downloaded sims are not in the Sims 3 download file

You mean they are not in the download folder anymore or not in savedSims ? Did you ever delete anything from the download folder or maybe delete through the download tab on the launcher ? I don't think the game deletes anything from there on it's own.

Did you ever make a backup of your user files and if so, did you check there ?

Sorry Crinrict....I know you like detail and I should have provided more.  Here is the story.

I downloaded a lot of sims from one particular Sim player and after that determined that I had a lot of corrupt content. She was honest in saying she used a lot of CC. This was before I knew about Custard.  Using your site (thank you very much) I deleted the corrupt content from the DCbackup and from the launcher.  But found I still had those boots.  I then copied the Sims 3 DC backup folder and my saved sims folder and put them on the desk top.  After that, I deleted all my downloaded custom content in the download, saved sims and DCbackup.   After a while I missed some stuff so I put back household items by redownloading them from TSR.  Then I decided to redownload from the exchange one sim at a time.  Figuring (and I now know I was wrong) that the boots were attached to a female sim, I downloaded a bunch of male sims from that Sim player on the exchange.  Then I downloaded a few from TSR.  After I did that they were in my Sims 3 download folder.  Now they are not.  I did do Delphys Dashboard a few days ago but I noticed the missing sims before doing it. The sims are still in my game.

Last night I downloaded a few household items from the TSR.  They are in my game, but not in my Sims 3 download folder. They are in the installed content of the game launcher.  How am I to get rid of the hidden content if I can't access the sims installed in my game? And before you ask, yes I am sending all my downloads to the Sims 3 download.

The sims are in the backup folder I put on the desktop-saved sims.  Not sure what to do with that file as the icons are white and cannot be read or accessed.

Does any of this make sense?

The files you download first go in your downloads folder but as soon as you install them, they go into savedSims and if they have cc attached, that goes to the files in DCCache. Houses and households are in the library folder.

There's some stuff that comes on Sims directly, on the files in the savedSims folder, not the download one (those are just the files you've downloaded and later installed) OR in DCCache. All of those should show in your launcher.

If you want them as safekeeping I would either re-download those you want to keep or if you don't know where you've got them from anymore, just export them again from your game. They will then be in the uploads folder.

I don't know why they aren't in your downloads folder anymore but the files in the download folder have nothing to do with what's installed in your game. Those are just backups to reinstall them should you need to.

The backups can simply be moved back into the savedSims folder in your game folder and they should then show up in your game again.

Not certain if that answers your question though.

It does explain it.  Thank you.  But then I still don't know how to determine which sim has the HIDDEN CC.  Do I export then each sim? Will custard find the hidden content?  Help with detail!!  Those boots show up on everything.  Babies, people showering etc.

The boots should be in your launcher, not on a Sim. There's only a few downloads that require you to delete a Sim and to find out which one it is, you would need to remove them from the savedSims folder one by one until the bad download no longer shows up.

Did you not find the boots in your launcher to uninstall ? Make sure you have the all tab selected.

Crinrict-those boots are not in the launcher.  Thats why I think they are attached to a sim.  

So say I do have something that requires deleting one sim at a time-So I make a copy of the saved sims file and place it on the desktop. Then delete the saves sims file.  Correct?  Then how do I put the sims back one at a time?  

Also I have a full body suit that is blue and covers the hands and feet that I can't find in the launcher.  In my last game my sims were wearing it in the shower. I'm wondering if it is also hidden corrupt content. Yet no one has posted it on their site for bad CC.  I also have nake bottoms back in my game, but only in the toddler clothing section.  I did download two toddlers.  I checked the launcher and I can't find it there.  

I had about ten items on the bad CC list before (including those boots) and removed them by finding them in the launcher and deleting them from the DC backup.  But they are not showing up in the DC backup when I check there now.

Thank you thank you Crinrict!  You have made all this made sense now.  I hadn't seen that particular blog before.  It's great when people reply on forums to questions.  But they assume you know much more than you do.  I will try exactly all of that.  But just out of curiosity do you know the blue suit I am talking about?  I didn't have any trouble with sims showering in clothes till it showed up.  And no matter what household I played, they all showered in that outfit.

So custard will help remove those boots or any other corupt CC from a sim if I find some? In the forums people talk about removing the stuff you don't want to keep from the sim, or make the sims clean, but don't exactly tell you how.