More Awesome Than You!

I have a downloaded copy of the sims 3 with a no cd crack.
I just BOUGHT the sims 3 world adventures expansion pack and it will not let me install it. It keeps saying
"The regional install code for the sims 3 is defferent than what this expansion requires"

Help I really want to play.
If you know how to fix it can you please explain in great detail. Thanks.

If you downloaded the Sims 3, then I think they're all International, which means a store-brought World Adventures won't work with it, as it would be a different region.

I have a store bought version of TS3 and am planning on downloading WA. Am I going to have the same issue? Because if that's the case, I'll save myself the trouble and buy the game.

According to the other thread, you can do something do workaround that, Shortyboo:


If somebody knows the SKU value of the US base game (I'm assuming you're USian, LindseyLou, correct me if I'm wrong), the OP could try changing that before attempting to install the EP and report back. I don't know if that would work or not, I'm just guessing.

Ok, I'm probably going to sound dumb here, but I don't have any idea of how to do that. I've never done anything with regedit before and I wouldn't know what I'm doing. Any chance of more detailed instructions? I have XP if that makes any difference.

Edit: I think I figured it out. I got into the registry and found where it had The Sims 3 folder. I right-clicked on SKU, clicked on Modify and in the box that says Value data I changed the 1 to a 7 and clicked ok. Is that all I need to do? I hope I didn't screw anything up.

In order for me to get this to work I had to uninstall my legit copy of the base game and reinstall. Then I had to install the patch.Then i went into regedit and changed that from 1 to 7. I then installed World Adventures and it all seems to be ok but now I am getting another prompt for an update. Anyone know anything about this update? And if I do update will the crack be no good?

I really hope I won't have to reinstall the game. I'm not even really worried about losing saved games or anything, it's more I don't want to lose the families I created that are still in the bin and I don't want to have to reinstall all the CC again, especially not the Sims3Pack files because those take way too long to install.

You wouldn't have to reinstall all the content you installed through the launcher, as long as you save the DCCache folder. That is where all content installed through the launcher is saved, and if you do a fresh install and put that folder back in, all the content will be back in the game without having to install it again.

Yeah I didn't lose anything. I really thought I was going to though.

I know I'm going to ask a stupid question but humour me please I bought Sims 3 in US and I 've just ordered WA from UK are you telling me that they might not work together or is that just for downloaded copies ??

They'd be different regions, so no, they won't work unless you change the region code of the base game in regedit to match the EP's region code.

Region of North American game is 1. The region for the Reloaded release is 7. You can switch your SKU back to 1 after you install the expansion. On the DVD it has a folder in installer with sku on it. That number after the sku is the one you need to use to install the expansion on your base game.

Okay, sorry for the delay in reply. I'm not on a windows computer at the moment, but in order to do a registry edit you go to Run and type in "regedit". You then need to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Sims>Sims 3, I believe, and change the SKU accordingly. I've had to do this in the past for TS2, but haven't had to do it yet for TS3, so somebody who's done it can jump in if they want. I'm off to go double check this in a bit.

ETA: I would try PhantomNeko's suggestion below first, since I haven't tried this for TS3.  

I've found just changing the skuversion.txt in the bin works just fine.

I had the original Collector's Edition & had to uninstall it & download the copy from the web.  Then I could install World Adventures, but now it is asking me to update the original sims 3 that I downloaded & every time I try I get an error.  I am unsure how to fix that part, but I can say from personal experience that if you bought 1 & not the other, it WILL give you the region code error!!

I installed World Adventures. The Goth lot is now just a big square of water.  :P

Sooooo...let me get this straight. My version of the base game is pirated, but when I checked the SKU in the Registry, the value was 1. Does this mean if I buy the expansion pack it will work..? Nobody seems to be seeding the "reloaded" version online.

pirate cat downloads are usually multi lingual  thus from a region where there are multiple languages ( in this case 7 which I think was the pacific rim..but that's a guess)

US is 1 , as we know there are at least 7 regions one could try the different sku numbers til they found the region they are associated with.
I also seem to recall that there is a 0 region, just to make life difficult.


If you are trying to put a purchased Expac on the Arr download .. you must change the sku version to 1 if purchased in the US.
If your Sims 3 is sku 1 , make sure you have taken out the no-cd hack and replaced it with the original Exe. If you did not save the original exe let this be a learning experience. Always save the original exe.

If you are installing the ARR download over a purchased Sims 3, you may need to change your Sims 3 sku to 7.

If you have the reloaded original Arr , remember to change the exe and check the sku just in case. There was a period when patches wouldn't load properly and many of us changed sku's to fix it.

If all of that was greek, you probably should not be downloading games. If you think we are rough on the passing public (We referencing Maty) you should check torrent threads where users ask for help.

Thanks for the help I'm looking at my text skuversion I've got asset as 1 and TCC as 1 what one do I change to 7 ?

No, condescending tone aside it made perfect sense, thanks.

I am getting so frustrated with this, I've got both of them on DVD but I'm getting this error message even after a fresh install because I couldn't get it to patch. I need to find out which region code matches Australia in order to be able to install WA because the dvd for WA that I bought is Australian, but the DVD for the base game is from Singapore. Theoretically they SHOULD be the same damn region but no, EA likes to fuck people in the ass.

Okay, some help needed here from anyone that has done this on Vista 64-bit (I have home ultimate) - I found in the installer files for my WA DVD that I have a folder called sku7 but I can't find any equivalents in my actual installed base game; I can't find TS3 in my regedit, or an SKU option to change (does anyone know EXACTLY what I should be looking for in regedit?). All the details between the skuversion.txt file on my base game install and my WA install match where they are meant to and I'm patched up to 1.7 so the skuversion.txt file edit that PhantomNeko suggested won't work for this.

This should help :)

(http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac163/witchboy1962/Graphics/DVD-Regions-map.gif)

Thanks I found it - for anyone else that goes looking on Vista or Win 7, it's not in the standard folder like it would be for XP; it's in a folder called wownodeXXXX/software in regedit.

I had a legit copy of the base game, but when I went into regedit to change my region number it was already at 7.  Maybe this explains why the installer was originally in japanese when I tried to use it...

But yeah, easy stuff.  Much easier than I expected it to be, arring over top of a legit copy.  It's like EA doesn't care anymore, and is almost encouraging it, because it's ridiculously easy to do.

think I'm slowly going mad found this folder but all its got is microsoft went through all the ea games and electronic arts cannot find anything that relates to sku but I have found the skutext file so can I just by trial and error change any of the 1s to a 7, if anybody just say yes or no I'd be very grateful and I promise never to darken your doors again . . . maybe