Over at RYG and Prism we've tested the game for any trace of DRM. This is our statement on the issues:
Sims 3 Testing Results
The staff of RYG are still very bothered at the fact that EA did not choose to be honest about disclosing who designed the copy protection for Sims 3. However as a site we have a responsibility to honestly report on the effect of that copy protection.
The Reclaim Your Game/Prism Staff have spent most of the last few days exhaustively testing the DRM for Sims 3 on the Disc Version.
These are the results:
-The copy protection does not appear to leave any files on your PC
-All of the files are digitally signed by EA (as opposed to Sony DADC)
-This new copy protection is not blocking any legal software-for example, it doesn't disallow the game from operating if Nero is on your pc
-The new copy protection for Sims 3 appears to be well coded and contained on the .exe file (on the Disc)
-All free items from the Sims 3 store are stable and free of SecuROM. (we have not tested the paid items at this time, but will keep you updated)
-Gamers are able to install Riverview via the EADM and then remove the EADM and continue playing with that neighborhood.
However, we are not able to test for all possible issues. For example, if the new SecuROM causes hard drives to crash, it will likely take at least a few weeks for that issue to show up. At this stage, based on the available evidence, we are 90 percent certain that the copy protection is relatively safe.
The available evidence suggests that many of the issues experienced by gamers on the Sims3 forums are due to the following:
-Gamers who had previously installed the leaked copy of the Sims 3 and had not properly removed Securom, the registry files and any other files left behind from the leaked copy before installing the legal game on their PC
-Gamers with out of date drivers (Graphics Cards and Optical drives) and corrupted or out of date Direct X.
-Gamers who have not defragmented their PCs or done a System/Registry clean up recently.
-Gamers with specific older models of DVD drives
We suggest before installing Sims 3, that you:
-defrag your pc. If you do not have a defrag program at the moment, Auslogics is free, quick and excellent
-Clean out your Registry. We recommend Midfingr's tune and clean program which can be downloaded from here.
-Update your drivers, especially your graphics drivers.
We have quite a few people on the forum who have followed the above steps, including those with older PCs. They have had few if any issues with their game.
-Ensure you clean out all SecuROM and Safedisc files from your PC (including the Registry). To remove all SecuROM you can use Midfingr's *NEW* Automated SecuROM Removal Tool.
-Once all of that is done, you should then restart your PC.
Then once you've installed your game and done your registration and gotten all the downloads you want from the TS3 site through the EADM, then it's good to do another restart before you play your game, which stops the EADM from continually running in the background.
http://reclaimyourgame.com/