Category: EA

PC users get a Sims 3 update, nothing for Mac users

Published on by BluebellFlora3 Comments

Oh look, a new update for The Sims 3, how exciting! Oh wait, it’s only for Windows users and introduces a new Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager.

Mac users on most post 2013 Macs cannot play the game due to their graphics cards being unsupported. This is well known among Mac players and EA are aware of it. It is posted about on a daily basis on the official games forum and AHQ. People are still buying the game as according to the system requirements it will be fully compatible on their Mac, but it isn’t. If you have no idea what I’m talking about just read my page here.

Here’s what I think. I think that EA are no longer using the 3rd party they used for the Cider wrapping of the game so there is no one at EA who actually knows how to patch it. They’re hoping that over time Mac users will just stop moaning and buy Sims 4 or disappear altogether. Well, it’s been two years now and people are still buying the game, only to find out that it is not compatible on their new Mac. I know this because I am replying to their posts on the forums, daily.

Prove me wrong EA, go that extra mile and actually help your Mac user base rather than hope we all crawl away, never to come back (or buy Windows machines instead). While you’re at it, how about releasing that patch for Sims 4 which has rendered the game unplayable for those with NVIDIA 512MB GPUs on OS X El Capitan? You know, the one that will have taken you over two months to fix. Yep, that’s another massive group of Mac users who aren’t able to play the game they paid EA for.

At least Sims 4 is 64 bit in OS X though. They did something right.

The Sims 4 unplayable on some 2012 model Macs updated to El Capitan

Published on by BluebellFlora2 Comments

Some Mac users who have upgraded to El Capitan have found their Sims 4 games unplayable. This is due to certain NVIDIA GeForce 6xx series graphics cards no longer being compatible with the game. The affected Macs are mainly those with 512 MB VRAM:

  • Late 2012 21″ iMac – Model Identifier 13,1 – Model No. A1418
  • Late 2012 27″ iMac – Model Identifier 13,2 – Model No. A1419
  • Late 2012 15″ MacBook Pro – Model Identifier 9,1 – Model No. A1286 (650M 512 MB)

And the listed graphics cards are:

  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M 512 MB
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M 512 MB
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX 1024 MB (possibly)

EA are aware of this issue and are issuing a fix….. in December:

SGJanitor

If you want to post on the thread over on the official forums you can find it here.

Sorry for all those affected, this ridiculous situation reminds me of when OS X Lion was released and Sims 3 was unplayable for a lot of Mac users. That took EA a couple of months to fix too. Shameful.

Updates on OS X El Capitan and The Sims 3 and Sims 4

Published on by BluebellFlora2 Comments

Two main issues have come up for those who have updated to OS X El Capitan:

The Sims 3 – Those playing the disc version are experiencing the disc authorization error. This can be fixed by uninstalling your most recent EP/SP and downloading and installing the digital version through Origin. Instructions here.

The Sims 4 – Those who have Macs with a NVIDIA GeForce GT/GTX 6xxM 512 MB graphics card don’t seem to be able to properly play. The game is glitching, crashing and freezing. This only affects the GPUs with 512 MB VRAM.

There are threads on the officials and AHQ related to this. The Sims 4 El Capitan thread has been stickied and SimGuruJanitor has posted in it. As usual no other acknowledgement has been made so all we can do is hope that EA are still paying attention to it.

TS3 Work TS4 Work