Error While Loading - Security Certificate?

[MrsFlynn]

You're welcome!!

Installation should go well if you remember to say no to Origin taking over the install for each expansion you install. I can't remember off the top of my head if it does that for stuff packs as well or not.

[BonnieLM77]

One more question (and I mentioned this on another forum) I do have one concern that somebody might answer for me-can other games corrupt your saves or Sims 3 files? I noticed this issue and other launcher issues seemed to start happening when I was playing some of my other games-like my SNES emulator games that I had to play in full screen mode-I was also playing a different game before (and everything worked fine then) I took my computer to be upgraded and then had to roll the video card driver back-and then I played it again-but it wasn't in full screen mode, and then when I played the Sims 3-the launcher seemed a little wonky at first-but I fixed it by deleting the missingdeps.idx file, and then it happened again-that's when I got that issue I mentioned above-but as I mentioned when I created a clean folder it was fine-so it's just funny, but I guess the only thing I can do is test it-both with the clean folder and with some cc installed and switch games-I just hope it isn't an issue with the video card driver or something else getting corrupted

*edited to reply to last post rather than editing my last reply

[MrsFlynn]

No, other games can't corrupt your Sims 3 files. All the games are installed in their own install folder. And have their own user folder, where saves and such go.

For example:

Sims 3 Game Install - Default path
Disc:  C:\Program files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The sims 3\Game\Bin\TS3W.exe

Sims 3 User Folder - Default path
C:\Users\Username\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3

I have had video driver updates mess up my graphics and game options settings but that's it.  I have my settings noted so I just reset them after each graphics update.

[BonnieLM77]

yeah, I had somebody on the NRAA's forum advise me that altering the video card driver in any way-like rolling it back, it resets the Sims 3 options file, so I'm thinking uninstalling and re-installing Seasons fixed it temporarily, but since the options were reset-it was basically mismatched, and that was why a clean reset fixed it. But I will keep monitoring it. Again, thanks for your help.

[BonnieLM77]

do you mean they can or they can't? I'm thinking it was more of a setting issue when I rolled back the driver though.

[MrsFlynn]

I meant cannot. Games are installed in their own install folder. And have their own user folder, where saves and such go.

I'm not sure what happened with your game. Other than something hiccuped in it and you need to create a new Sims 3 user folder and reinstall your custom and store content and mods.

I've had this happen before (game hiccup) and what helped was to basically create a new Sims 3 folder and reinstall custom and store content and mods. It helps refresh the Sims 3 Launcher's cache files in the DCCache folder. Those can become corrupted over time or because of a game hiccup.

Do remember that with every video card driver update you'll need to set your graphics and game settings. I wanted to mention that so you're not surprised by it next time it happens.

[BonnieLM77]

Thanks! Currently I'm leaving my video card driver as is, as if I update it to the latest one my system doesn't like it, but I know which ones that the tech would have used at the time so I have backup copies of those, but this also explains why I had to do the same thing when the card was originally installed 2 years ago, my game worked for about a week or two afterwards and then went wonky but a clean reset fixed it. By cache files in the DCCache folder, do you mean the tmp files or the missingdeps.idx? I also delete the 5 cache files in the main folder every couple of weeks as well, the only thing I save is the userpresets, which I copy from the old folder when I have to do a reset so my saved patterns/hair colours/makeup colours, etc are still there and I don't have to re-create those. I don't change the game settings much when I play-just a few things, and I usually leave the graphics settings in the game alone.

[MrsFlynn]

What I mean is:

When you start with a new Sims 3 folder and install your .Sims3Pack files it helps refresh the "cache" files found in the DCCache folder. And should help them work properly.

What I'm calling "cache" files are the files that end in:

.dbc: All third party content
.ebc: Store content
missingdeps.idx

Read more in this article about Sims 3 User Folder:
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_User_Folders_Explained

These files can be become corrupt and I have found through testing it helps anything installed via the launcher work better and show up in game.

However when you delete these files, all content installed via the launcher will be deleted and need to be reinstalled. So having a backup of your store content and custom content is a must before deleting those files.

[BonnieLM77]

good to know that the installed custom content files can become corrupted after installation, I always keep back ups of all my store and third party content and I do scans of the DCCache folder with dashboard every so often to see if anything crops up, but I will start checking these files every so often as well if I have any weird issues in the game-better to wipe and re-install a few files rather than all of them and I knew that the missingdeps.idx file can become corrupted every so often and can be deleted. I appreciate the tips.

edit: also how often is creating a clean folder usually needed? the first time I had an issue was about a year after I had purchased all the EP's and SP's up to Seasons and started playing more often, and this time it was about 2 years since I last had to do a clean folder and start over?

[MrsFlynn]

If you're asking about a full uninstall/reinstall of the game, probably once a year. When I do, I run a registry cleaner to cleanup the files left behind from uninstalling or reinstalling  game files.

If asking about the Sims 3 folder in Documents? I clean it out quite often, as I change out my custom content/mods quite frequently.   It's also my first go to when I have issues with the game or save files.

However, I understand the hesitation. I've been there.

Easiest way to do it is make a copy of your Sims 3 folder go to: (\Documents\Electronic Arts) - right-click on the Sims 3 folder and select Copy and paste it to the desktop, usb drive, external hard drive or any backup media of your choice.

After the first few times of creating a new Sims 3 folder and re-installing my mods and custom content it got easier. I knew if anything happened, I have my files safely backed up on my desktop.

[BonnieLM77]

I was asking about a factory reset/clean install-pulling the Sims 3 folder from my documents to the desktop-the last time I did that was two years ago, and I keep all my files backed up to USB drive, but was wondering if I should do that more frequently-from the sounds of it maybe about every 6 months or so? I think I did a complete uninstall and re-install of all the Sims EP's and SP's about 2 1/2 years ago-so it's probably a good idea to do that every so often as well? thanks

[MrsFlynn]

I must say this is personal preference, others may have differing opinions.

A once a year reinstall of the game itself isn't fully needed unless there's something wrong with the install files. Or you feel like doing a full uninstall/reinstall.

Creating a new Sims 3 folder in Documents / aka factory reset is probably a good idea every 6 months or so depending on your preference. You can do it more often specially if you feel it's needed.

[BonnieLM77]

ok, thank you! it's probably a good idea as I had a lot of cc installed over 2 years (including some stuff I no longer used but it didn't show up in the launcher so I could uninstall it) I will probably use a combination of the file versions I already have downloaded and fresh versions (from TSR mostly) to only install the stuff that I downloaded for one theme or to have the latest copies in case old ones had bugs that have been since updated. And of course my nraa mods (but I found that if I don't put those in until last-the mods tend to slow installing down). Again I appreciate all of your help and advice!

[MrsFlynn]

You're welcome!

I do really understand the hesitation of going through a bunch of custom content. Back in 2018 I had bad cc ruin, or so I thought - my saves, Sims and houses because the bad cc attached itself to both Sims and houses.  I literally dumped out my Sims 3 folder and went through my custom content. At the time I had what I'd call tons of cc installed.

I was hesitant to go through it all to find the bad CC, but I am so happy that I did. I not only got rid of the bad cc for good, I got rid of a lot of cc I wasn't using. And it helped my game run better too. lol  More so because I didn't have as much content installed. Because of that though I clean my folder up a lot more often.

[BonnieLM77]

One thing I did notice was that when I loaded the launcher tonight (without the disk in-just to download files for testing) it took it about 30 seconds or so to show the launcher graphics-and the EA app was not open, so I might do a complete uninstall and re-install of the game and all EP's and SP's just in case something got corrupted in the game itself, or could that be an issue with the video card? It seem to come up fairly quickly when I first did the factory reset and had the disk in-I think though that I was doing it offline with my anti-virus shut off so could that be slowing it down a little bit too?

update: tried closing it and re-opening it and it came up faster the second time, so not sure what caused it.