Need help getting Sims 3 to start!

[Kiki]

(I had originally posted this in Other Topics, but then I found the Gaming section, so I deleted the old post and posted everything here instead)

So first of all, Im still getting used to using Linux, since Im more accustomed to working with Windows and Mac. After having some really aggravating problems with Windows while I was at college this last semester, I asked my brother to install Linux on my computer instead, which he did, and now I have Linux Mint on here.

Im really wanting to play my Sims 3 game, and had done some Googling and found out I would need Wine and Play on Linux. So I asked my brother to install those for me, since I wasnt sure how to use the Terminal (which Im slowly learning how to use). After Wine and Play on Linux were installed, I successfully installed Sims 3, and I tried clicking the new icon that appeared on the desktop, nothing happened and the game launcher did not appear. I eventually found the "hidden files" in the Sims 3 directory that shows up when the disc is in the laptop, and did some exploring through the folders in there. I tried to open the Sims3Launcher.ex_ and it didnt open, it said Play on Linux needed Curl, so I installed that myself through the Terminal, and the game still doesnt open. The only way I get a result of the game starting is when I open TS3.ex_ through Wine.... The actual game launcher does not open, but instead it goes directly to the EA Games logo and the intro video. Once it finally brings up the starting screen, I cannot read the text that appears in the blue box and its buttons... I tried clicking the left button, and the blue box keeps popping up, and when I click the right button the game quits.... Also, there are black bars on both sides of the screen during this too. Is that a screen resolution problem?? I will attach a screenshot to show this.

Here is a screenshot of what I get....
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 8510_n.jpg

Any help and instructions will be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance! ^_^

Also, do I need to install Origin?? The EA Download Manager is asking me to install Origin, do I need this to be able to use my Sims 3 Expansions?

[Jessey Lawson]

Hello I have seen that you have had some hard times getting the game to work. I would love to help if I can. I don't know what the box in the image says as it is way to blurry. You don't have to worry about Origon as it is not needed at all. You will need to update your game though and you would want the brand new version of wine which could be installed via a ppa. Then you would want the newest version of the playonlinux program. This are in testing and not in the local repositorys of Mint. Then you have to factor in your hardware too. For example the Sims 3 can't run on my 6 year old Emachien, but it will work on my Toshiba Laptop. IT also sounds like you used the desktop icon to run the game rigth, if that is so then you got a problom as the game usualy does not run by the launcher. I would try to help you as much as I can as I ask many similer questions on this forum about Wine to no pavale. The current version of Wine is 1.5.36 and the Wine team is working on the 1.6 RC and that won't be out for awhile.

[Kiki]

thanks for the reply!! Im sure my brother picked the right Wine and Play on Linux programs to install, I trust that he knows what he's doing cuz he's got a degree in Computer Programming and uses Linux Mint on his computer too. He's like the smartest person regarding computers that I personally know, lol! Im using a Dell laptop that is still fairly new, I only got it last summer before I transferred to a University, and brother even picked it out for me too saying that it would be a very good and powerful laptop.

Also, the game didnt start when I clicked the desktop icon... There's 2 icons that show up, and one of them is a directory for the disc, with folders inside it. The other icon is supposed to be for the game, but when I clicked it nothing happened... The way I got the game to start up was by going through the disc's directory, then typing Ctrl+h to view the hidden files. Then I clicked the Game folder, right clicked TS3.ex_ and opened it with Wine... Thats the only way I can get it to start up at all...

I noticed that when I installed the game, the file type was .exe, and it worked fine... I did a little more Google research and found that .ex_ is a compressed version of .exe?? So.... do I need to fix the file type of TS3.ex_? I tried right clicking it and Extracting, but that didnt change the file type... It really didnt do anything at all...

[Jessey Lawson]

thanks for the reply!! Im sure my brother picked the right Wine and Play on Linux programs to install, I trust that he knows what he's doing cuz he's got a degree in Computer Programming and uses Linux Mint on his computer too. He's like the smartest person regarding computers that I personally know, lol! Im using a Dell laptop that is still fairly new, I only got it last summer before I transferred to a University, and brother even picked it out for me too saying that it would be a very good and powerful laptop.

Also, the game didnt start when I clicked the desktop icon... There's 2 icons that show up, and one of them is a directory for the disc, with folders inside it. The other icon is supposed to be for the game, but when I clicked it nothing happened... The way I got the game to start up was by going through the disc's directory, then typing Ctrl+h to view the hidden files. Then I clicked the Game folder, right clicked TS3.ex_ and opened it with Wine... Thats the only way I can get it topen start up at all...

I noticed that when I installed the game, the file type was .exe, and it worked fine... I did a little more Google research and found that .ex_ is a compressed version of .exe?? So.... do I need to fix the file type of TS3.ex_? I tried right clicking it and Extracting, but that didnt change the file type... It really didnt do anything at all...

Here is a video on youtube on how to install the sims 3.: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8hRxlyeyIo[/url]The patch might not be needed as the video is kind of old, but still has referance. NO files should be in .ex they should all be in a .exe file. The one you want is the Sims3Setup.exe file and you might need to change the options to open the folder with Wine by deffault. Then it should open the normal installer. You will then need to pick your contry and laungerage for the game and then it will ask for the installation code. If you lost yours you can use one form here:[url]http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100227192223AATgemJ[/url] The code I used was 6e9r-d2ty-252x-h25s-2rld, but there are many others if that one does not work for you. It is important that you also remember that you would need an unused code to register online on the sims3 site. Then after you put in your code a box will ask what settings you want, make shure you click the typicle install and then click next and a bar should show you the process and what files it is installing at the time. After it is done it will ask if you want to read the readme file, click the box so it does not open the readme as then you would have to do it all over again. Then after the game has installed you need to go to your /.wine/drive C/Program Files (86)/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/game/bin/TS3.ex then that should launch the game. I would then create a shortcut to it for the desktop. This is the only place I have ever seen a .ex file. I hope this helped at all.

[Kiki]

Ive opened up the TS3.ex_ with Wine, it starts without the Game Launcher itself... And after the intro video, it brings up a screen with blue boxes, and I cant even read the words that its giving me (with 2 option buttons to click), when I try to click the left button it doesnt do anything else... And when I click the right button then the whole thing quits...

You said there arent supposed to be .ex_ files, but theres at least 3 files in the Sims 3 directory that have that file type... Is it supposed to be .exe? If so, how do I change that?

[clfogleman]

I was getting the same block text that you can't read. Found a fix..install driconf and open it once installed. Click image quality tab at the top and enable S3TC Texture compression. It fixed the block text issue.