So I've been having a Sim-break for two years now, and I've finally decided I want to play again. However, in that time, I've bought a new computer, so I'm looking at a complete reinstall. I still have all my original disks, and I also have the Ultimate Collection in my Origin library. I know there are issues with TS2 and newer computers, so I was wondering, is it easier/quicker/less likely to give me a nervous breakdown to reinstall using disks, or would it be better to download UC? Or does it not make a difference? I'm fully resigned to the fact that I'll no doubt have to do some amount of dicking around to get it to work again, but I just wondered if one method was better than the other.

My new computer runs Windows 10, and the graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. The processor is Intel Core i7-7700 (3.6ghz). Ideally, I'd like to copy over my old 'hood and downloads that I saved from my old game, but if that's not advisable, then, c'est la vie.

Any advice gratefully received

I used UC after failing with my disks. Yeah, you still have to mess around with stuff, but not with the installation vagaries of each disk. Plus you can repair through Origin if you break something, rather than having to reinstall.

You can also hack it so you avoid Origin entirely.

It took my PC roughly 3.5 hours to download UC, maybe due to traffic, or absolutely due to my slow internet connection.
Then came the day I finally, simply, logically just HAD to change operating systems for safety. I was so afraid to lose my simmies that my brother made a partition on the hard drive with Win XP as the operating system, so I could still play.
Starting up the new Windows 10. Installing Origin. Logging in. Starting the Sims 2. It worked. Perfectly normal.
I have no idea whether my brother "pulled some strings" in Windows 10 to make it work, but it did. So, I'd go with UC.

Win 10 may give you some issues no matter which version you go for, if you're unlucky. You may have to do some tinkering with various files, though that might also be true for a cd install. Win10 is 64 bit, and does not always play nice with 32 bit games like TS2.

A few programs need some extra care to work with the UC, like SimPE or other that refer to the install files, but it's not impossible. Most of the side programs i have work better than the game itself...

UC is easier/faster to install, and a good option if you don't have an optical disc drive on your system.

It baffles me how Windows 10 can bugger up for some people and work perfectly fine for others. Surely it's the same system.

Microso$t is the great evil of our world.

I had to do some surgery on mine when I first got it, just the usual stuff. But mine has run like a dream ever since. Some people just continue to have problems. (shrug

It truly is baffling, I was so scared it wouldn't work!?

No two systems are the same, though. They're on different physical machines in different conditions being used for different things by different people.

Personally, I like hard copies, I like my straightforward AGS use, I like having my game installed on a computer that doesn't have internet. There can be reasons to not want every expansion and every stuff pack installed. But I'm old. A lot of people are comfortable with digital copies. There isn't a best, there's only a "what I'm most comfortable with."

I'd avoid Origin spyware at ALL COSTS, and go with the disks. Reading their TOS is scary. There's lots of, "We NEVER share your personal, private data.." ... "...except when we do." The TOS clearly states that they "monitor personal online behavior". And you give up an awful lot of your privacy rights. The solution, to "play offline" doesn't matter, because Origin boots on startup and collects data whether you're online or not. Next time you connect to the internet, it uploads all the data it's collected. It also has been shown in European Union court documents (notably Germany) to seek out tax preparation software to glean financial records and personal identification numbers.

Origin is the EXACT reason I dont have TS4... SO maybe i should be thankful.


-grinEvilly
>=)

I like my disks. It just feels more like it's all mine and feels safer for my data and cc.

I'm also older and prefer discs for several reasons. I like having something tangible with the data on it. Also we are still on DSL and downloading even an old game off GOG takes a considerable amount of time. And I don't like clients that keep track of my gaming habits. When the whole gaming thing got to going digital I decided to get off the bus.

Meh. I have Origin because of TS3. I'm not exactly happy about it, but I'm also not very concerned. It can collect all the data it wants off this machine. It's internet-connected, but all I do on it is play Sims games and visit non-sensitive websites like Sims forums. And I have good network/internet security in general that comes at a pretty steep price. So, they can have that data all they want. It says nothing excessively private about me and probably a good chunk of it is fake. That said, not everyone has the luxury of having a dedicated-to-Simming machine or good network/internet security, so that's certainly a consideration. But also? You can use a certain method to get around running Origin when you load/play the UC, anyway. So really, all you need it for is to download and install the game and then you can uninstall Origin, if you want. Unless of course you have other games that are dependent on it.

I don't use the UC mostly because, since I DO have Origin and have to keep it on this machine, I want no possibility of EA being able to get its grubby fingers into my TS2 game, so I don't want my game linked in any way to Origin. TS3, I don't care so much about. I don't have any particular fondness for disks even though I, too, am old. In fact, my opinion on them has always been that they are too vulnerable to loss and damage, like any other physical recording medium, and I think digital is a much better format, generally speaking. I'm just not really a fan of most digital delivery systems or the fact that they're now used as DRM, like Origin is in both senses. I made ISO backups of all my disks, and I have several copies of those ISOs in different places and, in fact, in two different US states, and that's what I use to install/reinstall if I have to do that. That way, there's no wear-and-tear or danger of disk loss, and I can install the game on machines that don't have an optical drive, but I can also show that I do legally own the game. Not that I'd ever really have to do that and not that I give one flying fig about being a "pirate" of something I legitimately own, but...Hey, the disk cases are nice to look at, when I'm in the same state as they are. Which I'm not, right now.

I'd prefer discs over DRM copies of The Sims 2.

With the DRM copies, it can be taken away in an instant from the publisher without refund/credit or compensation for the lost data.

Whereas with my disc copies, the only thing that can take it away from me is destruction of the discs. I do have ISO copies of them as backup on a portable hard drive as well, in case it occurs the discs break or rot.

There's no point to fret about Origin spyware if you have Windows installation. You're already screwed, anyway.

"get a real operating system" kinda MS stopped to pretend they even care anymore.

Game works fine under modern Linuxes. Origin is needed only for installment UC (disks works too, ofc), in separate user space game is contained (you can box it along with the whole wine anyway) and easy to backup. Just tar or zip that particular bootle (game image).

I prefer the UC to disks myself. Somebody once said it runs like butter - I agree.

Once upon a time, i broke my Sims BG CD - and around the same time, the UC was released.

I started using the UC on Win 7 and easily moved to Windows 10, UC and all.

You may need to do some things, but most of us have been there and help is available.

@iCad you *just* missed it, but there was recently a steam sale on sims 3 where the game is much much MUCH cheaper. like $5 for an ep cheap. if you don't like origin you can migrate to steam

Yeah, I know Steam has great sales, and thank you for the info and reminder that they're a resource, especially for people looking to acquire TS3 for the first time! As well as other games, of course.

But, I honestly don't have much of an issue with Origin, personally. I was once more concerned about it because that's my knee-jerk reaction to software needing other software to function, and I still don't want my TS2 game linked to it because I'm (probably needlessly) paranoid about safeguarding my TS2 game, but on the whole I'm fine with TS3 needing Origin. I was able to get the TS3 EPs I was missing through it for $7 apiece several years back, and I was happy about that. I mean, I'm not a fan of Origin, so it's not like I'm going to jump for joy to have it on my machine, but I'm also not going to jump on the freak-out bandwagon. I'm not a huge fan of its advertising angle...but were it not for that advertising angle, I wouldn't have found out when I was once reinstalling TS3 that EA was selling EPs for $7 apiece through Origin, so there's that. Not all advertising is bad. I might have more a problem if it used a ton more resources than it does because this Simming machine is older and limited to 8GB of RAM, but it uses far less resources than a web browser, and I always have one of those running while I play. But I don't really have much of an issue with the "spying" thing that people tend to freak out about. If nothing else, as ElaineNualla pointed out, if you're a Windows user you're already subject to the sort of "spying" that Origin does...only worse. So, if someone's seriously worried about that, a better idea would be to switch to Linux (or whatever) and then worry about Origin than to worry about Origin running on a Windows machine.

I never got K&B and GL Stuff packs as physical copies. I complained when they took them off my Origin account and they gave me UC instead.

I prefer physical copies any day, and I'm going to keep my TS2 discs until there are no more computers that can run them or they break - but at the moment UC is a little more convenient. though I've never had more troubles with a TS2 game before. Usually it's been install and play. 4GB fix on my stationary, and some Nvidia issues that I eventually figured out on my old laptop, other than that they've run fine. Now I can barely open my game without pink flashing.

I am old (67 the end of this month) and I like disks too. The thing is I installed Sims 2 by disk last year and the process of patching and doing special tricks to bypass the updater on the disks was a big pain in the rump. Then there is SecureROM on all EPs starting with Bon Voyage. I stopped installing after Seasons cause my head was spinning and I am dizzy enough as it is. Then I could not get the correct screen resolution to work, but otherwise the game played fine, so I was happy with that.

I read that SecureROM was not on the stuff packs after BV and I missed IKEA too much so I went back and installed the 5 stuffs between Seasons and Mansions and magically the screen resolution fixed itself, so I was even happier with that.

But I missed everything on the EX packs except for Rod Humble so I bought a refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad laptop and now I am finally getting to the point-
I installed The Ultimate Collection via Origin and the process was super hassle-free as compared to disk install.

So, for me, I will put up with the nonsense that is Origin in order to avoid the complicated install from disc.

The fact that the UC is pre-patched and (after an update they did) SecuROM-free is a selling point in its favor. I only ever have to deal with the reinstalling process when I get a new machine, so the "patch dance" doesn't bother me too much. My game probably has SecuROM, but if it does, it's never given me any problems, so...eh. But I know it does cause a lot of problems for a lot of people, so there is that consideration.

(And happy early birthday to you! )

UC all the way. You can install on any computer from anywhere (I move around a lot so this is a HUGE thing for me) at any time you feel like it. I know there are some folks here worried that the publisher could 'yank' their version from Origin, but it's highly unlikely they'd go through the trouble for an unsupported 20-year-old game that they aren't actively even selling anymore. And if they DO yank it, getting the disks isn't even that difficult, but it's considerably more of a bother with installation - you need to install the disks in the order they were made, AND you'll need to patch them all manually to ensure that some of the borkages are addressed (UC comes with these patches and some additional fixes built in). You can also update UC to work better with new windows updates thanks to Origin, (it's probably just a very very basic performance patch but it's still worth it) while the disks are going to do what they do pretty much regardless.

That said, I had several happy years of disks, even with the migraine-inducing stress of a reinstall when a piece of cc borked the ever-loving heck out of my game. Making the switch to UC wasn't terribly worrying for me though (I'm a millennial) and once I realised that I'd only have to futz with really small file changes and graphics tweaks when I needed to, and could fix the game through origin instead of doing a full reinstall, I was like "THIS IS MAGICAL" and never looked back.

well, in general:

the disks version benefits:
- some sense of 'freedom' (like freedom with broken hand with SecuROM sh*t, but still);
problems:
- it's fragile (CD/DVD may be easily damaged, installation from images may be tricky - that depends of the drive emulator), installation is cumbersome and annoying, if it was like 600MB CD ISO image it would not be a problem, but the game installation files (complete) are around 12GB, so it's like time travel into beginning of the century with juggling CDs or DVDs.

Origin installation:
- it's easy (though some people experiences problems with newer Windows versions) "one click" (and wait) solution, it may be installed anywhere, anytime and easily restored to the factory state;
- it's already patched to the latest version;
problems:
- it's Origin, expect EA's well renown quality work;
- since sneaky update some time ago the game is tied to Origin libraries (that can be worked out by using older or hacked executable);
- it may be sloooooow (12GB, remember?), depends of your connection - EA's servers are not very responsive nor reliable anyway;

please pick your poison.