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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 2nd Jul 2018 at 10:10 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions
Need Help With Issues Found With Dashboard Program
I just ran my Sims 3 game folder through the Dashboard program I downloaded from here. I found 5 issues with the downloads (see attachments), and I'm unsure how to proceed. I don't know if hitting Fix All Problems will actually fix the problems or create problems in the game.

(Note: I'm new to all of this and haven't played the Sims 3 for very long, so I don't really know what the hell I'm doing)
Screenshots

'The surest sign that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.' Calvin and Hobbes
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Test Subject
Original Poster
#2 Old 2nd Jul 2018 at 10:37 PM
Current issue is the Sims Loader won't load. I clicked on the icon in the taskbar, and nothing happens. Home screen, same thing. Tried to load it by double-clicking on .Sims3pack files, and again nothing. Finally, I tried to load it by plopping in my game disc and loading it through Windows Explorer, and I got an error message reading "Windows cannot find 'E\Game\Bin\Sims3Launcher.exe.' Make sure you typed the name correctly, then try again."

'The surest sign that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.' Calvin and Hobbes
Top Secret Researcher
#3 Old 2nd Jul 2018 at 11:23 PM
Quote: Originally posted by greywolf69
I just ran my Sims 3 game folder through the Dashboard program I downloaded from here. I found 5 issues with the downloads (see attachments), and I'm unsure how to proceed. I don't know if hitting Fix All Problems will actually fix the problems or create problems in the game.
(Note: I'm new to all of this and haven't played the Sims 3 for very long, so I don't really know what the hell I'm doing)


The files you have scanned should not be run through the Dashboard. The only folder you want to run through the Dashboard is your Mods folder. It can not read game folders, 3packs installed to DCCache, lots or world downloads.

Nona Mena has an excellent illustrated tutorial here: Delphy's Dashboard Tutorial]Delphy's Dashboard Tutorial Click on the link next to **Read the whole of this tutorial** in red print at the top of the page.

Another handy tool to check 3Packs is Custard Clean Installer. This tool is not meant to scan lots though.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 3rd Jul 2018 at 12:27 AM Last edited by igazor : 3rd Jul 2018 at 4:34 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by greywolf69
Current issue is the Sims Loader won't load. I clicked on the icon in the taskbar, and nothing happens. Home screen, same thing. Tried to load it by double-clicking on .Sims3pack files, and again nothing. Finally, I tried to load it by plopping in my game disc and loading it through Windows Explorer, and I got an error message reading "Windows cannot find 'E\Game\Bin\Sims3Launcher.exe.' Make sure you typed the name correctly, then try again."

What kind of an install is this and is your game installed or meant to be installed on your E drive? If it's meant to be Origin controlled and on Patch 1.69, the game can only be started by way of Origin now. If it's meant to be a retail store disc install and not connected to Origin, it should be able to be started by double-clicking on TS3w.exe or a shortcut to it, wherever that may have been installed. Or was the game obtained from some other source?


Edit: Oh, I see. If the E drive is your optical disc drive, then no you can't run the game that way. The discs are for installation and, if Origin is not involved, the most recently released one you have must be in place for authentication upon startup. The games can't run from the discs themselves. But that still leaves us with where/how exactly is this game installed and its patch level as to how it should be started up.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 4th Jul 2018 at 3:59 AM
Quote: Originally posted by barbarat
The files you have scanned should not be run through the Dashboard. The only folder you want to run through the Dashboard is your Mods folder. It can not read game folders, 3packs installed to DCCache, lots or world downloads.

Nona Mena has an excellent illustrated tutorial here: Delphy's Dashboard Tutorial]Delphy's Dashboard Tutorial Click on the link next to **Read the whole of this tutorial** in red print at the top of the page.

Another handy tool to check 3Packs is Custard Clean Installer. This tool is not meant to scan lots though.


Thanks, Barbarat, I'll give them both a look-through. As I said, I kinda don't know what I'm doing right now...Still trying to figure it all out. I haven't used many mods or programs while playing the game, as the few times I did use the game mods, my game kinda got fucked up as a result.

'The surest sign that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.' Calvin and Hobbes
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#6 Old 4th Jul 2018 at 6:33 AM
As barbarat already said, you should NEVER run your game folders (in Programs/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3) through Dashboard, let alone let it "fix" them. Only the user folder(s) in Documents.
What puzzles me when looking at your screenshots, however, is, why do you have the ContentPatch files in your base game folders under GameData/Shared/Packages? They are not supposed to be there. Did you place them yourself in that location?
Mad Poster
#7 Old 4th Jul 2018 at 8:18 AM Last edited by igazor : 4th Jul 2018 at 8:29 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by Don Babilon
What puzzles me when looking at your screenshots, however, is, why do you have the ContentPatch files in your base game folders under GameData/Shared/Packages? They are not supposed to be there. Did you place them yourself in that location?

The content (store) patches have been said to show up somewhere in the Program Files on Patch 1.69, which is why new installs never offered them through the Launcher for placement in the user game folder in Documents (and now no one on 1.67 gets offered them because EA is being dense about it). I never got around to confirming the exact location back when I played through Origin, unfortunately I can't now. So yes, running Dashboard on the program install would be alarming, but perhaps not the content patches showing up where they seem to be here.
Top Secret Researcher
#8 Old 4th Jul 2018 at 2:42 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Don Babilon
As barbarat already said, you should NEVER run your game folders (in Programs/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3) through Dashboard, let alone let it "fix" them. Only the user folder(s) in Documents.


Keep in mind though, the files in the documents folder such as DCCache, Downloads, Saves, et all will appear as all kinds of conflicts. Several years back I made the mistake of running everything in my The Sims 3 game folder and let the Dashboard "fix" the conflicts in DCCache. The "fix" removed all my 3pack content installed to those files. Based on my experience best advice I can give is to only run the Mods>Packages folder in Dashboard. Even then refer to the Understanding Mods and Delphy's Dashboard I linked to as even some of those files will "appear" as conflicts but are only false negatives (or false positives), It has been so long I forget which. :D
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