Technical problems with THE HORROR: downloading, installing, and running it

[Aracelis]

Just to let you know that the only way I got the game installed was buying a new DVD player 

Now, please, can I count on you once more to explain how I could play without the DVD in the drive?

[morriganrant]

Just to let you know that the only way I got the game installed was buying a new DVD player 

Now, please, can I count on you once more to explain how I could play without the DVD in the drive?

You didn't have any other computers that you could have networked to? You could have installed it from their pc to yours through their drive ....assuming that theirs read it of course.
You get a no-cd crack. There is one in my sig, or you can use the AwesomeMod which will also remove the cd necessity.

[McCrea]

Wow, the fear.  Just a gripe.  I played several days. Reinstalled after release and enjoyed awesomeless mods for a couple days.  Very peachy.

Tried awesome.  Left / right / up / down, failed.  Failed to revert, so reinstalled.

Would not run after reinstall, black screen with windows hourglass for 10 seconds, then desktop.  Didn't bother to troubleshoot much, since I didn't do clean uninstall, but then again, my first reinstall was flawless while quick and dirty. Cleaned now, I hope.  Now reinstalling.    

Never had so much trouble installing a game that I didn't have any trouble installing.  *sigh*

-----  [Morri already answered, nonetheless...]

Now, please, can I count on you once more to explain how I could play without the DVD in the drive?

A) run a NoCD crack (fixed exe)
or
B) mount a fixed image

I believe both are at gamecopyworld and everywhere.  
Most people do A, probably because B requires tool.  

[eaglezero]

I'm having the same problem. I started off with Reloaded, and it would overheat after about an hour... applied the framerate limiter from this thread and overheating issues stopped. Upgraded to Razor and installed Store crap, and now my game goes less than five minutes before exploding.

Thanks for pointing me to that thread. I hadn't considered that it could be a framerate issue. I'm still not sure that's the only thing that's going on, but after limiting the framerates I was able to play for a whole two hours, which seems like an epic amount of time after only being able to go five minutes. But then it shut down, right when I had stopped saving every few minutes. Huh.

[spookymuffin]

I'm running with a pair of Nvidia 8800 GTS cards (1.4gb of memory between them) and I've been having crashes that freeze up my whole computer. The screen freezes (or sometimes flashes like a fucking strobe-light) and the mouse/keyboard become totally non-responsive leaving me with no other option that to turn off my computer manually. I've been looking around on the internet and found a few other people who have been having the same problem, they're all using Nvidia 8 series cards.

Basically, I'm wondering if this could be fixed in a future patch for the game or by a future driver update by Nvidia? Otherwise I'll just have to give up on TS3 or get myself a new pair of video cards.

[Aracelis]

You didn't have any other computers that you could have networked to? You could have installed it from their pc to yours through their drive ....assuming that theirs read it of course.
You get a no-cd crack. There is one in my sig, or you can use the AwesomeMod which will also remove the cd necessity.

I only have one PC at home. I tested the disc in my sister's computer and it was ok, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to play in my computer afterwards, if I had just installed manually. No big deal, it was not that expensive and I was so frustrated at the time that I just wanted to put an end to it. .

And tks for the info on the no-cd thing!

[Argon]

The installer screwed my file system, the same folder shows up twice (TS3 installed in folder on the right, with references to everything else that's there but everything else can only be accessed by the "Electronic Arts" on the left). I've tried the stupid microsoft check disk thing and it doesn't correct it. Any ideas?

[moondance]

The installer screwed my file system, the same folder shows up twice (TS3 installed in folder on the right, with references to everything else that's there but everything else can only be accessed by the "Electronic Arts" on the left). I've tried the stupid microsoft check disk thing and it doesn't correct it. Any ideas?

I had a similar problem a while back (on Vista) and doing a system restore fixed it. I'm not sure why it fixed it, but it did.  Registry thing, maybe.

[LMahesa]

I've tried the stupid microsoft check disk thing and it doesn't correct it. Any ideas?

Try renaming them both, then merge the contents.

[Argon]

I had a similar problem a while back (on Vista) and doing a system restore fixed it. I'm not sure why it fixed it, but it did.  Registry thing, maybe.

System Restore only covers system files or extra folders you define, so that wouldn't help in this case.

Try renaming them both, then merge the contents.

I get a file could not be found error when trying to rename the duplicate. I did manage to move the TS3 files out of there so I can at least get the game to load now, but now I'm left with a folder that says it's zero bytes but can't be deleted because it's "not empty".

[jsader]

Teels posted this back on page 14:

I downloaded the Razor version (from seedgames) , and followed intructions I gathered from this thread. The program started up and loaded, but when it got to the neighborhood window, it said EA didn't recognize the disk as valid (something along those lines).

I'm having the same issue.  Does this have anything to do with modifying the TS3.exe, aka no-cd crack?  I've tried using morriganrant's crack, but obviously just pasting over the old .exe file doesn't work.

I know I'm missing something somewhere, just don't know what, exactly.

[Chain_Reaction]

I'm having the same issue.  Does this have anything to do with modifying the TS3.exe, aka no-cd crack?  I've tried using morriganrant's crack, but obviously just pasting over the old .exe file doesn't work.

It should, worked fine for me... though I didn't use morriganrant's crack. Try installing Awesome mod with the no cd enabled if you can't get the new exe to work.

[LMahesa]

I had a similar problem a while back (on Vista) and doing a system restore fixed it. I'm not sure why it fixed it, but it did.  Registry thing, maybe.

System Restore only covers system files or extra folders you define, so that wouldn't help in this case.

Horrible thing. Don't trust it.

Try renaming them both, then merge the contents.

I get a file could not be found error when trying to rename the duplicate. I did manage to move the TS3 files out of there so I can at least get the game to load now, but now I'm left with a folder that says it's zero bytes but can't be deleted because it's "not empty".

Try doing it via DOS/CMD.

CD C:\Program Files .... etc.
REN borked_folder die
RMDIR /S   die

If that fails, CD die, rinse and repeat.

There'll be a file in there somewhere with a dodgy character in the filename probably.

If deleting a file still fails, try ECHO FUCKING>die

Oh, and check the permissions if you're on an NTFS partition.

[Argon]

Try doing it via DOS/CMD.

CD C:\Program Files .... etc.
REN borked_folder die
RMDIR /S   die

If that fails, CD die, rinse and repeat.

There'll be a file in there somewhere with a dodgy character in the filename probably.

If deleting a file still fails, try ECHO FUCKING>die

Oh, and check the permissions if you're on an NTFS partition.

"CD /D G:\Program Files\Electronic Arts" brings me to the real directory, not the invalid copy. You can't CD into the broken one, not because of an dodgy character but because the folder doesn't contain the "*" file (google testing if a folder exists using batch scripts if you don't know what I'm talking about).

I can rename the real one (Changed it to Electronic Arts2) but renaming (or trying to CD into) the second Electronic Arts that shows up in DIR says it can't find the path. RMDIR /S, same error. NTFS permissions can't be set because it's not a real file/folder, it's an invalid entry in the filesystem, Vista throws an error if you try. If you rename the real folder, the contents of the screwed one disappears.

Redirection doesn't work on folders, if you actually ran that you'd get a file called die.

I tried booting from an Ubuntu 9.04 livecd and was able to remove it that way.

[LMahesa]

Redirection doesn't work on folders, if you actually ran that you'd get a file called die.

I tried booting from an Ubuntu 9.04 livecd and was able to remove it that way.

Yeah, but sometimes folders get converted into files by rogue filesystem doctors and I was unsure of your level of commandline-fu. Anyway, nice one. Still, it would be nice to have a windows-only solution for future reference.

I've had this before, my solution was similar - I dropped into actual DOS and nuked it that way. My gentoo install was borked at the time.   :p

[morriganrant]

Teels posted this back on page 14:

I downloaded the Razor version (from seedgames) , and followed intructions I gathered from this thread. The program started up and loaded, but when it got to the neighborhood window, it said EA didn't recognize the disk as valid (something along those lines).

I'm having the same issue.  Does this have anything to do with modifying the TS3.exe, aka no-cd crack?  I've tried using morriganrant's crack, but obviously just pasting over the old .exe file doesn't work.
I know I'm missing something somewhere, just don't know what, exactly.

Worked for me when I used it, but I'm using the AwesomeMod now. The Launcher does not work with the NO-cd. After backing up your original .exe, you have to overwrite it with the no-cd.exe, and then bypass the launcher by making a shortcut that goes straight to the TS3.exe.

[Lonesome Dove]

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?

[jolrei]

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.

Sounds fine to me.  If I move out of my house IRL, I will have to leave my garden behind for the use of the new residents.  So they inherit a garden?  Good for them.

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.

This sounds a bit weirder.  Almost like residual rubbish code left in some lots in TS2.  Could be a borked lot, or borked furniture.  What happens if you delete/sell the bed and buy a new one?

[phyllis_p]

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.

Did you look in the family inventory? (The third tab in Buy Mode).  I haven't tried it moving with furniture yet, but it was my understanding that the big stuff was to go to family inventory.

[SnootCB]

I finally broke down and decided to try it.  I'm not sure how well it will work since my CPU speed is only 1.8GHz (with XP, and all other requirements are met).  Anyway, I got it all installed with daemon into its own virtual drive and I'm at the point of overwriting the TSLHost.dll and TS3.exe in the \Game\Bin folder.  Problem: it says it is "read only".  I tried unchecking "read only" under general properties on the Bin and Game folders but that didn't do a damn thing.  Have I done something wrong?  Is there a way to get the files overwritable?  Any help would be appreciated greatly.

[phyllis_p]

I finally broke down and decided to try it.  I'm not sure how well it will work since my CPU speed is only 1.8GHz (with XP, and all other requirements are met).  Anyway, I got it all installed with daemon into its own virtual drive and I'm at the point of overwriting the TSLHost.dll and TS3.exe in the \Game\Bin folder.  Problem: it says it is "read only".  I tried unchecking "read only" under general properties on the Bin and Game folders but that didn't do a damn thing.  Have I done something wrong?  Is there a way to get the files overwritable?  Any help would be appreciated greatly.

Me, I don't overwrite the exe.  I rename it and leave it there (in case I ever need it), and just copy in the new exe.  The dll, I've never messed with -- maybe that's something one only does when using daemon? -- but I can't imagine why you would need to overwrite instead of just delete/rename/move the old one and insert the new one.

[SnootCB]

I finally broke down and decided to try it.  I'm not sure how well it will work since my CPU speed is only 1.8GHz (with XP, and all other requirements are met).  Anyway, I got it all installed with daemon into its own virtual drive and I'm at the point of overwriting the TSLHost.dll and TS3.exe in the \Game\Bin folder.  Problem: it says it is "read only".  I tried unchecking "read only" under general properties on the Bin and Game folders but that didn't do a damn thing.  Have I done something wrong?  Is there a way to get the files overwritable?  Any help would be appreciated greatly.

Me, I don't overwrite the exe.  I rename it and leave it there (in case I ever need it), and just copy in the new exe.  The dll, I've never messed with -- maybe that's something one only does when using daemon? -- but I can't imagine why you would need to overwrite instead of just delete/rename/move the old one and insert the new one.

Just following the instructions that came with the crack: "copy TS3.exe and TSLHost.dll from crack dir to install folder\Game\Bin (overwrite-replace)".  Anyway, I did try just adding the new files to the appropriate folder, and still no go-- I simply can't change anything about it.  I suspect it has something to do with daemon having mounted the ISO to a new drive (I think the entire drive is read-only), but I've only done this once before so I'm a bit lost now that the basic instruction have failed me.

[Budgie]

Just following the instructions that came with the crack: "copy TS3.exe and TSLHost.dll from crack dir to install folder\Game\Bin (overwrite-replace)".  Anyway, I did try just adding the new files to the appropriate folder, and still no go-- I simply can't change anything about it.  I suspect it has something to do with daemon having mounted the ISO to a new drive (I think the entire drive is read-only), but I've only done this once before so I'm a bit lost now that the basic instruction have failed me.

I had the same problem, and I had to copy the folders to my desktop, then copy those to the program file....

[SnootCB]

Just following the instructions that came with the crack: "copy TS3.exe and TSLHost.dll from crack dir to install folder\Game\Bin (overwrite-replace)".  Anyway, I did try just adding the new files to the appropriate folder, and still no go-- I simply can't change anything about it.  I suspect it has something to do with daemon having mounted the ISO to a new drive (I think the entire drive is read-only), but I've only done this once before so I'm a bit lost now that the basic instruction have failed me.

I had the same problem, and I had to copy the folders to my desktop, then copy those to the program file....

I've tried copying the Bin folder to the desktop, adding the cracked files to it, and then adding it back to the Game folder, but still I get the message that it's read-only.  Is that what you mean?  Or perhaps I am missing something?

[Roflganger]

I've tried copying the Bin folder to the desktop, adding the cracked files to it, and then adding it back to the Game folder, but still I get the message that it's read-only.  Is that what you mean?  Or perhaps I am missing something?

This may sound horribly obvious, but you are adding the cracked files to C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 etc., right?  Not the drive you have mounted with the image?