Game Help:TS3 Patching:Patch Download

Via Launcher

Run the launcher. It will pick up the version automatically and you should be able to update it just fine. If the downloads cuts out before completing or you are not prompted to update, check if you had disabled Automatic Updates and also check your EADM program's connection to the Internet and if necessary, uninstall & reinstall EADM.

Also ensure that your Firewall & AntiVirus application(s) do not block the EADM, Launcher programs to run or block access to the thesims3.com site .

If the process is halted or interrupted, check that you're running the latest version of EADM. See TS3_Patching:Common_Errors for some suggestions to fix the most common error messages encountered. Or you can just choose to use the direct download method as outlined below.

Downloading an executable/archived file

Alternatively, if your computer playing Sims 3 does not have internet access, choose one of the following based on:

1. what Operating System (i.e. Windows or Mac) you're running,
2. what region/language your DVD is and
3. what version you had patched it to before.

Understanding the various codes

The following GameVersion strings are found on the first line in skuversion.txt

Example#1

GameVersion = 1.0.631.00001
[more lines with some other content]

Example#2

GameVersion = 1.15.34.008017
[more lines with some other content]

Understanding Region codes

1. Example#1
   • has the region code "1", for the North American region
     
     
2. Example#2
   • has the region code "7", for the Digital Downloads

Understanding Game Levels

1. Example#1
   • has the game engine level at "0"
     
     
2. Example#2
   • has the game engine level at "8"

Understanding GameVersions

1. Example#1
   • has the game version at "1.0.631"
     
     
2. Example#2
   • has the game version at "1.15.34"

with prefix 1 being base game, 2 is for World Adventures, and so on...

Warning:

Note that you have to download a separate file for each of the games you have installed, so that the games are all on the same game engine level. See the table in TS3_Patching:Common_Errors for your matching patch levels.

How to find your GameVersion and region code

There are three ways for you to find your GameVersion and region code (last digit in GameVersion):

Sims3Launcher

To use this method,

• look in the bottom left corner of the Sims3Launcher screen.
• the current patch version of last installed game or pack only for those with patch 1.11.7 / 2.6.11 / 3.2.8 and below.
• separate game icons if you're running patch 1.12.70 / 2.7.7 / 3.3.11 onwards. Hover over each icon for each game you have installed, to view the current gameversion number.

Version.tag

This file shows the current patch version of last installed game or pack only. (Only available in patch series 1.5(? need verification) and higher). The file is a standard text file and can be opened with Notepad.

This file is located in (choose your Operating System)

• Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\
• Windows Vista/7: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\
• Mac OS: /Users/<username>/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/

skuversion.txt

The most reliable way to find out the individual versions of each installed game or pack, on Windows systems, is to look inside this text file. Just double-click the file to open it with your text program of choice.

This file is located in (choose your Operating System)

1. Windows (32-bit):
   • \Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\ or
   • \Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 <EP or SP name>\Game\Bin\
     
     
2. Windows (64-bit):
   • \Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\ or
   • \Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 <EP or SP name>\Game\Bin\
     

info.plist

Mac OS:

1. In an OSX system, right-click on the <the game title>.app as in the path below, and select "Show package content" or "Show Original"
2. The following folder would be opened, depending on what title you selected above
   • /Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/
   • /Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3 <EP or SP name>.app/
3. Double-click on "Contents" to open that folder.
4. Inside /Applications/The Sims 3.localized/<the game title>.app/ folder, you'll find the info.plist file; open this file in your text editor.
5. Look for:

<key>ClientBuild</key>
<string>1.12.70.006002</string>

Downloading for Windows Systems

What do you want to patch today? Remember : you have to download separate files for each of the games/tools that you have installed.

The Sims 3

The Sims 3 - the base game (Retail version 1.0.631)

The Expansion Packs

World Adventures - the first Expansion Pack (Retail version 2.0.86)

Ambitions - the second Expansion Pack (Retail version 4.0.87)

The Stuff Packs

High-End Loft - the first Stuff Pack (Retail version 3.0.38)

The Tools

Create-A-World tool (Beta version 1.5.126)

Downloading for OS X

There is no way that we know of to patch OS X from 1.0 with a downloadable patch. This means if you're running 1.0 under OS X, you have to patch with the launcher. Again: back up your entire game before installing! If it turns out the most recent patch doesn't work for you, the only alternative for OS X users is version 1.0 if you don't have a backup of a working version.

EA have a lovely habit of removing the OS X patches once the next one is available, leaving OS X users with no way to roll back to an earlier version when they find out that the current one doesn't work as expected. So here's how to find and back up a patch once you've upgraded your game via the Launcher:

The EA Launcher downloads the archived patch to

/private/tmp/tgUpdate_XXXXXXXX/

where XXXXXXXX are 8 numbers/characters.

In here you'll find 4 files, along the lines of:

• app.txt
• MD5.txt
• To-3332-1.8.25.003002-From-3043-1.7.11.002002.tgz.md5
• To-3332-1.8.25.003002-From-3043-1.7.11.002002.tgz

The file that ends in .tgz (gzip'ed tar archive) contains the actual patch. The exact filename depends on your game version and region – this example is what I have at the moment (after upgrading from 1.7.11 to 1.8.25, worldwide).

Move this file somewhere safe (desktop or wherever – if you leave it in /tmp, the system will clean it up at some point since that's only a temporary location (hence the name)), and when you need it again, uncompress it (right click > Open with > Archive Utility) and doubleclick the extracted app to run it.

As a side effect, now that you know the filename, you can also construct the direct download URL (as long as it's still valid) – so far it's always been

http://llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sims/u/f/sims3/mac/To-3332-1.8.25.003002-From-3043-1.7.11.002002.tgz 

(or whatever your version is)

Might be useful for people with sucky internet connections or those who prefer to bypass the launcher.

Remember : you have to download separate files for each of the games/tools that you have installed.

[The above has been lovingly plagiarised from plasticbox's stickied How to back up a game patch under OS X thread]