Expansions broke my game.

[Hyerlobos]

Just bought and installed Supernatural and Showtime. Before that I was running, Ambitions, Generations, Seasons, Late Night and University Life. Upon loading my game, I get a pop up that some items couldn't be loaded and were replaced. I check my downloads and I have 2 files for every item; 1 with the icon of the in-game item, and one with just a little box. I uninstalled them all and redownloaded, but when I load the game, I get the same message. When I relaunch the launcher, it shows that that everything is uninstalled again. This is all stuff from the Sims 3 Store, not custom content. I can also no longer log in to my account from the launcher or in game. Not sure if this has anything to do with it. Running this off of Origin.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Hyerlobos  Try clearing the cache for Internet Explorer.  Even if you never use it, the launcher does for some purposes, including logins.  Be sure to uncheck the box to preserve data for favorite sites.

https://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=15141

That should at least solve the login issues, but may or may not help with the store items.  If it doesn't, please try installing the store content 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 new folder, download one item from the store, install it, and see whether it shows up.  If it does, you can install more content, a few at a time, checking to see whether they work.

If everything installs correctly, you can copy the contents of Saves, Library (saved households and builds), and SavedSims (sims saved in CAS) to the new folder, as well as your Mods folder if you have one.  Most of the rest of the files are expendable, although if you have launcher-installed custom content, transferring that involves a bit more work.  Let me know if you need help with this process.

[Hyerlobos]

@puzzlezaddict If you could please explain the custom content process, I'd appreciate it. I'm too annoyed to bother with this right now, but I'm going to try it later. I already tried clearing Internet Explorer and that didn't help at all. Still won't let me log in.

[Hyerlobos]

@puzzlezaddict Also, even reinstalling the game didn't fix the log in issue.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Hyerlobos  Can you login if you create a clean Sims 3 folder, as described for the store content issue?  Occasionally, one of the files in that folder becomes corrupted.

If that doesn't help either, try changing your password to something with only letters and numbers, no special characters or accents.  Then clear IE's cache again, create another clean Sims 3 folder (to be as thorough as possible), and try to login.

Custom content is installed into .dbc files in DCCache; the .ebc files are store content.  If you've only installed Sims3Pack-based cc items like clothing and furniture, it's enough to transfer the .dbc files to the new folder.  However, if you've installed worlds, sims, or lots, you'll need to copy over additional files.  Installed worlds are in the InstalledWorlds folder and are labeled by world name, so they're easy to manage.  Sims saved in CAS are in SavedSims and listed by name, so they're simple as well.

Installed households and builds are in Library along with anything you've created in-game, but the problem is that those files are labeled with random strings of digits.  There is a way to see what's inside each file with... I think it's S3PE, but I'd have to look up the exact instructions.  Or you could uninstall the corresponding files in the launcher while you're still working with your old Sims 3 folder, then reinstall only those households and lots in the new folder.  This might mean you'd end up with some duplicate items installed, but that's usually not a real problem.

The best way to do this is the way that seems most straightforward to you.

[Hyerlobos]

@puzzlezaddict So I changed my password (and name). That may have helped, but I'm not sure because I also deleted the old Sims 3 folder. Either way, that part is working now. Was able to download and install one of the store items just fine. I went into the game and it was there, so I downloaded and installed the rest of my store items. I copied over only the files from my SavedSims, InstalledWorlds, DCCache, and Saves, along with my Mods folder. However, my SavedWorlds folder has several files for Riverview (the only world I've downloaded) labeled 1-6 plus the one without a number. I'm not sure if I should copy all of them over. Additionally, if it asks me to overwrite files already in the folder, should I? DCCache already had existing files with the same name from a clean install.

My only problem now is that I can log in, but my installed items don't show up in the game at all anymore even after showing up as installed on the launcher before starting the game. Basically, I'm back to square one. I'd finally fixed my Blue Screen of Death issue and was actually able to start enjoying the game. Never would have imagined official DLC would break it, but this is the final straw for me. I think I'll just try getting a refund on the only 2 DLC I bought if I can't get this working by today. Got everything else for free, and even that doesn't seem worth all the trouble now.

[Hyerlobos]

@puzzlezaddict Alright, basically, I did everything over again. Didn't overwrite files, and again, store items won't install. I'm done. Thanks for the help.

[Hyerlobos]

@puzzlezaddictOh, but just as an aside, if it helps you better troubleshoot in the future, I'm pretty sure it's my saves that are the problem. I moved my folders one by one, minus the saves, and everything is working just fine. I haven't tested it, but seeing as it's the only thing I left out, it kinda narrows it down. And of course, it makes sense that the most important files are the ones that are breaking the game. Because why would a game on PC just work? Gotta sift through hundreds of forum posts from 8 years ago in order to find a solution to your problem. PC Master race tho.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Hyerlobos  Just to clarify, you'd only want to copy over the files from DCCache that end in .dbc, not the ones that end in .ebc.  The former are for custom content, the latter for store content, and the point was to reinstall your store stuff, not to duplicate it.  Same with Riverview.world: you'd want to leave behind the old files entirely.  I only mentioned moving over files from DCCache and InstalledWorlds in case it was too much of a hassle to reinstall your custom content in addition to your store stuff.

Your saves should not be causing this problem.  They don't even get read by the game unless you load one of them, as in, starting an entirely new save should be totally independent of any other saves.

One possibility I can think of though is if you have OneDrive set to sync the contents of Documents, that could be borking the entire Sims 3 user folder once that folder hits a certain size.  That size would depend on what else is stored in OneDrive, so I can't tell you where the line would be.  But it's worth either unlinking OneDrive or setting it to not sync Documents at all, just to see whether it helps.

And if you're going to test, you unfortunately need to start over with installing store stuff, because once the files are borked, they may not work again even if you fix the original problem.

[Hyerlobos]

@puzzlezaddict Yeah, dunno what to tell ya. The only thing I didn't copy over is my saves and every time I do, it breaks the game, so I'm forced to assume that's what's doing it.