Sims2 EA Site closing down...

[Kiri]

I'm setting up a page with homecrafter, patches and will put a thread up in Tips, Tricks, Tutorials for it.

Can you think of anything else from the EA site that you want? I will put it up as well.

[Lily]

What about the exclusive downloads from EA's account MaxoidMonkey? (It feels weird that they're ending an era... )

[pureheart]

Thank you, Kiri! So generous and thoughtful of you to ensure we still have access to these.

Lily - It is the end of an era, and even though I hadn't gone to the site for years, it still feels sad to have it close.

[trystiane]

Has anyone read The Life Cycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang? Its an amazing little book about the imagined first generation of trainable virtual pets. Its about the people who form really close relationships with their pets and have to fight to keep them as new generations of virtual pets are made and old platforms and companies go out of business. Its really touching book.

[CharlieChomper]

I have to admit when I read this news, I felt really sad. I knew it was inevitable given the life cycle of software (especially these days), but even still it truly is the end of an era as both Pureheart and Lilyberg had commented.

Which reminds me, I need to back up my own work that I have uploaded to the exchange there...

[Jessica]

The end of an era indeed... such a shame, so many good stories and content in there. It's really sad that they are not even supporting the game with their patches anymore.

[Sylphide]

I didn't go there for any other reason than to download the patches when I needed them. But I agree with Jessica. They should at least keep a page for the patches. They made the game, aren't they proud that some people still like it after all those years (which is a very long time in the software business). Of course I have the patches saved on my hard drive AND on another external hard drive.

This brings me to... does anyone know how TS2 is doing with Windows 8?

I play my Sims 2 on my desktop which is still running XP (very well thank you). My laptop however has Windows 7 on it and I don't play any Sims on it.

I know that Microsoft won't support XP for much longer. When they stop, I will have no choice but to change and Windows 7 isn't available anymore, so I will have to get Windows 8 (I knew I should have bought W7 when it was still available). My greatest fear is that I won't be able to play my Sims 2 anymore...

I was wondering if I could have someone put W7 on my desktop with the licence number used for my laptop (but I don't have the disk for W7), and then buy W8 for my laptop. Would that be a way to go about this? What do you think? I will take all the advice and ideas I can get.

[Kiri]

I believe it will load for Windows 8 - but it needs the digital downloads to work.

I have no idea about the W7/W8 thing you are talking about - thats a little beyond me.

[CharlieChomper]

Margot, the retail version of Win 7 may not be available anymore or hard to come by at times, but the OEM version definitely still is available for now (although, if possible, I would go with retail over OEM).

In fact, I just bought Win 7 (albeit, pro and OEM) a couple of weeks ago as I absolutely hate Windows 8 (most companies, in fact, who offer Windows devices have held a similar view of it to where it has negatively impacted sales of devices with it--whether it was a desktop/laptop or mobile device of some sort (including tablets). Microsoft has been claiming otherwise and citing their numbers, but the reality has been anything but supportive of them...).

Periodically, some sites and places that offer or specialize in computer hardware are also still selling Windows 7 and have sometimes had it on sale. I recently picked up my copy of Win 7 pro during a sale from one of my favorite hardware vendors. I've also sometimes seen Home on sale as well of late--in fact, it was just on sale last week.

However, regarding, Windows 8 in general, there have been a number of problems with it and incompatibility with "older" software as well as sometimes with just updates (due to its design and how Microsoft implemented certain things--nevermind the removal of the "start" menu or just the interface with 8...). I don't know if this applies to Sims2 as well as it has with other titles, but if there's a choice between 7 and 8, definitely stick with 7 if possible...

On a completely different note also related to Sims2, go figure that everytime I tried to access the site, I couldn't even log in for some strange reason before it closed and therefore anything I had on there is now apparently gone.

[Sylphide]

Thank you so much for your answer CC.

I went directly on the website of a shop where they sell pieces for computers and they have it!

There are 37 products available ALL of them OEM except for 3.



I think I would have to go with W7 Family because the Pro version is only the upgrade from Fam to Pro and the other one is in english. All my programs are in french and I was once told that you should not mix languages between Windows and main applications. Do you agree with this or do you think I should take the Integral version even though it is in english?

I feel so much better already! Thank you

Oh! and I am sorry for you losing everything you uploaded on the Exchange. That's really bad.

[CharlieChomper]

My apologies for the late response--I was out of town until recently and only now have really had access to my computer again.

Regarding the different versions of Windows 7 out there, one thing that's extremely important to look out for is that what you're getting is actually the 64-bit version of it--there is still a 32-bit version of each form of it out there as well. The difference between them is that with a 32-bit edition, you'll be limited to just 4GBs of RAM (with that limit also including video) as well as face some limits with your processor's performance (as 32-bit editions will recognize a 64-bit processor, but you won't get the full performance nor advantage of it nor with a multicore processor--which most processors these days tend to be (either dual or increasingly quadcores)).

Regarding the differences between the different editions of Windows 7 out there, it's a largely a matter of "bells and whistles" in terms of what the different versions have to offer (save your money and avoid the Ultimate edition--the number of features is excessive for anyone who generally isn't running a business that requires commercial-grade/almost server-grade software and features).

The differences between Home (Premium--don't bother with Basic as the RAM limits are much lower and the features very "watered down") and Pro are in that unless someone has or plans on having more than 16GBs of RAM and is in need of the more advanced networking and system tasks (such as remote desktop access) is running software that specifically requires Pro, Home is generally sufficient.

Regarding Home versus the Family pack, the difference is that the Family pack is designed to run up to three legal installs of Windows 7--so, if you only have the one system to worry about, I wouldn't recommend going with it unless you intend on having it installed across multiple computers.

Unfortunately, for whatever short-sighted reason on Microsoft's part, the only version of Windows that the "upgrade" editions will work with (not including an upgrade from one edition of Windows 7 to another--I can't remember what it's called now, but there are editions out there floating about such as the Upgrade Anytime edition as well as where it may upgrade from say Home to Pro as opposed to going from an older version of Windows to 7) is Vista so if you're running an older version such as XP, be aware that you will have to not only backup everything ahead of time, but do a "clean" install of Windows 7 and go for the "full" version.

On a related note, make sure you can download any hardware drivers for your system designed to run with 7 ahead of time!

Regarding the language issue, I would generally not advise mixing language versions with respect to this for a number of reasons--not the least of which being the terrible headache it will likely cause to do so.

[Sylphide]

CC please don't apologize!

Thank you for all the information. I am printing it as I write and will ask questions before buying.

Thank you so much