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https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Turn-off-quot-Usage-Sharing-quot-in-Sims-3/td-p/1168240

 

While this has always bothered me: When you turn off usage sharing in the options, it turns itself back on.

 

I had always suspected EA of data mining through their games, and with needing Origin to run just about everything including digital downloads for a once 'Disk only' game, I had finally found the solution posted above as it began to gnaw at me.

 

Yep, it works just fine: Run the game as Admin, and the box you check to disable usage sharing stays checked. Now for my conspiracy theory madness....

 

I started wondering if it was safe to let an EA product have 'admin rights'. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! Perhaps nothing is happening, especially in my case in 'not using Origin'. But it sits there like a big turd - my distrust for EA. When you're a King, do you even bother trying to hide your bad habits? "Off with their head". "I'll have your head on a spike" Etc.

 

Power does funny things to most people, and corporate power seems no different. The fact that one 'needs' to run the Sims 3 as an admin just to keep that box checked would be a genius way of baiting a player into giving admin rights to one of their programs which through patches, is obviously made to send info back home.

 

Call me crazy, but sometimes being crazy is safer than being a sheep.

 

I actually have a working 'digital' copy of World Adventures. It needs no internet connection and has it's own xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx code to enter during install. This was purchased long before the current Origins ever existed, and shows the mockery of internet use by corporations today.

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My game (disc version) also “forgets” the sharing data option but it’s behind a firewall so it doesn’t really matter. As far as I know the game doesn’t send that much data and  was made way before the datamining craze unless of course you sign to Twitter / Facebook / your EA account directly from the game.

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Which exe are you running? TS3.exe or TS3W.exe


I've been running the "w" exe for many months, since that doesn't start the launcher crap & therefore uses less resources & also doesn't seem to "go online" (although I've not verified by network sniffing or unplugging the cable).

Just wondering if that might also make this "usage sharing" thing stick better for you.  Then again, I also have disabled "big brother micro$oft" aka uac. It's my box. I know what I'm running. I don't need some 20-something asshat in Redmond looking over my shoulder telling me to "be well".

Anyway, where is this "usage sharing" thing?  I'm guessing maybe it's in the "Privacy Settings" on the "Online" tab, but since I'm not logged in, I can't open that.

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4 hours ago, jdw6 said:

"usage sharing" thing?

options.png.9d1064e25d34fa342447f3e7c84b360d.png prop.png.3cb0d72b97264df8d4540c051e497334.png

 

I don't use the launcher. It would seem since I did run it as an admin, then disabled 'usage sharing', it now appears to be unchecked although I just used the shortcut, instead of running the shortcut as admin like before. This is good news.

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5 hours ago, landess said:

it now appears to be unchecked

Progress. :)  Hmmm... I never knew/tried to run the specific EP's exe. Maybe what I've got is a Steam-ism instead of "EA normal". ?‍♂️ 

And, oh! There! I'd apparently forgotten about it. Just checked, it's unchecked for me (but, well, I'm a non-normal use case). I do have "shop mode" enabled, though, but that shouldn't be an issue as I only rarely use it, and then have to log in to do anything.

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10 hours ago, jdw6 said:

specific EP's exe

As EP's are added, the usual way was to use the .exe of the last installed EP. Once my collection was complete. I just BAK'd up everything (again) and did a fresh install, loading the EP's in order of release. Did the mega patch, and placed my original document files back over the 'new' one.

 

Like I mentioned - in a way, I've been running the same game for over 10 years, adding parts, but never rolling back the odometer.

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On 3/30/2020 at 12:13 PM, landess said:

The fact that one 'needs' to run the Sims 3 as an admin 

You only need to run it as an Admin once to check the box and it'll stay that way for as long as you use that game folder. At one time the game had certain challenges you could complete if you where logged into your Sims 3 Store account via the launcher and get Badges and special items that you could download. The usage sharing was used to keep track of that so you could get awarded those Badges and items but that is no longer in use.

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6 hours ago, spaceman1 said:

special items that you could download

About 3 computers ago I did download that free world - Riverview, I believe. But that was the only time I ever used the store.

 

Thanks for the solid info! ?

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16 hours ago, landess said:

About 3 computers ago I did download that free world - Riverview, I believe. But that was the only time I ever used the store.

 

Thanks for the solid info! ?

Your welcome. I wish they still had those challenges going but unfortunately they are no longer running my daughter wanted to try and get those Badges and items and was disappointed when she found out they where discontinued. The usage sharing hasn't ran since 2014.

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12 minutes ago, landess said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_4

 

Coincidence? Kicked to the curb so the new kid gets the attention.....

Normally I would say no but in this case it was really just coincidence. The launcher had problems with the new Java scripts and made logging in with the launcher a crapshoot sometimes you could but most times you couldn't the only way to fix it was to update the launcher which would've required a patch. So EA decided to leave it alone as people didn't what another patch.

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