Installing Sims 3

[Rainbow Dash]

Hi there, not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here goes.

My gaming laptop I used to play the Sims 3 on died earlier this year, sadly it was too badly damaged to be repaired.  I never got a chance to uninstall my Sims 3 base game, expansions or stuff packs because one day my computer just stopped turning on so I couldn't even get into it. 

I'm saving up for a new laptop & need to know if I will still be able to install my Sims 3 games (Including base, expansions & stuff packs) onto a new laptop if they were never uninstalled from the last computer I had. I know this may seem like a silly question to some, but I've never had the Sims 3 installed on more than one computer before nor have I ever been in this situation, so I'm a little unsure.  I just need to make sure I can still use all my games as I have physical copies of them.

[MrsFlynn]

Hi Rainbow Dash,

Yes, you posted in the correct place and it's not a silly question. If you've registered your games with thesims3.com, you can log into your Origin account and download the digital version of the games and install them.

MrsFlynn

[Rainbow Dash]

Thanks for answering. 

Do I really have to download & install the digital copies? I'd rather do it from my physical copies. I have everything from my old computer saved onto an external hard drive, but I'm not sure if that would only transfer game/save data over from my saved games or if I'd still have to reinstall. 

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

Hi, Rainbow Dash.

No, you don't have to download and install the digital copies, unless you want to. It's entirely optional.

For your issue, you can re-install from the discs just fine. A number of laptops these days do not come with internal DVD drives, so if you find yourself with a laptop that doesn't have one, you can get a USB DVD drive for around $40 US from Amazon or NewEgg. If you backed up your Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 folder on to your portable drive, then just install the games on your new computer and then copy your backup of The Sims 3 into the Documents\Electronic Arts folder and all you saves, Sims, etc. should be there.

Hope this helps, and happy Simming!

Flynn

[Rainbow Dash]

Hi Flynn. 

It's good to know that I can reinstall my physical copies of my games onto a new computer (When I finally get one), I prefer physical copies over digital ones for various reasons. 

Yeah, I should still have all my saved games/sims although I'm not terribly worried about losing them, thanks for telling me how to transfer them to another computer though, as that gives me the option of keeping them, if I choose. 

I mainly just want to be able to use the physical copies of my games again & not have to throw them out, lol.