Since o

[angelgirlcaitie]

Since the Origin Update I have been unable to play certain expansion packs on Sims 3.  It says they are downloaded, they are checked off in the launcher.  When I click details of the expansion packs it says I "have the content" but to play it I need to pay for a "starter pack?" for $4.99 a month or $23.99 for the year?  I already bought the expansions a long time ago, is this now the only way to play with these expansions? 

[puzzlezaddict]

@angelgirlcaitie  The prices you quote sound like what you would pay for an Origin Access subscription, as opposed to owning the game outright.  Do you have an Access account?  If so, Origin may be reaching for that information rather than simply confirming your ownership of the content.  But you don't need Access to play TS3, of course, and you shouldn't have to pay for it just to get back into your game.

So then, the question is how to clear up the confusion on Origin's end.  The first steps to take are to clear Origin's cache, and if that doesn't work, uninstall and reinstall 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/

The other question is where you originally bought TS3 and its packs.  For more than a year, EA has been systematically deactivating packs tied to codes that were originally stolen or otherwise fraudulently obtained, even though players usually had no idea there was anything wrong with their codes.  But EA has also been known to block access to packs that were legitimately purchased, either directly through Origin or via an approved third-party seller.  It's possible that your base game was flagged somehow, and now Origin is offering to sell you the rights to use it (again).

The only way to tell if any of your content has been deactivated is to contact EA customer support and have someone on that end check your account.  Origin itself can't display this information, and no one here has access to your account details.  It would be useful to have any proof of purchase or ownership (i.e. receipts; photos of discs, cases, inserts; etc) on hand for the chat.

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

If EA support confirms that your packs are owned, but you still can't get Origin to let you play, please post back describing the steps you've taken and exactly what you're seeing.  (Screenshots of error messages are always welcome; you can attach them here to a response using the "browse" button.)  There have been a few hiccups involving Origin and the starter pack lately, and I'd like to let EA staff know about any issues that don't get resolved through the usual troubleshooting steps.

[angelgirlcaitie]

Thank you for your quick response. 

I should have also mentioned I'm windows 10 on PC

I bought the games electronically from EA games as they came out.  

I did the cache clearing and uninstalled/reinstalled origin, still when I click the orange download button the expansion won't download yet they say they are active and downloaded in the launcher.  

Some of the expansions are downloaded and working just not all.  I can only conclude that as you said I need to contact origin support as they may need confirmation I own the expansions.  Thank you for your help.