Game unchecks the "activate mods" box; my Sims are fully black

I don't know what to do anymore. Everytime I launch the game, the "Activate Mods" box is unchecked. Yes, I pressed the "Apply changes" button like a 100 times to make sure I am not going crazy. Obviously, CC and mods are not showing for this exact reason.

But not only that, my sims (even the cat I downloaded from the gallery, so it has no CC!) are fully black! (even the clothes). No, this specific Sim was not made with CC. I don't understand why this is happening in the first place. Ugh. 

I have tried to fix this for DAYS already. None of the things I did has worked yet. 

Does anyone have any of these problems?

Thank you.