One can only hope that EPs will help boost The Sims 3 the same way EPs rounded out the base game with The Sims 2.  Personally, I would love to see one of the other game companies give EA some well-deserved competition.  Maybe that would slap the smug smiles from their faces , and make them realize we fans are a fickle bunch when it comes to being taken for granted. At the moment, they have no competition in the Sims Franchise.  History has pointed out that monopolies in any form do not have long life spans.  Dictators usually end up dead or imprisoned.  Anyone else here have a want  to remove the doors at EA's Redwood Studios and watch as the developers suffer a bit for making our Sims suffer lives of pudding faces and scavanger hunts?

I hope El Presidente can unleash his Awesomeness and give us the game we really wanted with some well-placed mods and annoyance killers.

Well, from the looks of the textures that were applied on some of the objects, I would hope to God the rest of us can do better.  EAxis has never been known to do much with their in-game objects, and has always left it up to the CC artists to fix the fugliness. Did  anyone here really believe that was going to change with The Sims 3?  With better textures and a bit of imagination, those objects could look pretty good. IMHO Of course, the hair styles lack... style.

I will use up my free points as I really like the Hewnsman Set. And I will await the arrival of better hair styles with much eagerness.  Not from EAxis, of course.  

Oh, does anyone know for a fact that SecuROM is not associated with the EADM?  I heard/read that a new EADM is in place. I wondered if that was because the old one contained SecuROM. I hate that piece of crap with a passion and do not want it on my system again.

I am runnng on XP. I just checked the version on those drivers and they are from February. Thanks for the link. And I really appreciate everyone giving me the info.  I guess I will wait until I have The Sims 3 installed and see if this card goes bonkers on me. I kinda hope it does so I'll have an excuse to upgrade.  There are some new, impressive cards out there that are compatible with my system, and I am itching to see how much of an improvement I'll get with a new one. Once again, thanks for all the input.

Or were you directed to another website?  The last time I was on the ATI website I could not find anything for this card.  That is what made me believe this one is not going to be supported any longer. And I did update with that set of drivers from 2/25/09 in March.

Thanks for the info, Lum. But I think I am going to replace this one anyway. I have never been totally happy with it's  performance. And I find the Catalyst Control Center useless. It's been in the computer for two years now, and I have really put it through some heavy playing.  Hours upon hours of Sims as well as other graphic-intense games. I want to be sure I get the full impact of The Sims 3 experience.  The last time I searched for updated drivers for this card, ATI  had a statement up that they weren't going to post any new drivers for this card on their site but I could go to another site to search for newer drivers.  Well, I guess that kinda means this one has been replaced by something newer and shinier.  Methinks I want a newer, shinier card. 

There seems to be alot of talk about video cards overheating and causing game glitches. And, although I may be wrong in my numbers here, most of those cards with heat issues seem to be from the ATI family.  Am I wrong in assuming this? I am concerned because my computer has a 1950X.  And if this thing starts heating up and causing RAM issues, it's getting replaced. Fast. I really prefer the nVidia series, and if the ATI cards are heating up, I'll switch. In a heartbeat.  Before I purchased this computer I had heard talk about some of the ATI cards having temperature issues. I was reluctant to put an ATI card in the new set up but they gave me a really good price on it and I bit.  Is it now gonna bite me in the ass when I play The Sims 3?

Thanks for the info, Tasha. What will be interesting is to see if this version has the same kinks as the reloaded one.

I'm glad I am not the only one who thought we were going to be able to turn aging off for the entire neighborhood.  Or at least for the families we want to spend more time with. Perhaps the reason why it can't be done is that this is a beta release you are playing? IDK  If the leaked version is really 17 builds away from the finished version, could some of what we are missing be in the final version? Oh, well, it's a moot point until we see the released game, anyway.  Hate to say it, but that is the one thing that has me thinking IDNW this game.  What's the point in using all the cool new stuff on Sims we have spent days and days playing, go to another lot to visit another family we've created and have family no. 1 suddenly move?  Or go back to family no.1 and find them knee deep in toddlers and babies and we have no idea where, or whom, they came from?  EA silliness runs rampant, I guess.

The more I read about the new game-play in this game, the less I like it.  The fact that your Sim can easily fall in love with another Sim makes little to no sense.  The new social interactions sound cool, as well as the open neighborhood. The traits are different and needed. But this whole neighborhood continuing without any direction or input from the player leaves me cold, cold cold.  And the fact that the player can make only one family and play just that one family is just plain retarded. Oh, I know we can make all the new Sims we like, but if they are left to their own devices they can do any damn thing they want. How does that help the people who like to do stories?  I thought Sims 3 was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced cheese for the story tellers? Doesn't sound that way to me.

And the whole thing about Sim famblies just moving away and random Sims merging into existing famblies is dumb. I am wondering if this will be different in the new neighborhood that will be available after the release? Is Sunset Valley a learning tool?  Is that why Story Progression can't be turned off?  Will the new hood be empty of EA Sims so that we can make our own and play them as we see fit?  Soo many questions, and too few answers. Universal aging off was supposed to be available, not set to just one lot.  At least that's what I understood, and I could be wrong in the way I interpreted Mr. Bell's statement about that.

I guess the old 'wait and see' attitude is still with me on The Sims 3.  If I want to play a goal-orientated game, I'll play Tomb Raider or WOW. I want an open-ended game that I can take in any direction I want. I want the freedom of being able to keep playing all the members of a fambly even after they have left home and are on their own.  I probably missed this somehwere... but can aging be turned off on each lot?  If this is the case, then the only way to stop Story Progression completely for the entire neighborhood is to turn the aging off in every lot?

It seems to me as if EA has erased the very things that made The Sims  so popular in the first place.  Player control.

 I Haz Editor Nao  or IHazEditorNAO

I was just reading above my post about custom textures. I was wondering if, once we are able to, will there be a restriction on how many files we will be able to store?  I am not playing an arrred game because I phailed at being a pirate, the shame will haunt me for at least another two weeks.    Or until the brownies are out of the oven and I have appeased my inner child.    Soo, I am assuming the OP was speaking of the custom textures that were created within the game, not ones that have been imported for use. The fact that once a few have been saved is causing a lag in loading times makes me wonder if we will be restricted on how many we can have at any given point.

Is there a restriction on how many textures can be imported into the game? Does anyone see a future conflict with this once we are able to  import new meshes?

Great pics. Thanks for sharing them. Are the Sims in your pics yours or pre-mades. If they are yours, you did a very good job. I am thinking I will get used to the new look. But we really, really, need new hairs and make up. 

Awesome pics. Thanks so much for showing some of the positive aspects of the game.

Well, another glitch in getting a torrent to install. I downloaded one from Seedgames and it finally finished about an hour ago. Guess what? Everytime I try to open or extract it I get an error message saying the files are in an unknown format or they are corrupted. Geeze. It is no longer about playing this game.  I just want to learn how to do this now, the Sims has become unimportant. Gosh, is my pit bull mentality showing?  My WinRAR is an evaluation copy that I have been using for about three years. Do I need to update it, or is this download truly corrupted?

I got another folder that has the crack and it's fine. But something must have happened to this download, I guess.

I guess EA didn't want to mess things up by giving us real chickens and cows so we might produce these things in a non-magical way? 

Well, after hearing about the bugs and annoyances and things left out, I think EA delayed the release of the game merely to tighten it's control over The Sims3.  But, heck, such a thing is futile. Did SecuROM work..umm,no.  Is their little Store raking in millions...umm,no. Were they able to keep it under lock and key until it's release date...umm,no. I think it is time for all of us to P&L at EA. I have read the likes and dislikes, and we will have to live with them until the modders get their sharp little teeth into the whole ' We'll show them, HAHAHA ' attitude. We fans will not be denied our Sims or our control over our Sims. We bought the game, the EPs, the SPs, so basically, we own them.  EA doesn't want to play nice, so all bets are off. By not playing nice with us they pissed us off and made themselves a target for a take-down.  And I will financially help anyone who has a part in making this happen. Bell, himself, stated there would be a way to turn off Story Mode and that went bye bye.  And the vids they put up everywhere were obviously off the mark. What the hell?

They have no scruples, and I hate companies that teach their staff the art of double-speak. Good ole Ben sitting there and smiling nicely into the camera, all the while lying through his teeth. And the Maxoids with their posts about no SecuROM. Gawd, what a bunch of losers. 

There are no ISO files anywhere that has a  big arrow pointed to it. Everything that is in there are dat files.  I have started a new download from seedgames that is in WinRAR form and says it has a separate ISO file as well as the crack file. I think this one will be easier for me to understand. I want to do this right so I will learn from this experience. I am anxious to play the game but knowing how to do this has become my biggest priority. Kinda like a game, you know? I have learned quite a bit from this little adventure. Thanks for checking in. I'll be back as soon as the download is finished. 

Well, I trotted over to Mininova and someone pulled the torrent I had downloaded, along with all the comments associated with it.  Or they have hidden it and I can't find it. But the newest torrents listed all have a May 21, 2009 posting date. Sooo, it looks as if EA yanked it.  I am going to find a different one to download and hopefully it will be more in line with the ones all of you have, and the installation won't be quite so confusing.  Well, I can hope, can't I? 

Thanks,everyone. I hit the TPTB.exe and it is a self-extracting file. Everything is now in My Documents in it's own folder. And little wonder I have been bugging you with the wrong questions. I should have realized why I was so confused. I was trying to make sense out of two very different types of downloads that each have their own instructions for installation.  Good Grief.  I will let you all know how it goes . After all of this Sims3 had better be worth it!! 

Gosh, Phyllis. I am surprised you're still hanging out here. But here goes.... dxwebsetup.exe   application   Oct.2007
                                                                                                        vccredist_86.exe                    11/17/2008           
                                                                                                         data.tptb                              May   2009
                                                                                                        data 2                                    May 2009
                                                                                                        data 3                                   May 2009
                                                                                                        data 4                                   May 2009
                                                                                                        data 5                                   May 2009
                                                                                                        reg.dll                                    March 2001
                                                                                                        regsetup.dll                            May 2009
                                                                                                        setup.bat                               May 2009
                                                                                                        tptb.dll                                  April 28 2009
                                                                                                        tptb.exe                                May  2009                             

Obviously, I am missing something because I do not see a Sims3.exe and one of the .exe files is dated October 2007 . Is that from a program this person uses in order to create a torrent? I checked the comments left for this download and everyone there seems to know what they are doing and are playing the game as I continue to bang my head upon my desk.  Do I extract the files from the zip to my desktop and burn it all to disc then install from the disc?  Or am I just screwed for being such a noob?

I am such a phailure. I downloaded this from Mininova after downloading and installing Vuze to handle the torrent. It saved it as a zip file. I waited and waited  26 hours for it to finish downloading. Got home from work this morning and opened the zip file. And nothing in there makes any effin' sense. Why didn't it save the download in WinRAR? When I opened my WinRAR it showed the download as still being a zip file. Nothing in the folder says The Sims3 install.exe. Aaand... the date on the setup.exe is April 18th. If I weren't so damn tired I'd probably be banging my head on my desk.  I am not a stupid person ( please hurl heavy objects now ) but this whole thing has me gritting my teeth and using language more befitting a true pirate. 

I send my apologies to Phyllis because I have proven myself to be a very inept student.

I won't be downloading anything from that Sims 3 Store....ever. I will simply uninstall the game and continue playing The Sims 2 until it no longer amuses me. EA has effectively ruined The Sims experience for me with their SecuROM and their hands poking about in my purse looking to take every dime they can.  And now, after reading what Pes has to say about the modding limitations, well, suck my big toe, EA.   The modders and CC artists made The Sims franchise what it is today, and if EA can't see that, they don't deserve any loyalty from the fans.

   Yes, it does make sense now. Thank you so much.  I don't know where I got turned around but once I headed down 'Confusion Lane' , it was all downhill from  there.   

Thanks, Phyllis. I guess what you are explaining is what is called 'mounting' ?  The only tricky part then is being careful about the virus-dropper that is attached to some of the available downloads. The rest I know how to do because I removed SecuROM from my system and am familiar with using the no-cd crack. So, in reality, burning the ISO files to disc is unnecessary? If that's all there is to this why did I stay up half the night doing searches??    Because I am a noob.