OMG, they're awesome! Thanks so much for that link.

I was playing a household and while still in that mode, I just zoomed to the spot where the stuck car was and clicked on it while pressing CTRL + Shift, and the option "Nuke" came up.

I think I had entered testingcheatsenabled true in the command box (bring it up by pressing CTRL + Shift + C) but I'm not sure. I had been trying so many things that I got confused. If you're not able to get the "Nuke" option, try entering the testing cheats command first.

There's nobody who owns the car. I tried playing the Working Friends family but none of them can get this car, it just says "No interactions possible."

Update: I tried the CTRL + Shift and OMG, it worked! The friggin' car is nuked. Eternal thanks, guys, I'll remember that trick. 

I've tried searching on "abandoned car," "abandoned vehicle," "stuck car," etc. etc. and nothing pops up except Awesomemod's towderelicts command, which I've tried and doesn't work in this situation.

What's happened is, there's an abandoned vehicle (a Wornado Triage) in the street by Central Park that belongs to the Working Friends family. It says No driver! Derelict vehicle! I can't get at it either in game mode or in buy/build mode on the lot next to it. I never had played the Working Friends family, so I tried going into that household to see if that would unglitch it, but that hasn't worked. I tried getting my kleptos next to it, but they wouldn't steal it. As I said, the first thing I did was try the AM towderelicts command, and it popped up a message saying 3 limos had been towed but nothing about the abandoned vehicle, which is still there.

I'm at a loss, unless I just abandon the whole neighborhood and start fresh, which I don't want to do and which won't solve the problem if it happens again. Any suggestions?

I will try this, as taking out Awesomemod hasn't fixed the issue anyway.

So, is this being looked into for the next release of Awesomemod? I would hate to have to uninstall this hack but this pausing/freezing issue is unendurable. It's either it goes or the game goes. I can't play with this major bug. 

I've only just started having this issue, after installing the latest edition of Awesomemod. I have all the patches installed except the last one.

Last night I tried playing a small household (one Sim) on a smallish lot with a bare-bones house, just starting out with the standard $16K nest egg. She got hungry. Stood in front of the fridge for about 5 seconds, then took out some food. Went to the counter, put the food down, stood there for another 5 seconds, then started chopping. Periodically paused for another few seconds during the procedure. Took the pan to the stove, stood there holding it for (again) about 5 seconds, then started cooking, with more intermittent pauses. Took the finished plate and stood there for -- wait for it -- about 5 seconds. Took the plate to the table, put it down, stood there for (guess how many) seconds, then sat down and ate.

 

I have to add my thanks, I loved the Jeanette hair in Sims 2 and you have my undying gratitude for providing it for Sims 3. 

What's up with the action lag? I give my Sim a command and he'll stand there for half a minute or more before performing the action, like going to bed or taking a shower. I noticed it before this patch but it didn't seem nearly so long. Is anyone else experiencing this?

So far I'm not having any of the other problems people are describing (knock wood), like the taxi in the kitchen or route failures. I had to do a complete reinstall before I could patch, and that was a huge pain because the aborted first attempt at this latest patch kept my game from uninstalling, reinstalling or working at all. I finally got a link to instructions on where to go to manually delete all the shards. Goddamn ass-sucking EA and their POS software that injects itself into every crevice it can find!

Not if EA programmed it. 

I'm okay so far after the reinstall and double patching. I'd saved my C:/My Documents/Electronic Arts folder before I deleted the actual game, and was I surprised to find that everything was still installed and working! All my saved games, my installed content, everything. I didn't expect that.

I used the Launcher to install a really nice lot, and no SecuROM showed up afterward so it really is just the Download Manager that's putting that shit out. As long as EA's pulling that crap they deserve to have their game, and their store crap, arred. What possible reasoning can they have to keep using that vile, universally hated, and easily circumvented program on their software?

Thank you very, very much for that link. I discovered several files that needed to be deleted, in places I never would have thought to check. I also discovered that SecuROM was installed on my system again. I thought EA swore up and down it wasn't going to use SecuROM with TS3. Now I discover that installing the EADM infects your computer. So what are we supposed to do to install store content, arred or otherwise?

This crap is turning me off TS3 big time. But I do thank you for the advice, at least I've got the thing reinstalled and completely patched, and I know how to wipe it completely off when I decide I've had enough of it. Which shouldn't be long, at this rate.

Yes, I have cleaned out the temp folder.

I also ran CC Cleaner as well as TuneUp Utilities to clean the registry before I went in manually to try to find out what was keeping the game "alive."

Nothing works! I thought I was pissed at EA before, but this fiasco is absolutely boiling my blood.  

I uninstalled the downloader, I searched the registry and removed everything that I could find that pertained to Sims 3 and the goddamn installer still tells me I have to uninstall the patched (v. 1.2.07) game before I can reinstall.

What the FUCK is going on here? Just how many clandestine files has this POS software crammed onto my computer? I'm at a complete loss. I don't know what else to do, short of a complete system reinstall, which I've never done and don't want to attempt. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Okay, now I've got real problems. First, the patch wouldn't completely install. It came up with the "File not found" error. I removed all mods and CC, tried again, same error. I made sure the original .exe and .dll files were installed, same error. I replaced all the .ini files with the original files just in case, same error.

So I figured, fine, the game still says it's version 1.2.07, I'll just keep playing that. Only I couldn't play it, it kept crashing to the desktop as soon as it reached the screen where you choose a neighborhood/family to play. With or without any mods or CC, the same thing happened. Quaint note, the first time I tried to load the game after the patch failure, I got a popup notice telling me the Awesomemod expired on July 15, 2009 and I had to download and install the latest version. Which I did, and still the game crashed.

So I tried to uninstall the game and it told me I couldn't uninstall until I completed the patching. I gave up and deleted the Electronics Arts folder and tried to reinstall. It told me the version I was trying to install (1.0.631) is older than the one already installed (1.2.07) and I have to uninstall the newer one first. I deleted everything I could find with "Sims 3" on it, including the registry entry. The installer is still detecting an installation of version 1.2.07 and won't let me reinstall.

I have the Reloaded retail version.

What else do I have to locate and eliminate before this effing game will reinstall? 

I love the infinitely customizable CAST system but knew I would before I even started playing. What surprised me was how much I enjoy the collecting. I thought the concept was lame until I tried it. Now I hate getting my Sims jobs because it interferes with their scavenging. I've got one Sim who hasn't been home for a couple of weeks. She sleeps on park benches or on lounge chairs at the pool, showers and goes to the bathroom at the gym, and eats fruits she picks off wild-growing plants or filches from neighbors or the science center garden. She's amassed a small fortune from all the rocks, gems and metals she's acquired, not to mention all the goodies she's swiped (she's a klepper). When she gets enough to buy a mansion I'm going to move her in, but I'll bet she (and I) will miss the scavenging life.

The water effects are flat-out awesome. It's unbelievable how realistic they look. Ditto the lighting and changing sky effects. Even on my crappy graphics card, dusk and dawn are incredible. I also like zooming in on my Sim while riding her bike home and right-clicking on her icon to track her. It's just like I'm riding the bike myself through the neighborhood. It's especially awesome at twilight.

I love the mausoleum! The spooky sounds and creepy laughter are hilarious. It bugs me that Sims who are cowardly will still get a fun moodlet from going in, even as they get a horror moodlet from the same experience. They'll also calmly chat with ghosts. They should be scared into peeing themselves.

I like the way elders move in TS3, more realistic. Just like in TS2, though, they get severely shortchanged when it comes to clothing styles. And why no sensible slippers for Grandpa? It's either bare feet or those stupid bunny slippers. Granny gets to wear realistic slippers, why not her mate?

I miss TS2 toddlers and kids, though. They had personality and they were adorable. TS3 kiddies are cardboard. The swaddled slugs that pass for infants are particularly horrid. Too lazy to code for legs and arms, EA?

I like that Sims can jump in the pool from poolside, and climb out without using the ladder. I miss the diving board, though, and the pool slide was fun. I'll bet they'll come in a later EP, though, like pianos, half walls and the other goodies that the community's been bitching about. EA knows how to turn a buck.

Just finished a Sims 3 session and found that I really miss the gentle, nicely animated zzzz's of sleeping Sims in TS2, and the equally gently animated music notes and blue rings emanating from stereo speakers. These hard-edged ZZZ's are horrid, and the weird liquid-glass effect that's supposed to mimic sound waves coming out of stereos is awful.

Of course, when it comes to music, I'm with those who bitch about not being able to turn off the goddamn music in build, buy, neighborhood and CAS modes. My speaker knob is going to get twisted off from me cranking it down every time I have to leave live play mode.

What objects do I miss? Every damn thing Adele ever made, for starters. Windkeeper's Helios windows and doors. My huge collection of oriental rugs, Victorian furnishings and period clothing. Wanna try maintaining a Victorian-themed household with a cell phone in every inventory?

Sims 3 is diverting but Sims 2 is NEVER coming off my hard drive.

All of a sudden, the friggin' launcher has stopped working. Connected, not connected, every time I try to install something from the EA store I just get a message saying the launcher has encountered a problem and needs to close. Back when I first installed the game I was able to get Riverview and the four furniture sets installed, but no hair or clothing.

I've already uninstalled and reinstalled the game to try to fix the launcher problem, but it's still the same. This is a full copy of the retail game I dl'd from Demonoid. I'm using the rzr1911 crack.

Thanks for help.

I've been running fine until just recently when an option popped up for one of my Sims (user-created, not one of the premade Sims) to move in with someone she'd made friends with.  A married man, no less, the hussy! Anyway, I decided to go for it and see what happened. A screen came up asking if I wanted her to move out with furniture or without. I opted for the "with furniture" option.

Here's where it got weird. Only a few items went with her, like a painting she'd done and hung on the wall, and two of the bewitched gnomes she picked up in the mausoleum, and her bicycle (which she was out riding at the time). I think that's all. Everything else stayed, including her nice little garden.

I decided to play around with one of the premade families and I moved them into my Sim's old place. The wife has the gardening trait so she immediately gets to talk to the plants. Stupid, she should have to work for it at least a little while. Anyhow, they moved in and can interact with everything, but when they go to sleep the bed option says "Sleep in Lupe's bed" (Lupe is my old moved out Sim), as if they're guests. The toddler autonomously went to the dresser to plan her outfits. And twice now, when I've tried to plan outfits for the adults, on saving the game freezes and the "Saving" icon just keeps circling and circling. I left it for 20 minutes the last time and it never completed the save.

Is anyone else experiencing this kind of thing? Not just the saving freeze, but the move out with or without furniture bork?

Thanks for the response.

I do have cable and I know my IP is static. When I first started looking into torrents I searched for ways to stay anonymous and that's how I found out about Tor. The info I got said that you shouldn't use Tor for torrenting, though (sounds odd when you put it that way, doesn't it? You'd think something called Tor would be made for Tor-renting.) and that if too many people did it, they might even shut it down. I'm not geek enough to know how or why, it's just what I read. Every other method I found requires payment, except Peer Guardian, which I read everywhere is a worthless POS. Pescado thinks so, too, and that's the final word as far as I'm concerned. If you know of an effective anonymizer that's free please let me know!

I haven't been caught but I guess everybody who torrents worries about it. I avoid really popular stuff and recent releases. Most of that doesn't appeal to me anyway. As I said, I risked downloading Sims 3 because there's so much negative buzz about it and for me it's a lot of money to throw down for something I might not like and can't return.

I'm ever grateful for the geeks of the world. They keep me from doing stupid things, and when I do stupid things anyway, they help me undo them.


Oh, I see.


Like it would do any good, on a par with complaining to EA about - well, about pretty much anything.


I do want to learn and I may try your advice at a later date, but if you don't think it's a priority at the moment I think I'll let it pass. I've got enough on my plate in RL right now, and anything that ain't broke can wait.

Many thanks anyway, I very much appreciate your time.

How do you change your IP? The only way I know is to use Tor and from what I understand that's frowned upon because it hogs the available resources. Correct me if I'm wrong. Like you wouldn't.

I normally only torrent pretty obscure stuff, ebooks and old music, stuff like that. But I torrented Sims 3 because I wanted to see if it was the POS people are saying it is before I plunked down cash for it. I seeded for a while but got nervous and shut it off. I hate being a leech but I can't afford to pay for privacy service. I do continue to seed the other torrents I've downloaded as I doubt they'll draw any interest from the powers that be. Maybe I'm wrong there, too.

One other question: The notice rosenshyne got says she can reactivate her connection once she's removed the M&G file from her computer. How can they tell whether she did or not, unless she resumed that specific torrent? Is Big Brother that big?

McCrea, thanks very much for your help, really I mean it, but I can't understand a single thing you said. What jar? Or .jar? Edit what bat, where and how? And I don't have an H drive.

Sorry to sound like such an asshat noob, but that's what I am.  Really, should I even bother with this? The game seems to be running okay, I just got concerned because people were saying how you could ruin your video card if it's overheating. How can I tell if I have a problem?

I don't have WinRar, I use 7-Zip. But I can't find any way to specify which file types it handles.

I miss seasons the most. Rainstorms and snowstorms were such a great break from the always sunny, summertime Sims world. I hope they're just planning to do what they did with Sims 2 and introduce seasons in an EP down the road. Sooner rather than later, please. I also miss the greenhouse walls, doors and roofs. They had great build uses other than just greenhouses. You could do some really creative stuff with them.

I second (or third, or fourth) the demand for a cheap coffemaker. What kind of household doesn't have a $10 coffemaker? Who drinks lattes at 6:30 a.m., let alone banana chocolate frappes or whatever the hell they are?

Half walls, stages and standalone staircases are other wants. And of course, hot tubs.

I see they incorporated the usable diagonal slots on corner counters and multiple slots on surfaces. Once more EA copies the community's brightest ideas and never acknowledges the source.

I tried using this but nothing like what you're describing is happening.

If I click on the FPS_Limiter_GUI file, all I get is a listing of what's in the file. If I click on the FPS_Limiter file, I get a split-second black screen (the command screen, I assume) and again, nothing else happens. The other files in the .rar are four .dll files and a readme.txt, half of which is in German.

Have I deposited files somewhere, and if so, where are they? Totally lost here.