DLCs showing installed but not functioning

[Kateri690]

I've owned Sims 3 + all of the expansions/DLCs for some time now (got a great deal on a Steam summer sale) and for the most part have never encountered any major issues. However fairly recently, I'm experiencing a problem where my expansions and DLCs are showing as installed, but the content (extra towns, ect) is not functioning.

I've tried completely unistalling/reinstalling probably 4 or 5 times now. In desperation, I even tried completely wiping the Steam version from my machine and using my keys on Origin to install it from their site. In both cases the outcome is the same. The Steam client & Sims launcher both show the expansions/DLCs installed but are not accessible in the game, and the Origin client shows them as installed, but when I open the Sims launcher none of the bubbles in the bottom corner of the screen to show you what DLCs you have installed are appearing, and nothing works either.

For a number of reasons I really dislike Sims 4, and Sims 3 remains my favourite go-to game when I don't feel like playing other multiplayer games, so any advice or help in this area would be very greatly appreciated.

[wim1234]

do it one at a time...so firts basic game, does it run ok.
then say one addon that adds a new place, does that work.
maybe its just one if the dlc's /expansions that give a problem
and yes, thats a heck of a work.....
whic is why its best ot backup the whole thing if it runs well, external hd is cheap enough for that.
eh did you cleanout the registry too?
its a weird problem, hope you can solve it.

[cruinne]

So... to try to help, can you tell us some of the EPs, and the content you're looking for that's not there?

Do you have any mods installed? If so, which?

[Kateri690]

I don't use mods, I own all of the expansions & stuff packs released for Sims 3. I have a few DLC items I've paid for via SimPoints (the cow pen, greenhouse, Barnacle Bay hardcopy)

I have heard before that installing only the base game first and then the other games 1 at a time can help, so it's worth a shot.

Thanks for the ideas, I'll try tinkering with it later tonight

[cruinne]

I hope it works! If it doesn't let us know and we'll try to help. And, because i'm confused, when you say "DLC" here, you're talking about custom content from the store, not Expansions and Stuff Packs?

[Kateri690]

yes, by DLC I mean extra items that aren't a part of either an expansion or stuff pack. Some of it's pretty useful stuff - especially the stone's throw greenhouse set, since it makes farming ingredients for nectar and/or alchemy much more effective.

Failing that, I suppose I could just have my Sims stick with the Science skill and improve a crop to perfect and then simply replicate them - but that would be terribly unefficient as you can only do 1 at a time, not to mention that it undermines the usefulness of having a SimBot build to harvest your garden (great since they will never eat your perfect crops)

I haven't been succesful in repairing it thus far. I'm getting concerned I am either going to have to either stop playing it, or to take more drastic measures by wiping my computer entirely and reset to factory default. I know that seems a bit extreme for an older game like Sims 3, but when I'm not playing anything else online it's my top choice.

[cruinne]

This is a pretty old problem that some people seem to experience. The game's weird anti-piracy can cause stuff not to show up for the strangest of reasons. ... and a quick Google search shows that Sims 4 is plagued with the same issue so they must still be using the same system. Sometimes it can be as simple as when you downloaded the CC you had a slightly different game version number than you do now.

Usual thing to try:

1. Shut the game down completely.
   
   
2. Clean out both your game cache files and the launcher temporary files.
   
   
3. For any content that's still missing, re-download and re-install the custom content from the store, not from files you already have. (consider downloading them from inside the game, rather than via a browser/launcher install)

The temp/cache files you want to remove are located in your computer's Documents directory inside Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 folder. There, locate and delete the following files:

• CasPartCache.package
  
• compositorCache.package
  
• scriptCache.package
  
• simCompositorCache.package
  
• socialCache.package
  
  Also:
  
• Inside DCCache, remove missingdeps.idx and dcc.ent
  
• Inside Downloads, remove all .bin files.
  
• Inside SIgsCache, remove all .bin files.
  
• Inside SavedSims, remove Downloadedsims.index.
  
• Inside IGACache, remove all files.
  
• Inside Thumbnails, find and delete all .package files and all files thumb_*.png files. Also, if there is a FeaturedItems folder, delete it entirely.
  
• If there is a WorldCaches folder, delete it.

[Kateri690]

Hey, thank you so much for the help - I was able to fix it today doing the following:

1. Uninstalling the game

2. Went into My Documents, located the Sims 3 folder and completely removed it
[easiest way for me to make sure there was no trace of previous install attempts]

3. Used CC cleaner tool to clean cache (to remove old Sims stuff and clean up the PC in general)

4. Defragmented computer, since repeat installs/uninstalls of Sims 3 (large game) I would expect are not ideal

5. Installed game ONLY through Steam. **NOTE** I let the game install in the order it wanted to, some people insist that you install the base games and EPs (expansion packs) in order of release. It worked for me just fine without installing in order, but I know on occasion the Sims 3 can be a finicky game and it doesn't hurt to take the extra time and steps to do it right.

6. After the base game and all EPs & stuff packs downloaded, I opened the game to make sure all of the towns that should be included were present. (Isla Paradiso, Starlight Shores ect)

7. Went to the Sims 3 store and logged in, went to my purchase history and downloaded my previously purchased DLC into the Sims 3 launcher. I downloaded each item one at a time until I had downloaded my DLC purchases.

8. Via the Sims 3 launcher, went to 'Downloads' tab at left side of the launcher window and again, one at a time ONLY, installed the DLC into the game. I started with the items adding towns first (Riverview, Barnacle Bay). Each time I installed a new time I would close out of the game, and open it to ensure that the item had installed correctly. After I had finished installing the towns I added the remaining DLC items (swift gro gardening station, milkin' it dairy corral, and Plants VS Zombies clothing set)


It took a heck of a lot of work, but I'm happy to say that everything is good and working!