Insimenator.org

I have all the Sims 2 EP's up to and including Seasons, and for the longest time I've been considering getting the rest while I still can.

Cause, quite frankly I never did get any of the expansions for Sims 1 until it was far too late and now they are rather hard to find.

Now, I know there was a giant issue with securom on Bon Voyage. But since EA has been getting smacked around about that for a few years, to the point that not too long ago they "offically" announced that they would cease usage of said DRM and return to CD Keys and stuff more akin to Safe Disc.

Well, cutting it short, I'm out of the loop, I don't know crap about what's going on with the EP's past Seasons other then what I've mentioned. I want to know if they've been released DRM free, and if they are worth it in peoples opinions.

IF they are, indeed, SecuROM free, then I would say definitely they're worth getting. I love the different features that I have, but I have only up until Seasons. I still get mesmerized watching the fish swim around in the ponds. Gimme a break, it's a cat thing. :D

To be honest, I have all the EPs and SPs and I have never experienced the plethora of reported problems that are supposed to pop up, nor have I been able to find any trace of Securom on my computer. I understand, though, if you pay for the downloadable versions, they do come with Securom.

So, it could just be the downloadable versions that hold securom and people often fail to make the distinction?.

I believe it's the EA Download Manager that's the real culprit.

Hmm...typical. More EA stupidity that creates problems for them because they treat their consumer base like criminals.

Well, I don't use the EA download manager anyway.

Me neither - not as far as I know, anyway.

I bought all my games at the store, I don't every use the download manager (or I did until I discovered the Clean Installer, years ago), do everything of installing manually (except for Clean Installer which is used for installing sims/houses).

I once tried to download some of the (free) official stuff, but some of the objects only messed up, so I ended up deleting them. I don't use the store, either. Don't feel the need to, as I have all the EPs and SPs, and most objects are from there anyway.

Hmm...well, that's good to know, and I see I can still get the patch's easily.

Of course, I had to go to Amazon.com to find the games easily.

Back when Bon Voyage first came out, I installed it on my good gaming computer and the headaches/heartaches began. First, my new burner refused to work like it ought to, then it refused to recognize the silly thing altogether. Then my anti-virus kept screaming that it didn't exist. I wouldn't have been so mad if I'd not had the last and only pictures of my father (who was dying of colon cancer at the time) and my son together on the hard drive. The stupid thing also refused to recognize the printer I had installed on it, and it had worked just fine the week before. I finally was able to salvage the pics and some other things, but I had to reformat and re-install the operating system. The computer still doesn't run right, but it's often like that after a wipe and re-install. I'm one of the players that got hit with a myriad of problems and to this day, I refuse to install any new expansion packs. If I could find them without the DRM, you can bet that I would buy them and play them, but until I know for sure that the new disks that are out there don't have it, I won't touch them.

I have all the eps and all sps except m&g. I've never had any problems either, and I uninstalled the ea download manager...you just have to go at it from add & remove programs....:)

I used EADM to get Apartment Life and my game worked just fine....well...my computer wont turn on anymore but I dont think that's the game's fault

Well, you can get a tool, last I knew, over at Reclaim Your Game. It will tell you if you have SecuROM on your machine and it will remove it. Wish I'd had it back in the day, though, would have saved a lot of time and frustration.

Sadly, I know I already have Securom in my computers. I did some digging about several of my games, and turned out that Command and Conquer 3 has it.

Though it doesn't seem to have any impact on that computer.

However for THIS ONE, Crysis did. From the start. It messed up my log in stuff, where as originally it was set to log straight into my account after I installed Crysis the ONLY EA game I had at the time. And one of the first ones installed that had ever given me a problem...well, it changed to the "Select your profile" setup.

I had to get help from a friend to bypass the problem and be able to auto-log in to my account, which resulted in me having to downgrade the shutdown menu graphics on XP to something more akin to ME or below.

And a few months ago I was dealing with a nasty ransomware problem by ripping it out of my registry, and guess what I found?, yup, Securom in my registry.

But, anyway, yeah, I've heard the horror stories about Securom, and I've heard that there are different versions. And that Bon Voyage's was that happy destructive version that brought a ton of law suits down on EA for their trouble.

But hey, like I said, I'm out of the loop. Best to ask people who would know more.

When I got this computer, one of the first things I installed was, The Sims 2 and all the EP's and most of the SP's. Never had a problem. I figured if I do that first, I should be safe. And, I was. Even after installing all my other programs, Secu-ROM, never acted up.

The Sims 3, and World Adventures, got installed also. No problems.

But, way back when, I almost took a blood oath that I would never buy another EA/Maxis product. Also, I had a very early version of Secu-ROM. I got that from DiabloII, Lord Of Destruction.

Um, could you clarify where you got your copy of Diablo 2 LOD. Cause as far as I can ever recall. LOD was around far longer then Securom's design ever was. Infact, if I recall when it came out in 2001 it had a basic security code input and something more akin to Safe Disc requiring the CD be in to play.

And Securom as I recall first surfaced around 2006. First as a hidden security measure in that one Sony music device whose name eludes me, which earned them a heaping lawsuit.

I got my copy from Best Buy. At the time, that was only only game I had installed aside from Diablo I and II. And, I think the original Sims.


But, you can read about it, here (http://club.myce.com/f80/diablo-ii-patch-1-11b-securom-5-03-13-0249-a-189597/)

Huh...well from what I am viewing it doesn't particularly seem to apply to anything except the collectors edition and or patch 1.11.

I merely bought the game itself, no special packs. Hm..

Well, its just brilliant how they constantly use Securom to 'protect their product" and just mess up everything in the process isn't it?

When you talk about "protecting the product" you're actually talking about the "profit"-in EA's glossary, the two are the same.
They think they're protecting the profits by doing the product. What they do not understand is that most players are not going to rip a copy of the game and put it up for grabs on BitTorrents-it's too old to move.
They're just pissing people off by using SecuROM and destroying machines while they're at it. It doesn't matter to them. They already have their money.

I guess I am, in an weird "I am incapable of speaking and thinking like a greedy corporation so their behaviour often confounds me" way.

Well SecuRom doesn't destroy computers but anyway with The Sims 3 they remove it.

Squinge, you know that in my case that is not a true statement. It totally neutered Magnafloof and caused me to have to reformat to get rid of all of the damn problems. You were one of the fortunate ones that escaped the problems, you lucky duck. (DUCK, not DORK.)

Wow that is strange I believe you but.... :D

I respectfully disagree with you, Squinge. There have been many reports of computers just croaking with SecuROM, and having to be totally replaced-harddrives, optical scanners, the lot. Not just one, but many-it's the main reason it's so hated in some forums-hint, look at my sig, and you'll find out why I say this.

Sims 3 does not have SecuROM in the game, it is true. But the EADM does.
EA did not lie when they said they removed it from the game-they just didn't remove all of it.

Paden knows of whence she speaks.

I honestly think it is a bit weird that SecuROM mess up some computers but not others.
I've installed sims games that are supposed to secretly install it on two different computers, with entirely different specs and hardware. Never had any problems (that I know I could blame on it, anyway).

Yeah, it is strange how Securom acts isn't it?. EA claims it's for protecting their product, to fight piracy. Yet its a malicious and destructive piece of software that acts like a combination Malware and rootkit. And has the potentiol to ruin personal property.

Not the property of those who do wrong at that, but the property of those who are legit customers just because they COULD be pirates.

I often wonder what its going to take to finally get those morons to wise up before they manage to sink their company under.

And yeah, like I said, a little case of Securom from Crysis on this computer messed it up. Not horrificly, but any amount is too much for me. And this is a legit PC. Hell, I even BOUGHT Crysis.