The Sims 3 Help

Joy

New Member
I apologize profusely if I'm doing this wrong. I'm a complete noob at this forum as well as Linux. Actually, I know more about Linux than this forum business. OK, here's the problem. I have Linux Mint 18 cinnamon that I installed on Friday. All I really want is play the Sims 3. I own it on Origin. I have installed, uninstalled, reinstalled, screamed, cursed, and even quit so many times over the last few days I've lost count. I have followed your beautiful instructions to the letter. I am still unable to get it to work. Origin loads beautifully. The Sims 3 sits and does nothing. I've run it through debugging but none of it makes sense enough for me to fix. I'm disabled and don't have much of a life. I just want my game to work. Can you, or someone out there, help me? Please? Pretty please?

View attachment 10625

Create your own family in The Sims 3 and micro-manage everything from their daily tasks, clothes they wear, house they live in to parties, careers and marriage. Anything can happen to your family and everything will. Design each characters look, personality and age in a life simulation and social simulation.

View attachment 10626

Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing The Sims 3 in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the Origin version of The Sims 3. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained

Mint 17.3 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.10
Wine: 1.8

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"
View attachment 10627

Look for the Wine Version: 1.8
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right
View attachment 10628

Click Next

Downloading Wine
View attachment 10629

Extracting

Downloading Gecko
View attachment 10630

Installed
View attachment 10631

Wine 1.8 is installed and you can close this window

Download OriginSetup.exe

Go to: download.dm.origin.com/origin/live/OriginSetup.exe
Navigate to your desktop
Click Save
View attachment 10632

PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install
View attachment 10633

Click "Install a non-listed program"
View attachment 10634

Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next
View attachment 10635

Name your virtual drive: sims3
Click Next
View attachment 10636

Check all three options:
  • Use another version of Wine
  • Configure Wine
  • Install some libraries
Click Next
View attachment 10637

Select 1.8
Click Next
View attachment 10675

Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next
View attachment 10639

Wine Configuration

Applications Tab
Windows version: Windows XP
View attachment 10640

Graphics Tab
Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop size: 1920x1080
Click OK
View attachment 10641

Note: Set the resolution to match your Linux Desktop

Installing Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

Check the following packages:
  • POL_Install_corefonts
  • POL_Install_d3dx9
  • POL_Install_tahoma
  • POL_Install_vcrun2008
  • POL_Install_vcrun2010
  • POL_Install_vcrun2012
Click Next
View attachment 10642

Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Click Browse

Installing Origin Client

Navigate to your Desktop
Select OriginSetup.exe
Click Open
View attachment 10643

Click Next Again

Uncheck all options:
Click Install
View attachment 10644

Check "I have read and accept..."
Click OK
View attachment 10645

At this point the client will try to launch, but nothing will happen...
Origin will lock-down the Origin folder and is waiting

We can fix that, just leave Wine where its at for now

Origin Directory Permissions

Go to the Origin Directory
Path: /home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Origin/Drive_C/Program Files/
Right click
Select Properties
View attachment 10646

Click Folder Access Dropdown under "Owner"
Select "Create and delete files"

Click the File Access Dropdown under "Owner"
Select "Read and Write"

Click "Apply Permissions to Enclosed Files"
Click Close
View attachment 10647

Open the Origin directory
Delete these files:
  • igoproxy.exe
  • igoproxy64.exe
View attachment 10648

Origin Login will now appear in Wine
Login to Origin
Check "Remember Me"
View attachment 10649

Disable Overlay

Click Origin
Click Application Settings
View attachment 10650

Click "Origin In Game"
Uncheck "Enable Origin In Game"
View attachment 10651

Installing/Downloading The Sims 3

Click My Games
Select The Sims 3
Click Download
View attachment 10653

Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
Click Continue
View attachment 10654

Check "I have read an accept..."
Click Continue
View attachment 10655

Sims 3 downloading...
View attachment 10656

When The Sims 3 is finished downloading, Origin may crash
Click Exit Origin
View attachment 10657

The Sims 3 Shortcut

Select "Sims3Launcher.exe"
Click Next
View attachment 10658

Name the shortcut: Sims 3
Click Next
View attachment 10659

Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next
View attachment 10660

Close Origin

PlayOnLinux Configure

Select Origin
Click Configure
View attachment 10661

General Tab
Wine version: 1.8
View attachment 10662

Note: Click the + to download other versions of Wine. Click the down arrow to select other versions of Wine

Display Tab
Video memory size: Enter the amount of memory your video card/chip uses
View attachment 10663

Close Configure

Launch Origin
View attachment 10664

Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

Optimization

Launch The Sims 3
View attachment 10665

Once in game
Click the settings button
Click Options
View attachment 10666

Adjust:
  • Fullscreen
  • Screen Size
  • Screen Refresh Rate
  • Enable Object Hiding
  • Reflection Quality
  • Edge Smoothing
  • Visual Effects
  • Lighting and Shadows
  • Tree Detail
  • Animation Smoothing
  • Advanced Rendering
  • Draw Distance
  • High Detail Lots
  • Texture Detail
  • Sim Detail
Click the Checkmark to apply
View attachment 10667

Conclusion:
The Sims 3 runs almost flawlessly on my GeForce 550 Ti. I've experienced a random crash, but its very rare. Loading and saving is fairly slow, so be patient. I was able to create several family, navigate in the world, save game, load games, adjust video settings and use the keyboard/mouse without issues.

Screenshots:
View attachment 10668

View attachment 10669

View attachment 10670

View attachment 10671

View attachment 10672

View attachment 10673

View attachment 10674
Thanks as always MrDeathJr! My kids love this game and play it all the time.
 
Welcome to the forum Joy!
I would love to help....
We may have to do some trial-n-error first because I initially had some problems running Sims 3 as well.

Do you know anything else about your system?
Video card/chip?
Video drivers?

Are you able to play any other games in PlayOnLinux?
 
Welcome to the forum Joy!
I would love to help....
We may have to do some trial-n-error first because I initially had some problems running Sims 3 as well.

Do you know anything else about your system?
Video card/chip?
Video drivers?

Are you able to play any other games in PlayOnLinux?

Hey there!

Thank you so much for your response! I'm at my wits end.

I have a cheap HP Stream 11 laptop. It has just the basic Intel HD graphics built in. I wouldn't even bother to try to run the game if I hadn't had it run in Windows to begin with so I know it will work. I dislike Windows so I switched to Linux.

I haven't run anything succesfully but Origin with PlayOnLinux. I am not really a huge gamer right now. My hard drive isn't big enough to play but one game anyway. LOL. So I've chosen to install the Sims 3. If it would be easier to install the game off of a disk I'll purchase the game again if you can help me mount my CD/DVD drive which won't work either.

What else do you want to know?

Joy
 
Sounds like you are on the short-end-of-the-stick.... Unfortunately Sims 3 might not run in Linux even though it did in Windows. Drivers can report different performance from both operation systems.
Do you know which Intel video chip?

For example my Acer Chromebook has an Intel HD 2000 video chip. It can't play games like Sims 3, but can play a bunch of older games.
 
Sounds like you are on the short-end-of-the-stick.... Unfortunately Sims 3 might not run in Linux even though it did in Windows. Drivers can report different performance from both operation systems.
Do you know which Intel video chip?

For example my Acer Chromebook has an Intel HD 2000 video chip. It can't play games like Sims 3, but can play a bunch of older games.


I'll have to find out the video chip and get back to you. I am not feeling very optimistic. LOL. May have to go back to Windows and that would suck.

Joy
 
Yeah, Windows will suck but if you have to play Sims 3 and can't afford a new PC, might as well. Maybe you could dual-boot?
 
Yeah, Windows will suck but if you have to play Sims 3 and can't afford a new PC, might as well. Maybe you could dual-boot?

Hard drive is too small to dual boot. For now I will reinstall Windows until I can get a better computer. Maybe in a couple weeks. Anyway, thanks for your help. I truly appreciate it.

Joy
 
Back
Top