Error Unable to connect to EA download manager from Sims Launcher

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Boy, I’ve just wasted some time trying to install updates for EA Download Manager, Sims 3 base game, and Sims 3 World Adventures! Not too long ago, perhaps after the last Sims update, the EA Download manager would start opening every time I open the Sims 3 Launcher. That is really annoying. I read that the EA Download Manager is required to be installed in order to receive updates, but does it have to open up a window each time? When I play the Sims 3, I don’t want any other windows or programs open in the background to affect performance!

Errors During Updates

I started getting an error message: Error Unable to connect to EA download manager . Then there was an update for the manager, which I thought would fix the errors. Nope. Then there was an update available for the Sims 3, seen in the Updates tab of the Sims 3 Launcher. So I started that one. At one point the installer closed, so I opened the Launcher up again. This time it said the Sims 3 Base game was not compatible with the expansion pack version and needed to update. So I started to worry that the wrong update was applied, or didn’t finish completely and I may have to re-install the whole game!

Re-installing the EA Download Manager

I really wanted to make sure I had the latest, non-corrupt version of the Download Manager, so I uninstalled my current version (both a EA Download Manager and EA Download Manager UI, how annoying). I did a search and found a link to download it here. Just click on the EA Download Manager button down at the middle of the page. This is a 20 MB file, which is different from the version in the EADM folder in the Sims installation directory. So that installed fine.

Actual Updates to the Sims 3

So, once the EA Download Manager is installed and running, I ran the Sims 3 updates again. This time it ran an update for the Sims 3 base game. You would think the update to the base game would happen first, so you wouldn’t get that ‘Sims 3 Base game incompatible’ message. But I think everything installed ok.

  • The Sims 3 World Adventures is now updated to version 2.4.7
  • The Sims 3 base game is now updated to version 1.9.22

Processes Running During Sims 3 Launcher

Now I’ve closed both programs, but I still see the EADM process in the Windows Task manager. There’s also an EA Core Server Application running. I ended the download manager task and opened Sims 3 Launcher with no errors. So I wonder if it will work now without opening a new window for the EADM. Perhaps the EA Core Server is handling part of it now?