So, I'm returning to the Sims 3 after about 3 years of hiatus... I installed a custom world and was ready to begin setting it up for play. I downloaded some lots to fill the empty spaces and customized a bit. Then, I moved onto getting some custom CAS parts for making some townies. However, I guess I sort of forgot what to do along the way and screwed up big time.
I don't use the launcher except to install worlds because it's really messed up on my PC. It throws constant script errors and I can only install one thing at a time. Then I have to force-close it because the entire interface gets greyed out, even the exit button. :/ And it takes about 5 minutes for the launcher to load up again. So the launcher is not usable for me, even after reinstalling it numerous times.
To install CC, I remember I would use Delphy's extractor and paste the packages in the Electronic Arts documents folder. But what I forgot is that, apparently, lots and CAS parts cannot go in the same folder! I can't remember now where CAS things are supposed to go... is it in Mods/Packages?? Custom sims and CAS parts are not showing up in game, so I know I goofed.
What can I do to rectify this? I have an ungodly amount of CC, but I've been able to run the game with this amount in the past. Many files have unidentifiable names, so I can't just go through and weed out the ones that don't belong. And deleting everything and starting over... ugh.
Last resort. I need to know if there's something else I can do, because at this point it's probably 80% lots anyway...
And wait, I'm confused now. Do required custom furniture/patterns that are bundled with lots need to go elsewhere as well? I can't remember all of these details. I've researched this quite a bit now, but everything's like "PACKAGES GO HERE GUYS" and no one mentions which specific packages need to go where, and whatnot.
Is the launcher the only way to preview the files? Or is there some other sort of utility I could use to view the file, and easily get back to the file's location to move it to another folder?
I'm sorry if this is all crazy-like, but I'm really in need of assistance. Any help would be appreciated.
Oh, and I guess I forgot to clarify this important detail, but literally everything under the sun is inside my Library folder.
Edit: Okay, if anyone ever has this issue, even though I feel like the only one who's done something silly like this... I think I've figured something out. In Delphy's dashboard, you can sort by package type. Since it's only actually about 20% lots after all, I am just going to temporarily move those files to another folder, move the remaining packages to their correct location, and then put the lot files back into the Library. Since the dashboard opens the file folder instead of highlighting the actual file, it'll take a bit of work, but this is the best solution I can think of.
There are also a few files labeled generically as "Package" or something like that. There are both ones with identifiable names and then the generic string of numbers and letters. I'm going to treat all these as non-lot content, since the ones I can identify are not lots. And then, if I notice that a lot in particular is missing, I can just re-download the lot.
Edit 2: And it worked! Only took a half an hour, too, which is good for weeding out 200+ files. The obscurely named 0x files weren't as hard to find as I thought, since they'd be singled out within about 5 characters in the Windows Explorer search bar. And the game was surprisingly quick to load, no longer than usual, considering I just dumped almost 5,000 files into it. So if anyone ever does this silly thing, that's how you solve it quickly!