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texansky's avatar
texansky
New Hotshot
3 years ago

Sims 3 and Windows 11


I just got a new gaming laptop and installed a fresh copy of Sims 3. I copied the folder with all the store content installed to save as a backup and called it The Sims 3 - Store Only Install.
I then installed some Exchange files, a few Mods I've used on my previous computers, and a couple of custom content items (also been used on my previous computers), and everything worked fine. All of the content appears in the game. The Sims and households I downloaded are listed in my Library when starting a new game and in Edit World. I then made a new copy of The Sims 3 folder called The Sims 3 - Complete Install Works.
I've been playing this install with several games and it works fine and nothing appears to be missing.
Today, I downloaded a commercial lot from the Exchange (from a trusted friend) and I was at the Launcher screen debating whether to install it as I am missing some of the stuff packs used in the lot. I checked which stuff packs I had and made some notes for comments on these forums, and when I went back to the launcher, the lot file I had downloaded (which was the ONLY file listed on the downloads tab) was gone!
So I did some investigation:
The Store Only Install lists all of the Sims3Pack files in the downloads directory. I have not played that install.
The Complete Install Works and the active The Sims 3 download folders are missing the Sims3Pack files.
Not only is the new lot file I just downloaded not in The Sims 3 downloads folder, now it has NO Sims3Pack files in it. Even the dynamic challenge files are missing. I shut down the launcher and when I tried to play again from Origin, it didn't load. I had to use Task Manager to kill it.
I have three issues:
1. Is it common for the game to purge the dynamic challenge files when you start a new game?
2. What is deleting my Sims3Pack files?
3. Has anyone else had similar issues with The Sims 3 in Windows 11?
pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    First, the easy ones. 1: No, it's not common, or at least if the old file gets deleted, a new one is supposed to show up immediately. 3: I haven't seen any similar reports from Windows 11 players, but most people are still running 10, so the sample size isn't large.

    2: Files would normally never be deleted from the …\The Sims 3\Downloads folder unless you did it yourself. But OneDrive could do so if you'd filled your cloud storage and the syncing process had a hiccup. So please check whether OneDrive is running and set to sync the contents of Documents:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-which-onedrive-folders-to-sync-to-your-computer-98b8b011-8b94-419b-aa95-a14ff2415e85

    If it is, you'll want to at least stop the auto-syncing if not deactivate OneDrive entirely. You may need to pause syncing and/or cancel the current sync first:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-to-cancel-or-stop-sync-in-onedrive-4885c27e-3d89-4d69-be75-2646c71367d3

    Before you proceed, make sure you have a backup copy of any file or folder in Documents that you want to preserve. Sometimes changing these settings can remove the local copy of the data, leaving only the one in cloud storage.

    If OneDrive isn't involved, I'd suspect some third-party service that's supposed to clean your system of temporary or duplicate files. After all, some of the Sims3Packs were duplicates (you originally had one in each user folder), and it's possible they're all getting flagged. I have no idea what you may or may not have installed, but if you do use one of these programs, it may well be the culprit.

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