Fixed!

Hey y'all. I assure you I've done extensive googling on these issues, plus a full reinstall of ALL EP's, precisely following the specified directions hosted here. I've previously not had a problem running the game at all. Here's what's going on:
1. The game will not launch through the launcher. Not really an issue, but I worry it might be connected. I'm using the proper edition of the Fix, and my base game and CC are hosted on a secondary drive. When I hit the "play" button in the launcher, I receive a disc error.
2. When launched directly through the TS3W file, the game loads fine but does not recognize my saved games or custom content. Again, my games are installed on an external drive, which I've not had issues with before, but now the game is simply refusing to acknowledge installed worlds, CC (installed via package or sims3pack), saved games, etc. The only thing it seems to recognize is my cached game settings.
Anyone have any insight into this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated -- having just spent 8 hours on a full reinstall, I'm sad and frustrated.

Edit! First issue has been resolved. I'm too dumb to function. Second issue is still a problem. Any ideas on how to fix this?
Edit! Fixed my own problems.    Thanks for giving me a space to collect my thoughts!