I am sorry if this has been discussed somewhere before but all the threads along this topic that I found are very old and haven't had replies in forever. I came to MTS for advice because I'm tired of getting unhelpful feedback on the official Sims 3 Forums like: "Just go to the library for wifi!" and "Modding your game is going to break it!"

I know people save the patches, or download them from the internet so they can update their game if, say, they won't have internet connection for a while. I've found tips around and some general explanations but I can't find, or re-find, a good walk-through about installing patches I've saved to my computer. There's also some stuff left to be presumed, but I don't want to make any assumptions since I'm no techie.

So here are the questions I have after doing some research:

1. About downloading incremental patches (like the ones here: http://www.patches-scrolls.de/sims3.php#) vs. downloading the super patch here: http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2013/01/patch-1-48.html... If, during a period of time without internet, I wanted to re-install Sims and the expansions (I bought all on disk), would super patch 1.48.5 update my game from base to the level it needs to be, up to 1.48.5? What if I am missing one of the recent expansions?

2. A guy on the Sims 3 official forum said this: "The Sims 3 is a complicated game and it got more complicated when EA decided to make major changes in the structure of the game after the release version. With WA the game changed to structure of the save games from the way it saved games from the base game release. With Gen (I think) EA change the way the game patches from individual patches to patching through the base game. So you see this isn't a typical graphical game that was released and has patches to correct bugs. Not only do the patches fix the game but also change the structure of the game and this makes it extremely difficult to say what will work and what won't.

Let me put it like this - Your in school and there is a test today. Someone in the 2nd hour class passes a copy of the test to someone in the third hour class. But the teacher gives a different test to the third hour class. TS3 is like that. There doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rules for TS3."

He's been trying to convince me that it's futile to manually patch without net, unless you want to torture yourself, and generally questioning people's lifestyles and why we can't just accept that we need to get connected once in a while. Sorry, not lugging my computer around in a blizzard on foot, and don't need to justify my lifestyle to some stranger. - Anyway! He's making it sound like the super patch won't update my game because it's always changing, and it won't be compatible if upgrading from base game after re-installing everything. Hes wrong... right? Furthermore I DON'T want to constantly be up-to-date. I want to be able to re-install my game and expansions and update to a patch I had before, without having to worry about updating any borked CC until I'm ready to buy another expansion pack.

3. What would be the benefit for saving and installing the incremental patches instead of a super patch? Should I start out with the early incremental patches THEN apply a super patch after a certain point? If the quote above is saying that somehow it won't understand a super patch if it's base game?

4. How exactly does one install a saved patch to their game? I heard mention of Delphy's Multi-Extractor in some YT vids, but they didn't turn out to be just about patching, if you know what I mean...

Can someone help me tie this stuff together? Thank you so much for reading!

Aww!
I'm sad that our very own SimsWiki Patching series is not in your list of places you visit to get patches. Game Help:TS3 Patching^wiki

1. If you buy the DVD copies, all the SuperPatches are on there. And if you had visited our Patch_Table wiki page, the path to where the patches are, is stated on there. Look in the <DVD-drive>\Support\Updates\ folder. So you don't even need to download gigabytes of data. This is the reason EA includes them; they do understand not everyone has Internet access all of the time, or even reliable Internet access.
   
   To understand that table, it is pretty simple: the pack for a column needs the minimum patch stated on that row. So, you start at the cell where the pack's version is, and then follow the row back to the Base Game column. This is the minimum base game version for that pack, at the time that pack was released. This is also the SuperPatch version that would always be included in the DVDs. The installer on the DVD would automatically trigger the patch when you pop in the disc. And since it is a SuperPatcher, it does not matter what version you were at before, the SuperPatcher won't care.
   
   There are times when the DVD has a different version. And that means, that version is FUBAR'd and they have since replaced that SuperPatcher with a totally new version that was released after the DVDs were printed (or already sent for printing). And example of this occurrence is the 1.28.84 and 1.29.55 versions, and I would always indicate instances of this by the superscripts.
   
   
   • Game Help:Patch_Table^wiki
   • Game Help:TS3 Patching:Patch_Download/Current^wiki
   • Game Help:TS3 Patching:Patch_Download/Archived^wiki
   
   An example: I'll use the Seasons Expansion Pack, because there are incremental patches after that. And I'm referring to the Patch_Table linked above.
   So, for Seasons', this pack has a retail version of 16.0.136, and if you follow that row back to the Game column that has the Sims 3 base game icon, it would state the minimum patch that Seasons need for the base game to be at. Which is 1.42.130 , which is on the game engine level 19. This level info is pertinent only if you mod your game, if the number changes means the code has a lot of changes that affects mods/hacks/cc and need updates.
   
   If I understand your problem correctly, the problem arise if you decide not to get the next pack in the series, which means you won't get the patch that comes along with it in the disc...Well, still using Seasons as your last purchased pack, if say you're not getting the 70s 80s & 90s Stuff Pack (or waiting to get it on sale), then this means you won't be getting the 1.48.5 SuperPatcher on disc, and you're wondering if you need to download the SuperPatcher in order to update? Or would the Incremental do just as well?
   
   Answer is YES! The Incremental would do just fine, you won't need to download the 1.48.5 SuperPatcher at all.
   This is of course subjective to whether EA screwed up like they did for the 1.3x patches where the Incremental and Superpatcher are different (see Game Help:Issues with 1.3x Superpatcher^wiki). They haven't made a mistake that colossal since then. So, if anything that incident may have tighten their Patch QA and release Protocols. But never say never, right.
   But for the most part, the Incremental and the Superpatch patches are identical. If there's any differences, I would note it down in the Patch_Note section. Like so Game_Help:TS3_Patching:Patch_Note_1.39#SuperPatcher_vs_Incremental^wiki. If I don't make any such report, you can all take it that the Incremental and the Superpatch patches are identical.
   
   I think what the guys is trying to say is that the SuperPatcher 1.42 and 1.48 is different? Well of course, it is! Else why do we bother to patch at all? And each Superpatcher contains all the changes of the previous Superpatchers and even from the beginning, ie patch 1.2.7 that wasn't ever in a SuperPatch form.
   Or he's trying to convince us that patching to 1.42 via SuperPatcher, and then following that up with the Incremental "to_1.48_from_1.42" won't result in the same state as someone who has used the SuperPatcher 1.48 directly? Poppycock! This only happens like I mentioned previously, only if EA made a boo-boo like they did for the 1.31-1.33 versions. I personally did my testing to ensure this doesn't happen (again!) when I publish the links on SimsWiki. Which is why the wiki is always updated a day or couple days late, depending on my IRL schedule. So, you can take it as a silent status, if you will - once the (new) links are available on the SimsWiki page, the Incrementals and Superpatcher patches are identical. And I'm sure, all would realize that to do this testing, I had to uninstall and reinstall multiple times, right? And when I do make mistakes, or when the results are confusing to me, I repeated the whole procedure to ensure I get the same results and it wasn't a fluke.
   
2. If you don't get the glitches or can live with the glitches each SuperPatch introduced, there's no need to get an Incremental patch at all. Especially if you purchase your games in DVD retail versions. You would always have the SuperPatcher on your disc. There's no need to even redownload anything!
   
3. The patches (both Incremental and SuperPatcher) are only for the base game. They've stopped patching the individual packs since they come up with this SuperPatcher idea. For bad or worse (see what I did there? Yes, I did mean "bad", not "better or worse"!). The benefit to downloading and keeping the Incrementals? So, you won't have to redownload when you uninstall and reinstall. Since the Incrementals are not on the DVDs (there were some discs that have them, but the last few packs don't have Incrementals at all). You may also need the Incrementals, if your favorite modder only maintains their mods for the current patch, and not for older patches.
   
4. You just download and Archive it somewhere. It is an executable file, a program. You just double-click it to run it.

I think I covered all your questions. Well, if I have missed any, I'm sure you'll let me know.

Wow, even a download for the Superpatcher... Over in my post on TS3 Forums I was asking if I could use the Superpatcher to manually update, which fizzled into "wait am I just looking for a super-patch?" Now I'm just amazed to find everything I'm looking for on that one page you linked.

LOL I'm sorry! I guess I was looking for a tutorial and relying too much on google... must have typed "manually patching sims 3" and "patching without internet sims 3" a million times. I kept finding my way into the wrong part of the wiki and just totally missed that page! I think I came close but I hadn't been able to find my way back... heh heh... yeah. I won't underestimate MTS again.

Okay so...



Oh. Wow. I could die, what I needed was sitting under my nose all along! I am at fault for being way too cynical to think EA would do something so awesome. I'm just exploding that this guy on the other forum who insists he's a computer whiz, especially about this game, didn't mention that... and he's telling everyone who had the same question as me since 09 that we have no excuse in this day and age to not have internet and that our trying to Sim without it is as silly as hopeless. I have to go on a quest to undo the damage now... sheesh.

You sure did answer my questions, thank you so much! For the sake the others who had these questions, can I link to this in those threads so they can also benefit from how clearly and straightforwardly you explained everything?

I'm no game whiz, for sure, and computers aren't my thing... I just make an exception for this one. There really are none like it, lol. Must be it's shameless way of making us feel like Gods.

YOU ARE AMAZING!

Well, you don't have to feel bad. I actually added the Update folder paths recently.

Link away. Knowledge is to be shared. It does no good being in my brain just for my benefit. There's too much clutter there, anyway. Go forth and educate, my child!

And, that is sweet of you to say (the bold parts). As you can tell, I tend to ramble.
I only ever get "your posts and explanations are too confusing" or "I don't understand the FAQs, they are confusing". After the week I've had, sometimes it's nice to get some nice and kind words. Thank you!

Well I tend to be very mistrusting of myself to make assumptions, so I run off and ask questions before proceeding, but in this case, it backfired, because no one was giving me answers like "yes you can" or "no you can't" and "here's the better way to do that..." (which is what you did, and don't worry, I can speak Ramble, lol) I'm just more of a low tech member of my generation, and need some things explained in dummy terms. lol. It's just clear that people generally don't know much about this and those that do, are on their own islands.

Glad I can link to this thread so the next time someone tries to Google about manual patching, and finds the other threads full of mis-information, they will be directed here and to that awesome part of your wiki in case they missed it like I did.

Thanks so much!

i need the super petch

None of the links I posted to the Wiki work for you? In particular - Game Help:TS3 Patching:Patch_Download/Current^wiki.


If you still need help, please start a new thread...