The Sims 3 Pets & Co. - Bonus content problems

[DannyDeLuca11]

Hello. I'm writing here because I contacted the assistance and they suggested me to write here.

I'm having some problems in The Sims 3, let me explain it: I have Pets & Co. Limited Edition and I downloaded the Graham's Pet Shop. Some days ago I was building another lot (a shopping mall, precisely) and I did a pet shop by adding the cash register for the pet shop. After several days the cash register disappears and is replaced with a microwave oven but not only in my lot: also in the Graham's pet shop. Also I can't find the cash register anymore in the build mode<comunitary section. I tried to uninstall and install it again but it won't work: I noticed on the panel that after deleting the lot and trying to install it again it says that it's already installed but it's impossible. So I think it may be a corruption problem; I tried repairing the game with Origin but nothing, so the problem may be only the bonus content. What should I do?

[puzzlezaddict]

@DannyDeLuca11  Just checking:  Are you enabling the buydebug cheat when you're looking for the register?  If it isn't there, this does sound like corruption, but it could be within the .ebc bundle (in DCCache) that contains the pet shop, or in your ccmerged.package file (in DCBackup), which is necessary for premium content to work.

The easier route to take is to pull your entire TS 3 game folder (not just pieces, the whole thing) out of Documents and onto your desktop.  When you launch the game again, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Install only the pet shop into this folder, delete the five cache files in Documents, and then launch the game.  Start a new save, and place the pet shop somewhere in town.  Does the register appear now?  Can you see it in Build mode if you enable buydebug?  If not, quit the game, delete everything in DCCache and DCBackup, as well as your cache files (again) and the pet shop file in Downloads, and try downloading and installing it again.

(For reference, the cache files are CASPartCache, compositorCache, scriptCache, simCompositorCache, and socialCache.  They should be deleted regularly even in the absence of any issues, and every time you quit while you're troubleshooting.)

If the register shows up in the new game folder, download and install the rest of your premium store content; you can skip the regular items.  This will rebuild your ccmerged.package.  It's best to download and install no more than half a dozen items at a time, as the launcher can't handle a lot of data at once.  When you've installed all your premium items, load a new save and make sure the register still appears in-game.

Now you can drag your new game folder out of Documents and put your old one back.  Delete the ccmerged.package from your original game folder and copy over the new one.  (It's best to copy, rather than move, so you have an intact backup in case this doesn't work.)  Load one of your saves and look for the register.  If it shows, you're good.  (This is assuming the pet shop really is still installed; if it isn't, go ahead and reinstall it before you copy over the new ccmerged.package.)

If the register doesn't show up in your original game folder after you've moved over the new ccmerged, try again to uninstall the pet shop, then remove this TS3 folder from Documents again.  Launch the game again to create another clean folder, then install only the pet shop again.  You'll have one .ebc file in DCCache, which will contain only the pet shop items, and one Library file corresponding to the venue itself.  Rename the .ebc file so that its number is one higher than the highest one in your original game folder.  (So if that folder has dcdb0.ebc through dcdb5.dbc, name the one you just created dcdb6.ebc.)  Move the .ebc file and the Library entry into your original game folder, ditch the newest clean folder and put the old one back, and load the game.

If the register still isn't there, it's best to just rebuild all of your store content from scratch.  Same idea as before—clean folder, download a few items at a time (worlds should be downloaded and installed separately, not in a batch with anything else).  But when you're done, it's probably better to move the rest of your content into the new game folder, rather than move the new files into the old folder.

[DannyDeLuca11]

No, it doesn't show in buydebug.

But my TS3 Document folder isn't actually in the Operative System HDD. It's in my second HDD and I did a Junction. Should I do the same?

[puzzlezaddict]

@DannyDeLuca11  However you set up your game folder, you'll want to spawn a new one and go through the process as described.  The concept is the same—there's a corrupt file somewhere in the game folder, and you try to replace it with the various interventions described.  The only thing I'm not totally sure about is where the new folder will spawn.  If it somehow ends up on your C drive, it would be fine to leave it there while you troubleshoot and redo the junction later, provided you have enough space on C to accommodate the folder for the moment.  Windows 10 will want at least 35-40 GB free storage at all times.

[DannyDeLuca11]

In the end, I resolved in another way. There was a file in DCcache that was corrupted so I deleted it.