New Patch 1.17/2.12/3.8/4.5/5.2

[ShortyBoo]

New patch is released. I don't have the full numbers since I have to patch manually due to a messed up Launcher.

Base Game Updates

    * Players can now suppress Opportunities by selecting the Opportunities Suppression check box in the Game Options menu. This means players can still get opportunities through interactions, but no opportunities will be automatically directed towards the player.
    * The game can now detect downloaded content and use these objects in Sims' dreams, opportunities, etc.
    * Live Mode
    * Create a Sim
    * Build/Buy Mode
    * Edit Town
    * Additional bug fixes to existing features


World Adventures

    * Additional bug fixes and polish to existing features


Ambitions

    * Additional bug fixes and polish to existing features


I don't quite understand what they mean by suppressing Opportunities.

[bloodredtoe]

Curious if it will allow to sculpt downloaded content, too (yes, I'm thinking ice stuff again:D).

[markjs]

Great, someone who has the expansion could post the numbers, it's probably hosted on EA already.

[basbas]

The feature list is obviously incomplete.

Live Mode:
Sims can now form groups, so that they stay together when they're going out.
Players can set bought lights as 'black light'.

CAS:
Players can adjust a Sim's muscularity and breast size.
Sims can now have astrological signs.

Build/Buy:
Players can use the platform tools to create stages and other raised areas.
Players can create half walls.
Players can build urinals.
Pools can have rounded corners.
Pools don't necessarily have to be built on the ground floor.
Players can create fountains anywhere, with the new fountain tools.

Edit town:
Players can build a public sound set on public lots, so that you can hear music anywhere on that lot.

[Acid_fairy]

Wow there's a lot of features in that patch. Impressive for EA.

[basbas]

Any idea if the Sims 3 Patch Downloader has been updated yet?

If I remember correctly, that Ford guy released an update to his Patch Downloader a while ago, and with that update the Patch Downloader doesn't have to be updated with every patch. So you can just download the latest version, I think.

[J. M. Pescado]

As soon as someone fetches me the exact patch numbers, the fun can begin.

[unknownlUser]

Here you go...all for region 1.

Base game
http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/Sims3_1.17.60.009001_from_1.15.34.008001.exe OR http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/TS3_1.17.60.009001_Update.exe

EP01 WA
http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/Sims3_2.12.8.009001_from_2.10.5.008001.exe OR http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/TS3EP01_2.12.8.009001_Update.exe

SP01 HELS
http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/Sims3_3.8.6.009001_from_3.6.6.008001.exe OR http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/TS3SP01_3.8.6.009001_Update.exe

EP02 AMB
http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/Sims3_4.5.6.009001_from_4.3.4.008001.exe

SP02 FLS
http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/Sims3_5.2.4.009001_from_5.0.44.008001.exe

[ShortyBoo]

Now I just need the region 2 WA patch.

[markjs]

If you need other regions: Patch Table Generator or Patch Link Generator.  

Does anyone have the base number of Late Night expansion?

[mistyk]

I just installed LN and game updated to 6.0.81.009001

[markjs]

If you need other regions:

http://www."http.com//


...uh

I fixed it, MATY adds the protocol automatically, did not knew that.
// I need to fix some thing on the script, will be allowing it soon. Done.
// Beware, one comma can ruin everything.

I just installed LN and game updated to 6.0.81.009001

Thanks, mistyk.

[Rockermonkey]

I must say, the new water reflections are really nice; same with the breast and muscle sliders.

[Mosquito]

So what, no "crash & burn" stories yet? Can it actually be working?

It will, however, be interesting to patch this if your base game/EPs/SPs are of different region numbers. Oh boy, I can hardly wait!


Not.

[MissKitty]

It will, however, be interesting to patch this if your base game/EPs/SPs are of different region numbers. Oh boy, I can hardly wait!


Not.

I did that. My Base and WA are region 2, the rest region 1. Had to reinstall a few elements once or twice but in the end it claimed to have successfully patched everything. Am afraid to open the game, though.

Patch day is always such a joyous event.

[uknortherner]

Well, even with the new patches lighting behaviour remains the same, but then I've largely given up hope of EA actually fixing it. Light given off by outdoor lights still do not cross lot boundaries and light cast on walls is still restricted to the level the light is on.

[markjs]

It is actually annoying how they don't fixed the lightning yet.
Pretty sure they are aware of this, this problem is present since the launch of WA.



Can it be that hard to fix this? Or are they just lazy?

Plus, the muscle tone is pretty lame, it's just an overlay of a texture and the slider control it's opacity.
I thought they were going to make it inflict directly into the body mesh, but I guess they want it to be reliable to every user.
Doing the other way would increase the polygons to load much more and is something unnecessary since we won't be looking at every detail of a Sim. I know I would not.

[MissKitty]

Patching with different regions usually is only a problem if you do something wrong somewhere. Each patch seems to function individually- meaning you could have each expansion be a different region from all the others with no issue, because patches work on one expansion at a time (which is why the patch is 1.17/2.12/3.8/4.5/5.2 instead of 5.2)

Yes, smartass, we know how it works, but EA are so clever that even with a vanilla installl, I personally had to reinstall Ambitions twice before the last patch would take without throwing an error. Had to reinstall WA once. The rest worked first time, which was quite frankly surprising, even though I reinstalled everything only a couple of days ago. It may or may not have anything to do with regions, I've never had mismatched regions with other games and that may pure assumption on my part, but it's still a PITA. I certainly couldn't be arsed to reinstall all the parts for every error as I'd still be trying to patch a month from now if I did that. Sims is the only game I own which is so filled with dumbfuckery that there's a fifty-fifty chance a patch won't work.

[markjs]

Does light work on the muscle definition? From screenshots it looks to be that fancy texture effect where it's a flat texture, but lighting still works properly on it. I can't remember the name of this (Not bump mapping...more complex than that).

Don't quite understand what you mean, are you referring to specular reflection or the halo?
I did not noticed anything on that...
But this is a good idea for a mod. Are halo part of acessories/clothing too?

Oh and the water effects are amazing, it ddn't caused much impact on the game, well that depends on the machine too.
I am really liking the new features, the game is going for the better lately.
And the performance seems to be better too in some aspects, not overall though.

[uknortherner]

Ah, you mean "normal mapping". From what little I've seen of the muscle slider when I played with it earlier, it appears to be a normal map that reflects light pretty well in CAS, but I haven't seen it in-game though, so it could possibly look like shit.

It is actually annoying how they don't fixed the lightning yet.
Pretty sure they are aware of this, this problem is present since the launch of WA.



Can it be that hard to fix this? Or are they just lazy?

What annoys me about the lighting situation is that off-lot lightsources, i.e. lamp posts work perfectly fine, with the light reflecting off entire walls of houses. If you want to see an example of this, load up Twinbrook and switch off all the lights in the laundromat. When night falls, the adjacent lamp post does a pretty good job of illuminating the side of the laundromat - all four floors of it.

[markjs]

No, not specular...I can't remember the name to find a video of what I mean.

In games like Oblivion, the wall can look like a bunch of stones on top of each other, and when you get closer and look up, it looks like they're all actually rendered in 3D, everything looks 3D. And if you hold up a lamp, the light goes off on them the right way, but then when you go to the edge of the wall you can see it's completely flat.

The images of the muscle definition seem to look like they work the same way. They're flat, yes, but from different angles and with different lighting, they look like they're actually 3D and projecting proper shadows, despite being the exact same shape as a non-toned sim.

I was just wondering if they did that, or if I was imagining it, but I'm pretty sure there's some kind of visual trick going on with them to make them look 3D.

I think you are referring to DX11 feature, Tesselation.
Though this wasn't present in Oblivion. lol

Only thing there was there was High Dynamic Range (HDR), might be it?

[Patrick]

Oblivion used Parallax Mapping AFAIK or some modification of that technique: http://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/textures/understanding-oblivions-parallax-maps.php

[wizard_merlin]

Only thing there was there was High Dynamic Range (HDR), might be it?

HDR, at least in photography, is the light range that can be captured in a single image.  Normally when an image contains both dark and light scenes, either the dark is underexposed while the light areas are perfect, or the dark and shadow areas are perfect and the light is over exposed.  Not sure how this would apply to a video game as the images would not suffer over and underexposed areas, unless they were deliberately written that way, excluding obvious EAxis glitches through poor programing.

[markjs]

Ah, you mean "normal mapping". From what little I've seen of the muscle slider when I played with it earlier, it appears to be a normal map that reflects light pretty well in CAS, but I haven't seen it in-game though, so it could possibly look like shit.

In game I did not saw any kind of reflection, but it's definitely the normal, which causes this depth look into it.

Oblivion used Parallax Mapping AFAIK or some modification of that technique: http://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/textures/understanding-oblivions-parallax-maps.php

Yes, that must be it was she was referring to.
I doubt the engine uses this technique.

[Sparks]

I got an error after trying to install http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/Sims3_1.17.60.009002_from_1.15.34.008002.exe:

Is it because I'm using Windows 7? Never seen this before.

Never mind. Patches are not patched in order.