Last week, the official Sims 3 BBS exploded with complaints involving various problems. Luckily a number of complaints have been answered by the SimGuru’s (former Maxoids) that addresses the issues on Story Progression, Disc Authentication Failure errors, The Sims 3 Store  and Cyclic Redundancy Check problems.  I’ve attached the posts for each one, continue reading for the full details or just jump directly to each post thru the links below:

Oh, and special thanks to both Sims 3 Nieuws and SnootySims of course 🙂

Disc Authentication Failure errors – Posted by SimGuruDrea

Hi everyone,

We are in the process of researching possible causes of the Disc Authentication Failure errors that some of you are dealing with. While we don’t have one solution that will address everyone’s issue we have discovered a few things that we want to pass along to you. Hopefully this information will enable you to get started playing The Sims 3.

We’ve been able to identify a couple of causes for the Disc Authentication Failure message.

In many of the dxDiag reports we’ve received a specific DVD drive is listed. That drive, MATSHTA DVD-RAM UJ-841S, appears to be common to many users who are getting disc failure messages. This drive is also commonly used in Toshiba laptops. It is recommended that you visit the Toshiba or MATSHTA support forums to better understand how to fix this drive.

We will continue to research issues associated with this specific DVD drive and post anything conclusive on The Sims 3 forum.

Another potential cause that we are researching has to do with the existence of software that manages DVD drives. This software provides features such as the ability to drag and drop files directly on to a drive letter for the purposes of burning DVDs. Examples of software that we are aware of that cause problems include Sonic and Roxio and they use DLA (Drive Letter Access) applications. This software is known to cause issues with games and disc authentication.

Below you will find some things you can try if you have this software or something similar on your system.

– In My Computer, right click on the DVD drive letter that you are using to run your game. If you are running Sonic or Roxio you will likely see a ‘DLA’ tab in the properties panel. You should be able to disable the software from this panel. After you disable this software you will need to reboot your system for it to take effect.

– Updating the version of software that is used to access and use your DVD drive may help.

– Uninstalling the DLA software completely may help.

– DLA appears to be specific to Sonic and Roxio. Other DVD management software may be doing something similar and the steps above may apply to those applications as well.

This is what we know so far. We will update the forum as we learn more.

Concerns about Story Progression – Posted by SimGuruLyndsay

Hi All – I’ve seen many conversations popping up about our game feature called Story Progression and the fact that the option to turn it off doesn’t work. We’ve been investigating this and have found that the toggle is not doing what it was intended to do. We are working to address this asap but in the meantime there is a workaround for PCs.

For PC:
1) Find your game executable. It should be here: C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin
2) Create a shortcut on your desktop to the TS3.exe.
3) Right-Click on the shortcut and choose “Properties”
4) In the top line “Target:” go to the end of the line and add this tag –disablestoryprogression
** You Simmers have been awesome and pointed out you need to make sure there is a space BEFORE the dash in your target line. Thanks guys!
5) From this point on you will need to run your game from this shortcut and NOT through your launcher.

There isn’t a work around for Mac at this time.

I realize this is a certainly not ideal but it will address the issue while we are working on a real fix.

I also want to mention that there are a few events that can still occur even if story progression is completely off.
– Any pre-made pregnant Sims will still have their babies.
– If Aging is on, Sims will still die.
– As YOUR Sims get new jobs, other Sims in the neighborhood may have their careers reassigned to become your boss or co-workers.

Thanks so much for your patience.

– Lyndsay

PS. If you want your story progression back on you need to remove this tag from your shortcut.

Cyclic Redundancy Check error – Posted by SimGuru_BGY_11

Hi, simmers!

If you are experiencing a cyclic redundancy check error, we’d like you to do the following so we can keep the number of threads on that issue to a minimum:

*Run the Windows Defragmenter software on your system. Fragmented hard disk space can cause this error.

*CRC errors may also be caused by a hard disk or DVD drive failing or being unable to write consistent data.

If you have run the Defragmenter software and are continuing to experience this error, please contact your system’s manufacturer for further diagnostics.

Update:
It appears that in some cases, users that are using the EA download Manager version of The Sims 3 may experience this error if their download is paused. To resolve this issue, perform the following steps:

*Log in to the EADM.
*Click on the red x in the upper right part of the Sims 3 download to clear the EADM cache.
*Re-download The Sims 3; do not pause the download.

Update 2 (6/4/09):
There is a new FAQ addressing this issue:
https://easims.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/easims.cfg/php…user/std_adp.php?p_faqid=22234

We understand that this has become a very frustrating issue for many simmers that are eager to play the game, and as more information or solutions become available, we will post them here in the Support forum. Thank you all for your patience!

TS3 Store – Guide to how Hairs and Clothing apply across different age groups – Posted by SimGuruKyle

Hey guys! SimGuruKyle here to help clarify things.

Many people have been asking about whether purchasing a hair style or outfit will unlock it for all age groups, or if they’ll have to buy it again multiple times. Since this is a good question, and has been appearing a lot, I’ve decided to make a sticky answering it.

Really, its about the content, and how flexible it is. The models for some Sim age groups are close enough to each other that the same piece of content can be applied across them without causing too many problems- thus, for efficiency’s sake, we’ve designed them to use the same file. When you install the file, it automatically is made usable by all those age groups that it can fit on.

We actually try very hard to make sure that people don’t accidentally pay for the same piece of content twice, so we’ve designed it so that when you purchase a piece of content that works for multiple age groups, it is marked as “already purchased” for all those age groups.

Now, its easier to apply hairs across multiple age groups, because at some point the size and shape of Sims heads stop changing significantly, so those files tend to work across more age groups than the ones for clothing. Here’s the breakdown of what can be applied to what-

(All age groups on the same line share content.)

Hairs

Toddler

Child

Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder

Clothing

Toddler

Child

Teen

Young Adult, Adult

Elder

I hope that helps clarify things.

TS3 Store – Guide to downloading and installing Store and Exchange content – Posted by SimGuruKyle

Hey folks, SimGuruKyle here again.

There seems to have been some confusion over this, possibly because its a different system than that used for The Sims 2, so I’ve decided to post a sticky explaining how it works. Hopefully, it’ll save me a few individual posts, because I’m just lazy like that (or maybe just too busy playing… I mean working… on Sims 3).

So, here’s the step by step process for those of you who have been having trouble, starting with registering your game to your account and making sure that The Sims 3 and all related programs (Launcher, EADM, etc) are closed–

Double click the Sims 3 icon on your desktop, or click the Sims 3 shortcut in your start menu. This should automatically start the Sims 3 Launcher, as well as the EADM in the background. Don’t worry about the EADM, since in the Sims 3, unlike the Sims 2, it just acts as a middleman between the Store and your Launcher. Just leave it minimized in your system tray (where it should appear as a little green circle).

Now that your Launcher is up, open your browser (IE7, IE8, or recently updated Firefox or Mozilla preferred), and go to the Sims 3 Store page. Log in to the account on which your game is registered.

You can download free content from the Store like Riverview and the promotional Prius, or you can purchase new content from the Store, or you can get user-made content from the Exchange. If you’ve already purchased items on this account, you can re-download them by either going to their page (where the “Buy Now” button should have been replaced by a “Download Again” link), or going to the “Purchase History” page under the “My Account” tab on the bottom left side of the Store page (the site may ask you to re-enter your password when you try to go there).

When you try to download an item for the first time, the site will produce a little pop-up asking if you have the Sims 3 and the EADM installed. Check the “yes” box and confirm. Your browser and any anti-virus software may also produce pop-ups, asking if you want to let the site access a program on your computer, or to confirm whether you want the file being downloaded to be used by the Launcher, etc. Just click “yes” or “confirm” to all of these popups.

Your download should now appear in the Downloads section of the Launcher. Let the download complete, and it should show an entry for it with a thumbnail and the item’s name. If a big red circle-and-slash symbol appears there, however, it means that there was a problem with the download. In that case, simply select the download using the checkbox next to its name, hit the “delete” button in the Launcher, and attempt to download the file again. If problems persist, you may be having a Proxy or Firewall issue, or the site may be having problems due to traffic. Wait a while, try again, and if its still broken, try posting in the “Technical Discussions” section of the Store boards.

Once the content is downloaded, you can either hit the “Select All” button in the Downloads section of the Launcher, or manually select each piece of content by clicking the checkbox next to its name (the entry for the item should highlight as yellow while its selected). Once you’ve selected all the content you wish to install, hit the “Install” button in the Launcher.

In a few moments, the Installer program should start up and appear as a new window. It will take some time to finish starting up, and then it will begin installing all your content one by one. Please be patient while this completes. You cannot install content while the Sims 3 game is running, so make sure that it is shut down when you attempt to install content. Once the install process completes, hit the “OK” button, and the installer will close automatically. You should then be able to click on the “Installed Content” button on the side of the Launcher, and in that section you should see the content you’ve just installed to your game, as well as the options to uninstall it.

Now, press the Play Now button in the Launcher, and your game will start, and your content will be waiting for you. Build/buy objects will appear in Build/Buy mode, custom presets will appear in the Create a Style tool for an object or outfit, hairs and clothing will appear in CAS, Families and Lots will appear in the Sim Bin, and individual pre-made Sims should appear in CAS in the “Pre-Made Sims” section.

If you want to download content to one computer and then install it on another (for instance, if the computer with your Sims 3 game on it does not have an internet connection), you can only do this with Exchange content (by using the “Save File” link under the “Add to Game” button on the content’s page), because Store downloads have to be verified when downloaded, and thus needs the EADM and Launcher to work. Just cut-and-paste the Exchange content into the My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Downloads folder, start the Launcher, and the content should appear in the Downloads section.

I hope that helps, and have fun playing the Sims 3 with your new downloaded content.