THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[Rockermonkey]

wooow crashes or worse...Whats the worst that can happen? The sims uninstall them selves and take over the computer? Really. Haha they make it sound like doomsday. You'll crash...or worse. *Dun, dun, dunnn*

[Mixreality]

Edit: Either this is a full version and like said many times before, they are covering their asses, because the game is crap... or it is infact, a pre-release of the final game, which would hopefully make sence as to why there are alot of issues with it.. and barely any content.

Build 1.0.631.00107 is the release that is coming next week. The pirate version is 1.0.615.00107.
EA has the first patch ready for the release game (x.x.631.x to x.x.632.x).

Ok I have no idea what a build is, so here are some stupid questions:

1. Does this mean we won't be able to patch the leaked game once the patch comes out?

2. What will happen to our saved games and exports? Could they be just copied over to final game's directories? Or will they be incompatible? I'm mostly interested in this, don't want to get involved if I won't be able to access my saves with final build.

[Chain_Reaction]

Ok I have no idea what a build is, so here are some stupid questions:

1. Does this mean we won't be able to patch the leaked game once the patch comes out?

2. What will happen to our saved games and exports? Could they be just copied over to final game's directories? Or will they be incompatible? I'm mostly interested in this, don't want to get involved if I won't be able to access my saves with final build.

Most likely you'll have to uninstall the leak, install the retail, then patch it. Of course we're going to have to wait for a cracked patched exe which may take awhile.

And I hope they work, I've built several houses and made a couple sims that I spent hours on and have played to great detail. I will strangle someone if they don't work. I believe they will because I doubt much is going to change in those newer builds.

In other news, man those ghosts sure do get around...

[Rockermonkey]

I would think they would work, since builds are pretty much just patches if I'm correct. Oh, and by the way. By installing this is it still possible to install the purchased retail version and not worry about cracking it or anything. I know dumb question as it's most likely a yes, but just making sure. You can never be too safe ;]. I plan to buy it on June 2nd. So EA put a block on klepto's and they can only steal 3 times a day, that kinda sucks. I hope that's taken out in the final build because I like being able to do exactly what I want when I want, including stealing things for my little sim-klepto's.

[jolrei]

TS3 is a goal-oriented game that forces you to play The One Fambly. ...Once you meet the goals a few times in the game, it gets boring. While the collecting is entertaining, briefly, now, it isn't going to stay that way.

I would generally agree with this statement.  I am trying to resist the "scavenger hunt" playstyle, as well as the purely goal-oriented play.  I will succumb only under duress.  Do bad things happen if you don't run around finding seeds, gems, etc.?  My new sim (Mr. Jesus H. Christ - story may be coming soon) has had severaly wishes fulfilled (skillinating, meeting new person), but I have been playing him more or less as a TS2 style sim.  I see no particular reason to enslave myself to fulfilling his goals, especially if he's the only sim/family I get to play.  So far, I am not noticing that I HAVE to play significantly differently.  I am willing to entertain the notion that I will become annoyed with this yet.  Am I missing something?

The ability to customize almost all objects / outfits / hairs is very good. No more mismatched Maxis fug.

I quite enjoy this feature as well.  You should see Mr. Christ's lovely formalwear.  The company that made the drapes for the Sound of Music kids could not have done better.

Is there any "attraction marker" thing going?  So far, Jesus has met a couple of other sims, and "thinks X is okay".  Doesn't sound like a rousing romantic endorsement to me, but they were rather fugly.  He has also lost a fight to a neighbour - making enemies for fight can be done a lot quicker in TS3 than in TS2.  Far fewer negative interactions are required to build that red enemy bar.  This has to be seen as a positive development.  Fights also seem to be resolved more quickly (Jesus' first ever fight lasted less than a 1/2 sim hour) - perhaps more testing is needed.

The Grim Reaper was more nicely cobwebby in TS2.  The TS3 one is slim, black, sleek, and more cartoony.  I like the ability to write an epitaph for the gravestone or urn/box.  Also, when I killed off Pablo Martinez (or whatever his name was) by starving him suddenly in his bathroom, he waved frantically and yelled "Banoobie" as he expired.  I find this disquieting.

[BlueSoup]

I am trying to resist the "scavenger hunt" playstyle, as well as the purely goal-oriented play.  I will succumb only under duress.  Do bad things happen if you don't run around finding seeds, gems, etc.?  My new sim (Mr. Jesus H. Christ - story may be coming soon) has earned charisma points by skillinating (fulfilled wish), but I have been playing him more or less as a TS2 style sim.  So far, I am not noticing that I HAVE to play significantly differently.  I am willing to entertain the notion that I will become annoyed with this yet.  Am I missing something?

Well, your sim may go stir crazy if you don't send them out in the neighbourhood sometimes.  And nothing bad at all happens if you don't collect stuff.

[Annan]

I would think they would work, since builds are pretty much just patches if I'm correct. Oh, and by the way. By installing this is it still possible to install the purchased retail version and not worry about cracking it or anything. I know dumb question as it's most likely a yes, but just making sure. You can never be too safe ;]. I plan to buy it on June 2nd. So EA put a block on klepto's and they can only steal 3 times a day, that kinda sucks. I hope that's taken out in the final build because I like being able to do exactly what I want when I want, including stealing things for my little sim-klepto's.

If you want to avoid SecuRom, you'll still need a cracked .exe even if you buy the game. And you DO want to avoid SecuRom.

[jolrei]

So far, I am not noticing that I HAVE to play significantly differently.  I am willing to entertain the notion that I will become annoyed with this yet.  Am I missing something?

Well, your sim may go stir crazy if you don't send them out in the neighbourhood sometimes.  And nothing bad at all happens if you don't collect stuff.

Fine.  But in TS2, sims went crazy if they had fires, lacked social, or you didn't get them endless aspiration points.  I see the new "wish" system as a replacement (not necessarily an improvement) for the asp.point system.  In TS2, it was very easy to get stuck in a "must fulfill wants" style.  This could be resisted.  Also, I find that if you take your sim out to do something new (which is not on their wish list) they "discover" the option to do the activity and may get wishes for it.  Jesus had no desire to develop body skills, but had just lost a fight.  I took him off to the gym, and showed him the exercise machines.  Next thing I know, he wants to build body skills.  It may be coincidence, but one may also have some influence over which wishes come up.

[phyllis_p]

Is there any "attraction marker" thing going?  So far, Jesus has met a couple of other sims, and "thinks X is okay".  Doesn't sound like a rousing romantic endorsement to me, but they were rather fugly.  

All relationships pretty much start out that way, unless you're very charismatic.  It advances from "being okay" to "being sociable," "being amusing," etc.  These are the non-romantic interactions.  If you want to kick it up a notch, you have to delve into the romantic relationships, when it starts getting "is being flirtatios," "is being alluring," and finally (and most importantly), "is being irresistable."  Once you're irresistable, you can propose marriage, woo-hoo, whatever, and willl likely be accepted unless the other Sim is low on basic needs.  

It's been a little disquieting that I've been able to develop romantic relationships with whatever Sims I've chosen thusfar.  Maybe I was just lucky and they were compatible.  Or maybe there are no incompatiblities that would stand in the way of romance; I just don't know.  I know one couple of mine had a basic incompatibility in that he was a computer whiz and she was a technophobe, but they fell in love and got married anyway.  I'm not playing that couple, so I don't know if it causes conflict in their daily lives or not.

The Grim Reaper was more nicely cobwebby in TS2.  The TS3 one is slim, black, sleek, and more cartoony.  I like the ability to write an epitaph for the gravestone or urn/box.  Also, when I killed off Pablo Martinez (or whatever his name was) by starving him suddenly in his bathroom, he waved frantically and yelled "Banoobie" as he expired.  I find this disquieting.

One of my Sims has Grimmie showing up in his relationship panel.  I have no clue why.  He did see his mother die, but he couldn't/didn't interact with the Reaper.

In other news, my main family now has a nephew.  Grant's sister, Moira -- who married and moved in with her husband -- showed up at a party very pregnant, and it was in the paper next day that she delivered a baby boy named Lane.  Confirmed on the family tree.

Something I miss: being able to adjust names with SimPE.  I like my women taking on the husband's name if they have brothers.  Before I know it, the entire town will be named Wozny.  I know you can change names at City Hall, but as far as I can determine, that's only with the active family.  At least I can give the households the man's name, else I'd never be able to remember who was living where.

ETA:  jolrei, if you don't like a Sim's wish, just right-click it and it goes away.  It (probably) won't come back unless it's associated with a trait or lifetime wish of the Sim.  Also, one of my Sims had been staying home a lot after retirement, and he got a wish to get out of the house because he was feeling stir-crazy ;-)  I sent him to the library.  He was a bookworm and loved hanging out there.

[BlueSoup]

Also, I find that if you take your sim out to do something new (which is not on their wish list) they "discover" the option to do the activity and may get wishes for it.  Jesus had no desire to develop body skills, but had just lost a fight.  I took him off to the gym, and showed him the exercise machines.  Next thing I know, he wants to build body skills.  It may be coincidence, but one may also have some influence over which wishes come up.

No, you're right, you can influence their wishes this way.

[jolrei]

Also, I find that if you take your sim out to do something new (which is not on their wish list) they "discover" the option to do the activity and may get wishes for it.  Jesus had no desire to develop body skills, but had just lost a fight.  I took him off to the gym, and showed him the exercise machines.  Next thing I know, he wants to build body skills.  It may be coincidence, but one may also have some influence over which wishes come up.

No, you're right, you can influence their wishes this way.

Fair enough then.  I think, in that case, that one might adjust one's thinking about what constitutes "open ended" play.  I always had goals for my sims in TS2, either short term specific, or long term general.  I now want Jesus to build body skills and win fights, in his role as "saviour and defeater of evil".  If I set this goal, and influence wishes to make him happy doing this, then yes, it is goal oriented, but it is me choosing the broad goals.  This is, to a large extent, open ended.  I also have no intention of enslaving myself to seed hunting at this time.  I can get to that later.

[DaBuschckah]

A tech question for all you savvy folks!  I know EA said that The Sims 3 is now Multi-Core CPU aware (yay) but does it take advantage of Crossfire configurations.

I am planning to upgrade soon and am planning on getting an ATi 4890 900/4000, but would I seee much of a speed boost if I got 2?

I have a quad Core processor, and I've found that the Sims 3 will only work if I tell it to only run on one.

[J. M. Pescado]

"More than half the game logically cannot be missing. The game is 5 GBs. If more than half the game were missing, the entire game would be over 10 GBs and could not fit on a single disk. Therefore, this statement is false.

[phyllis_p]

I just remembered something I wanted to say before, but forgot.  Since there have been posts since, I don't suppose this counts as double-posting ;-)

Anyway, regarding game compatibility with later builds:  Back in the day, I did some alpha and beta testing for various TS1 and TS2 expansions.  They'd take our feedback (and theorectically do something with it -- I suspect they just dragged it into the trash bin) and then send us a new build (with the same problems we reported before).  No builds required uninstalling the old one and reinstalling the new one -- it was basically just a series of patches.  However, when it was all over and the final release came out, we could not just update the last build we had.  We had to uninstall/reinstall, and start all over.  I tried bringing my test families into the final version, but it never worked.

My point is, if the version we're playing now is indeed a "pre-final" version, it's likely that we won't be able to bring anything over from this version to the official release.  This doesn't upset me, particularly, but I know others will not be happy with it.  I just wanted to prepare those folks for the possibility.

Tangent:  People often ask me why I quit beta testing.  I did so because it was extremely frustrating.  I'd report the same bugs over and over, and they'd still make it into the official release and have to be patched later.  Bleh.

[anaximander]

Should anyone still be having issues with the Traits when a sim ages up, restart the game, testingcheatsenabled on, shift click modify traits. If you just modify traits without restarting, it'll continue to dump the "extra" ones you've earned.

[Mixreality]

That's what I was afraid of. So, no point in playing and making stuff if it won't work in the "final" release. I guess I'll wait a bit with the obligatory legacy founding

[BeautyWitch]

After 2+ hours (I love CAST!)I've finally finishes my first Sim that's not as ugly as EAXIS', but for the life of me, I can't get rid of that disgusting double chin. It looks OK for fat Sims but weird on the skinny ones. I'm so not attached to this sims as I am to my Sims 2 ones.




I got bore pretty quick because I'm not into all those mini games and collecting. I did however stay up all night decorating houses. So far that's the only part of the game that make me want to even turn it on.

Also, I played for about 3 Sim weeks but didn't get any of these messages in the news paper that you guys are getting. All I got were notices about eating contests, Sales and so on. No deaths, births, marriages or move-ins/outs. I even tried playing a whole week with Story progressing unticked; still nada. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

The most that has happen was the Goths aging up. I'm guessing others families aged too but those were the only ones I saw.

EDITED: To resize IMG and also to add that I was disappointed she looked nothing like that in game.

[msalwaysright]

I'm finding build mode really annoying. Although the color wheel is pretty genius, it's taking me three times as long to finish a house now. And why make the designable
items in more than one color in the catalog? Seems redundant.

@timely, 5or so gigs is the space it requires on your harddrive, 1gig is the amount of ram to run it properly(I'm not sure about the properly-I have 2gigs and it runs
as well, if not better than 2).
 If you give permission to poke you, it's no fun.

[Roflganger]

[Deleted redundant answer]

And why make the designable
items in more than one color in the catalog? Seems redundant.

My best guess is that it makes it appear that there are more items than they actually are.  Or to give lazy people who couldn't care less about CASt a few options to choose from.  I tend to believe the former.

[Seolaeria]

And why make the designable items in more than one color in the catalog? Seems redundant.

Agreed. I have the same issue with walls and floors. With CAST, it's not about looking for recolors anymore, but rather how the floor/wall is divided into separate recolorable areas.

[timelycorruption]

I'm finding build mode really annoying. Although the color wheel is pretty genius, it's taking me three times as long to finish a house now. And why make the designable
items in more than one color in the catalog? Seems redundant.

@timely, 5or so gigs is the space it requires on your harddrive, 1gig is the amount of ram to run it properly(I'm not sure about the properly-I have 2gigs and it runs
as well, if not better than 2).
 If you give permission to poke you, it's no fun.

Ah, I see. That makes more sense than whatever I was thinking. Merci bien.

By the way, the TSR Sims 3 forum is hilarious. It's like watching a dinner party with a giant pink elephant sitting in the room while everyone sits there and uncomfortably talks about pre-ordering.

[Papercut]

After 2+ hours (I love CAST!)I've finally finishes my first Sim that's not as ugly as EAXIS

The real question is, which one were you aiming for - a pussycat doll or a bratz doll?

[Kaneriz]

ETA:  jolrei, if you don't like a Sim's wish, just right-click it and it goes away.  It (probably) won't come back unless it's associated with a trait or lifetime wish of the Sim.  Also, one of my Sims had been staying home a lot after retirement, and he got a wish to get out of the house because he was feeling stir-crazy ;-)  I sent him to the library.  He was a bookworm and loved hanging out there.

If I don't like a Sim's wish I Ctrl+ left click it..

[TashaYarrr]

Anyone know why my Sim child can't read any books except some low level skill books (logic)? I bought the Harry Potter analogues (Jimmy Sprocket or whatever), I assume these are intended for kids since I don't find any option for the parents to read to the child (either as toddler or child). The little bastard is a genius bookworm, I'd think he'd be into something other than logic vol. 1. The other books do not show up under "Read" in the bookcase, and if you open the bookcase or click on them from his inventory, the read option is there but greyed out.

[jaccirocker]

I don't know if anyone else has seen the IGN article but they have several screenshots of the TS3 store and I had to come and make sure I have my equation correct.

OK for anyone who knows: the $10 worth of points given to those that pre-order or some other shit is how many points? Some places are saying 100 points and some saying 1000.

Some of the sets are ridiculous and could have just been put in the base game. I mean c'mon we're going to arrrrr the shit out of the stuff any way but make it where some people would feel bad enough and pay for it.