sims3pack not showing as sims files ??

[suesbust]

My sims3packs are not showing as they should ie:blue/green icons they are just like white squares with another sqaure in the middle they are still named "sims3pack"   (image would be easier to explain but couldnt upload screen shot) 

Also since this has happened my misc folder in the CAS is empty and freezes till I double click it ??

Game launcher has also become very sluggish to open up not sure if these 3 things are related but they all seemed to occur around the same time.

Any help, advice would be greatly appreciated 

[Execution]

There is no such thing as a .sims3file. If you have .sims3files, maybe for some reason you changed .sims3packs into .sims3files? That, or I'm not understanding.

[suesbust]

Whoops you are correct I should have said sims3pack  my error have ammended my post thanks for pointing out 

[loveSims]

Are you talking about the icons of the installed games in the launcher?

[suesbust]

No,  not in the launcher but in the downloads folder.  Is there a way to post picture on here to explain better?   

[Execution]

To insert a picture,
1. Press Prtscn on your computer.
2. Open up Paint and hit ctrl+v.
3. Save the picture under whatever name you'd like.
4. Either make an account in the gallery or go to a site like tinypic.
5. Upload your picture and get the url. Copy the url by highlighting it and hitting ctrl+c.
6. Go to your post and paste the url by hitting ctrl+v.
7. Highlight it and click on the picture icon in the second row, far left of the tools above your post.
It should look like {img}Your image URL{/img}, but the {s will be [s.

[suesbust]

[Broken image link removed.  -Pam]

[Seabody]

This just shows up as a "Picture not found" icon to me. I checked, and you need to make sure that the end of the URL is .png .gif .bmp or any other image extension.

[suesbust]

[Broken image link removed.  -Pam]

[Ricalynn]

These are items that you bought and downloaded from the store?  Have you thought of uninstalling everything via the launcher and then redownloading/reinstalling them?  Yes it will take a while but it might be worth a shot.  Or if you want do a Factory reset but I would still redownload your items instead of just copying over your downloads folder. 

What exactly what the last thing you did to your game right before all this happened?  Did you patch or install one of the new SPs?

[suesbust]

No most of the items I have downloaded are from TSR or Parsimonious. I have used both these sites since sims 1 and never had a problem.
 I did buy something from the store and it looks the same as the picture above.
I have deleted everything both via the launcher (when it eventually loads up) and via the downloads folder, this didn't make any difference. 
I haven't installed any new packs or xp's as my hard drive died and had to install everything from scratch on new one and everything was fine for a few weeks till now.
I have no idea what factory reset means    I have read the topic link you suggested and it scares me  as this means I will lose all my Families 
 So am completely lost/confused why this is now happening all of a sudden.
I am posting picture of my sims 3 folder maybe there is something there that shouldn't be ?
Thanks to everyone who is offering suggestions to help I really apprecite it and apologise if I'm a little errmmmm daft

[Broken image link removed. -Pam]

[Ricalynn]

You don't have to lose your families as you can move them back in after the factory reset.    The only reason I said to do a factory reset because it's faster than a reinstall which would be my other suggestion.   I don't see anything weird except for the that that you have several exception files meaning the game has had a problem in some way.  Are they all recent?

Also the game loading and launcher will become sluggish when you've hit a certain threshold with installed items.  I think the game is only really able to handle so much in a smooth  manner.    There is also the thing concerning a point where your computer becomes a little less than perfect to run the game.  It can happen over time if you haven't upgraded anything.

I would still try the factory reset since you won't lose anything just to see if it acts the way you think it should.  If it doesn't then you know it's something else.  You don't have to keep the factory reset as to undo it, you just have to rename the old folder back to The Sims 3.

[thesweetestpea]

To fix the file classification error, try right-clicking on one of the files, choosing 'Open with...' and then selecting the Sims 3 Launcher. The Launcher should register the files then and they'll always open using it.