It's a crap shoot we cannot win.

You start a game and just HOPE that at least the content you want to play with that day will actually be there; with no guarantee that anything you've bought and paid for and spent time installing over and over will be there. Some days items are there and other days they just aren't. I haven't not been able to find any rhyme or reason for this. None at all.

I have had this problem for such a long time, but had started a separate thread - not knowing about this one. And then someone posted a link to this thread in mine and I have spent a couple of hours reading through it. I cannot believe this issue has been going on even longer than I knew. And no solution.

EA's disclaimer says it all. They feel that even though you pay them real money for this product, they will not warrant it to work. Period. Use it at your own risk.

That's it.

It's disappointing really. A game we all love -- and spend a lot of money on -- spoiled over and over again by a company who issues a defective product and then won't even back it up or fix it. Once in awhile we get a patch that addresses some of our issues, but more often than not, it's the community of modders that save the day for us and give us fixes that help us play.

But not with this issue. It is tied integrally to the online store, purchased downloads, the launcher and in-game programming that modders cannot tweak.

Oh well. I give up?

I've had entirely too much trouble with store items of late, including the disappearing items. I've sworn off store items from now on, I'll stick to exchange stuff and custom content from other sites. At least if that stuff glitches on me, I didn't waste cash on it.

EA remains disappointing when it comes to their technical support. Absolutely horrid.

The only time I have had any connection with the EA help lines was over two script errors I had. Despite sending them heaps of info they were not able to help with the problem at all and in the end I fixed it myself and then had to tell them how to do it.

With this in mind I have never bothered them about the objects that are installed but say they aren't, which is how it is in my game. In my case it is a launcher problem only as when I install things they stay in the game but the launcher says they are not installed.

I gave up trying to fix it and turned almost all my Sims 3 packs into packages. I sorted through them and deleted a pile of things I never use. Then I compressed and merged them.

LuaScript, I am going to be really angry with you if this thread gets locked or disappears because of your post. The language in it is not supposed to be used on this thread, and, to be honest, ANYONE can pretend to be a disgruntled former employee and say whatever they like. While I am not saying this isn't real, I am also saying it is quite inappropriate.

EDIT:

Looks like the offensive post was removed. Not sure how that happened, but glad it seems to be gone!

I'm not sure which post you are referring, however I do see 1 inappropriate post which I shall choose to now ignore! I too would miss this thread , for it's one of the few threads I have bookmarked and go to when I check in here every now and then, less frequently than before.

I don't have the game installed and quit playing it. I spent a BoatLoad on sims 3 , it's EP's , SP's and Especially the store stuff! But no more. I have finally quit. And I'm sure the money can be spent much better somewhere else.

"They" are simply Ineffective at solving , patching, and communicating to their customers about Major gamebreaking issues.

Hi There! (waves at hummingbird)

zorba2357 wrote:I'm not sure which post you are referring, however I do see 1 inappropriate post which I shall choose to now ignore! I too would miss this thread , for it's one of the few threads I have bookmarked and go to when I check in here every now and then, less frequently than before.

I don't have the game installed and quit playing it. I spent a BoatLoad on sims 3 , it's EP's , SP's and Especially the store stuff! But no more. I have finally quit. And I'm sure the money can be spent much better somewhere else.

"They" are simply Ineffective at solving , patching, and communicating to their customers about Major gamebreaking issues.

Hi There! (waves at hummingbird)

*WAVES at zorba2357*
Yep, you probably saw the same one I did. It made me MAD. . . But that is enough on that topic. LOL

My store stuff is staying put at the moment. I finally did a digital download/install of the entire game (that is a whole other story that would take forever to explain). It took over a week to get the game to work, so I played a few days before adding anything in. I'm having some issues with the featured item in game showing up as not being owned now, even with store mode off, but only one set, so I just won't use it when it is featured. LOL All these stupid backflips we have to do to play this game.

I have actually been playing. Now that things are staying put it's been fun. USING the store stuff has been fun too!

What did I do?

I did a complete uninstall of the entire game, I used a program recommended to me by support long ago, Revo Uninstaller. I had it remove all of the Sims 3 stuff from registry and everything. Next, I restarted my computer, removed any remaining folders that might still be around (sometimes the one in documents stays if there are saves in it). After that I defragmented the computer.

While no one in the house was using their computers I started my download. It took three hours to download the base game, and anywhere from 1 to 3 hours for everything that came after. I installed the base game, found out I needed patch 1.22 to continue, so I manually added that. Installed WA, HELS, Ambitions, Fast Lane, and I can't remember if I put in patch 1.36 before or after Late Night, but I think it was after. Then I installed the other stuff and expansions in order of release.

I played the game for a day or two. Started adding store stuff. Game froze up and shut down on me a couple times, finally remembered to add it to DEP. I finally got all my store stuff added, and because I don't sit there and add it straight through, that took about a week too! Just finished it two days ago. I have been playing again ever since! Hidden Springs, Lucky Simoleon Casino, everything, shows up! Even the set that Featured Items argues with me about owning shows up, when it isn't featured.

I am starting the game without the launcher. I removed everything from the downloads folder after installing it, so I wouldn't have to wonder if I had it installed or not. I do open the launcher once or twice a week to check for changes in the game, messages, etc. I also end up using the launcher if I want to add one of my exported characters back into my game. . . something I'll be doing tonight. I miss Shandra Summers and clan. Eva Green has been a lot of fun though! LOL

Okay I have a problem with installing store content, let me explain

When I had TS3, the base game, on the PC i downloaded store content and it installed just fine in my game. Then my game started acting up and i uninstalled it without uninstalling the store content individually (Or do you need to do that at all). I reinstalled the game and at first I was unable to download anything from the Sims 3 Store and into the launcher, but laster on I was able to. However when I tried to install the content into the game, it said that it was installed, but when i got into the game i couldn't find any of the store content. I would go back to the launcher and it would say that it wasn't installed at all. I thought it was just the PC, but when I transferred to a Mac I still had the same problem

Most recently I found this on this thread ....

Okay, I've tried clearing my caches and getting rid of my mods in the past... but one thing I hadn't tried is letting the game remake my Sims 3 folder in Documents completely from scratch as suggested in the link above... And it turns out that did the trick.

Before, when uninstalling the game, it would ask if I wanted to keep saved data/setting, and, naturally, I said yes since I did not want to lose those things. As it turns out, that was the problem as it's apparent now that something was corrupt in the Sims 3 folder that was being carried over to the new install.

Anyway, the solution that worked for me in detail:

I renamed my "Sims 3" folder under C:/(User)/Documents/Electronic Arts/ to "Sims 3 - Old"

I then started the launcher, allowing the game to create a new "Sims 3" folder in that directory.

I successfully downloaded and installed all of the content I've been having trouble with.

I then copied over my saves from C:/(User)/Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3 - Old/Saves to C:/(User)/Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3/Saves

I then made a "mods" folder under the new "Sims 3" folder and copied over my mods from C:/(User)/Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3 - Old/mods to C:/(User)/Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3/mods

Everything is now working as it should.... Thank you to all involved in finding a solution.

Now i remember my brother being able to transfer the saves from the PC to the iMac,
so if this ^ is true, would it be the solution?

Some of the store stuff lookes very neat (even though its ridiculously overpriced), but now I'm wondering if other (donation-supported) sites like modthesims aren't more deserving of my cash. I have a feeling they will put it to much better use. At least they answer my emails.

Thalia_NL wrote:Some of the store stuff lookes very neat (even though its ridiculously overpriced), but now I'm wondering if other (donation-supported) sites like modthesims aren't more deserving of my cash. I have a feeling they will put it to much better use. At least they answer my emails.

Not sure you should give up entirely on store stuff. A little bit of it might add something great to your game. I've been playing my game now for several days with everything I own (the WHOLE Store) installed without issue. It's been rather amazing, actually. LOL However, if you read my last post, you will see that I had to do quite a few different things to get things to work just right.

When you start it from the .exe file, do you now see content that you couldn't see before?
What I find is that, in-game, I can't find content that the launcher claims is installed.

piddlesim wrote:It isn't so much as CAP as it is a glitch out point. It all depends upon the number of files installed and the person's pc specs.

When the launcher reaches a certain limit... it glitches. This has happened since the Late Night 1.18 patch.

The launcher glitches and stops reading past the first .ebc and .dbc file in the DcCache folder. That is why things are getting uninstalled.

When you start the game using the launcher, is when the uninstall usually happens. Most people are now lauching the game from the .exe file versus using the launcher to start the game. This has stopped or halted a lot of the items from uninstalling.

The game's .exe file can be found at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\ TS3W.exe


Right click on the TS3W.exe and choose create a short cut. Drag the shortcut to the desktop. Then use that to start your game.

Since I have been doing this, I haven't had any more downloads uninstall themselves.

~Good luck!

edit to add a link. This might explain a bit better as to why it is happening. http://simsvip.com/?page_id=910

But you would still use the launcher to install content, correct?

piddlesim wrote:It isn't so much as CAP as it is a glitch out point. It all depends upon the number of files installed and the person's pc specs.

When the launcher reaches a certain limit... it glitches. This has happened since the Late Night 1.18 patch.

The launcher glitches and stops reading past the first .ebc and .dbc file in the DcCache folder. That is why things are getting uninstalled.

When you start the game using the launcher, is when the uninstall usually happens. Most people are now lauching the game from the .exe file versus using the launcher to start the game. This has stopped or halted a lot of the items from uninstalling.

The game's .exe file can be found at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\ TS3W.exe


Right click on the TS3W.exe and choose create a short cut. Drag the shortcut to the desktop. Then use that to start your game.

Since I have been doing this, I haven't had any more downloads uninstall themselves.

~Good luck!

edit to add a link. This might explain a bit better as to why it is happening. http://simsvip.com/?page_id=910

Morbida3 wrote:But you would still use the launcher to install content, correct?

Actually, you have no choice BUT to use the launcher to install stuff. The Launcher opens automatically when you tell something to install. However, that doesn't mean you have to use it to go into your game once you finish the installation.

well You can turn them in to .package files

I saw Lucky Palms once, a few items stayed in the installed part of my Launcher.

Now nothing does and again, I can't install any EA store content. My games all installed fine, the games works, I don't have any mods or other cc, it just won't let me install store content. It says it's installed in the Launcher, but no, I go back and it's gone. This has been going on for ages now and I feel like just giving up.

Please HELP!!!