Are you buying a Sims 2 expansion pack? Beware – it may cause your computer to malfunction. Since April 2007 Electronic Arts (otherwise known as EA) has used SecuROM, a highly controversial anti-piracy product, to protect their games from piracy, and many customers are angry. Should you buy Sims 2 expansion packs inflicted with this anti-piracy product, or should you look elsewhere? What can you do to stop SecuROM from infecting your computer? Although EA has kept this problem closeted for some time, customers are being more vocal about it – and this is what you need to know before you buy another expansion pack.
What is SecuROM?
SecuROM is a anti-piracy product, developed by Sony DADC. SecuROM prevents users from making duplicate CDs by installing a shell extension – this extension prevents Windows Explorer from deleting 16-bit executables. Since April 2007 EA has used SecuROM as an updated way to protect their product from being copied. EA currently uses SecuROM ver. 7x. It automatically installs itself between the application (the one you’ve installed) code and the OS, and this causes problems because it interferes with the computer’s system on some computers.
What Sims 2 Expansion Packs Have SecuROM?
The most notable one is Bon Voyage, a Sims 2 Expansion pack where your sims go on vacation. Many users report Bon Voyage as “very buggy”, with some users reporting that their anti-virus software malfunctions after installation. Other users report that their CD burners won’t function after installation and in rare cases, cause their computer to shut down.
Other Sims 2 Expansion Packs installed with SecuROM are The Sims: Pet Stories, The Sims 2 Deluxe, and The Sims 2: H&M; Fashion Stuff. There is a good chance it will be on a new expansion pack, Free Time.
What Problems Does SecuROM cause?
Many users are reporting numerous problems, but the most common ones are buggy gameplay, anti-virus software malfunction, malfunction of CD burners, and expansion packs refusing to launch. In rare instances, computers have shut down allegedly because of SecuROM.
How Can I Remove SecuROM?
EA recommends that you don’t remove SecuROM – they also deny any problems with SecuROM. As late as November 2007, they said they were still working on a SecuROM removal tool for all Sims 2 Expansion Packs. A moderator on Insimenator.net has offered a solution to removing SecuROM, but this does not guarantee all problems will be solved (in some cases, CD Burners continued to malfunction after removal).
What Has EA Done to Address This Problem?
EA hasn’t given a concrete answer about this problem. In a post made on the official EA forums on November 14, 2007, they gave this statement:
“I’m hopeful that once customers possess the safety net of a tool that can remove SecuROM entirely, they will try to install Bon Voyage again so they can enjoy the game. If the PC issues that the customer had attributed to SecuROM return, I’m hopeful these customers will contact our Customer Support group so that we can help you rectify those problems.”
There has been nothing offered to remove SecuROM permanently, so if you want to install Bon Voyage again, SecuROM will be automatically reinstalled. Many users are frustrated because of this. Expansion Packs won’t work if SecuROM is uninstalled also.
For problems concerning Bon Voyage (the “buggy” problems specifically), EA has released an official patch to fix this. These are the fixes, to prevent “buggy” problems with Bon Voyage, as posted on EA’s official site:
– Sims will no longer have the option to call vacation service NPCs after acquiring the business perk Head for Numbers which was causing a crash.
– Sims will no longer have the option to Call Taxi using their cell phones if they have driven to the community lot with an ownable vehicle which was causing a crash.
– Vacation shuttles will no longer return to a vacation lot without the Sim at the end of the vacation if the Sim misses the shuttle (was causing the game to hang).
– Game will no longer create new vacation NPCs each time a lot is visited which was causing many issues due to character file overload.
– Periodic Events Controller will no longer loop twice per hour through each neighbor which was causing extreme lag on certain machines.
– Autonomous water-balloon and snowball fights have been tuned so the interaction will occur less frequently.
Otherwise, no answer is given. They plan to continue use of SecuROM in future games.
Should I buy Sims 2 Expansion Packs or Not?
Depends. Problems with SecuROM have been reported for some users, not all, but SecuROM will install on all computers. If you’re willing to take the risk, back up all of your Sims 2 files on a separate disk, and then install. If you already own a Sims 2 Expansion Pack with SecuROM installed and want to take legal action, read about how you can here. Good luck!
