Sims 3 safe install

[Quill]

I'm wiping my hard drive and reinstalling Windows, which means I will of course have to install The Sims 3.  I've got my saves and downloads backed up and all. 

I vaguely remember (and found some old discussion of) the suggestion that it was best to use a no-cd crack and possibly other tricks when installing The Sims 3, to avoid possible Eaxis craptasticness, but it's been long enough since I installed the Sims 3 that I have no idea what I did to set it up correctly the first time.  I have a legal copy of the game, but I still want to avoid the DRM. 

Obviously, I'm also failing at Google, since I can't seem to find any posts describing how to do this in a MATY-approved manner.  I took a look at the SecuRom removal thread and quite a few others, but none seem to apply. 

Am I simply losing the few marbles I have?  Can someone point out to me the thread I should look at, or describe what they did?

[Madaphor]

Bumping because I'm considering a clean install of Windows 7, and would prefer a MATY-friendly way to avoid DRM, etc.

[Rockermonkey]

Well unless you have the illegal version, or the EA downloader-thing one, Sims 3 doesn't have any DRM or SecuRom.


So apparently yes, you've lost your marbles.


If you have the illegal version, simply avoid the launcher. Actually, you should avoid the launcher anyway.

[VacantBlue]

Using Awesomemod will eliminate the need for a no-cd crack.