Re: [CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 3 Store content uninstalls/won't reinstall, EA App

@Rucklia  If you're using the EA App, try going back to Origin.

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin-Client-Web-Technical/Downloading-and-installing-Origin-Windows-and-Mac/m-p/11915666

If that's not the issue, try installing the store content into a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 3 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, open the launcher to spawn a new folder, download only one item from the store, install it, and see if it shows up.  If it does, restart your game and check again just to be sure.  If it still works, you can install a few more items and test again.

If everything is showing up, you can install the rest of your content, but please do so in batches of only a few items at a time; the launcher doesn't handle large amounts of data very well.  Worlds are especially large and should be handled separately, not in a batch with anything else.

Once all your store stuff is installed and working, I'd suggest making a copy of the Sims 3 user folder in case you need it later.  This way, you won't have to install the store content again if anything goes wrong in your current folder.  Then you can install your custom content, move over your saves and anything else you want to keep, and go from there.

@puzzlezaddictI have the same problem in both apps.
After generating new The Sims 3 folder, I can't install store content. Error message: Installation failed. Please make sure your game has the latest Software Updates and try again.

@Sylmos  Does this happen for EA-created store content, or items from the Exchange?  The error is typically associated with Exchange items that are no longer compatible with the game, not with stuff from the store itself.

Additionally, did you download the entire game from the EA App (or Origin), or did you initially install via disc before switching to one of the apps?

Hi, this is happening to me as well with just EA store content like Riverview (my favorite world) and some other random objects. Most store content is still working and all Exchange content is working. Custom worlds and mods are also working.

Example: I started the game yesterday and I couldn't find my save on Riverview, I realized the world wasn't installed so I installed it again and played for a few hours. Today I started it, but I couldn't enter the save, the game gave an error message, I went back to the laucher and I noticed that Riverview uninstalled again, but now I can't install it anymore, it says something like: Installation failed, make sure that your game has the latest software updates.

I downloaded my Origin game and switched this month to the EA app.

@Tawneyy  Go into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Downloads and delete any downloads with Riverview in the name.  Inside ...The Sims 3 > InstalledWorlds, delete any Riverview .world files as well.  Then try again to download and install Riverview.

@puzzlezaddict

EA-created store content is uninstalling. I didn't try to install from Exchange yet. I was using Origin. I don't own disks. I've been using the EA app for a while now. After I started having trouble installing kits for the Sims 4, I reinstalled Origin. Now I can't use Maxis-created store content for the Sims 3.

@Tawneyy and @Sylmos  Does it make a difference if you install store content through the in-game dashboard, the one at the Main Menu?  Please test in a clean folder, to be thorough.

Also, what antivirus do you use, if any?  Is OneDrive running, whether you use it or not, and how full is it?  I'd also like to see a dxdiag, just to cover all the bases.

https://help.ea.com/en/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

@Sylmos  I'm glad to hear that helped.  Since it did, I don't need to see a dxdiag; that was just in case there was something else going on with your computer that was interfering with the store content.

@puzzlezaddictI open the dashboard and nothing is ever in it. Worked in the beginning of Sims3 but now its blank. Tells me to log in to sims3 which I am. Takes me to webpage where I will once again log in and then click on dashboard which then tells me to log in. LOL I have had almost all my store content installed at one time but once again it is uninstalling. I am playing on new app but Origin had started doing the same. So my vote is a launcher meltdown. I have onedrive off so no longer get error 16 (when I can actually play that is).

edit:  Meant to say also that now my launcher Welcome is now blank. 

@Bluegayle  Wow, this really is such a mess (not your fault, of course).  The usual fix for the blank launcher is to clear Internet Explorer's cache, or these days, Edge's IE mode data.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/view-and-delete-browser-history-in-microsoft-edge-00cf7943-a9e1-975a-a33d-ac10ce454ca4

I don't know whether this will help with the missing content, but it's simple enough to check.

If that doesn't make a difference, I'm wondering whether a new admin Windows account would help.  Make it a local account, as in, don't sign into Microsoft, which will also keep OneDrive out of the picture.  Just open the launcher and try to install a few store items, then test the Downloads Dashboard in-game.  I don't know whether this will have any effect either, but it's certainly a useful way to distinguish between issues with the user account and other kinds of problems.

@Bluegayle  To fix the blank welcome screen you have to clear the browsing history in Edge.

- open Edge

- in the upper right click the 3 dots (...)

- click settings

- click privacy, search and services

- click clear browser data - choose what to clear

- click delete

OR

- it might say clear browsing data for Internet Explorer mode.

This game uses the API's in Internet Explorer (yes IE 11 is still in Windows 10) to communicate. Many programs use this. This is why IE should not be uninstalled. There is (was?) a data sheet on how to use the APIs.

add: first - if you already installed the EA app - uninstall and download and install the EA app. I think there is a change in the code.

If you installed the game through Origin when you open the game in EA app the game should update You might have to manually  update and/or repair game. If you installed the game through the EA app you may notice the launcher wants Origin to be able to install the expansions and stuff packs. I don't know if this is fixed yet. If you get this notice just reinstall Origin BUT DO NOT OPEN ORIGIN. If the packs are already installed you don't need Origin. You can finish installing the store items in the EA app.. Installing the store items I got some errors messages and got disconnected but restarting the game I was able to finish. This works. I had the same issues when I was using the store purchase history. This method has worked on 2 new gaming computers. Wife is now recovering .from Sims 3 withdrawal. To paraphrase Doug  Marcaida "this will work".. 

For those users having issues with OneDrive, I recommend excluding just the Electronic Arts folder in the user Documents folder. I haven't found any other way to make OneDrive happy (yet). You can do this in the OneDrive settings. If you unlink the computer Microsoft gets upset and nags you just like if you didn't log in to OneDrive in Windows 7. If OneDrive is syncing files you may not be able to change setting until it is done doing what ever it is doing. I then set keep files on this computer and uncheck the Electronics folder and the files were restored.

OneDrive can be uninstalled but I thought Microsoft worked so hard to almost make you use OneDrive that my computer might burst into flames. OneDrive can be reinstalled from the Microsoft store (been there - done that).

hth.

@roberta591  @puzzlezaddict   Thanks for advice. However, nothing is working as it should still. Definitely all cache/history has been cleared. I did reinstall Origin, did not open it and my store worlds seem to be hanging in there but like I have said at one time all my store content was working.

I have now lost Sims2 UC as well but may just leave that for now. app only allows the store one to open a file separate and not what I would want even if it worked.   I know i can get it back if I open Origin but not wanting to do that as it auto reinstalls 3 & 4 as well. Such a pain. 

The only thing I didn't try was making a new account on my computer.  Also, my welcome screen is still blank and though all my items show on launcher menu (downloads) the downloads dashboard still does not do anything. Just repeatedly tells me I have to log in and of course I already am.   "If I could only reach through my screen and throttle someone" LOL

Thats it. I have taken all advice and the things I hadn't done before I have tried. My sims4 game runs perfect and I can play my 3 saved game just without extra content so will have to leave it in EA's hands for now, I guess. Plus, who knows what will happen when they completely dissolve Origin! 

Thanks again.  I do have all my discs for 2 & 3 and I know EA has a record of me having the sims2UC so fingers crossed for the future.  Now if they would just give me horses in Sims4 I just might retire the old games. LOL Take care  

Quick thought: Most of my downloaded store items show up on launcher as boxes only periodically. 

@Bluegayle  I'd still like to know whether the new admin account makes a difference, that is if you have time to test it at some point.  This is as much for the purpose of collecting data as anything else.

Origin has also tried to reinstall Sims 3 and 4 on my Mac, but as it turned out the one time I let it, it wasn't a full reinstall, just a somewhat smaller download, I think about 5 GB for Sims 4.  So it might be fine for you to let Origin do the same.  (Then again, macOS and Windows are not at all the same environments.)  You could also put Origin in offline mode, which stops any downloads in progress and usually, but not always, reverts an Update button to a Play button.

Store thumbnails do sometimes show as boxes for me, but after a few seconds, I get the full thumbnail previews.