Expansions not showing up in the launcher

Hello all!

I have been having very similar problems to all of you, and I think they started when I downloaded World Adventures and Generations. Before that, I had only the base Sims 3 game and Pets. (I also have Sims 4, but I almost never play it.)

First, I got the in-game message that items were missing and had been replaced with something else.

Second, I discovered that my installed content from the Sims 3 store had uninstalled itself.

EA Customer Service had me "repair" the game on origin, and then uninstall Sims 3, Sims 4, and Origin using Revo Uninstaller. I uninstalled and reinstalled.

Instead of fixing the problems, that gave me two new problems:
1. My expansion packs appear in the launcher only half the time.
2. The Launcher won't let me log in on either of my accounts, even though they work fine elsewhere.

EA Customer Service recommended that I install this patch: https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/the-sims/the-sims-3/the-sims-3-super-patcher/#pc

I downloaded the patch, but it won't install. The error message on the patch says that Sims 3 isn't installed!

I'm wondering now whether part of the problem is that the following files are all under Origin Games > The Sims 3 > Game > Bin, instead of Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3:
Sims3Launcher.exe
Sims3LauncherW.exe
TS3.exe
TS3W.exe

Thoughts? Since neither of my accounts work, I find it unlikely that BOTH accounts have a glitch, and more likely that Origin's version of Sims 3 has a glitch.

@Ethelfrietha - There are two parts to the game. The program installs for the base game and its expansions are supposed to be in Program Files (x86) \ Origin Games (or Electronic Arts) \ etc. and the user game folder with added content, caches, saved games, etc. are supposed to be in Documents. This is as it should be.

If you are running an Origin installed game, then you should be on Patch 1.69. That means there should be a Pack and Stuff Chooser tab to your Launcher where you need to check on each startup that the packs you expect to have in play are listed and checked off. If some of them are not even showing up to check off occasionally, but do on subsequent attempts, unfortunately that's just a symptom of general Origin/Launcher instability. It happens to many of us, although not all of the time, and all we can do is keep trying to startup the game, restart our computer, uninstall and reinstall Origin (only) and hope that it starts behaving properly again. If the packs all show up but keep unselecting (unchecking) themselves, that is common and is why the tab needs to be examined on every startup.

The suggestion to run the 1.67 SuperPatcher on what I assume is a 1.69 install is really bad advice. Even if you could get it to run, that could break the entire install. The SuperPatcher is meant for 1.67 and below installs only.

On the inability to login issue, that usually means the player's Internet Explorer cache and cookies need to be cleared, with the option to retain cookies for Favorites switched off. Even if you never use IE as a browser yourself, the game uses its resources and they can get clogged up. See the link for a visual.
https://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=15141

> @phoebebebe13 said:
> chxr1zxrd wrote: »
>
> I've tried all these ideas and nothing seems to help. It's doing it with World Adventures, High-End Loft, and Late Night... Any other ideas?
>
>
>
>
> Where did you buy your EP's from? EA is locking people out of their accounts if you bought game codes from an unauthorized dealers for violating EA TOS (terms of service) . If this is the case with your account, you would have to contact EA directly.


Oh... I've encountered this problem today and I think that's why. For some reason, Generations wasn't showing up for me - like, that it ever even existed on my computer. It wasn't in my launcher or in my "Electronic Arts" folder, even though Origin says it's installed. That was the one game code I purchased from ebay about 6-8 months ago.
But how could EA UNINSTALL generations from my own computer??? It's literally no where in any of my files.

"emilemilly;c-15837674" wrote:
Oh... I've encountered this problem today and I think that's why. For some reason, Generations wasn't showing up for me - like, that it ever even existed on my computer. It wasn't in my launcher or in my "Electronic Arts" folder, even though Origin says it's installed. That was the one game code I purchased from ebay about 6-8 months ago.
But how could EA UNINSTALL generations from my own computer??? It's literally no where in any of my files.

They can't, technically. What this means is that they have likely placed a TOS (Terms of Service) Hold on your account on their end and Origin reacts accordingly by blocking the previously installed EP from running. The actual program files may be hidden from regular view by Origin but even if the program files themselves are still there taking up drive space, they wouldn't be able to run anyway as Origin manages the entire launch process.

This can only be confirmed and such a Hold lifted by having a real time conversation with EA through Customer Support -- chat or phone callback, depending upon what is available in your area and time of day. It can take several business days from beginning such a conversation until resolution is reached from what is being reported.

Sorry, I'm very new to this and, in fact, only made this account to comment on this thread

> @igazor said:
> emilemilly wrote: »
>
> Oh... I've encountered this problem today and I think that's why. For some reason, Generations wasn't showing up for me - like, that it ever even existed on my computer. It wasn't in my launcher or in my "Electronic Arts" folder, even though Origin says it's installed. That was the one game code I purchased from ebay about 6-8 months ago.
> But how could EA UNINSTALL generations from my own computer??? It's literally no where in any of my files.
>
>
>
> They can't, technically. What this means is that they have likely placed a TOS (Terms of Service) Hold on your account on their end and Origin reacts accordingly by blocking the previously installed EP from running. The actual program files may be hidden from regular view by Origin but even if the program files themselves are still there taking up drive space, they wouldn't be able to run anyway as Origin manages the entire launch process.
>
> This can only be confirmed and such a Hold lifted by having a real time conversation with EA through Customer Support -- chat or phone callback, depending upon what is available in your area and time of day. It can take several business days from beginning such a conversation until resolution is reached from what is being reported.

GAAAAHHHH dealing with their customer service has been a nightmare in the past. Thanks so much for the help though. I guess I'll have to give them a call tomorrow?? I would just re-purchase generations through Origin but Origin thinks I have it installed and working X)

@emilemilly - Yeah, if there is indeed a block placed on their end you can't just add a newly purchased code to Origin as the client program is not equipped to essentially say "Oh, this code is better you may go ahead and play that EP now." We can't see exactly what it's doing, but it can really only act as EA programmed it to, again on their end. Good luck, hope you can get that sorted out. :)

@igazor thanks, I really appreciate the help. I'm bummed that I can't play sims though, I just bought ambitions and i couldn't wait to try it out:( I wish EA would have chosen a better way to go about this buuttt... oh well. It is what it is.

> @Emsimmmer said:
> So, on the launcher if you look under the expansions and stuff section you will get a list of all the expansions you have. There should be a button that says, "Don't see your packs?" and then next to it "Install Packs" Click that and it will take you to Origin and the list of packs you have installed. Close the launcher and hover over the expansion pack that isn't working and click play. Remember having the sims 3 launcher closed is crucial at this point. If it won't let you click play, close origin, open it again and click play again... This SHOULD help, it'show it worked for me.
> :p

I had this problem and did as you said; it worked! This is the second time it has happened to me, and it is ridiculously annoying. But at least I can fix it with little hassle!

I just had this problem, I restarted my computer and all of my packs showed up again. So for people in the future who may have this problem. Try restarting your computer.