on the uTorrent support forums.

Actually, when I tried to play another family, I noticed something strange. One of my sims, Hank Goddard, is woohooing his female partner in law enforcement but didn't have her in his relationship panel at all when I played his family, and in fact had a completely different woman listed as being his partner. However, when I went back to play his partner's family, all the relationships were still intact.   Not sure what it means, but it doesn't seem to bode well.

Surely EA isn't that stupid to leave a bug that major in the game... oh wait.

I spent 2 days downloading this bloody thing and now I can't install it. I'm getting an error message like so:

>SetupNew\setup.cpp(140)
PAPP:
PVENDOR:
PGUID:
$15.0.0.498

I am decidedly unawesome, so could anyone shed any light on what may be going wrong here?

This is caused by trying to run the installer with winRAR, stop that! Extract it.

***contains virus***
The file Sims3Setup.exe is a self-deflating executable archive. It contains two files, the real "sims3setup.exe" and a file "codec.exe", the archive runs both when called by Autorun.exe. The file codec.exe is a virus dropper.

I have found if, after you've extracted Sims3Setup.exe and you can't get it to open with winRAR, it is safe... it should give the error above. If it opens and you see the codec.exe in it, then you have the virus one. Another way to tell is the real Sims3Setup.exe is 389KB and has a file date of 4/23/2009 4:00AM

Anyway, why does everyone recommend DAEMON Tools and mounting and all that? I leave mounting for the bedroom and open ISO's with winRAR. It works perfectly fine.

I played for several hours last night and these are my impressions so far:

Good:
It loaded really fast, I expected to be waiting for years with a neighborhood like that.
You can use stuff in your inventory by clicking on it now rather than having to drag it into the world first.
Male bulges are bigger. (yeah yeah, I'm not lusting after computer people, I promise)
Traits are pretty awesome but I feel like there could be more.
Switching between fullscreen and windowed mode in game options is total win.
The needs seem to still matter as much as they did in Sims 2 (so they lied) which I was worried about. I know it may get tedious after awhile but this is what the sims is about for me... they do seem to take care of them better now which is good.
Males have underarm hair! I'm so used to them being ken dolls.
The neighborhood is great, the rabbit holes look good, it's all decorated nicely and looks good.
I like the way build/buy mode is layed out.
No loading screens is awesome! I also love the way the town feels alive and sims are everywhere.
New grave designs are win.
Moodlets are win.
What they did do with CAS was a step in the right direction but I don't think they stepped far enough.


Bad:
The tutorial was really really messy and unorganized. Your sim wants to buy a couch! Well la de da! He already has a couch dumbass!
What's with only 4 premade houses that aren't being lived in? I couldn't find anymore...
They said you could make ANYONE (look! another lie!). I spent 2 hours trying to make myself, studying a picture and all, and didn't come THAT close even after messing around with all the sliders. A few of the sliders even seem pointless as the change they make is very subtle.
Where the hell are male nipples? They are very very ill defined.
When I make a sim chubby, their thighs are 10x bigger than their lower leg which looks so odd.
People with a good sense of humor don't go around 'making silly face' 10 times a day EA.
The global aging and story progression settings are fail. They should be lot specific. The switching households and losing wishes isn't a big deal to me.
I agree with people, it's hard to kill the redundant round face shape.
Why can't I place lots empty lots where I want? Step backwards.
I don't like how they pop in and out of cars, what's wrong with opening the door?
I saw two cars drive right through each other, fail!
There needs to be more clothing and definitely hairstyles, and not in TS3 Store either.
I still have the extreme urge to kill townies. One rang my door bell and I invited her in. What did she do next? Throw away the unprepared dinner I was working on that I stopped to let her in. Kill!
Thumbnails of sims don't really look like the sim to me. They look even more clayish and silly in them.
Why can't I have a simple list of destinations? I don't want to jump to map view and back to send them somewhere. And there's too many damn icons, It takes me forever to find what I want.
Buildings don't get their model and render till you let go of the mouse. I understand this was done to prevent lag while scrolling but if you're making a story, it could be suckage as a house suddenly goes from a low quality blurry building to clear as you're moving the camera through town.

Overall I think it has a lot of potential but the question remains if EA will send it in the right direction. I love the neighborhood moves on and is alive (but the clock on city hall doesn't move!) and everything feels much more detailed. I want a setting to stop some sims from aging and going on about their life while I'm not looking but if I don't get it, I may get use to it. The way it's made now, they seem to have cut story tellers out a lot.

I think custom content ability has been extremely cut down. It looks like they locked up the game so you can only use stuff from the exchange / sims 3 store... I can't even find a option to package my sim to a file. This one might turn out not be as modable as sims 2 is and that's going to piss a lot of people off, me included. You even have to install that EADM to install patches it said. DNW!

I predict a lot won't give up Sims 2, me included. This seems really fun but really restricted which is going to hurt the replay value of it a lot.

[Insanity Prelude]

I want to play this trainwreck for myself- you guys have piqued my interest- but I foresee myself going back to Sims 2. The amount of bugginess described is just ridiculous.

[Frankenbeasley]

No. Demon child is definitely the genetic daughter of Ms. Schmoe. She has the same hair color, down to the subtle blue streaks. She also is extremely ugly.

Holy shit! Ms. Schmoe appears to have been raped by Diesel 10 from Thomas the Tank Engine!

[kellinjar]

Or, you know, if EAxis tells us...not that we can trust them, of course.

Its quite apparent this is the final version. If it wasn't EA would be telling people that to save their ass. People are complaining about this version and if it wasn't the real version, they'd be telling people that so that people don't form a judgment. If they lied they'd be called on it.
So the fact that they haven't said anything means its the final version.