[PC] Can you install Sims 3 without internet?

[Geforce132]

Hello everyone ,

Me and my friend both want to buy Sims 3 after watching Ze Royal Viking play it on youtube. He doesn't have his internet working at the moment. Can he install/play the game, or is internet required to install it? I've been looking on Google, but they're all mixed answers. Some people say that you can, some say you can't. Could you clarify this once and for all? If he goes and picks up the game disc (new) right now at our local GameStop, would he be able to play it?

(he's running Windows 7 HP).

Thanks for reading!
~Geforce

[Audren]

Hello everyone ,

Me and my friend both want to buy Sims 3 after watching Ze Royal Viking play it on youtube. He doesn't have his internet working at the moment. Can he install/play the game, or is internet required to install it? I've been looking on Google, but they're all mixed answers. Some people say that you can, some say you can't. Could you clarify this once and for all? If he goes and picks up the game disc (new) right now at our local GameStop, would he be able to play it?

(he's running Windows 7 HP).

Thanks for reading!
~Geforce

The Sims 3 does not require the Internet to be installed. There are online features to the Sims (most of which come from Showtime) but you don't need to be online to install or play.

[Saltypaws]

If you are just going to install the base game for now, you do not need the internet to install and play.  If, at some time you get expansion packs, you will need to install updates that go along with the game.  I believe at one point, I could not even get into my game, because of the updates, but that could have been just me.

[grimsoul]

For the updates you could download the updates directly then put it on a thumb drive and give it to him to so he can update his game.

[Geforce132]

Thanks to everyone that replied! I will definitely let him know. I hope to see you guys in other sections of the forum .

Edit: Oh, just a side note, will you need to install Origin to play offline, or only for online play?

[Angélique]

When I bought my copy of The Sims 3 Base game in the fall of 2011, there was no need to have Internet connection to be able to install the game and play it. Unfortunately that seems to have been changed now with the latest edition of the game. On one of the Sims 3 forums in Sweden there is a girl who just recently bought TS3 Base game, and she claims that it was impossible to install it without Internet connection and Origin account running. In fact that is also stated on the front of the DVD case, as you can see on this screenshot taken from the website where she bought it. I have circled it with red, and it says, translated to English: Internet connection and Origin account is required to play.


 

[Geforce132]

When I bought my copy of The Sims 3 Base game in the fall of 2011, there was no need to have Internet connection to be able to install the game and play it. Unfortunately that seems to have been changed now with the latest edition of the game. On one of the Sims 3 forums in Sweden there is a girl who just recently bought TS3 Base game, and she claims that it was impossible to install it without Internet connection and Origin account running. In fact that is also stated on the front of the DVD case, as you can see on this screenshot taken from the website where she bought it. I have circled it with red, and it says, translated to English: Internet connection and Origin account is required to play.

Thanks for the reply. Could someone else confirm this, just to be sure? From what i read, it seems there is a offline installation for that version of the game as well, but i may be wrong.

[Angélique]

Geforce132, have you seen the last post in this thread, by GoFeesh? It seems that he/she has bought a copy of the latest edition of Sims 3 where you are forced to have Internet and Origin running to be able to anything with the game.

I think that change is sooo very wrong. When you buy the DVD version it should be completely independent, and not require anything extra in order to work. I mean, where is the point in having a DVD version at all, if you still must be tied to Internet and Origin?? Then you might just as well buy the download version through Origin right away, and not bother with the DVD disc at all.

I'm so glad I bought my copy of the game before this thing was altered.

[Audren]

Geforce132, have you seen the last post in this thread, by GoFeesh? It seems that he/she has bought a copy of the latest edition of Sims 3 where you are forced to have Internet and Origin running to be able to anything with the game.

I think that change is sooo very wrong. When you buy the DVD version it should be completely independent, and not require anything extra in order to work. I mean, where is the point in having a DVD version at all, if you still must be tied to Internet and Origin?? Then you might just as well buy the download version through Origin right away, and not bother with the DVD disc at all.

I'm so glad I bought my copy of the game before this thing was altered.

Do you know when this happened? Every expansion and DVD I've purchased hasn't required an online connection to play. Is this a recent change? I can't find anything about it. I would have thought that EA would know better than to implement always online given the backlash against SimCity, but you never know. 

[Angélique]

No, I have no idea when it happened. The first I heard about it was a month ago from that girl I mentioned in my previous post, and I didn't believe it at first. I mean, Sims 3 has been 100% offline functional for more than four years now, I have all the expansions and stuff packs on DVD, and none of them has required Internet and/or Origin to be installed. Why on earth would that have to be changed now all of a sudden??? It just doesn't make sense.

And also, according to EA official information, The Sims 4 is going to be a single-player offline game... no, I don't understand any of this, it's too strange and confusing.

And another thing, that may or may not be connected to this, is that EA's help page with the download link for the Superpatcher doesn't work anymore, and hasn't done so for quite some time. When I click the link an error page is opened, and the message Access denied. Maybe you now have to be logged in to Origin before you can download the patch? That wasn't necessary before.

Since I have the older offline version of TS3 base game, and already have downloaded and installed the 1.67 patch, none of the above affects me personally, but I sure would like to know what's going on. 

[jesirose]

The links work fine for me, and I am not logged into anything.