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How to play Sims 3 without a disc

Want or need to play The Sims 3 without your discs? Here’s how to do it legally, without needing to modify your game in any way.

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Switching discs each time you want to play a different game can be a real hassle, fortunately there are plenty of alternatives to play your Sims 3 game legally without a disc. There are two scenarios covered by this article. The first is for houses with multiple computers and Sims players, and will allow you to share your copy of the game. The second is for people who simply don’t want to use a disc to play The Sims 3, at all, ever.

1) I want to play The Sims 3 on more than one computer in my household at the same time

The Sims 3 disc is needed for only one moment to verify that your copy of the game is legitimate. This occurs at the main menu, before the game loads one of your neighborhoods (saved games).

As soon as your game is loaded, you can remove the disc from the dvd-drive and put it in the next computer and have the game load on there. You can then continue to play without the disc, while somebody else in your household plays on another computer.

2) I do not want to use a disc to play The Sims 3, ever (PC only)

Especially if you travel a lot and like to play Sims 3 on your laptop, bringing the discs with you all over the world can be a worry – what if you lose or break them?

EA has recently started a new platform for digital downloads of their games, for PC, it is called Origin. If you currently have The Sims 3 installed, back up your “The Sims 3” folder in My Documents\Electronic Arts, then download and install Origin. When origin opens for the first time it’ll ask you to log in to your EA account (the email/password combination you use on www.thesims3.com for instance).

After you open Origin some of your Sims 3 expansion packs might be missing in “My Games”, but don’t panic! You simply have to (re)activate your games on: https://activate.ea.com/applyentitlement.do – just enter the serial code for one of your missing games, and your email address and password that you use to log in to Origin. Repeat this for any other games that are missing from your “My Games” list.

When that is done, log out and back in on Origin and you will see all your games. Download all the games and install them and your games are installed – and you’ll never need a disc again! Plus, you can buy future games directly on Origin.