@Soldier_Adams Do you see any other content from Cats & Dogs in-game? If you go into Build/Buy mode, items from C&D will have a logo on them, as opposed to base game items, which don't. The important question here is whether the pack is loading at all.
The pack isn't loading at all, I don't see any other content in the build/buy mode. Is there a way I can confirm if the pack downloaded correctly?
@Soldier_Adams It sounds like the pack did not in fact download correctly. The first thing to try is to repair the game. Open your game library, right-click on the Sims 4 icon (Origin) or hover over the Sims 4 icon and click the three dots (EA App), and select Repair. If that doesn't help, clear the cache of whichever app you're using and try again.
https://help.ea.com/en/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/
If you're playing through Steam, please let me know whether you bought C&D through Steam or directly from EA, and if you own any other packs that are in fact loading properly.
The other thing you can try is to download the pack again. The folder for Cats & Dogs is labeled EP04 (C&D was the fourth expansion released), and it's located within the game's program files. By default, that data is in one of these locations, depending on which app you used to install the game:
Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 4
Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4
Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 4
There will also be a Delta folder with many pack folders inside, but this is irrelevant for your purpose. (Those folders hold patch data, not the pack data itself.) Delete the EP04 pack from the appropriate location and try downloading C&D again.
Thanks for all the help so far, I appreciate it!
I tried repairing the game and clearing the cache, neither of which worked. I'm using the EA app on the PC.
I tried to find the EP04 folder so that I could delete it,but couldn't find it. Here are the options I see:
_Installer
Data
Delta
FP01
Game
Support
Also, when I load the pack within Sims 4 via the EA app, it says "you already own this pack". Is there somewhere I can force re-download the pack?
@Soldier_Adams Within the EA App, open My collection, click on Sims 4, click the DLC button (or Add-ons) at the top of the page, and scroll through the list looking for Cats & Dogs. If you find it, you should see a Download button; go ahead and click that.
If the button says something else, let me know.
You can also try reinstalling Origin and downloading the pack through there. You don't need to uninstall the EA App; just make sure the App is fully closed (or restart your computer), download the installer from the link in the following post, and run it.
Within the EA App no such button exists (at least not that I could find).
I re-downloaded the Origin App. At first the app worked just fine. However, I realized that I was logged into my account, and not my daughters account (where the purchase for Cats and Dog expansion took place). When I logged into Origin with her credentials, a pop up saying "The EA app is your new home for PC gaming" appears and won't close. The only options are to "update the EA app" (which uninstalls Origin) or "Learn more" which goes to a web page.
@Soldier_Adams Some accounts are being forced to use the EA App and can't go back to Origin, for unknown (to us) reasons. So if your daughter's account can't use Origin, that's that.
Within the EA App, click My Collection in the left panel, then click on the Sims 4 icon (it might take a few seconds for the games list to load). Right below "The Sims 4" in the upper-left corner, click Add-ons, which is next to Overview. Find Cats & Dogs on the list; it's on page 5 for me, and the packs are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on C&D in the list. Do you see a Download button to the right of the cover art? Does the EA App tell you that you already own the add-on? If not, what do you see?
@puzzlezaddict Oh sorry, I meant to answer that one in the previous response! When I go to C&D within Add-ons (also on the 5th page for me), I don't see a download button. To the right of the cover art it says "You own this add-on". There is also a blue play button to the bottom right of the cover art. Hitting play via this button doesn't do anything different from normal.
I'm wondering if maybe it's downloaded in a different location? So I have SIMS 4 downloaded on my computer with my account, and my daughter has SIMS 4 downloaded on another computer with her account. However, we can both access each other's save files even though we have the game separately downloaded. Maybe player save files are in my OneDrive for some reason? Maybe the pack is downloaded in the same OneDrive location? I'm not sure otherwise how we are able to see each other's files. I assumed it would've been locally saved.
After talking out the above, I found a SIMS 4 folder under OneDrive - Personal, Documents, Electronic Arts, The Sims 4. Here are the file options I see there:
cache
cachestr
ConfigOverride
content
Custom Music
Mods
onlinethumbnailcache
Recorded Videos
saves
Screenshots
Tray
VideCameraStates
I looked around those folders but couldn't find anything that said EP04.
@Soldier_Adams What you found in OneDrive is the Sims 4 user folder, which contains saves and other user content. If the EA App did somehow install an expansion into this folder, the game wouldn't be able to use the data anyway.
And yes, the fact that you can use each others' saves is definitely because of OneDrive syncing the local files with cloud storage, then downloading them to all computers signed into this particular Microsoft account. In your position, I wouldn't want OneDrive to sync anything, but perhaps you have a use for it. If not, let me know, and I can describe how to stop the syncing from happening.
If you click Sims 4 in your game library, then click Manage, then Manage add-ons, is Cats & Dogs on the list? If so, you should see a Download button. At least, that's what I see on my laptop now that I have the game installed there, and the download did start when I clicked the button.
If that doesn't help, try using the App Recovery option, which is in the dropdown menu in the upper-left corner, in the Help category.
If this doesn't work either, please contact EA customer support to make sure that the purchase did in fact go through.
The manage add-ons did the trick! I can't believe I never looked at that option before. There was a download option next to Cats and Dogs. It is now downloaded and working properly.
Thanks again for all your help with this, much appreciated!
@puzzlezaddictSo, I have the same issue, but instead of it showing "you already own this pack" on ea, it shows "purchase", like it thinks I didn't buy it at all, which I of course did. There might be a problem with that I bought this pack on instant gaming and putted the code in ea, but then, why do I see the pack in The Sims 4 game and it says "you own this pack", or something like that. Also, when I click manage on ea, it only shows those options:
View properties
Repair
Uninstall
But there is no potion to manage adds-on, I can only go to adds-on that are next to "Overview"
@Kara_1010 Please clear the EA App's cache:
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/
and restart your computer, then see whether you can download the pack.
I've already tried that, but it doesn't work.
@Kara_1010 Did you try again after I posted? Sometimes it takes a little while for these issues to self-correct, so please try again now even if you expect it not to work.
