sims store content not showing up after install

[puzzlezaddict]

@sims4kenandpaige  Please try installing your store stuff into a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, open the launcher to spawn a clean folder, download one small store item, install it, and see whether it works.  If it does, quit the game, restart your computer, and test again.

If the item still loads, you can start installing the rest of your content in batches of no more than a few items or sets at a time—the launcher doesn't process large amounts of data very well.  Worlds should be handled separately, not in a batch with anything else.  Keep testing every so often so you catch a problem as soon as it happens.

If and when the store content stops working in the new folder, please let me know how much content, roughly, you were able to install before the problem showed up again.  Please also let me know what kind of install this is: Origin, the EA App, disc, or Steam.

If all your store stuff installs correctly, I suggest making a backup of this new Sims 3 folder so you can restore it later should this problem recur.  Once you've done that, you can move your saves and anything else you'd like to keep from the old Sims 3 folder to the new one and continue from where you left off.

[sims4kenandpaige]

@puzzlezaddict I’ve tried everything you just said and it’s still not working, also I’m using the EA app

[puzzlezaddict]

@sims4kenandpaige  Okay, again in a(nother) clean user folder, please try installing your store stuff from the in-game Downloads Dashboard.  You can access it by loading the game to the Main Menu, clicking the three dots in the lower-left corner, and choosing the Downloads Dashboard.

[sims4kenandpaige]

@puzzlezaddict How do I spawn a clean folder without losing anything in my downloads folder or my saved? That’s what happened last time when I tried this

[puzzlezaddict]

@sims4kenandpaige  If you move the existing Sims 3 folder, you're not deleting anything, you're simply placing it where the game can't find it.  Then you can put the files back later, once you've sorted out the store issue.

Still, to be extra careful, you can make a backup copy of that folder first.  Normally this wouldn't be necessary, but if OneDrive is syncing your documents, strange things can happen.

[sims4kenandpaige]

@puzzlezaddict Okay I will try this and just to be clear after installing them item rom the dashboard, I will exit the game if it has worked and move my folders back into place?

[puzzlezaddict]

@sims4kenandpaige  To be perfectly clear, you are NOT putting back the old Sims 3 folder at all.  You're keeping the new one.  What you can move over from the old Sims 3 folder is the Saves folder, plus you can move whatever other user-made (not Store) content you want to keep.  Here's a description of everything in this folder:

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html

In general, best practice is to use the new files and folders whenever possible and only move over what doesn't get recreated, for example your saves.  And please do not move over the entire Library folder: installed store venues go here too, so deleting the new Library folder would remove those.

[sims4kenandpaige]

@puzzlezaddict Doesn’t this mean I would have to reinstall sims3packs to my launcher since it will wipe everything? I really want to avoid that😂

[puzzlezaddict]

@sims4kenandpaige  You would need to redownload all your store content, that's the point.  After all, it's not working now, and it may continue to not work as long as you reuse the same downloads.

However, you can transfer your custom content to the new Sims 3 folder, if you have any you want to keep.  The installed cc is bundled into files that end in .dbc in DCCache, so you can move those over.  (The bundles that end in .ebc are store stuff, so don't transfer that.)  Any sims you've installed will be in SavedSims, any households and builds will be in Library, and worlds will be in InstalledWorlds, so here again, you can move the individual files to the new folder.

For worlds, be sure not to transfer any store worlds; use the newly installed versions.  If you have custom lots but also store venues, it's a little trickier, but what you can do is compare the file names and decline to transfer anything that's duplicated in the new folder.

[Dawnryze]

I'm wondering if this is an EA App issue. I had no issue when I used Origin but when I reset my computer and had to reinstall Origin I installed the EA App figuring it'd be better, but my store content isn't appearing no matter what I try. It says it's installed, and other installed content such as exchange and mods are showing, but none of the store content. I want my baby walker and swing back so bad, amongst all my other store content.