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Original Poster
#1 Old 10th Jan 2015 at 7:36 PM
Default Origin In-Game
If you don't know what Origin In-Game is, it's like a dashboard for you while your in game, 90% better for people who are constantly in full-screen rather than windowed mode. Anyways, it's a really nice tool if you use Origin a lot. It shows you friends list, battery power (if on laptop), web browser, friend chat rooms, stuff like that. It's amazing for me because when I'm in fullscreen in TS2 and I need to search something up on The Sims Wiki, I can.

Do you use it too? Do you have problems with it? Maybe even just stay completely and utterly away from it? What do you have to say about this tool?

I have to say it can be super buggy because a) it doesn't work in TS3 and b) it also doesn't load MTS right. The site is all glitchy like the page doesn't load right and colums, links, etc. are crashing into each other.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 10th Jan 2015 at 7:37 PM
After getting UC i never start up Origin again and dont use it.

All my Beginning Hoods here at MTS. http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=7749491
All my Beginning Hoods as Shopping Districts plus Old Town. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=523417
MooVille, a tribute to Mootilda and her fabulous lots http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=534158
Field Researcher
#3 Old 10th Jan 2015 at 8:31 PM
I haven't used it that way since I don't have the UC but I use Origin for other games. I'll have to see how it works - it sounds good.
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Original Poster
#4 Old 10th Jan 2015 at 9:11 PM
It is, but don't ever use it for going on the MTS site. Unbelievable frustration. That's the only site so far that I have found that does not show up well with OiG.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 11th Jan 2015 at 1:36 AM
I don't have spare bandwidth for programs like Origin. Also, I found out the hard way that it thinks any hacks that are installed in program files need to be 'repaired'. (Rugs off grid, World Lit By Fire, etc.) Then I have to reinstall my hacks.

Pics from my game: Sunbee's Simblr Sunbee's Livejournal
"English is a marvelous edged weapon if you know how to wield it." C.J. Cherryh
Undead Molten Llama
#6 Old 11th Jan 2015 at 2:23 AM
I've never used this, probably because the only time Origin is running on my computer is when I decide to poke at TS3, which doesn't happen often. But I'll venture a guess and say that it uses its own browser that MTS isn't configured for, which is probably why the formatting looks weird in it. (Although MTS looks great on my Kindle Fire tablet, so thumbs up on that, oh administrative people. )

In any case, I play in windowed mode so that I have the game, my tracking spreadsheet(s), and Chrome open all on one screen. Oh, how I *heart* my big monitor.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Scholar
#7 Old 11th Jan 2015 at 7:56 PM
I don't use it
Mad Poster
#8 Old 11th Jan 2015 at 8:51 PM
Never used it. Only used Origin for UC and then never opened it again, though what you're saying sounds a lot like what you can do on Steam, so I guess it could be useful for some people. I don't really need to look at webpages much when I'm playing though, unless I'm building a house from online floor plans... but in that case I usually just take a picture so I don't have to keep switching tabs.

~Your friendly neighborhood ginge
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Original Poster
#9 Old 11th Jan 2015 at 10:00 PM
@Bigsimsfan12 - Yes, it is a lot like Steam (my brother showed me) but I don't use Steam. No games there interest me.
@iCad.- Sims 3 not made for your computer? I know the feeling. My PC can support Sims 2 quite well, but apparently it doesn't 'live up to TS3 standards'. Whatever. Sims 2 is better anyways.
I am also starting up a spreadsheet simply because I am making a 'hood (so I might start playing in windowed mode). This is going to get complicated, though because I am not just tracking households- I am tracking EVERY SIM and: their career, relationship status (single, married, engaged, or dating), what house/apartment they live in, who their parents are, ex-partners, their gender, their crushes, what week and day they were born and died, if they are alive or dead currently, etc., etc. etc. I am pretty much tracking everything about them. Have any tips? :D
Undead Molten Llama
#10 Old 12th Jan 2015 at 11:18 PM
@Alpal425
Oh, my computer will run TS3 just fine, although I tend to get a lot of save errors, which tend to make me ragequit and not want to play it again for a long time. It's just that I'm not excessively fond of the game; its playstyle just isn't really compatible with how I like to play. Too...confining. I can do whatever the hell I want in TS2. Not so much with TS3. Really, what I want to do in TS3 is to try out building. Still haven't gotten around to that, though.

As for tips....Well, there's a version of the tracking spreadsheet I use here: http://redmond-flats.weebly.com/tra...readsheets.html It's geared for the "Build a City" challenge, but it's easily adaptable if you're just playing. It's not the same as the current version I use, because I've since updated with formulas to calculate BACC-specific things....which you wouldn't be interested in, anyway, unless you were going to play your neighborhood as a BACC. Anyway, it has a tab which you can use to track each Sim, just a simple array of columns that you can change to suit your own needs. It doesn't really do family history, though. A lot of people use genealogy software to do that. I have, in the past, with good intentions and all, but I generally ended up not keeping up with it. Keeping the spreadsheet updated as I play is enough of a challenge for me.

Also, there's this program, which might be of interest to you: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=464379 It's a database program designed for tracking Sims. I can't use it because I don't play on a Windows 7+ machine, but I know a lot people do use it and like it. It will track everything about your Sims....so long as you keep up with the data entry, of course. A database is only as good as the data entered into it.

But yeah, if you do any kind of outside-of-the-game tracking, I personally think it's easier to play in windowed mode. You can always Alt+Tab out to the desktop if you play full-screen, bur for a lot of people there's a lag when you do that. To me, it's just easier to keep everything open side-by-side or at least to just be able to min/maximize the spreadsheet when needed to make an entry.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 12th Jan 2015 at 11:51 PM
Ugg Origin? Why would I want them? They are a necessary evil for games like Dragon Age although I now have Sim City off line. I'd love to say delete and never have need of them again, rotten spying parasites.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#12 Old 13th Jan 2015 at 1:09 AM
I only ever use Origin when I have to. My computer doesn't like too many things running at once.
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#13 Old 13th Jan 2015 at 2:56 AM
Okay, who is the person agreeing with me and disagreeing with the other people who hate Origin? Come on, step up! I feel so lonely and awkward being the only other one here who actually LIKES Origin.
Undead Molten Llama
#14 Old 13th Jan 2015 at 3:26 AM
Many people don't like Origin because it transmits data about your playing to EA, hence why people will call it spyware which, technically, it is because of its data transmission properties. Many people feel this violates their privacy. Many people also don't like it because of its DRM properties. (i.e., you can't activate/play an EA game without having and running it on your computer.) Me, I don't care too much about the former, but I don't much like the latter.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Field Researcher
#15 Old 13th Jan 2015 at 3:27 AM Last edited by eliset : 13th Jan 2015 at 5:02 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by Alpal425
Okay, who is the person agreeing with me and disagreeing with the other people who hate Origin? Come on, step up! I feel so lonely and awkward being the only other one here who actually LIKES Origin.
I don't do 'disagrees' and 'agrees' but I use Origin and don't dislike it or have any problem with it. From what I'm reading here, some people can't use it the same way because of hardware/bandwidth problems. I'm not bothered about privacy or the data Origin collects, but I understand other people are concerned about it. Bandwidth can sometimes be a problem for me, too, but most of the time I'm ok.
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#16 Old 13th Jan 2015 at 8:09 PM
This is why I put tape over my camera and set my default microphone (unless something comes up like a video chat) to my speaker/headphone. So when a goverment person, program or a hacker listens in on me, all they are gonna hear is "ARE WE HUMAN OR ARE WE DENSERRRRR?".
Mad Poster
#17 Old 13th Jan 2015 at 9:05 PM
Webcams can't record without you noticing. That's the entire reason they have a light on them. Putting tape over it is just likely to make the lens sticky.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Mad Poster
#18 Old 14th Jan 2015 at 1:02 AM
Personally I don't really care if EA wants my playing data. Now if they actually used it to see what their customers like and make better games then I'd be ecstatic.
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