Re: Unistaller does not recognise installed Sims 3

by puzzlezaddict
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Unistaller does not recognise installed Sims 3

★★★ Novice

Hello forum!

 

I am a Sims veteran, but have not moved on from The Sims 3 - it's my favourite for various reasons. I'm really hoping some brilliant minds, who can troubleshoot, are also still playing.

 

Now, I have a new MacBook Pro which lacks a disc drive. I purchased it back in January 2018. When I moved my previous backups on TimeMachine via a hard drive, I played the Sims 3 Island Paradise happily until Christmas 2018. 

 

I had done this by somehow managing to download Island Paradise from Origin in 2017, playing without need for a disc and opening via the Sims 3 Launcher.

 

Christmas 2018 I received Movie Stuff and Showtime. I understand uploading the games in the wrong orders doesn't help. What really went wrong is the ability to launch the game without the Movie Stuff disc. The classic "Disc Authentication Failure. No game disc found! Please insert The Sims 3 game disc before proceeding."

 

What I have done already to try to rectify the problem:

- Contacted EA support (obviously very little help) and I have both reset and reinstalled the latest version of Origin

- Tried to "download" from origin (there is no download button) and "play"

   - Pressing "Play" via origin merely open the Sims 3 Launcher and brings me back to the authentication failure

- Tried to uninstall both Movie Stuff and Showtime (as they are the latest additions) HOWEVER my uninstaller doesn't recognise any of my Sims 3 games! (please see the attachment)

- Looked into both Origin and Sims 3 online to see what they recognised

   - my EA Sims 3 page doesn't recognise half of my games (please see attachment)

   - my Origin account (which is an awful layout by the way) is asking me to buy the various games I already own and have uploaded

 

As I have moved away from home I don't have the discs and code readily to hand.

 

Is there a way to rectify my disc problem and launch my game without the Movie Stuff disc (like I had been doing happily for a couple of years!)??

 

Thank you for any help in advance!!Party hat

 

 

 

Message 1 of 4 (1,123 Views)

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Re: Unistaller does not recognise installed Sims 3

@operajunkie4  The most recent versions of mac OS, including whichever one came installed on your new computer, won't authenticate TS3 discs no matter what you do, hence the disc authorization error.  The usual way to fix it is to uninstall your newest pack and install it via Origin, as it looks like you've seen already (your screenshot shows the Bluebellflora article I would have linked).  If the game's uninstaller doesn't recognize your content, which is not uncommon, you can uninstall the pack manually and then reinstall.

 

https://bluebellflora.com/manually-uninstalling-an-expansion-or-stuff-pack-in-the-sims-3-for-mac/

 

You would only need to do this for Movie Stuff, since it's your newest pack.  Even if you just uninstalled it entirely, Showtime would be fine, since it's older than Island Paradise.  I understand you don't have the Movie Stuff code handy, but you should be able to find all of your codes in your computer using Terminal.

 

https://bluebellflora.com/finding-your-serial-key-using-terminal/

 

It's a good idea to register them all in Origin, or at least the ones that aren't already listed, in case you have to uninstall again for whatever reason.  Of course, it looks like you already added at least some of the codes to your store account.  If Origin doesn't recognize your ownership of packs listed on your store page, is it possible that you have two accounts?  You could ask EA customer support to merge them; that way, you wouldn't have to juggle discs and multiple accounts to try to get all your content.  Regardless, it's a good idea to contact support and get your content sorted out.  It would be better if you had photos of your discs and the inserts with the codes printed on the backs, but having the codes themselves might be enough.  I understand it wasn't helpful the last time, but if you're specifically asking the support rep to track down your content, you may have better luck.

 

https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/

 

After you reinstall Movie Stuff through Origin, be sure to run the Super Patch (digital download version) again, even if the game is already patched.

 

https://bluebellflora.com/sims-3-manual-super-patch-for-mac-1-67/

 

If anything doesn't work, please let me know, and I'll try to help.

——————————————————————————————————————————

I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.

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Message 2 of 4 (1,111 Views)

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Re: Unistaller does not recognise installed Sims 3

@operajunkie4  The most recent versions of mac OS, including whichever one came installed on your new computer, won't authenticate TS3 discs no matter what you do, hence the disc authorization error.  The usual way to fix it is to uninstall your newest pack and install it via Origin, as it looks like you've seen already (your screenshot shows the Bluebellflora article I would have linked).  If the game's uninstaller doesn't recognize your content, which is not uncommon, you can uninstall the pack manually and then reinstall.

 

https://bluebellflora.com/manually-uninstalling-an-expansion-or-stuff-pack-in-the-sims-3-for-mac/

 

You would only need to do this for Movie Stuff, since it's your newest pack.  Even if you just uninstalled it entirely, Showtime would be fine, since it's older than Island Paradise.  I understand you don't have the Movie Stuff code handy, but you should be able to find all of your codes in your computer using Terminal.

 

https://bluebellflora.com/finding-your-serial-key-using-terminal/

 

It's a good idea to register them all in Origin, or at least the ones that aren't already listed, in case you have to uninstall again for whatever reason.  Of course, it looks like you already added at least some of the codes to your store account.  If Origin doesn't recognize your ownership of packs listed on your store page, is it possible that you have two accounts?  You could ask EA customer support to merge them; that way, you wouldn't have to juggle discs and multiple accounts to try to get all your content.  Regardless, it's a good idea to contact support and get your content sorted out.  It would be better if you had photos of your discs and the inserts with the codes printed on the backs, but having the codes themselves might be enough.  I understand it wasn't helpful the last time, but if you're specifically asking the support rep to track down your content, you may have better luck.

 

https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/

 

After you reinstall Movie Stuff through Origin, be sure to run the Super Patch (digital download version) again, even if the game is already patched.

 

https://bluebellflora.com/sims-3-manual-super-patch-for-mac-1-67/

 

If anything doesn't work, please let me know, and I'll try to help.

——————————————————————————————————————————

I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 2 of 4 (1,112 Views)

Re: Unistaller does not recognise installed Sims 3

@operajunkie4  I've moved your post to the Sims/Mac section.  Please let me know if you still need help with any of this.

——————————————————————————————————————————

I don't work for EA. I'm just trying to help fellow players with their games.
Message 3 of 4 (1,036 Views)

Re: Unistaller does not recognise installed Sims 3

★★★ Novice

Thank you so much for your help.

 

I have been able to manually uninstall the game which enabled an Origin download! I can play! You're amazing! Thank you so much.

 

If only EA still cared about Sims 3! Thank you again Standard smile

Message 4 of 4 (976 Views)