Realmscat, I had exactly the same issue. For some reason after a couple of reboots it now downloads a giant patch of 1.2 Gig, which appeared to be the whole base game patch and everything now installs.

Madame Mim, the fact that it didn't start up suggests it may be an issue with your Motherboard. I had an issue a few years back that sounds incredibly similar to this problem. It was throwing up error messages that identified every other part of the system, then eventually the Mobo died.

In case it isn't though, make sure you back your data up.

Jesus' suggestion about internal temperatures may also be really helpful. When I was having an issue with heat on an older computer a few years ago, someone gave me an internal temperature sensor, the programs exist on the net that show you the internal temperature of your pc. If that turns out to be the issue, you could even take the side off your PC to help keep it cool. Also, check for dust inside your machine, and make sure to clean it out regularly, that can contribute to heat issues.

Johnnnn, Skadi is right. You will not learn from having someone hand you the answer.

You need to learn to ask the questions at the right places, read the FAQ and learn how to search for information on Google. There are very extensive FAQ's on MTS, you need to go and read them and learn how to take care of yourself.

floopyboo, if you read closely it does apply in Australia, we're not one of the excluded countries. Apparently, there's a form we need to fill in here if we want to keep using EA's services that says that we don't agree to that particular clause of their TOS.

uknortherner, exactly. However, it gets even worse than just SecuROM on TSM. EA has also updated their TOS to prohibit people from suing them.

Fishiemew and Elonora, I'd be careful messing around with patch 2.0 for Pirates and Nobles. It has been verified that it comes with a nasty dose of SecuROM 8.0, even for the disk version.

You could even get a Solid State drive, they're apparently about as quick as RAM disk. The only downside is that they're very expensive at this point.

From memory, it won't save until you finish the tutorial. Have you finished the tutorial before you tried to save the game?

cannedsarcasm and seqkat, I would point out that there are many Windows users who go into Harvey Norman and buy a machine because it looks shiny as well. You only have to look as far as the BBS, there are generally no end of computer users with many different kinds of systems who don't have a clue what they're doing. An illiterate user is an illiterate user, regardless of what type of system they've purchased.

There are large numbers of doctors and allied health professionals (some of my user base at work) who buy Macs, purely because they find them easy to use. I've worked out why this is, you will often hear them say that they love their Mac because "they just work". They're intelligent people, they're just not all that interested in computers, their whole lives are people focused and in the half an hour or so a day they spend on their machine, they don't want to fight with the machine to get it to work.

Most Mac users I know swap information because you want to get the most out of your system. I started thinking about getting a Mac a while before I went out and bought the machine. I was warned by friends who've used Macs for years to run XP from Boot Camp and install the Windows version of the Sims because trying to install a game through the Mac OS doesn't work too well. Mac users know the limitations of their Mac, we put up with it because we get so much more out of it in other ways. For one, the Apple versions of Photoshop and Office (Aperture and iWork) are far more user friendly than the equivalent Windows product.

Again, people should be talking to someone who they trust and getting advice to buy a system that suits them and which is in their price range. It doesn't matter much whether that's Windows, Mac, Linux or even a crappy ex-Government machine, as long as it suits your needs.

I work with Windows all day every day. I work in tech support for a living with a generally Computer-illiterate user base. After four years of supporting Windows machines, I went out and bought a Mac laptop and I haven't regretted it for a moment. I've still got my Windows pc which runs Windows 7, but I use my Mac for everything barring gaming. Macs aren't great for gaming but if someone is only a casual player, it seems pointless to have a second machine just for gaming if you're happy using your Mac for everything else.

We place far too much emphasis on the Mac Vs Windows debate and it's largely nonsense. Mac, Windows and Linux each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Linux is outstanding from a security point of view, if it matters to you to be able to upgrade your graphics card/RAM etc, it's much better to buy a Windows machine and Macs are extremely easy to use for creative tasks. IMHO, people should do some research before they get their machine and buy the machine that suits their needs.

But as to your comment about Mac users liking them because they are "shiny", I haven't met a Mac owner who has bought their machine for that reason. Most Mac users buy them because they're easy to use and they don't want to waste time figuring out how to use a machine when it's not their priority, which is their right. Computers are not an endurance test and it is not a badge of honour to struggle with an OS or a piece of software because someone tells them that they "should" do so.

I personally wouldn't buy it, simply because I don't game so I can deal with real people, I do enough of that during the day. I can see why they'd think it might work this time round though, the numbers of kids on Social Networking sites indicates if it's done right, it'd probably make them a huge amount of money. It would probably just not be with the current set of players.

I just threw in 25 bucks. Where are we at with the progress to total?

I think you're right. That and a "progress to total" bar like Delphy does, or at least a "this is what we have/this is what we need" figure right at the beginning of the thread. We keep filling it up and not quite reaching the total, and if we'd have got ourselves organised by now, we would be there already.

I just threw you another 20 bucks. I used to donate to MTS, I tend to give you my donation cash these days instead.

Pescado, the way things are going are we going to need to move back to the cheap 'n dodgy server space?

I should have been clearer. The new location for the CC is helpful, what I mean is being able to tell which CC is which so you know which one to kill off.

I like the new location for the CC, mainly because it's less of a pain in the ass to patch now. You just move your My Documents folder to one side til it's done.

Bullshit. What other way can I interprit the statement above? The user is stating they would like such a feature and Pescado is responding that he would add it if it's possible to retreive that information. Some day when you're an actual adult, you'll get the EA blinkers off.

Claeric, you don't know what you're talking about. The description is extremely useful for the issues that OP mentions above. People also find it annoying that there's no clear way to distinguish custom content from game EAxis like there used to be with TS2 either, which is something that many people find useful when they're working out what they're able to delete. Just because you don't find it useful, doesn't mean it's not needed.

Mary, most of the reinstall issues actually dissapeared with the last patch. Now that you can put your Mods in your My Documents folder, patching is relatively simple. Plus, EA figured out that there was an issue with the Download Manager (surprise, surprise) and once you update the EADM, the game patches in the right order and there's no need to reinstall.

As to the question of the look and feel of the game though, that's purely personal choice. Personally I really like Sims 3 and the couple of times I've fired up Sims 2, I haven't played it for all that long. The load screens between houses annoy me now I'm used to Sims 3.

Pescado, on that subject how far from target are you exactly? How much money do you need in order to lock in the right deal with your hosting provider? Most of the regular visitors seem to have donated, I don't think it occurs to the casual thousands who use AM that if there's no more MATY, there's no more easy access to Awesomemod.

edit: I've thrown in another 20 bucks, mainly because the last version of AM fixed several bugs in my game which had been annoying the hell out of me.

I've absolutely had the unexplained deaths of non-elders, but the only place that's happened in my game is at the Academy in front of the training dummy. It's happened a few times and it's incredibly irritating.

I agree with you Pescado. After trialling the tool, I think I'd prefer to do patterns the old way.

I like that lot. The thing that drives me craziest is when you have a big lot and it takes way too much time to go from one task to another.

With the stripes, I think it just looks a bit off-balance because it's only in half of the rooms. Other than that, it's fine.

By the way, I notice your roof technique has improved.

It is gorgeous, I remember meaning to say something the other day when you posted this lot.

Does it work properly for Ambitions?

Drakron, it doesn't have any of the SecuROM files with the disk version, I've checked the registry numerous times. They're also required to disclose SecuROM up front these days, it's part of the legal settlement they made with the class action.

I'd love a bit more information on what they intend to collect. Does anyone have a link to where this was discussed before the EP was launched?

Securom is only included in Sims 3 if you buy/download the Digital version.