Launcher

The Sims Launcher comes as standard with some expansion packs and stuff packs for The Sims 2. It also appears to be included in compilations such as the University Life Collection, Best of Business Collection, and the Fun with Pets Collection. It is also standard with The Sims 3 on PC and Mac.

The Launcher serves to present news related to the game and alerting the player of game updates.

The Sims 2
The Launcher first appeared in Bon Voyage. It is not present in the base game, or in expansion packs up to and including Seasons. The executable for the Launcher may be present if stuff packs released after Bon Voyage are installed. However, unless Mansion & Garden Stuff is installed, that will not be an issue if Seasons is the latest expansion pack installed.

It will be present if any part of The Sims 2 University Life Collection, The Sims 2 Best of Business Collection, or The Sims 2 Fun with Pets Collection has been installed, and if the compilation disc and shortcut are used to start the game,

Avoiding the Launcher in The Sims 2
The Launcher can be avoided by starting the game directly from the executable. The executable will generally be in the same folder as the Launcher, which is named Sims2Launcher.exe. For an illustrated guide on how to do this, see this page at ModTheSims.

The Sims 3
The Sims 3 launcher connects to the EADM (Electronic Arts Download Manager) when new updates are available and enables the player to install and upload .sims3packages. It also displays the players installed expansion packs and their game version.

Criticism
The launcher and the .sims3package format has been criticized by some community creators as it is slow and can potentially mess up packages.

The Sims 3
To fully avoid the launcher the player needs its functionality covered by other means:
 * Start the Sims game directly from the executable.
 * Download and install patch noteses manually. (See The Sims 3 patches)
 * Use a user created tool to install .sims3packages, see below for suggestions.

Similar Sims 3 tools

 * TS3 Install Helper Monkey by Delphy at ModTheSims.
 * More tools