So after some trouble with my disks (basically my computer says theres no disk in my drive even though there is). I am working on maybe just using Origin to play the game. My questions are.

1. is this a good idea?

2. Can I add mods?

3. is there a different way to add mods, then just the normal way.

Thanks.

FYI this kind of question might be better placed in the HELP section of Sims 3 instead of the general discussion section.

To answer your questions:
If you have bought and installed Sims 3 on your computer already, NRaas has a NO CD mod which allows your game to play without the check that the disk in in the drive.
The Origin version will be 1.69, which is universally disliked. If your game is already updated to 1.69, then it doesn't matter. If you are still on version 1.67, that is a reason to not go digital.
You can add mods to the digital version and installation is the same.
Good luck.

thank you, also are there any specific mods you or anyone suggest. right now I would love a mod that allows me to have more then 8 family members in my house. I know theres a mod but I forget the name.

There are several mods that do that, although you would probably want either Master Controller or Awesome Mod.

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=517365 is the Official "Which mods do I need?" thread and has several good suggestions.

I'm sure I'm safe to say most of the simming community is running from 1.69 trying to avoid it.
Here is a document that should help you with your decision on 1.69 - NRaas - Patch 1.69 Document

I can't really say that playing via origin is a bad idea but I would not want to play with Origin running in the background. Keep in mind playing the game on line will use up system resources and if you do not have a strong system game performances is impacted.

See the NRaas Getting Started With Mods Document by the Organizers for suggestons and link to mods and their FAQ's. There are also loads of mods here at MTS that offer more game options.

Since Twallan retired Chain_Reaction (along with some of the mod developers here at MTS) have been updating, fixing and enhancing the NRaas Suite of mods. There have been many changes over the past couple of years. See Quick Links . Quicklinks has all the current NRaas Mod information linked within one convenient table. Documentation, Interactions, Issues, FAQ's, Lists of enhancements being considered, Discussion Topics links, Revision notes and translations available.

Edit: I neglected to address your more than 8 in a household: See the linked Household Document

Speaking as a person who was forced by circumstance to accept the 1.69 update, I can reassure you that it doesn't really affect gameplay in the long run. In the short run there will be hiccups as 1.69 tries to force you into playing with only a small number of arbitrarily-chosen expansion packs. I also found small glitches with the appearance of custom content the first couple times I loaded, but that sometimes happens when you make any changes to your installation and the problem does not persist. At first I was annoyed that I was forced to open the game through the launcher, but now that I know I have to be in the habit of checking the expansion pack list each time I play, I feel it is a mercy really.

The only other persistent change is that the trick for keeping the "featured items" folder from filling up each time I play doesn't work for me anymore, but I have heard from others that it works for them still.

As for which mods--since most custom content doesn't interact with the launcher at all, you can use almost everything that was updated for 1.67. The only exceptions I found were the parts of the Nraas suite that deal with saving and loading (as mentioned above). But since the Nraas suite is being supported and updated on a regular basis, you'll want to be checking there for updates anyway, and the updating process has been streamlined there, so that's not a burden.

I still tell people who don't have to update to 1.69 not to, because it doesn't enhance gameplay but it does introduce a minor annoyance. But if you have to, the only big change in your life is to watch that expansion panel like a hawk. That is a potentially major deal, because if you open a world without the packs it was played with previously, you will corrupt it and be forced to go back to an earlier save (you do have one, right?)

Changing from a disk install (or part disk, part Origin) to a pure Origin confuses the Digital rights management on store bought custom content, like from the Sims 3 store. That seriously annoyed me when I switched, and all EA did was charge my credit card for the "Help" and not help me in the least. Yeah, I'm bitter about that. I finally figured out I had to reinstall from the Sims 3 disk and then add the Origin part.

That also enabled me to avoid the 1.69 debacle.

I think you need to troubleshoot your disk drive, myself.

You can avoid installing 1.69 version if that's what you're trying to do, you can replace your DVD drive with a new one if that's the case and you still need to have DVD drive in your computer, it shouldn't be expensive, or you need another copy of your TS3 installation disc if the current one broken. Since you have the original TS3 installation disc, you should have the serial installation key for your TS3 when you bought it, why don't you just google and download the same version instead of 1.69, and just put your TS3 serial installation key when installing, it will be the same as the one you already have, you can even download it and save it as an image in your HDD or usb flash drive, I still have all my installation discs, but I back them up as images and stored them in my external HDD.

I used to have authentication errors like crazy whenever I played, despite knowing all my disks are 100% legally purchased. I once had to restart the game about 10 times before I could actually play. on top of that, it was a toss up whether or not my optical drive would read a disk or just spit it back out.

honestly, instead of bothering with origin, I'd say just go with the no cd mod. it seriously saved my butt when my game wouldn't stop giving me those stupid authentication errors. eventually though I did end up buying a new optical drive for about $36 when mine started refusing to accept any disk at all, even my laptop's own installation disk.