The Sims 3 Forum

I'm going to post the message I originally posted on the PlayOnLinux support forums.

I do realize this isn't a support board. I'm just hoping SOMEONE might have an idea what I can do to get my Sims 3 bundle working on Steam.

Since this request is slightly dated, it was complete set of Sims 3 when Town Life was the most recent stuff pack. (Before Master Suite Stuff or Pets). I don't own either Master Suite or Pets.

I suspect it's some Service Pack or support program failing.

• Name of the distribution (and its version): Fedora 15 64 bit.
• Your desktop (KDE, Gnome, Xfce, Fluxbox...) I've tried Gnome 3, KDE and LXDE.
• Errors from the software. And if possible, tell when and/or where it happens: No error, what happens described below.
• Your computer configuration. I have an Asus G73S 3D Intel I7 2.0, 8 gigs RAM, using the proprietary nVidia driver.

I know the CD/DVD version of the Sims 3 runs (DMCA) under Wine. However, I recently bought the whole set on Steam (during a sale) and I'd like to get this Steam version working. The Steam version runs on my windows 7 install without issues, but it's on a NTFS drive and from what I've read elsewhere I can't hope to copy the STEAMAPPS directory across to my linux side.

What I'm not sure of is what fixes are needed to get the steam version running. When I click on the play button in my Steam library, the small box launches that gives me the choice between launching the game or viewing the support information. When I launch the game, a box pops up briefly that shows "first time setup" and says "installing (step of )". It doesn't show that it's installing anything and the step numbers are blank. The box disappears and then nothing happens.

I've deleted it and re-installed it several times, as well as verifying the cache files.

I'm not really sure what to do from here.

Hi,

...for the record, while copying the files from an NTFS partition is
of dubious merit (I don't use windows myself, but I full well known such
an operation may leave you with weird permissions on files), what will
definitely work is creating a steam backup of the game in Windows, burn
same to dvd, then when you boot linux you can use that dvd to restore/install
the game in Steam running on crossover/wine...(this won't fix anything,
but would save you some time/bandwidth =)

....the only thing I can discern this app may need (but which you haven't
mentioned), is to install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable into the
Steam bottle. A target for this is available under the 'runtime support components'
area of the cxinstaller GUI...

Cheers!

ps: I edited your post above to comply with site guidelines

Sorry about saying...err...the bit that necessitated the edit. Read and noted.

I have already backed up the download files (to another hard drive) and then restored the backup in linux, saving me from having to download the files yet again from the Steam servers.

The C++ Redistributable file is already in the bottle.

This has happened on multiple computers, with multiple downloads of the game files, and multiple installs. The only common element is that I have Fedora 15 on all my systems, and I have the closed-souce nVidia video driver on all of them. I'm just not sure what additional troubleshooting I can do at this point.

Hi again...

...I don't have this title, but, the small 'first startup' you see,  

is likely installing the visual c++ stuff, however, that may not do
what is need for the runtime dep.....ie; you have to manually install
that package, even though it already appears to be there...

...if you want to troubleshoot the issue further, read this ;

http://www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/mac/mactutorial/submittechsupportlog

...what you want to do is start Steam as you normally would, then use
the 'Run Command' function detailed above, and navigate to the TS3.exe
file (the actual game binary). After you tick 'create log file', in the
'Other' string box, put +trace,+loaddll ...then run the game to create
the debug log (it will contain information about what's going on). Upload
the file to a public repo somewhere (pastebin, google, whatever...) and
post the download URL back here and I'll have a look at it for you...

Cheers!

I have Crossover Linux, so I actually needed this reference:

http://www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/linux/linuxtutorial/debug

(link pasted here to help anyone whose having the same problems)

Here's a google doc with the backtrace in it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TId_nRSjzIodSiiBPOaVq7HGcVt7is9gYpJonHzUQzg/edit

I now own all the latest expansions and stuff packs, including Showtime.
Gwen

You simply need to install Flash Player, .Net 2.0 and the Crossover Browser IE implementation.

Without these three, the launcher won't run.

I recommend using the game's interface to register with your Sims3.com account, not the launcher. The same to download Sims3.com DLC and other online content. Additionally, I have not been able to get the game's launcher (and thus the Sims 3 store download links) to download content. Instead I have used the in-game interface, which works fine. I tested this with some free content (one promo pack advertising the Toyota Prius and a free download world.

Edit: The launcher is now working 99% However the download progress box seems to display behind the window instead of in front. This may be an issue specific to my system, though. The sims3: links still don't work, so you still need to follow the instructions below to install content from the web site.

The exact process to do this is you go to the Sims3 web site (you can even use your Linux browser for this) and make your purchase, then click "download later" instead of "download now." When you launch Sims 3, in the select game menu there is the download manager, open that up and you should be able to select and download the content you purchased.

As a note, you need to be running a system with GLX acessable to 32 bit programs. (Only some 64bit Linux distributions support this without installing additional packages.) The proprietary drivers are highly recommended for most newer cards from ATI and nVidia.