EA have a lovely habit of removing the OS X patches once the next one is available, leaving OS X users with no way to roll back to an earlier version when they find out that the current one doesn't work as expected. So here's how to find and back up a patch once you've upgraded your game via the Launcher:

The EA Launcher downloads the archived patch to

/private/tmp/tgUpdate_XXXXXXXX/ where XXXXXXXX are 8 numbers/characters.

In here you'll find 4 files, along the lines of:

app.txt
MD5.txt
To-3332-1.8.25.003002-From-3043-1.7.11.002002.tgz.md5
To-3332-1.8.25.003002-From-3043-1.7.11.002002.tgz

The file that ends in .tgz (gzip'ed tar archive) contains the actual patch. The exact filename depends on your game version and region – this example is what I have atm (after upgrading from 1.7.11 to 1.8.25, worldwide).

Move this file somewhere safe (desktop or wherever – if you leave it in /tmp, the system will clean it up at some point since that's only a temporary location (hence the name)), and when you need it again, uncompress it (right click > Open with > Archive Utility) and doubleclick the extracted app to run it.


As a side effect, now that you know the filename, you can also construct the direct download URL (as long as it's still valid) – so far it's always been

http: //llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sims/u/f/sims3/mac/To-3332-1.8.25.003002-From-3043-1.7.11.002002.tgz (or whatever your version is)

Might be useful for people with sucky internet connections or those who prefer to bypass the launcher.

I had a request for the links for the latest patch, this was the best I could do (these are for clean installs for each component). If people could add the links for other versions, I think that would be great, considering apparently the info isn't readily available elsewhere.

From 1.0.631.00107 to 1.12.70.006017
http://llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sim...0.631.00107.tgz

From 2.0.86.002017 to 2.7.7.00601
http://llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sim...0.86.002017.tgz

From 3.0.38.004017 to 3.3.11.006017
http://llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sim...0.38.004017.tgz

Can you clarify what the rest of the path is to find the patch files? What's before private/tmp?

I have tried searching my mac for the folder names, file names, nothing comes up. I've tried searching for other instructions online but no luck. I know I must be missing something painfully obvious, but any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Nothing is before /private .. it's on your HD, top level.

It might be that you need to unhide hidden directories/files, maybe? (Haven't tested that, since I always leave them visible). See this post for how to do so: http://www.modthesims.info/showpost...90&postcount=42

Thanks! I was able to get to the private/tmp folders, however I don't seem to have any of those files listed or a tgUpdate folder. I know I'm currently on patch 1.12 (I'm looking at the launcher right now). Is it possible the files to back up are no longer the ones listed?

1.12 is not the current patch. 1.14 is almost two weeks old, which means the last time you patched must be at least two weeks ago. The files in /tmp have been cleaned up in the meantime I would think … like it says in post #1, they're temporary.

I haven't updated to 1.14 yet because I wanted to make sure I backed up 1.12 first, just hadn't had a chance before today.



Oh I get what you're saying. Since I would have updated to 1.12 ages ago, those files are gone. Darn.

PB Do you have the links, or at least the full numbers for the latest patch for the US version? (01)
I've had a few people having trouble with the download, that need to download it manually, but I have a different region.

--

BTW, there is another method of getting your patch link, even if your tmp files have been erased...
All the info you need for your current version is in your info.plist, inside the package contents of your app.
For example, when you newly install the base game (before you patch), you open up the info.plist, and the numbers you need are the Cider build number, the client build number, and the apURL.
So, that would be for my base game
2432, 1.0.631.00107, and the apURL is http: //llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sims/u/f/sims3/mac/

then after patching to 1.14, the cider build is 4169 and the client build is 1.14.11.007017

so the patch link is
http://llnet.thesims.cdn.ea.com/sim...0.631.00107.tgz

You just have to keep a track of your version numbers.

(In Shanna's case, she could get the numbers for the 1.12 patch from her current info.plist, then uninstall and reinstall, and get the numbers for the unpatched game from there, then manually download the base game to 1.12 patch (if it will work), back it up, and then patch normally from 1.12 to 1.14)

Like it says in the first post: EA always only keep the last patch available for OS X. Version 1.12 isn't online anymore .. if it were, there would be no point in making a backup at all.

I suppose.

Do you know if the cider build numbers are the same between regions?

You can now get manual patch links from this wiki page: Game_Help:TS3_Patching:Patch_Download/CurrentOSX^wiki
And to verify what needs patching to what version, see Game Help:Patch_Table^wiki

I am currently at version 1.25.3.012001. I have 6 EPs/SPs installed. I recently uninstalled and reinstalled so that I could update to a specific patch, and not the three more recent patches that have been released since then. The patch in question is "Game Update for 1.19/2.14/3.10/4.7/5.5/6.2/7.0." I have since found and downloaded TS3_1.19.44.01001_Update.exe. But now I'm stuck. I don't know how to manually install it from there. Until this last week I had no problems installing the updates directly from the launcher. But the patches released since February are incompatible with my mods. So i uninstalled and reinstalled like I said in order to revert to that patch. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Are you on a Mac? Well, since you posted in the OSX forum. Then, you cannot use an .exe file, you need to locate and download a .tgz file.

If you had not backed up this .tgz file from before, it is harder to locate (and more dangerous to use) as EA does not store this anymore on their servers, as this is the whole premise of this thread. If you managed to locate one, it may be modified by unscrupulous folks, so be warned...

Thanks! I used to hate update patches because of problems with the game working properly. Those are lifesaving hacks!

Please check dates when posting in forums. The last response of this thread was eight years ago.

My file was gone too