The Sims Complete Collection

[Mannwulf83]

I have an old copy of The Sims: Complete Collection. I purchased it in 2007-2008. My wife would like to start playing it again. The problem is that the first disk ended up corrupted somehow. It will download to 97% then the whole thing crashes. There is no support for this game anymore and it isn’t available on Origin. Can anyone help me out?

[ivrognard · Accepted solution]

@Mannwulf83  Sadly...no. The disc installation is fragged due to the copy protection and the fact that Microsoft decided that the old copy protections are a security risk and removed the drivers and proactively prevent them from installing (we are talking Windows 10 here). If you are still on Windows 7 - 8.1, you can still install that from discs, provided that you find another copy (Amazon still has some, but they are usually expensive). Plus it's easier to re-enable copy protection support (though my wild guess is that you are on Windows 10)

If you are on Windows 10, if my memory serves me well, disc 1 was the one that would install the copy protection. Hence, the so-called corruption. The method to bypass all that marvelous blocking is kind of convoluted and way too complicated for a casual or even a normal user. It takes someone with a pretty decent knowledge of how an operating system works. I am saying this because a lot of the things you will have to do to re-enable the driver for the old copy protection are done in PowerShell. So, if you don't know exactly what to do, you might end up reinstalling the operating system.

This link from the MS user support official forums (that means that the solutions are found by users and are not endorsed by MS, despite the fact that they usually work), describes the whole process.

Like i said: not for the faint of heart or a casual/normal user. 

Sims 1/2 and Stories series are the most requested games here to get a serious digital re-release. For now, our prayers are still unanswered, but we still hope that someday EA will re-release them.

[ivrognard · Accepted solution]

@Mannwulf83  Sadly...no. The disc installation is fragged due to the copy protection and the fact that Microsoft decided that the old copy protections are a security risk and removed the drivers and proactively prevent them from installing (we are talking Windows 10 here). If you are still on Windows 7 - 8.1, you can still install that from discs, provided that you find another copy (Amazon still has some, but they are usually expensive). Plus it's easier to re-enable copy protection support (though my wild guess is that you are on Windows 10)

If you are on Windows 10, if my memory serves me well, disc 1 was the one that would install the copy protection. Hence, the so-called corruption. The method to bypass all that marvelous blocking is kind of convoluted and way too complicated for a casual or even a normal user. It takes someone with a pretty decent knowledge of how an operating system works. I am saying this because a lot of the things you will have to do to re-enable the driver for the old copy protection are done in PowerShell. So, if you don't know exactly what to do, you might end up reinstalling the operating system.

This link from the MS user support official forums (that means that the solutions are found by users and are not endorsed by MS, despite the fact that they usually work), describes the whole process.

Like i said: not for the faint of heart or a casual/normal user. 

Sims 1/2 and Stories series are the most requested games here to get a serious digital re-release. For now, our prayers are still unanswered, but we still hope that someday EA will re-release them.

[Mannwulf83]

Damn. Well, thank you for the answers at least. Like you said, hopefully these games get a rerelease. Not saying there is anything wrong with Sims 3 and 4, but it would be nice to be able to go back to the original now and then.

[ivrognard]

@Mannwulf83 i completely agree that is nice to play the old Sims games from time to time. Each has its unique flavor. Maybe GOG can convince them to re-release those, as EA seem to have a good relation with them and they are specialized in reviving old games for various publishers. DRM free, even (aka no copy protection). The old Sims are still awesome and they still stand the test of time.