Showtime - Installed But Not Installed [ Edited ]

[Pamlady]

So this is part of a larger issue including Island Paradise, but for Showtime specifically my issue is that Origin shows I purchased it and that it's installed, but my Sims 3 launcher does not and none of its content is in my game. It is most definitely not installed. Considering it was a digital download, I can't exactly fix that by reinstalling it from the disc. I even checked my EA account and it isn't listed in my purchases there, either.

I'm hoping I won't have to uninstall/reinstall the entire game on Origin to fix this. What can I do?

For Island Paradise, it doesn't even show that it has been purchased at all (Showtime and Island Paradise were bought and installed at the same time, June 01 of 2016, so this is really bizarre).

To add to the mystery, both of my orders just say "placeholder" in my purchase history. Other than the order numbers themselves, the info on there is completely unhelpful.

I also had an issue with Dragon Valley, for which I have a physical copy, but I assume that was just that I never installed it again after swapping computers back in 2015. It showed up as redeemed in my order history but Origin said I had to buy it, which is really weird. After installing it, though, that got changed to "installed".

Update: I logged out and back in.

It's still saying Showtime is installed (which it is not), but now it's also saying Dragon Valley is not installed and, in fact, not purchased.

I'm very confused.

UPDATE: The problem turned out to be that I purchased the CD keys from a marketplace and they turned out to be fake, so the two expansions were removed from my account. I had to buy them again -- this time with insurance.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@Pamlady  The first thing to do is to clear Origin's cache; if that doesn't work, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling Origin itself, which wouldn't affect your installed games.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/

Hopefully, one of these steps will fix the issue.  But if you bought the missing packs through an unauthorized third-party seller, it's possible that they were removed from your account.  For a little over a year, EA has been systematically deactivating packs linked to codes that were originally stolen or otherwise fraudulently obtained, even though the players usually had no idea that there was anything wrong with their purchases.

The only way to find out if this is the case is to contact EA customer support to have someone on that end look at your account.  If the packs were removed in error—this has happened even to people who bought their packs through Origin itself—it would be helpful to have any proof of purchase or ownership (receipts; photos of discs, cases, inserts; etc.) on hand for the chat.

https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/

As long as Dragon Valley is appearing in your purchase history in the Sims 3 store, you're fine there.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@Pamlady  The first thing to do is to clear Origin's cache; if that doesn't work, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling Origin itself, which wouldn't affect your installed games.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/

Hopefully, one of these steps will fix the issue.  But if you bought the missing packs through an unauthorized third-party seller, it's possible that they were removed from your account.  For a little over a year, EA has been systematically deactivating packs linked to codes that were originally stolen or otherwise fraudulently obtained, even though the players usually had no idea that there was anything wrong with their purchases.

The only way to find out if this is the case is to contact EA customer support to have someone on that end look at your account.  If the packs were removed in error—this has happened even to people who bought their packs through Origin itself—it would be helpful to have any proof of purchase or ownership (receipts; photos of discs, cases, inserts; etc.) on hand for the chat.

https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/

As long as Dragon Valley is appearing in your purchase history in the Sims 3 store, you're fine there.

[Pamlady]

Yeah, neither of those options helped. It's still saying I don't have Island Paradise and that Showtime is installed despite paying for both and having neither installed.

I got the expansions from g2a, which I looked up while I was doing all this. It sucks, but it's definitely looking like the keys I bought from there were faked...which sucks cause they were both something like $15.

Barely less than the $20 Origin is still charging for this dinosaur of a game's expansions.

Looks like I'm just SoL right now. Sigh. Thanks anyway.