So basically, yesterday I somehow managed to accidently reset my laptop, I think...
I was downloading an editing app and there were popups that I was barely reading. One of them mentioned me needing to restart my laptop, so I did and it was taking so long to load that I was just holding in my power button. Idk if that caused it, honestly I have no idea what caused it.

Next thing you know, I'm setting up my laptop all over again. Like choosing a language, creating a password, whatever.
And everything on my laptop was wiped except for Steam, the EA app, the stupid editing app and the Sims 2, which I downloaded from Magipack. But all my documents and downloads were gone. So I used windows file recovery and I got a big folder with a lot of package files and they were clearly my sims 2 mods and cc. But when I put them all in my Downloads folder, it still doesn't show up in my game. I recognized custom lipsticks in the folder, but the game showed no custom lipsticks. My hoods are reset so all my custom lots I placed down and all the sims I created are gone. My custom lots don't even show up in the bin and the custom furniture doesn't show up in build/buy. My custom collections are gone but the custom cursors and splash music I downloaded still work.

I enabled CC in the game, the Downloads folder is spelled correctly, and I put the .package files directly into my downloads folder. So idk why nothing's working. I haven't tried downloading brand new CC yet, so I'll give that a try. But yeah, dunno what the problem could be.

Did you restart the game after enabling CC? First thing to try (if you haven't tried it already)

If that doesn't work, try again (occasionally takes a couple tries).

If that doesn't work, move out the Downloads folder, let Bodyshop generate a new one, put the Downloads into that one, and see if they show up now.

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If you're using Windows 10 or 11, make sure you've disabled OneDrive before letting it anywhere close to your game, preferably before installing it. This one can mess with your game...

Also, for future reference - make sure to backup your files (and game) to an external drive. Saves you from a lot of frustration in case things like this happens. The autobackups/file recovery can't always be trusted to have your latest files, or that they've saved them 100% the way they were.

I've restarted my game a bunch and my laptop. I just unlinked onedrive, but maybe it's too late? I did the bodyshop thing and it still doesn't work. It's looking like I might have to redownload.

I managed to accidentally delete my Downloads folder once and had to recover the files. A lot of the recovered files were corrupted and didn't work and I had to redownload them.

At least you have the names of the files, so you know what to look for. If there are some that you can't find then make a WCIF post. I got 99% of my stuff back doing that.

Yeah I don't think there's anything else I can do but redownload the game as well at this point. I just downloaded a hair and a dress and neither showed up in my game

Yeah, that would probably be the best thing to do. You can try repair on Origin if you have the UC, but it might miss stuff. Reinstalling is the safest bet.

And back up your downloads! I keep mine on a targa drive now.

Yeah, I'll start backing up my downloads from now on lol

If the game (and your current savegame) are showing up fine, it's probably not an issue with the game install, but the game just isn't locating or turning on the downloads.

Which path location are you putting the files in?
(thinking it could be the wrong path, especially if OneDrive is or has been involved, but also if the computer has gotten things confused with the AppData folder or some such).

Also make sure the folder is named "Downloads" (upper-case D, and s at the end).

There are some extra tips here, if the above tricks don't work:
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti...me_Help:GCCTSU3

When CC finally shows up, remember to install the CEP, so you don't get issues with recolors not working.

[QUOTE=simmer22]If the game (and your current savegame) are showing up fine, it's probably not an issue with the game install, but the game just isn't locating or turning on the downloads.

Which path location are you putting the files in?

I spelled Downloads correctly and it's in documents/ea games/sims 2/ Downloads. I'll look through the tips, ty

TammyCat, did you remember the CEP?

oh no I only added it before the reset happened

I'm having the same issue ATM and I am trying these solutions. At some point, none of the custom content I downloaded from MTS stopped appearing in my Sims 2 game. I did buy ULTIMATE for the Sims 1 - I'm not entirely sure if something crossed. Everything is updated. I'm going to try and keep doing these solutions, but if anything did work, let me know. Thank you!

I'm currently having this problem, too. This is my third Sims 2 laptop, so it's not my first rodeo. I have Windows 11. I've shut off OneDrive. My paths are correct. Remembered CEP eventually, so at least I have the dialog box pop up when I start the game...but no CC. What else can I try??

What is the filepath of your game installation files, and what is the filepath of your userdata?

Try to reinstall the CEP from scratch (I am sure I had to do that after repairing my game some time ago),

Here's the path in my documents folder: C:\Users\chris\Documents\The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection and the program files is: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection

...when my downloads folder isn't where it SHOULD be (in my documents) I have it on the desktop. I don't actually need to save these downloads anywhere else on the computer, do I?

If you move the whole Downloads folder in and out, or if you had to make the foldermanually, the game can sometimes stop recognizing it.

One way to make sure the game recognizes the folder is to make Bodyshop regenerate the folder for you. Move out the current Downloads folder (to the desktop), run Bodyshop, and make sure the folder appears. If not, try making a project or sim. Then quit Bodyshop, and move your downloads over to the new folder. You can do the same thing with the SavedSims folder (and it could even help to force it to regenerate both at the same time).

I tried the Bodyshop thing a few times, but this time I created a Sim. No Downloads folder was created, so I just moved my og folder in. Nothing.

Okay, so before I had redownloaded the CEP, I wasn't even getting the dialog box listing all the CC at startup. When I downloaded it again, the dialog box appeared...BUT this is the path shown for the CEP, and I don't know if it matters? C:/Users/chris/OneDrive/EA Games/The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection/zCEP-EXTRA/etc.

I turned off OneDrive. What exactly is going on there?