World Adventures Installation problem

Hi, i've recently just bought a new hard drive and installed windows 7 on it, before then i had always used xp.

I wanted to add all the sims games and expansions back to it, so downloaded ALL the ones from here. I've done this loads before but always installing them on xp. It's always gone fine and i can't remember it ever doing this before. I remember that when you get up to Late Night, the instructions then tell you not to install any of the cracks, just install all the games and then do the cracks later, so that's what i intended to do....however, when i started to install World Adventures, it tells me it HAS to update before it can install it, so i tried to let it update. The problem is, it won't update. I get an error, can't remember exactly what it was now i'm sorry. But the only way i could get it to update was to follow the steps here (taken from the world adventures intructions)

2. Now open the Start menu. Type 'regedit' in the search box and press [ENTER]. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sims\The Sims 3 and double-click on 'SKU'. Change the shown
number to 2 and press 'OK'. Close the Register Editor.

3. Open the '# Crack' file in this .rar file and open 'Crack 1'. Run the 'sims3patch.exe' and
follow on screen instructions. Change the 'C:\Program Files\Sims 3' to:
'C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3' before Installing the Patch! (If you have
Installed The Sims 3 in an other language, it'll be something else. Like when you Installed
The Game in Dutch, it'll be: 'C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\De Sims 3', so be sure you
check what you have, otherwise it won't work!

4. Open the 'Crack 2' folder in the '# Crack' file. Copy áll the files in that folder
to: C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin and REPLACE them by the existing ones.

5. Now open the 'Crack 3' folder and start the 'Sims3_1.2.7.00002_from_1.0.631.00002.exe'
patch.

6. Do the same with the other .exe Patches in the 'Crack 3' folder, from up to down.
7. When you applied all the Updates, open The Sims 3 Launcher. You'll be prompted to Download
the EA Download Manager if you haven't already Installed it. So, if you don't have it, Install
it. When you've Installed the EA Download Manager, click on 'Refresh' on the Game Updates -tab.
A pop-up will appear, telling you that there's an Update for you Game. Click 'OK' to Download
and Install the Update.

Now i thought that would be ok cause i figured its a patch not a crack but the fact is it was the only way i could get World adventures to install.

Anyway, after that the installations went ok, apart from some errors saying that the current version was more recent than the version of the expansion i was installing, but i carried on and they installed anyway. Updates worked and everything seemed fine.

The problem that i'm having though now is a lot of my UI is missing in game. Most text in the menu, and on the start screen (like the descriptions of the worlds and a lot of the settings in the menu). Now i don't even know if this could even be related, or if it's nothing to do with the installation at all. It could even be related to Seasons as i've never had this one before, the seasons screen at start up is blank white btw.

I have since seen this...https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t1171-must-read-how-to-install-the-sims-3-correctly
and that would be my next thing to do, completely uninstall and try again that way, but it still won't fix the fact that i HAD to do some of the steps in the 'crack' part to get World Adventures to install.

So basically i'm a bit confused, should i not have had to update, was it ok to do those steps?

Any help would be appreciated, i just don't want to have to do all that again if it's not even going to change anything, and it may not even be related to the problem i'm having

//EDIT

Ok just to update, i've found something about it being a common problem
with World Adventures not updating, and a possible fix was to install in
a different order, so i'm gonna try that.

I've completely
unistalled everything and will now do it like this say's
https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t1171-must-read-how-to-install-the-sims-3-correctly.

I'm
still a bit confused tho, it doesn't mention there if i should be
applying updates as i go through installation of all the expansions, but
i'm presuming i do as World Adventures makes you update?

anyway, i shall give it a go.

And
considering i have no idea if this is even a download problem or a
graphics issue, feel free to move it if i have put it in the wrong
section and sorry

Hello,

No, as described HERE you DO NOT need to use any of the "# Crack" folders.
If the installer says you must update in order to continue, just click "Continue".

Follow these instructions at all time: https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t1171-must-read-how-to-install-the-sims-3-correctly and RE-DOWNLOAD both the Fix and the manual patch when asked to do so.

Good luck and please let us know if you run into any problems!