Hi Everyone,I have been trying to install the Sims 3 and a few expansion packs through Origin on my Mac. I've literally had to uninstall and reinstall everything like four times. At one point I installed the base game and one of the expansion packs, and I had so much trouble with it that a chat agent from EA told me to delete everything related to Sims 3 in my Mac. So, I stupidly deleted the Electronic Arts folder from my documents. I have now installed all the expansion packs I was trying to use and everything works fine.. except I can't install any new custom content. So from what I gather this has to do with the missing EA folder in documents. I've read other threads that say that a new folder will be created once I launch the game and play for a while and save. I've played for hours but there is still no new folder. Weirdly enough though, all my previously installed CC and saved games are still in the game. And yes, and I've tried to look for the EA folder through the search option in finder, but I don't see anything. PLEASE HELP!

I don't know if this information is going to help or not, but what the OP is experiencing with the TS3 user game folder having been spawned deep within transgaming instead of the usual place in Documents where we normally see it, and the Launcher continuing to look for it there after it has been removed, used to be common on Mac installs a very long time ago on older operating systems. I think the issue may pre-date Origin for Mac and it may at one time have been related to the game's installer not having sufficient rights to the user's Documents folder, so it fell back to a place it did have rights to manage.Unless someone else with a better memory than mine knows of a shortcut, and I hate to say this because it's not usually the recommended course of action, the OP may need to uninstall TS3 entirely (the manual way), clean up Library file leftovers, and re-install from scratch (again) in order to fix this. And of course test the new install as soon as practical to make sure the issue of strangely located user game folders spawning in the wrong place does not return on its own.

@mayi0715 You clearly do have a Sims 3 user data folder, it's just not where you're looking. When you have iCloud enabled, there's a Documents folder locally on your computer, and a second one in cloud storage. Whichever one you're looking in now, try the other. It's usually better not to have iCloud set to automatically sync Documents with cloud storage, as it complicates things for games that store their data in Documents. So please don't enable that feature. But you can get a better idea of how iCloud works and your options here: https://bluebellflora.com/2017/02/06/sims-3-and-sims-4-not-loading-save-games/ The Electronic Arts folder and its contents are hidden from Finder searches.

I don't believe that's the issue. It doesn't appear as if I have iCloud enabled. Look:Note: I have been doing extra searching, and I managed to find an "Electronic Arts" folder somewhere else Desktop > The Sims 3 > The Sims 3 (Show Package contents) > Contents > Resources > translating > c-drive> Program Files > Electronic Arts.However, this "Electronic Arts" folder doesn't have what I remember the one under Documents had.

@mayi0715 That's not the Electronic Arts folder you want; it's for the game's program files. Try searching in Terminal instead. Open Applications > Utilities, launch Terminal, and enter this: find / -type d -name "*Electronic Arts*" 2>/dev/null The command will take a while to run (let it go to completion), but in the end you'll get a long list of folders with the words "Electronic Arts" in the name. Please post the full file path of any that are specifically in Documents, as in, the file path contains Documents\Electronic Arts. You can write [username] instead of your username, but otherwise keep the file path intact.

Okay I really don't know if I did what you said correctly, but here's what the Terminal spit out:/Users/User/Documents/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 Ambitions.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 Pets.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 Pets.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Documents/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 Island Paradise.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 Island Paradise.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Documents/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 World Adventures.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 Late Night.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 Generations.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic Arts/Applications/The Sims 3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/c_drive/Program Files/Electronic ArtsI find it confusing that it says Electronic Arts after Documents because its definitely not there...

Deleted EA folder, now I can't install any new custom content through launcher?!

24 Replies

puzzlezaddict
Hero+
6 years ago
@mayi0715 In that screen, click Choose, open Applications > The Sims 3, and choose the base game icon. This should actually be a separate entry than the one you're seeing.
mayi0715
6 years ago
@puzzlezaddict Tried that too. Same results :/
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
6 years ago
@mayi0715 Try in a new admin user account on your Mac. You won't need to install the game again, just open the launcher from Applications, sign into the store site, and try to download something.

By the way, you won't have access to your previous user data in the new account, but that's fixable in a few different ways.
NewWoodstock
6 years ago
Hello,
I think we may be having a similar problem due to Origin and mac. So apparently Sims 3 is a PC game running through an emulator called cider, which can be found within the program files that Origin downloads in The Sims 3 folder under applications.
Anyway, the problem you're having is the game is creating files under the transgaming folder and is not creating a The Sims 3 folder in Documents like it is supposed to. Instead, it has put EVERYTHING in The Sims 3 folder in applications. Once I clicked through a crap ton of dead paths, I finally found one that gave me all of the folders that were supposed to be in Documents.
To find the folder that should be in Documents but is not, go to Applications and Right Click "The Sims 3" and click view package contents.
From there it is Contents>Resources>Transgaming>C_Drive>Program Files>Electronic Arts>The Sims 3>Game>Bin>%USERPROFILE>My Documents>Electronic Arts>The Sims 3
So you can see from the file path that after transgaming it creates folders that look like they belong in Windows. I added my mod folder here and everything is working beautifully now. I hope this helps you and others!

Forum Discussion

Deleted EA folder, now I can't install any new custom content through launcher?!

24 Replies

About The Sims 3 Technical Issues

Recent Discussions

sims 3 imac m4 issues

Sims 3 - Packs missing from EA app

Missing sims 3 packs I purchased

The Sims 3 Launcher Won't Launch

Can't log in on launcher or in game even though my details are correct