So I finally got a new computer, after being stuck on a laptop for two years. One of the first things I do as soon as it's all assembled and all the main things are taken care of was to install the Sims 3 onto it. I was excited to play it on a machine that could handle it properly.

I started installing the updates, but had to pause. A day later, I am ready to finish installing the updates. After an hour of downloading, it seemed to have been done, and the launcher said that my game was up to date! I noticed that the little version numbers seemed lower than I remembered, but I loaded the game and started creating a sim.

I immediately noticed that tattoos were missing, which seemed weird. I know they added that a while back. Then when I was finishing my first sim, I noticed I couldn't decide my lifetime wish, which was one feature that I really loved from when I played on my laptop.

So I close out and go back to the launcher, refreshing like mad. Finally it intermittently tells me that there are updates available, and asks if I'd like to download it. I click yes, and then the launcher closes and it all disappears. I reload the launcher and it does the same thing.... again... and again... and again. I can't get it to actually work and download the patch. It all seems to disappear.

Now I have been googling for over 45 minutes, trying to find some answers... and am coming up empty. Is anyone else having this problem? Or know what to do? I'm lost, frustrated, and upset.

Did you look at this? Also, what version are you on (hover over the basegame icon in the launcher)? It should be 1.29.

I'm trying a reinstall now. I hope it works this time... I'll try downloading it all at once. Hopefully it doesn't take more than an hour.

Looks like when I initially try to download the updates, it gives me a pop up about the program being incompatible with the 64-bit version of Windows 7. The updater program, not Sims 3. But it worked fine with my laptop when I set it up on my laptop, which is the same, two years ago.

Hve you tried downloaing the super patch instead? Find it here

http://www.simprograms.com/the-sims...sims-3-patches/

Would I need to download and install all patches, or just the "Update to version 1.29.55 (BIG UPDATE)" one?

Just the 1.29 SuperPatcher - yes the huge file. Have you read through the Patching Wiki pages Mordant17 linked to?

I solved the problem with a bit of trouble-shooting. Apparently, I had to install Origin. Once I had that on my computer, it worked just fine. It only took forever because I had to bring my desktop to a friend's house, where I had stable internet for big files. Once there, Origin downloaded fine and the patch went smoothly afterward.

Thank you for the help. I wish it had been more clear about what the problem was.