hi, so a few years ago i had sims 2 double deluxe but it stopped working so i stopped using it, more recently i thought i had filled the disk or something so i bought another one, only to realise it was about the compatibility. Anyway, so i had to re-download my mods, but when it came to putting it into folders in sims I got a bit stuck. I have 2 folders, one called Sims 2, and another called Sims 2 Double Deluxe (documents-EA games- sims 2/sims 2 double deluxe) and i have no idea which one to put it into, and neither one had a downloads folder. so i've been moving the downloads folder with all of my mods in around trying to get this to work.
Yes, i have extracted them with winrar. Have i done something wrong?

Have you tried getting the UC off Origin? If I was you I would contact customer support, show them your game and see if you can get it. People are still getting it, but sometimes you have to try a few times depending on who you deal with.

If you are Windows 7 it makes 2 folders, one is real and one fake. I am guessing your real one is the Deluxe folder. But if you can get the UC well then you can use whatever mods you like.

If you do get UC you need to uninstall any and all Sims 2 games before you download it.

Sorry I don't know all the terms for things, whats UC? I have windows 10

The Ultimate Collection, EA put it out a couple of years ago for free, it's all EP's and SPs. Some may say it's not available, but people are still getting it. You do need an Origin account and a computer with room for it all. It also comes fully patched.

So do I need to download the Ultimate collection than? Where do I make an origin account?

You may have to create a Downloads folder. It doesn't always generate on its own. Try to put it in one location, and if that doesn't work, try the other. If one is fake, this folder will be empty and it's not the right one. Also make sure to enable CC properly.

I put all my CC into the downloads folder I made and tried it in both folders but neither of them have worked. I've also actually gone onto the game and made sure I've enabled CC aswel but nothing :/

Did you enable your CC properly? When you get to the screen where there's a button you click to enable CC -- It appears before you load any neighborhoods -- you click "Enable," then exit the game, and then reload the game, and then your CC should show. If you don't exit and reload, your stuff still won't show.

You don't have to have the UC to get this to work at all, but if you want it, you can try to get it.

Actually nothing came up before neighbourhoods, i went into one of my neighbourhoods and changed it in the settings to see if it would make a difference. WHat does UC actually do?

The UC is just a collection of the complete TS2 game, all EPs and SPs. EA gave it away for free a couple of years back to people who had games registered on the EA site or who could prove that they owned at least one of the games. It's nothing particularly special; it just gives you the complete game in one download. To get it, you have to put Origin on your machine, if you don't already have it.

If that screen isn't coming up, then the game isn't detecting your downloads folder. I'm actually not sure why you have two folders in your Documents folder. There should only be one, called the The Sims 2 and in that folder there should be a bunch of folders like "Neighborhoods" and "Cameras" and stuff like that. If there isn't a folder called Downloads in it, then you should be able to create one. Make sure that it's called Downloads (with an "s" at the end) and that it is capitalized. I would try creating the folder manually and then dragging the contents of the folder you've been moving around, see if it's detected that way. If it isn't, then I'm thinking the issue is that you shouldn't have that "Double Deluxe" folder in your Documents folder. You could try moving that to your desktop temporarily, and then see if the game will load and your Downloads folder will be detected that way.

You should be able to get Double Deluxe to work without downloading the UC. The UC really isn't for everyone. It requires a reasonably good computer with a dedicated graphics card. I have registered it, so I have the option to use it should I need to one day, but I have never downloaded it or installed it, as I have been warned that any EP beyond OFB might burn out the onboard Intel graphics chip on the netbook I play on. I play with Double Deluxe, and I do indeed have a The Sims 2 and a The Sims 2 Double Deluxe folder, but the The Sims 2 Double Deluxe folder is in Program Files (C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Double Deluxe), and the The Sims 2 is in My Documents (My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2). Are you by any chance mixing the two up? The right place to place CC is in The Sims 2 directory in My Documents. I suggest creating a Downloads folder in there and putting some simple CC (perhaps a couple of clothing recolours) in there and see if it shows up in game.

You also have to enable Custom Content in the Custom Content screen that appears just before you choose which neighbourhood to play. If you're not seeing the Custom Content Dialog screen, you have to turn it on inside the game in Game Options, and then restart the game. To get to Game Options click on the 3 dots in the UI and them on the 2 cogwheels. Then on the top right hand corner of Game Options, ensure that Display Custom Content Dialog at Startup is turned on. I think Custom Content is enabled by default in Double Deluxe but it's over 3 years since I installed my game!

I'm assuming that you're using a UK Double Deluxe DVD. It uses the OFB game engine. I understand that some copies of Double Deluxe may have been sold in North America that used, or had an option to use, the Store Edition game engine. Don't use that of you can possibly avoid it, as it has compatibility issues.

I hope this is all clear. I'm rushing when I'm writing it as I have to take my (Real Life) dog for a walk.

[EDIT] Partially Ninja'd by ICad, but I hope my directions for enabling the Custom Content Dialog help still. I have the same version of the game as you do, so we should be getting exactly the same screens.

What is Origin (sorry, I'm so clueless ). well the Sims 2 folder has collections, lot catalog, neighbourhoods, projects, saved sims, sc4 terrains, story telling + thumbnails, and the Sims 2 double deluxe folder has cameras, collections, config, logs, lot catalog, movies, music, neighbourhoods, sc4 terrains, story telling, teleport + thumbnails, so the Sims 2 double deluxe folder has alot more folders inside but i don't know if that means anything. I'm going to try moving my downloads into a new downloads folder, does it matter if they are in sub-folders (clothes, hair, skintones etc)?

ok so the Sims 2 folder is the right one . i've already enabled CC in the options within one of my neighbourhoods. I'm not actually sure where my version of Sims is from, I am from the UK but I bought my second one off of CEX so it's actually second hand which might be a reason why this is happening but i don't know.

Since you have Double Deluxe, you should be fine with subfolders. (You need at least one EP for that, and DD comes with Nightlife, so you're good there.)

So far as I know, you should not have both of those folders in your Documents folder, as there will be conflicting information. I would temporarily remove one or the other and see if the game will load and function properly with only one of them, and then stick with that. (Maybe ask which one AndrewGloria has, since he has only DD, too.)

Origin is the application or program or whatever through which you can purchase and download games from EA. If you get UC, EA will add it to your Origin account and then you would be able to download it and install it from there. Once you have it installed, you can then get rid of Origin if you want to, as you don't need it to run the UC, only to install it. But, as AndrewGloria said, you'll want to make sure that your computer is OK to run it. Since you have Windows 10, I'm assuming that it's newer, but new doesn't necessarily mean "good enough for gaming," and TS2 with all EPs/SPs plus a lot of custom content demands just as much in terms of resources as games being released today.

I have tried putting my CC into a different Downloads folder and tried putting only a few files into the DOwnloads folder but still nothing :/. I'm now going to try removing one of the folders and see what happens. Do you think my laptop could handle UC?

AndrewGloria which folder has your downloads in?

I have no idea if your laptop can handle the UC. It depends entirely on its specs. If it's a higher-end one meant for gaming, sure. If it's a low-end one meant for surfing the internet and not much else, probably not. (Although, that said, I played a full game on a tiny, very underpowered netbook for a while, when I was on the road. It would've probably destroyed it if I'd done it long-term, but for the 6 or 8 months or so that I did it, it was OK, and the netbook is still fine.)

Here's what I'd do:

Remove the "Double Deluxe" folder that's in your Documents/EA Games folder. Put it on the desktop.
Create a "Downloads" folder in the "The Sims 2" folder that's in Documents/EA Games.
Copy/paste (not drag) a few CC files to that newly created folder.
Start the game.
Assuming that it loads, when you get to the screen where you can enable CC, there should be a window in that screen showing what you have in your Downloads folder with little yellow caution signs in front of each thing, and there'll be a warning that CC changes game behavior and blah blah. (Which, yeah, EA, we know. That's what we want, morons!). Ignore the BS, and click the "Enable" button. (Enabling CC in a neighborhood won't do it; I think all that does is make it so that CC shows in your Build/Buy mode catalogs)
Exit the game
Reload the game. At that point, the CC detection screen should come up again. The "Enable" button should still be clicked.
Click out of that screen, and the game should go to the neighborhood selection screen, where you should see all your available neighborhoods. (Pleasantview, Strangetown, etc.)

If none of that works....Then I don't know. You'll need someone techier than me, and you might need to uninstall the game, clear all the registry keys that uninstalling leaves behind, and then reinstall. I'm thinking there are wires crossed somewhere since you have that extra folder in your Documents folder.

Yeah, I don't have a very high end laptop, not exactly ideal for gaming tbh so I would think not. I tried moving both the regular sims 2 and the double deluxe folder out to my documents and making new downloads folders, pasting in a few files......but still nothing :/ hmmmm, the only other thing I can think of is that when i used WinRAR to extract the files I did that into my documents temporarily as I couldn't find a downloads folder and didn't think it would make a difference, but could that have affected it?

I wouldn't think that would affect it, but...I suppose it's possible. You could try downloading something fresh and extracting it directly to the Downloads folder you created. Can't hurt to try, at least.

But, like I said, I think your game's wires are crossed somewhere since you ended up with those two folders instead of one. In this case, you might benefit from an uninstall/reinstall, but the thing is when you do that, there are registry keys left behind (which might be your problem since you did two installs....unless that first one wasn't on the same machine?) Well, in any case, you'll need some advice as to how to do a proper uninstall/reinstall such that all of the bits are removed. It's not as simple as using the Control Panel to uninstall the game. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do that, and it's my bedtime anyway. So, you might open a new thread in the Help forum , as that's where the more techie amongst us tend to lurk. Good luck to you! I hope you get it resolved.

EDIT: There are also many threads in the Help forum about installing the game with Windows 10. Those are usually from people who can't even get it running, and you've gotten that far at least. But perhaps there will be something relevant to your issue as well. I don't know that for a fact, as I don't use Win 10 (My Simming machine still runs good ol' Vista. ), but those threads might be worth a read-through.

Ok so what I've reluctantly decided to do is uninstall and delete all of my sims stuff (aside from the downloaded mods) and reinstall it again and hopefully try and make it work. I'll also look in to the UC and see if i think my laptop would be strong enough to handle it.

Like Mike said still try and get the UC, it can sit in your Origin tray untouched until such time that you do have a computer that can run the full game, AndrewGloria has done that. Just leave it there and don't install it.

Put up your lap top stats and someone will know if you can run it. If you can you really want the full game, you will get so much more game play than you get now and you can also use any cc/mods you want.

I have uninstalled and installed again and found that i only had the Sims2 folder this time which is good, but i found that whatever i did (moving things around in folders and changing the settings of things and going through the MTS Help section) i still couldn't find my CC within the game anywhere :/
Tomorrow I am going to get UC. What do you mean by my laptop status, like the amount of space I have/used?

No, how good a machine is it? Does it have a graphics card, how much RAM, computer specs.

honestly I have no idea, I'm not all that techy. How could I find out?