Mac patch (not "the patch" - the earlier one); halp?

[pbox]

Before you attempt to hit me with a shoe: I'm *not* asking about "the patch" that's now out for both platforms -- there was a patch for OSX earlier on, described here, which supposedly fixes the launcher, which I normally wouldn't care about since I don't plan to ever use that. But now it seems like I need it, because I just found out that

1. apparently I'm unable to package stuff (lots) at the moment -- and I realised that the OSX patch also fixes something regarding packaging, not just downloading (at least it says so in the description ..);
2. Marhis mentions here that "the patch" (the current one) may require the early OSX patch to be installed if you run under OSX, which I believe may very well be the case, seeing as the current patch for OSX is named "To-2706-1.2.7.00002-From-2594-1.1.45.00002.app" and not "from_1.0.631.00002" like the Windows one. (I tried to apply the current patch, and get a "you cannot update this version" error.)

So, how do I get this thing?

Firstly, how are Mac users even *supposed* to update via the launcher when the original launcher is nonfunctional the way it ships ? Secondly and more importantly, I'm running the Razor version (1.0.631.00002) so I would prefer to avoid using the launcher for this - has the actual URL for this patch been posted anywhere? Or is it safe to d/l it with the launcher when you don't have a legit copy?

Questions, questions. Hopefully somebody can point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance!

[Sigmund]

AFAIK, the only way to get the first patch is to allow the launcher to connect the internet and click "check for updates". I tried this using the razor version and have not yet (knock on wood) encountered any problems. I believe you need this patch in order to install the later patch, since I was able to install the second patch without any problems.

[sudaki]

I was able (retail version) to patch the game via the launcher as stated.  It appeared to install both updates at at the same time. 

The problem I'm having now, however, is that I cannot run the game without bringing up the goddamn launcher.  Before updating I was able to run straight from The Sims 3.app -> Contents -> MacOS -> cider, but now clicking this brings up the launcher too.  Anybody know if the patch causes this, or something else I futzed?

[Marhis]

I tried to find some log of the earlier patch install, but I did a major cleanup recently, and can't find the direct link, sorry :/.

Anyway, there appear to be no problems installing the launcher patch even if you have a "non retail" version. What sigmund said.

The problem I'm having now, however, is that I cannot run the game without bringing up the goddamn launcher.  Before updating I was able to run straight from The Sims 3.app -> Contents -> MacOS -> cider, but now clicking this brings up the launcher too.  Anybody know if the patch causes this, or something else I futzed?

I know for sure that the Reloaded version had a cider and a Sims3-Launcher executables separated (hence the possibility to launch the game without the launcher), while the retail version has only the cider, which launches the Launcher first, no matter what.
I'm trying to disassemble the retail cider and see if I can do something about, but given that it's the first time in my life I ever try to crack something, heh, result is unpredictable and definitely not guranteed.

[J. M. Pescado]

Based on my limited understanding of Mac-ness, Cider is just a wrapper-launcher, and does not contain the actual executable...so what happens if you just use the old one?

[Marhis]

Based on my limited understanding of Mac-ness, Cider is just a wrapper-launcher, and does not contain the actual executable...so what happens if you just use the old one?

Indeed, it is, I guess. Actually, the substitution works - I'm trying the disassembling thingy to look how exactly the two ciders are different each other; if the only difference I'll spot regards the path of the application to launch, I'll know that using the Reloaded cider is ok (heh, maybe I'm just too complicated and nitpicker, but still).

[J. M. Pescado]

According to the information I've found, a "cider" thingy is something that can be produced by an enduser for any arbitrary Windoze executable, although how effectively it will work varies by executable, so apparently, making one does not require great technical ability or special access. They are not unique products of EA and can be produced by any user.

[pbox]

Thank you, everyone =)

As for the cider situation: right now I have three unix executables: cider, cider_noui, and SIMS3-launcher (they're all in /Contents/MacOS). Following Marhis' instructions somewhere else on this site, I made a shortcut to cider which, like sudaki said, starts the game directly. I think I heard before that with later editions cider will run the goddamn launcher instead (thanks for the reminder, I almost forgot about that).

Marhis, do you still have the virgin razor cider? Would it help you if I'd post mine, for comparison purposes? Or do you mean by "substitution" that you still have yours and that's what you substitute? I'll keep a backup of mine in any case, since I'm not keen on having the launcher forced upon me =P.

I'll patch later today and will try to find out the URL of this thing .. but I'm not sure how to generate a log of where it connects. I have LittleSnitch, but that doesn't keep a log; I have a firewall log but that's only of what it blocks, I have a router with a user interface from hell that may or may not keep a traffic log somewhere.


ETA: attaching the ciders anyway .. maybe somebody else would want to try using this instead of the patched one and see if it launches the game, not the launcher. This is from a perfectly working, completely unpatched 1.0.631.00002 razor install.

[Marhis]

I don't have the Razor version, only the Reloaded (I went from Reloaded to retail directly), and yes I have the old rld one - that's the one I'm trying to compare.
Anyway, to clarify better, putting the rld cider (which worked) in place of the retail cider will launch the goddamned Launcher anyway :/. So yes, it works, but not exactly how we would.

That's what it says in the log while launching reloaded cider:
(don't mind the language messages, they're because of my settings)

Code:

iMacIntel:~ Marhis$ /Applications/The\ Sims\ 3.localized/The\ Sims3.app/Contents/MacOS/cider ; exit;
err:reg:Nt_openConfigW could not retrieve the module file name (reason: 'bad module')
err:reg:Nt_openConfigW could not retrieve the module file name (reason: 'bad module')
err:reg:Nt_openConfigW could not retrieve the module file name (reason: 'bad module')
Warning: Language 'en_IT' was not found, retrying without country name...
For language 'en' several language ids were found:
en_US - 0409; en_GB - 0809; en_AU - 0C09; en_CA - 1009; en_NZ - 1409; en_IE - 1809; en_ZA - 1C09; en_JM - 2009; en_ - 2409; en_BZ - 2809; en_TT - 2C09; 
Instead of using first in the list, suggest to define
your LANG environment variable like this: LANG=en_US
2009-07-12 14:41:14.554 cider[503:10b] *** -[NSApplication setEventRedirectState:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x70517900
2009-07-12 14:41:14.557 cider[503:10b] Exception raised during posting of notification.  Ignored.  exception: '*** -[NSApplication setEventRedirectState:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x70517900'  invoked observer method: '*** -[DesktopWindowController windowDidBecomeKey:]'  observer: 0x705f34b0  notification name: 'NSWindowDidBecomeKeyNotification'
Warning: loading builtin d3dx9_31.dll, but native version already present. Expect trouble.
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_stereo_channels device 260 failed to get preferred stereo channels (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_channel_volume_writable device 260 failed to get volume writable (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_format failed to get device 260 format inputChannel: 0 (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_stereo_channels device 258 failed to get preferred stereo channels (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_channel_volume_writable device 258 failed to get volume writable (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_format failed to get device 258 format inputChannel: 0 (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_format failed to get device 262 format inputChannel: 1 (0x77686f3f)
2009-07-12 14:41:16.184 cider[503:10b] *** -[NSApplication setEventRedirectState:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x70517900
2009-07-12 14:41:16.186 cider[503:10b] Exception raised during posting of notification.  Ignored.  exception: '*** -[NSApplication setEventRedirectState:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x70517900'  invoked observer method: '*** -[DesktopWindowController windowDidResignKey:]'  observer: 0x705f34b0  notification name: 'NSWindowDidResignKeyNotification'
2009-07-12 14:42:03.384 cider[503:10b] Could not obtain patch manifest at http://llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sims/u/f/sims3/mac/sims3_sku2_update_manifest.xml : zero byte resource (-1014)
2009-07-12 14:43:56.503 cider[503:10b] *** -[NSApplication setEventRedirectState:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x70517900
2009-07-12 14:43:56.503 cider[503:10b] Exception raised during posting of notification.  Ignored.  exception: '*** -[NSApplication setEventRedirectState:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x70517900'  invoked observer method: '*** -[DesktopWindowController windowDidBecomeKey:]'  observer: 0x705f34b0  notification name: 'NSWindowDidBecomeKeyNotification'
fixme:crt:__clean_type_info_names_internal stub! {addr = 104434D0}
2009-07-12 14:43:56.562 cider[503:10b] *** -[NSApplication setEventRedirectState:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x70517900
2009-07-12 14:43:56.563 cider[503:10b] Exception raised during posting of notification.  Ignored.  exception: '*** -[NSApplication setEventRedirectState:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x70517900'  invoked observer method: '*** -[DesktopWindowController windowDidResignKey:]'  observer: 0x705f34b0  notification name: 'NSWindowDidResignKeyNotification'
logout

[Process completed]

That's what happens instead if I use the retail cider:

Code:

iMacIntel:~ Marhis$ /Applications/The\ Sims\ 3.localized/The\ Sims3.app/Contents/MacOS/cider ; exit;
err:reg:Nt_openConfigW could not retrieve the module file name (reason: 'bad module')
err:reg:Nt_openConfigW could not retrieve the module file name (reason: 'bad module')
err:reg:Nt_openConfigW could not retrieve the module file name (reason: 'bad module')
Warning: Language 'en_IT' was not found, retrying without country name...
For language 'en' several language ids were found:
en_US - 0409; en_GB - 0809; en_AU - 0C09; en_CA - 1009; en_NZ - 1409; en_IE - 1809; en_ZA - 1C09; en_JM - 2009; en_ - 2409; en_BZ - 2809; en_TT - 2C09; 
Instead of using first in the list, suggest to define
your LANG environment variable like this: LANG=en_US
Warning: loading builtin d3dx9_31.dll, but native version already present. Expect trouble.
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_stereo_channels device 260 failed to get preferred stereo channels (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_channel_volume_writable device 260 failed to get volume writable (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_format failed to get device 260 format inputChannel: 0 (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_stereo_channels device 258 failed to get preferred stereo channels (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_channel_volume_writable device 258 failed to get volume writable (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_format failed to get device 258 format inputChannel: 0 (0x77686f3f)
err:wave_audiodevice:audio_device_format failed to get device 262 format inputChannel: 1 (0x77686f3f)
2009-07-12 14:51:44.731 cider[530:10b] Could not obtain patch manifest at http://llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sims/u/f/sims3/mac/sims3_sku2_update_manifest.xml : zero byte resource (-1014)
fixme:crt:__clean_type_info_names_internal stub! {addr = 104434D0}
logout

[Process completed]

[pbox]

Just to wrap this up: I finally patched via the launcher a few days ago, and it went without a hitch. It did, however, take a few tries until the launcher recognised that there was an update at all (probably because I had blocked it from internet access; perhaps it normally only checks when it launches).

I was a little surprised by the fact that neither the OSX patch nor the 1.2.7 one seem to touch the .exe in any way.

I haven't tested packaging from in-game since I patched, but doubleclick-installing (or attempting to, seeing as the broken launcher never actually installed anything anyway) no longer works for me now. Not a big deal for me personally since I use 3viewer anyway, but just for the record.

[Marhis]

Ditto. Double-clic never worked for me either. Or, it requires an insane amount of time to load the installer. I have to install stuff from the launcher, only running the launcher first, then install from within.

Oh, for the record, I've found a way to launch the game alone, without the launcher, but it loads with all the graphic massively screwed up (just imagine the loading screen behind a curtain of fireworks, flashes of black and white, and so on). No idea why.