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PinkPenguinnn02's avatar
11 months ago

Sims 3 Store Worlds Locked by EA play, doesn't show in game when downloaded

I have the sims 3 base game and all expansions and stuff packs physically that I have bought second hand over the years. I have used the sims 3 store fine previously to get the world Riverview and CAS but I couldn't register any of my packs since all the codes were used as I bought them second hand. I wanted to buy the world bundle on the EA app however I got confused on how to download after purchasing it (but realised later it was in confirmation email). So after looking at some forums, I tried to get the the one month membership for EA play hoping that would help as then I could briefly install the sims and look at the add on there. I downloaded the sims 3 from there but it didn't help and I found the answer that the codes were in the email so I cancelled the membership and uninstalled the EA app version of the sims 3 then reinstalled my physical copy so I wouldn't have to wait a month for EA to lock the game. I then went on to reinstalling everything fine but when I try reinstalling the store content it installs and downloads but doesn't show up in the game. I have tried everything I have seen on forums like uninstalling several times but it still just isn't showing up in my games yet it says downloaded everywhere I look.

I'm wondering if my store content has got linked to the sims 3 I installed from the EA app and has been locked to that version. Is that even possible? When I looked at the sims 3 store it has registered the version of the sims 3 I got from the EA app. What should I do to fix this as I don't want to keep paying for EA play membership. Should I just buy a copy of the base game from the EA app or is there anything I can do that wont cost me to rebuy what I already have?

5 Replies

  • @PinkPenguinnn028  I would suggest NOT buying a copy of Sims 3 from EA.  The chances are that your secondhand disks won't work anymore, so you'd be stuck rebuying all your other content too.

    It's possible the Store worlds aren't working because of the previously-present, now-missing EA Play copy of Sims 3.  However, that's not the only possible cause of this issue.  Please rename the Sims 3 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts, or move it elsewhere.  Open the launcher to spawn a clean folder, and download one of your worlds.  Wait two minutes after the world appears to have downloaded correctly, and only then try to install it.  Launch the game to see whether the world shows up.

    The issue here is that sometimes the download hasn't finished, and trying to install at that point corrupts the world.  If this is your problem, then it's easy to work around—just make sure to wait a minute or two between downloading and installing a given world.  You can also move your saves and any other content you'd like to keep to the new Sims 3 folder once you've installed your Store content there.  Please see this post for more details:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Store-Issues/Read-First-Sims-3-Store-guide/m-p/13479974#M1296

    If this doesn't help, please claim Riverview (it's free) and see whether you can install that into another new Sims 3 folder.  Let me know how it goes.

  • Thanks for your help, I tried what you suggested by moving my sims 3 file and generating a new one. I tried downloading Riverview just from the sims 3 store leaving time in between each step but it still seems to not show up in the dropdown bar for world choice. Also all my other store content isn't showing up in CAS or build/buy. I have added images as it shows it has been installed fine and I see it in my files fine but it just isn't showing up in my game at all.

    I still am wondering if my store account has been locked to that base game i got from EA games temporarily but I'm unsure what to do to unlock it or use it on my normal copy which was working fine before. 

    If there is any further advice please let me know as I am so lost as to what I can do to fix this without having to either make a new sims 3 store account/EA app account and rebuy all my store content or rebuy all my expansions and stuff packs via EA app. 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    10 months ago

    @PinkPenguinnn028  Please do a clean uninstall of Sims 3 with Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine).  If you have any saves or other user data you want to preserve, start by renaming the Sims 3 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts so that Revo doesn't flag it for deletion.

    To be thorough, and potentially save some time, create a new admin Windows account, a local one, as in, don't link it to your Microsoft account or any email address.  Reinstall the game in that account; you can try just the base game to save time if you want.  Then try again to download some Store content, non-premium items at first.  So that means no worlds and no objects that come with new interactions (basketball hoop, glass-blowing station, etc.); just find some clothes or furniture.  Let me know whether those items work in the new account.

    If the items do load in-game, you can try installing some in your main account, still just regular items.

  • I did a clean uninstall of Sims 3 with Revo Uninstaller then I reinstalled a the base game. I had to use an updater I had previously used since my copy doesn't seem to update automatically and it needed to update to download Riverview as a test. I downloaded Riverview first and it worked! So I downloaded my other worlds and items and it seems to be fine. 

    I moved my old save files but one that used to be in Riverview doesn't seem to load. It shows up in my saves menu and has a preview image but when it tries to load it eventually gives me a message to say there was an error loading the file. Is there anyway to fix that or will I have to get rid of that save? The original save file got deleted because of the world being a store world. So I just renamed the backup I had of it. I assume its having issues because I had to reinstall everything, including the world. Is there anyway I can fix this? 

    Thanks!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    10 months ago

    @PinkPenguinnn028  If you're getting a "serious error" message, please test any other saves you have, and a new save, to make sure this isn't a different issue independent of the saves themselves.  Assuming only this save is affected, try renaming it again, to something like test , as in, a short name with no special characters.

    If that doesn't help, start a new save in Riverview, save your progress (no need to play forward much), quit, load that save again, and make sure it still works.  If it does, quit again, open that save folder, and delete the .nhd file inside.  Then copy over the .nhd file from your broken save and see whether this save will load.  The .nhd file contains all the important information about that world.  If your sims have traveled in that save, you may want to add the other worlds' .nhd files as well as TravelDB, but please test first with only Riverview.nhd and nothing else.

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