Your first link is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you very much.

Quite a while back, I disabled the Sims 3 Launcher. I'm playing on a Mac, and the process is not the same as on Windows machines. I believe that I'd found the directions for how to change the path in a thread at another forum (which is now defunct), and that the writer had said that he'd learned how here at MATY.

I was dumb enough not to write down how, because it really wasn't very complicated, and I was sure that I'd remember. But I don't. My search skills are failing me here, and I can't find a post that addresses disabling and re-enabling the Launcher on a Mac. I'll really appreciate any help.

Alternately, if anyone can tell me how to install the new patch without the Launcher, that would be almost as useful.