How can I play The Sims 3 offline?

[theresacrall]

I bought the Sims 3 and a few expansions, and it won't let me play offline. I never had to install the games using the product keys, it just installed itself and I was able to play it around wifi. I don't currently have wifi at my house, and since I paid for it it would be cool if I could play it. Whenever I try to put steam into offline mode and play it, I get an error that the "keys could not be found." Please help?

[cruinne]

That's odd. I almost always play in offline mode.

With Steam in online mode, be sure to start the game all the way up at least once with all the EPs you want installed (though it sounds like you have already done that). It has to be online at least the first time after an EP/SP is installed to get the key served.

[theresacrall]

Thanks for the reply! So I have already done that, now what? The game shows up in my Documents, but not in my Program Files under EA games. When I try to open the game from the Steam Games folder, it says some sort of error that the game can't open and to reinstall the base game.

[cruinne]

It won't be under EA games, it will be under ...\Steam\SteamApps\common\The Sims 3\

Do not open it from some Steam folder - use the Steam program to run it. Right-click it in your library and click "Play game...".