Windows firewall message.

I have followed the directions so far, and after every install, up to and including My First Pet Stuff (Codex v.), I have started the game and checked to see if it is working.  It is.  

After this install (My First Pet Stuff), however, I received this pop-up window.  




Not sure if I need to allow access (I'm guessing it has something to do with Origin), or to cancel.  For now, I guess I'll cancel ... but if anyone knows for sure, let me know please.

Sorry, not sure why the image is so huge.

click allow, after that it should work.

In official CODEX release they recommend to block both exe's in your firewall. It won't make a difference since you can't access gallery anyway. The only change are news at the bottom of the main screen. If you block it, they're gone.

Thanks to both of you.  I knew I should have left it open until I received a reply, but I just canceled out of it.    

Thanks again.

anadiusIn official CODEX release they recommend to block both exe's in your firewall. It won't make a difference since you can't access gallery anyway. The only change are news at the bottom of the main screen. If you block it, they're gone.

I guess I must have missed/just scanned over that part.  It seems to be working great, although yes, I see a news button on the start screen ... that I will not click.

anadius wrote:In official CODEX release they recommend to block both exe's in your firewall (...)

I think in most cases this is one of the things that scene & repacker groups simply copy and paste into all .nfo's inside releases/repacks. "Block your .exe in the firewall" can be helpful for pieces of software (mostly software, not so much actual games in my experience) that auto-update themselves, rendering your DRM-bypass/crack useless.

In most games, it does not seem to make a difference, though I remember in the early versions of DRM-free Sims 4 releases, allowing the .exe through the firewall helped with early versions of the "Origin must be running error". Seems obsolete now.

xerendipity wrote:(...) although yes, I see a news button on the start screen ... that I will not click.

You're probably going to get some error message, or nothing happens at all, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Ummmmm ... I believe my game may have been blocked?   Am I being paranoid?  My shortcut no longer works, nor does the actual ,exe.  Lol.  I have a small portable program called fab which I used to block connections for the app itself (any outgoing traffic), but I did it after the fact. 

So, if this actually happened, how do I fix it, please?  Can I reinstall just the last pack again, or do I need to run an entirely fresh install? 

Thanks!

P.S - I don't see Origin running at all.

xerendipity wrote:Ummmmm ... I believe my game may have been blocked?   Am I being paranoid?  My shortcut no longer works, nor does the actual ,exe.  Lol.  I have a small portable program called fab which I used to block connections for the app itself (any outgoing traffic), but I did it after the fact. 

So, if this actually happened, how do I fix it, please?  Can I reinstall just the last pack again, or do I need to run an entirely fresh install? 

Thanks!

Your game files that bypass the DRM (=crack) were most likely deleted or damaged by anti-virus software. If you have Windows 10, see this:
https://www.games4theworld.club/t32067-two-ways-of-disabling-windows-defender-under-windows-10

If there are any other anti-virus programs besides Windows Defender, you will need to play around with the settings yourself and/or try doing research on how to "add exclusions".

After which you re-copy and re-paste whatever latest update you used before, and the game should work (if everything was done correctly).

xerendipity wrote:P.S - I don't see Origin running at all.

Origin is not supposed to 'run'; the DRM-bypass starts your game directly if you wish.

Edit: if we want to get technical, the bypass kind of emulates the real Origin-client, even if it's not directly "visible" for the average user. And this in turn has the - now visible - effect that the game is started directly, without any need for Origin.

Thanks @The_gh0stm4n, for the reply.  Sorry that I don't see anything other than the Quick Reply option, so I don't know how to respond directly. 

I only had IOBit Malware Fighter on this system since I only use it for games, and it didn't show to have run any scans for the last four days, nor was there anything in the Quarantine Folder.  The game was working fine yesterday, so it must have happened sometime today.  I also use MalwareBytes (MBAM), but only manually and have not done so for awhile (although I DID upgrade it a couple of weeks ago).  Finally, I had/have more folders than I should - haha - on my exceptions list on both, and I thought I had been sure to include the necessary ones when installing, so I'm baffled (and I uninstalled IOBit a little while ago so I did not check that).  Ugh.  Will I need to do a full uninstall and reinstall?  Plus, if I do, I hardly want this to happen again.  I am guessing it might have had something to do with my original question in that I should have blocked instead of canceling?  If so, I'll be more careful, but I'd kind of like to know for sure so it doesn't happen again. 

Run the validator and post the result in new thread, since it has nothing to do with the problem we discussed here.

anadius wrote:Run the validator and post the result in new thread, since it has nothing to do with the problem we discussed here.

Will do, thanks, but I do believe it is somehow connecting to Origin, although you may be right, and some file or other was removed from the original installation packages.  Let me explain.

After I posted, I uninstalled not only IOBit Malware Fighter, as I mentioned, but I uninstalled the game using YourUninstaller, which supposedly removes leftover registry entries after uninstalls.  For good measure, I then uninstalled Mbam (which I planned to reinstall, so no big deal).  THEN, I cleaned the registry by using IOBit Advanced System Care (stand-alone and separate from Malware Fighter), Auslogic Registry Cleaner - which surprised me with how much leftover stuff other 'cleaners' had not picked up, and with CCleaner.  Not content with that, I then followed a couple of guides online and did a manual clean using regedit and did find a leftover file after all that.  Finally, on that pass, I used Eusing Reg cleaner.  .I rebooted, and then for a final good measure ran the cleaner again.  Haha.  You'd think that would have done it, but ...'

Upon re-installation, I disconnected from the internet, and each time (on each pack through 7, I think), each time I went to start the start the game, I received a message about it being created in a newer version or something like that.  The workaround to start the game each time, was to delete the Default.ini file in the Game folder.  

WELL, not sure if it was coincidence or not, but around pack 6 or 7, I connected to the internet ... and then upon my next reattempt at starting the game, nothing happened.  - It would not start nor would it give me a message of any kind.  Or I should say it wants to start, since I see it pop up in Process Hacker and Task Manager, but then stops without any kind of message.

Frustrating.  

I did use fab to two-click block outgoing connections, but did not do the same for incoming ones because I have to do it for each install  think, and I just failed at doing it.    .

Okay, lastly, I uninstalled again, thinking that I'd have time to try and reinstall, but I didn't, so I wasn't even able to create an .md5 file for the Validator.  Will try it all again tonight or tomorrow.  Thanks for the help and for letting me vent.  Lol.

Why didn't you start with the validator?

Anyway, you don't need to create .md5 file. Just select your game folder. It will take a bit longer without .md5 file but it's easier.

xerendipity wrote:Upon re-installation, I disconnected from the internet, and each time (on each pack through 7, I think), each time I went to start the start the game, I received a message about it being created in a newer version or something like that.  The workaround to start the game each time, was to delete the Default.ini file in the Game folder.  

It's all good and fine that you went to the lengths of "uninstalling" the game and even "cleaning the registry", but at this point - like anadius hinted - it may have saved you and us time had you used the validator beforehand. Maybe the error was just within one or two small files, which in turn would have been fixed by re-applying some pack. Even if you (or we) cannot be sure of that, it's best trying to see if there is an easier solution to a problem FIRST, rather than going all-in.

Anyways, you are getting the error about the "created with a newer version" because the system still thinks you are on the latest patch version despite uninstalling. Usually that can be fixed by deleting the GameVersion.txt, located under Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4.

anadius wrote:Why didn't you start with the validator?

Anyway, you don't need to create .md5 file. Just select your game folder. It will take a bit longer without .md5 file but it's easier.

Regretfully, I dd not see your message until after I had done all that.   Ugh, just super impatient.  Like with my original posting, my first thought was to leave that pop-up about the firewall open until I had a clear explanation, but then I thought, Ennghh ... and I canceled out of it.  If it turns out to be due to that, I'll kick myself, but I am thinking you may be right in the end and that it has nothing to do with it because I can't find any firewall signs that it is connecting anywhere it shouldn't be (unless the rules were deleted when I uninstalled and cleaned out the registry).  I'll get back to it tonight.  Now I'm on a mission, dammit! 

So, it is reinstalled, with a hiccup between packs 10-14 where I just decided to plunge ahead and not test after each install.  I was copying the Game folder elsewhere for each install after it said to do so, right up to the end, which I think is wrong ... because on the final one I noticed there were files missing from the final Game folder.  Since it did not want to start for lack of the OrangeEmu one, I found it, copied it into the folder and nothing.  Going for broke and figuring it was going to result in a fail anyway, I copied all of pack 13 over everything again, then all of pack 14 again.   (Don't ask).    It worked.

For a while.  

I broke it again, it seems, but I believe it has to do with a mod or script instead of anything else.  Now, I know it worked, because being wary of how the last series of copying and pasting went, and thinking it was somehow going to affect game-play, I tested it extensively, meaning that I tested it with each of my mod sections (groups of files), which I have named Build, Furniture, Decor, Lighting, etc.  With each group of files, it not only started okay, but ran perfectly.  Upon putting them all together, though ...  I get: "
Origin Seems to Be Running, Orange is Unable to Connect.

Hahah.  

Now that it is installed, I am going to run the validator, too, and hope your patience continues in helping me figure this out.

xerendipity wrote:(...) meaning that I tested it with each of my mod sections (groups of files), which I have named Build, Furniture, Decor, Lighting, etc.  With each group of files, it not only started okay, but ran perfectly.  Upon putting them all together, though ...  I get: "
Origin Seems to Be Running, Orange is Unable to Connect.

Hahah.  

Sorry to hear about these difficulties,

As a rule of thumb though, the more stuff you put in...the more complex a game gets...and the more can go wrong as well. Some of your mods may work if used individually, but maybe they "don't get along" with other (types of) mods. At this point it will boil down to you having to do lots of grunt work, meaning testing combinations of mods, which in turn will be a huge pain. Or, you could try reading up again on the sources where you got the items from; maybe the creator has added notes regarding compatibility with other items.

Yes, thank you.  I finally just gave up.

I found the all-in-one link the other day and I still get error messages when trying to open it that way.  It does say something (on the download page) that 'after' you install it ... but i can't see a way to install from that iso ... just the same files as are normally in the bin of the regular installation and when i try to open the exe as admin, again, the same origin message.

You said yourself that it was a problem with mods. Installing the game from different source won't make a difference, you still use the same mods. BTW after update 1.47 all script mods must be updated, no exceptions. And CC must be fixed with Sims 4 Studio.

xerendipity wrote:I found the all-in-one link the other day and I still get error messages when trying to open it that way.  It does say something (on the download page) that 'after' you install it ... but i can't see a way to install from that iso ... just the same files as are normally in the bin of the regular installation and when i try to open the exe as admin, again, the same origin message.

When you are referring to my all in one, https://www.games4theworld.club/t32895-the-sims-4-all-in-one-including-seasons-version-1-44-77-1020#, I uploaded the all-in and of course also re-downloaded it via the torrent.
Works flawlessly

Although the link still states including Seasons, the download included Get Famous of course