Expansion Packs Can't Find Sims 3 Base Game

by Guest Wed 18 Jul 2018, 18:13

Hey, so I've downloaded the manual patch and the ultimate fix and couple of expansion packs (Late Night, Pets, Generations) from games4theworld, but I originally downloaded The Sims 3 base game through Steam years ago. I have it downloaded and installed on my D:) drive since it is an SSD with large storage and my C:) drive is relatively small, and I think because of that the manual patch as well as the expansion pack installers are having trouble finding my Sims 3 base game. Whenever I try to run any of the expansion pack Setup files or the manual patch .exe file, it loads for a few seconds then gives me an error message that says something like "You must have the Sims 3 installed to install this content!". Is there any way to manually point the installer/setup wizard in the right direction and give it a manually entered directory for the game?

by **☠ ~ Aɳɳ ~ ☠** Wed 18 Jul 2018, 18:30

Hello,

Unfortunately, it's impossible to use downloaded expansions with a Steam version of the Base Game. This is because Steam has their own installer.
There is a way to convert your Steam base game to an Origin base game, however, and this will allow you to use your legit base game with the downloaded expansions. I should tell you that I have never tried it, but the process is explained here.

You will probably have to redownload and reinstall the game, and you need to make sure that it doesn't update to 1.69, so turn off automatic updates as soon as you can. After that, you can use our guide, the manual patch and the fix to use the expansions you've downloaded.
Just keep in mind that whenever one of the instructions tells you to find the "Electronic Arts" folder, (C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/...) you should go into the Origin folder in stead.

Good luck!