As of yesterday, many players still on Origin and using it in offline mode were suddenly forced to switch to EA App. If you're a worldbuilder, you know this is is a disaster, because EIG doesn't work in EA App.

There's a temporary solution in case you're suddenly forced to switch: you can try rolling back to earlier versions of Origin, located here, preferably to one that came out earlier last year, maybe even earlier (like 2021, 2020): https://origin.en.uptodown.com/windows/versions. Once you successfully install, run it in Offline Mode.

Also, don't update it, and don't close out Origin on a day when you want to spend a long session on worldbuilding. Just keep Origin open for that day regardless of whether you're at the computer or not. You might even want to leave the computer running overnight so you can have Origin still running in its current version. I say this because it seems that whenever you close out Origin completely, it makes an incremental update and will keep doing so until you get the last one where you're asked to switch to EA App.

ETA: I don't know how long this trick work, but it worked for me this morning. You might have to reinstall from time to time (not sure ATM because I'm still testing this), so it's a temporary solution until this entire thing gets sorted out.

I'm having a terrible time getting an older version to work for me. I have to be online to log in and the second I log in the "time to update!" window pops up and refuses to do anything else.

Woohoo! This trick from reddit worked for me! Although, as the comments said, who knows how long it'll work for...

https://www.reddit.com/r/origin/com...from_origin_to/

Glad that you found a solution that worked, and the more people to deliver insight into offsetting forced migration, the better for all of us!

I have long held a theory, and I've tried to get this out to as many people as I can because I haven't switched yet and am unable to test it and would love to know if it works, that the Lazy Duchess launcher might be a possible workaround. Their launcher has a "Bypass Launcher" option which when selected, the next time you click to start the game it will no longer open the launcher ever again until you force it open from the in-game options menu and disable the bypass setting. Which makes me wonder...if you do this and try going to Edit in Game, it might bypass that launcher getting stuck because it won't even need to open in the first place. I've been an Origin and CAW user for a very long time, and I've noticed that sometimes when opening EIG, the launcher opens in the background and closes itself before launching into EIG. I'm thinking that whatever behavior there that tells the launcher to close and go directly into EIG has somehow gotten mucked up with the EA App. Of course, it's just a theory. I'd love to know if someone tries this and it works.

I hope you all can find something that works . I am sooooo glad I am a person that has always gotten disks when possible, and that has helped me avoid so many problems. Often the old way to do things still works best.

You're right that the old way is better. The problem is that Big Tech has made it increasingly difficult to do things the old ways. I started out on disc (I still have the discs for the base game, late night, world adventures and ambitions), but then they stopped selling hard copies of all the EPs and SPs and now it's all digital. I still don't have SN, ITF or UN and there's no way to buy a hard copy.

There are none on ebay, or at your library that you can use to install?

Those are used copies most likely registered to somebody else, and I don't want to take the risk of buying a copy, only to be told that someone else owns it (even if they obviously gave it away).

You can install normally but not register, at least that was case back when. For a library copy here they have code in the case, or did, and you can install using it. And then if you have later EP you can still play after return disk.

Okay, I'll look into it, because I have all of these WIPs in various stages of completion, and I can't just let all of that work, time and effort I put into them go to waste.

It is worth checking out. Also a used copy from ebay or somewhere if has the code you should be able to install but maybe not register. All of my disks are from bought new at release, and I have installed them on UM....at least 3 computers with no problems. I registered when new but it is never required to register the new installations.

Simmers on Reddit are reporting that this works, so yes, this definitely looks like another workaround.

Oops. Apparently not!

Nope doesn’t work with bypass launcher. Only thing that worked for me was downloading Origin and entering the code in Origin xml file. I can now edit in game with CAW

Yeah, unfortunately, I know. I discovered that yesterday and to tell you honestly, my heart is broken. I was fairly certain it was worth a try, but I guess I picked the worst time to be wrong about something.

I own the Steam version of Sims 3 and am currently playing on version 1.69, which meant the game was running on Origin at the time, which is now the EA app. (I registered the gamekeys on Origin). As previously described, CAW no longer works as it should with the current EA app.
Now I've decided to downgrade Sims 3 again by installing the Steam version and uninstalling the EA app version. Until then everything works fine.
But with CAW there are still problems. I get an error as soon as I try to run CAW:

"The Sims 3 game data not found. The Sims 3 Create a World tool - beta may not function properly."

I've searched for several solutions but none of them worked.

Right now I'd say you have a few options. One of them, I know works as it's what I'm using for now, which is the abovementioned fix on Reddit. The only reason I was so hopeful for alternative fixes is that I worry that at any point, it could stop working. I'm going to hold out hope that it will, for now. That would involve you going back to an Origin install and making a few changes to a file.

The alternative is with the Steam install, trying the registry fix. CAW never worked with the Steam version of the game by default, so the registry fix has always been the workaround. You can find that one here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfi...s/?id=277022926

Some people have said in the comments that it's not working, so I can't say for sure if it will, but it did work for most people in the past, so it's worth a try.

Omg thanks for the tip with the registry fix! Even though I had already applied the fix, I was a bit too stupid to find the right keys in the registry. Instead I imported the keys from the Origin version, which are useless since Sims 3 (Origin) was uninstalled. (The game didn't even uninstall properly, thanks EA )

If something has been uninstalled, you should do it correctly, otherwise there is a risk of confusion.

Now I can continue to use CAW with the 1.67 patch as usual.

Pardon my ignorance, but how is the Steam version a downgrade? Isn't it pretty much the exact same as the origin version just minus all of Origin's bs?

You're pretty much correct, LemonyLin. The Steam version is technically only a downgrade in the version of the game. Origin/EA users are on 1.69, which is arguably...not an upgrade. Steam users and those on a disc install that avoided using Origin to manage it and instead used the super patcher are on 1.67. It really is the same minus the forced Origin login and the pack selector. Any other differences are pretty minor, if any.

1.67 is the far more preferred patch level to be on, by a landslide. It's my plan one of these days to "downgrade" myself. Once Origin stops working via our little fixes, that is. I won't ever be using the EA App.

Fair enough! What does the super patcher do? I'm a bit out of the loop.

The Super Patcher is basically EA's fruit roll-up of all of the patches up to 1.67, so if a user were to have the disc versions and install them, they could run the Super Patcher tool to instantly install all of the patches up to 1.67. That way, they don't have to go and install each one individually. It's all of the patches released between 2009-2014. EA has it here: Super Patcher

This is only for disc installs not managed by Origin, though, and not needed for Steam. Just disc users.
I have it saved on my PC for safekeeping in case they ever remove it!

Neat! Thanks for letting me know! I'm on steam but just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I appreciate you taking the time to reply .

I just came back to a couple of CAW projects this weekend that I haven't touched in almost a year, only to find out about EIG no longer working. While the original method for using an older version of Origin didn't work for me, this Twitter thread contains a few updated tweaks that did work: https://twitter.com/p0358/status/1635796691902160896

Specifically, this tweet clarified a few things that I hadn't understood from the original post: https://twitter.com/T87pro/status/1...1392739329?s=20

I just successfully entered EIG, edited a lot, and then saved it again :D

Of note, I still have EA App installed on the same computer, because I also play Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and didn't want to risk losing access to them. So far, so good.

So. I've been accessing EIG by first opening Origin any time I plan to work in CAW (so that EIG doesn't automatically try to open EA App).

Today, I forgot. I'd had EA App open, completely forgot about it, and entered EIG. And it worked. I hope it wasn't a fluke. Could the problem actually be fixed?