Unfortunately, thanks to EA Desktop, things have turned upside down for Sims 3 Create a World builders. On top of the client being buggy for TS3 players in general (missing store content, crashing, etc.), there’s now this whole other issue–you can use CAW; however, EIG (aka Edit in Game) won’t run.
Because of this problem, world builders decided to stick with Origin and use it in offline mode. However, it seems that as of February 2023, more and more of us started getting forced into switching over to EA App when using Origin, regardless. As you can expect, many CAW users flew into panic mode when this happened. However, there’s a bright side to all this: there are several workarounds that the simming community has come up with to allow worldbuilders to keep using EIG.
Workaround #1: Download Older Version of Origin, then Edit Text File
If you try to redownload and install the latest version of Origin, you will get the forced upgrade, so an option is to download an older copy, which can be found here: origin.en.uptodown.com/windows/versions.
Once installed, go into offline mode and uncheck automatic updates. However, you’re not done yet. Reinstalling an older copy of Origin only buys you some time, as sooner or later, you will get the forced update anyway. So, to stop that from happening, you will have to edit a text file.
- Go to the following file on your computer: C:\ProgramData\Origin\local.xml
- Using Notepad, add this: <Setting key=”MigrationDisabled” type=”1″ value=”true” />
- Save the local.xml file.
This will prevent the “upgrade to EA Desktop” window that pops up when you first launch Origin.
As of March 2023, this workaround is working. However, keep in mind that it might only work for so long, which is why is why you should consider the following alternatives.
Workaround #2: If You’re Partial or Full Digital, Go All Disc
This was suggested at Mod The Sims (thanks, daisylee!). Apparently, the forced EA Desktop upgrade doesn’t affect disc installations patched to version 1.67, so if you have digital downloads, you can buy (or even borrow) used hard copy versions of your game. Here’s how:
- Reinstall the base game.
- Download the super patch and patch to version 1.67. [Link to PC version | Link to Mac version]
- Reinstall the rest of your game via disc.
Remember that if you’ve been using CAW for version 1.69 this entire time, you will have to use the other version for 1.67 instead. Otherwise, you’ll get an error message when trying to run it.
Warning: Do not install EADM or Origin at any time! This will put you back to square one.
Workaround #3: Going to Steam (Not the Best Solution)
Just to cover all the bases, another workaround is to switch over to Steam. However, there are a few caveats.
- You’d have to buy the game, EPs and SPs all over again. (There is no way, at the time of this writing, to transfer keys from Origin to Steam.)
- On top of everything else, you’ll have to edit your computer’s registry to get Create a World to work.
Of course, if you already have the Steam version of TS3, you can just go back to that. I’m just posting this workaround in case the others don’t or can’t work for you.
