EA Store Stuff won't stay in the game since Windows 7 has installed.[SOLVED]

Hello guys... long time no see. Sorry for my absence, but we've had my sister Kizzy's funeral, buril and will reading. It was awful, and now my family's thorn up between Africa and America. My husband, my sons and I and now back in our house, and we've decided to uninstall Windows XP from my wonderful computer and install Windows 7 instead. We didn't want to pay the latest Windows 8.

Well, the problem now is that the EA Stuff contents just won't stay in the game even when the game laucher says it installed with success. I have all the EA Stuff from your Mediafire account. It was wonderfully working with XP, but I've never used 7, and I somehow managed to install sims 3 and all expansions and stuffs. But the goddamn EA Store Stuff just won't stay..

I need to tell you that I've already done everything the net had proposed me, like deleting cache files, getting rid of the DCbackup thingys and such, but now it's getting awkward. And the mods I have are those: Twallan's master controller, master controller cheats, Overwatch, cmomoney's cigarette mod, and of course the pandora super nude patch (be assured that my kids never use these two last mod because 1st it's for grown ups, 2nd they have their own account and they have their own sims 3 mods, and I always look carefully at what they get).

Any help from you guys would be accepted. I thank you in advance!

Kabiru

Hi There

So the content are they missing from the ingame or are they just showed as uninstalled in the launcher?
If it's in the launcher, then it's quite normal and nothing to worry about.

However if you're delete the DCBackup every time before starting the game, that could actually explain the missing content, since you only should delete those, when you need to do a complete reinstall of Store Content.

Thanks for replying...

In fact, it just disappears in the laucher AND the game too. What to do now? My computer works with evryhting maxed out, and with the weather and seasons, it,s just so wonderful...

Maybe it,s just me who can't handle windows 7... What to do next?

Okay, is there any files in the DCBackup and DCCache now?
And do you have anything else than Store Content as sims3package installed?
If so, please try to uninstall/remove those and give a go again.

I know that some CC can cause different kind of problems, so better be safe that sorry.

And about the Mods, have you checked for an update for those?
Twallan/NRAAS updates his offen, since he corrects them a lot.

Well, I'll have to wait, because I'm now reinstalling everything because it just became corrupted last night.... I'm already at Outdoor Living Stuff.

I've been reinstalling twice since the problem came, and it never solved anything. It became corrupted last night because of my son Omoro rearranging the registry settings by himself, and I had to scold him harshly and unisnatll the lot with Ccleaner. It installs withotu flaws now, but let's just wait a bit, and I'll tell you what next. But I'm sure I do something wrong in installing the EA Store Stuff from the mediafire account.

And... no, I only use the latest mods, and never custom contents, because one of them was a trojan, and my Avast Internet Security blocked it very fast with the alarm noise and ''a malware had been detected'' said by the girl, and I choosed to never use any custom contents other than the EA ones.

The Twallan's mods, I always download the latest. The comoney cigarette mod, I have downloaded the latest in october. I'm a smoker, but only in the Sims 3, I stopped smoking after moving in America in 2005. As for the pandora super nude patch, I downloaded the ltest one just last week. I had to hide the file from my sons, because they can find anything, and I won't let them use this mod, it's too much intense. Nor for the cigarette mod, they'll just want to smoke once they're 13, so no cigarette for them neither.

Well I'll tell you guys as soon as I've tried again. I'm sure I don't do anything well for Windows 7... Not used to it, you see?

Thanks! Kabiru

Okay, that would explain a lot - I guess. That your son rearranged the Registry settings. Please check those again after reinstalling and see if the information are correct incl. the path. It's the one telling the computer where to find the game/expansion/extra pack. If one of those are missing, I do believe, that there would be a missing icon in launcher.

Hum... the registry had been corrupted last night, and the EA Store Stuff wouldn't stay installed anywhere we could see, and Omoro still haven't played with the registry yet. Sorry. It isn't the registry. It's all about the way I install the Sims3packs. And as for the launcher, the eps and sps stays there no matter what. And I use the default path for installing the game and everything else. so...

Kabiru

Okay, everything had been installed, and I tried again. Only a few EA stuff is staying in the game and the laucher installed content, like the worlds and some contents. But the rest goes back to downloads. Now what?

I tried Lady Eldi's trick by removing cache files in the Documents Sims 3 folder and in the DCbackup and DCcache folders, then reinstall, but the EA Store Stuff just woN,t stay there. Once everything is installed, I start the game right away, and... nothing is installed now, not even the worlds.

Is it because I downloaded the Ea Store Stuff while I had Windows XP? I need some directions now...

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Kabiru Touray

Hello Lady Eldi!

Thanks for your reply! In fact, your trick is working like a charm. But it will take a lot of time. Can I ask if, say, the user folder inside My Documents is backed up in another drive, will it save me the waste of time of reinstalling everything from EA Store Stuff next time I install the Sims 3 and all eps and sps? Because if anything goes wrong, I don't want to reinstall the EA Store Stuff for over a week. I have work to do, and my Omoro is going to school. So... will making a backup will save time next time I install evrything?

Another question: I usually format my SSD every so often to prevent the malwares and spywares to stay. Doing that, I have to erase everything. And Sims 3 included. Installing everything is very long and awkward. I searched the net on how to make a backup of the sims 3 program files folder to copy on another drive. And a freidn told me it IS possible, but I'll need to make a file like example.reg to make sure the registry made from the Sims 3 works and make the computer believe it's already installed. I need your help to make the example.reg file and find the registry keys from the sims 3 and all expansions & stuffs. Can you help me?

Any help on this matter would greatly please me! Omoro and Kom will be pleased too to not have to wait after me for DAYS until they can play their Sims' life...

Thanks in advance!

Kabiru

Oh wow! This seems so perfect! What should I do about it? Should I send him a message?

Thanks you Lady Eldi. I think this'll be perfect with this.

About the viruses, I use malwarebytes anti-malware and avast internet security (i paid avast the best and longest avast deal).

Okay, now I need to do what next? Should I message him?

Thanks in advance.

Kabiru

Okay, thank you so much Lady Eldi!

You truly are a real samaritan! And a lovely doll too. lol. Even though I already have my husband dont worry haha, I dont really seduce girls. lol.
he would be angry if i suddenly change my own ways of love one day haha.

well, never mind about that. sorry.

Thanks a lot.

Kabiru

Hello,
I wrote the tool Lady ElDi informed you of. I'll try to answer all of your questions with easy to follow instructions so you won't have to reinstall if you format again.

romantyke wrote:Can I ask if, say, the user folder inside My Documents is backed up in another drive, will it save me the waste of time of reinstalling everything from EA Store Stuff next time I install the Sims 3 and all eps and sps?

These are essentially two different questions, so I'll answer them separately.
1) My Documents - Yes, you can. In fact, I just formatted a couple days ago and oddly I forgot to back up My Documents, so now I'm having to start all over on the Sims I created - however, that did give me an idea, though it may be too advanced for the typical users. If you're not very tech savvy, or not comfortable creating partitions, using robocopy or mklink, etc with the Windows command prompt I advise you just do a copy backup, then copy back after the format. Here's what I did: I created a 50gb partition (more than enough for me), used mklink /D to create a symbolic link from My Documents\Electronic Arts to the new partition - so if I forget to back up again prior to formatting, I won't lose my sims. I mentioned Robocopy because if you'll have data you'll want to copy over - and robocopy is king for this. If you'd like some semi-advanced instructions on how to do this please message me and I'll do a step-by-step "guide" on how to do it.

2) Expansions/Stuff Packs no-reinstall: This is actually pretty simple to do, but it does require some set up. First, you can't install to a location that will be removed when formatting (ie: no "Program Files") - but this also has a decent side effect; you won't have to mess with DEP settings if it's outside of Program Files. If you've already installed it to the Program Files location have no fear, all you have to do is copy your Sims installation folders to the place that will keep them safe during the format. From there, you may have to switch some things around depending on how you got the Sims folder to the "safe" location. If you installed them there, keep reading at (2) - if you copied them there, keep reading at (1).

(1) Alright, so you copied your Sims installation directories to a new, safe location. You'll need to update the registry so that the games will be played from that location. This is where my tool comes into play. Open up the tool, and click on "Get Data From Registry". Once the information has been populated, meke sure the checkbox on the left hand side of each expansion/stuff pack that you have installed is checked. For each of your installed expansions and stuff packs you'll need to change the "Install Dir" to the new location. This is simple; click the "Browse" button on the right hand side and select the right folder. The "Exe Path" should automatically update to reflect. Once you have all of your values changed to the new location click the "Fix" button, then exit the program. Start the launcher and make sure there are no errors. If there are no errors, keep reading at (2)

(2) So, everything is good. The Sims 3 and all expansions is now running in a safe place that won't be deleted when formatting, the registry should have good data for this location. So what I'm going to demonstrate now, is how to save your registry settings for the new location so that when you reformat all you have to do is double click a .reg file and you can start playing The Sims 3 immediately after getting into Windows again. Here's the step-by-step:
- Run my tool
- Click "Get Data From Registry"
- Click "Export to .reg file" -- save it in a location that is safe from being deleted when formatting
- Close the tool

Now after formatting all you have to do is navigate to and double click that .reg file and then you should be able to start playing the sims.

-edit: I would also like to point out that by doing this you will not be able to remove the base game, or expansions from the Add/Remove control panel application. In the next version of my tool I'll add the option to put them back into the Add/Remove Programs list.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for this reply!

I think I understand.

But now I have to ask: I have only an extern hdd to put my new Sims 3 installation folder. Is it safe to put it in this hdd? A friend of mine said that the game would be much slower if it is installed on an extern hdd. I don't have money for any ssd neither.

Should I still install it on the xtern hdd anyway? Or should I simply make the registry files from your tool while the installation folder is in the Program Files folder?

I'm counting on you for any info!

Thanks in advance!

Kabiru

The speed depends on what it's connected to. You're probably using USB to connect the drive, which can be faster or slower depending on which USB interface it's using. If it's 3.0 you should have no issues at all. If it's 1.0 ... expect some loooong loading times. If it's 2.0 you'll probably be fine (and this would be my guess of which one you'll be using).

If you want to keep it on the SSD you could always create a partition on the SSD. That's a fine alternative also

As a side note for the OP and anyone else who may consider doing this; after a format the drive letters -may- switch around a bit depending on various factors. After double clicking the .reg file after formatting and reinstalling windows, you may need to change the drive letters in the registry. You can fix it easily with my tool, or you can edit the .reg file prior to double clicking it [or after double clicking if you forgot].

Oh wow! This is so cool!

I am not really a computer whiz, because I prefer doing sports and gym muscle training, but this is just so perfect for my computer.

I'm using USB 2.0... I think. So I'll try to install it on the extern drive then.

Thanks! Kabiru

I'm sorry, but your tool says there's a problem with the application. I copied my installation folder in my extern hdd, and there was no error playing it, then when I tried to make a registry file with the tool, it just won,t work when pressing get data from registry...

If you just copied the game folder then it's still playing from the original location. Does it give you an error when you click the button? If so, all of the information in that error would be very useful for me. If not, then I don't really have enough information to say what the problem is or how to fix it.

Okay, I see..

Well, I did use the tool to change the registry installation directories to my extern hdd. But what now? Should I simply delete the installation folder of program files? I did everything you wrote!

Sorry. can you help? Kabiru

Update: Issue resolved in private message. It turned out to be duplicate and un-needed registry entries.

Hello Romantyke,

Can you actually confirm everything works fine now?

Well, yes actually, Admin.

I have to thank everybody here who helped me sort this out.

About the store stuff contents, I really appreciate Lady Eldi's 20 at a time trick. Wow, Lady Eldi, you're really cool.

As for the way to copy the installation and documents folders, I can honestly thank hexorcist for the great patience he had. He had been writing back to me very fast and every single time I wrote what to do next.

I'm not a computer whiz, I usually do sports, gym training and muscle pumping, so PCs and stuff are just my ''side entertainment''. My sons usually plays it a lot more than me, to be honest.

Thanks all of you guys! By the way... i'll copy all this topic in a text file just to be sure I won't forget this if anything like this happens again. I'll also copy the P.M. messages to be on the safe side.

Again, all pof you guys proved how cool you are!

Malaika!

Kabiru