Re: The sims 3 missing store content & Outdoor lighting glitch
@zoe616 I've moved your post to the Sims 3 section.
There are a few different things going on here. First, for the content you can't download at all: Clear the cache for Internet Explorer; even if you never use it, the launcher and store do for some purposes. Be sure to uncheck the box to preserve data for favorite sites. (This is for Windows. If you're on a Mac, clear all your browser caches, as it's not always clear which one the launcher uses.)
Next, pull your entire TS3 game folder out of Documents and onto your desktop. Open the launcher, which will create a clean game folder, but don't sign in. Go to the store site instead, and try to download the content that you supposedly don't own. If it works, you can install the content into the clean game folder and then move it to your existing folder.
If you still can't download those items, clear your browser caches again and ditch the clean folder. Launch the game, which will spawn another clean folder, and sign in at the Main Menu. In the following thread, I wrote out instructions for a workaround another player found, downloading content through the Main Menu, although this was for a different issue. Still, the workaround is worth trying.
https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/Dragon-Valley-Won-t-Download/m-p/7872472#M236049
If you still can't download this content, you'll need to contact EA customer support. No one here can fix an account issue. If the usual tricks don't work, then hopefully a support rep can fix the problem.
https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/
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For the community lots that install but don't show in-game, you probably have a corrupt file in your game folder. Depending on how much store content you have that does work, it may be easier to just install all your store stuff into a clean folder. (This does not apply to anything you've downloaded through the Exchange, all of which is stored in a different type of file.) Either way, the explanation is kind of long, so let me know what you'd like to try: rebuilding from scratch, or reinstalling only those items that don't work, and I'll write out step-by-step instructions.
By the way, Exchange items often come with third-party custom content. The files posted on the Exchange have been created by players, not EA, and some of those players upload cc with their creations. So you probably do have a lot of cc installed, even if you didn't know you were getting it. Some of it might be messing with your sims' appearance, and neither clearing your caches or messing around with Origin would have any effect. Neither would reinstalling TS3 itself, if you put your old game folder back afterwards.
So the real test, and the one I'd start with in your place (although you can of course go in any order), is to pull your game folder out of Documents and run the game on a completely clean folder. No cc, no preexisting sims, just a test in a well-made EA world like Sunset Valley or Twinbrook. Pick a premade family and let me know how they look.
If you still see the weird lighting effects, switch back and forth between fullscreen and windowed mode to see whether it makes any difference. And please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post here. Please also list the packs you have installed.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
