Where are my packaged lots?

[Wednesday17]

I know, they are in the PackagedLots folder.
The problem I'm having is to bring them back into the game. I install the Sims2Pack file, but I never find the lots I packaged myself in the houses bin. I use clean installer.

I am wondering where the files of the Sims2Pack folder go, anyway. They don't go into the downloads folder, from the teleport folder the stuff just seems to dissapear into thin air (even with downloaded lots that install just fine).

So I keep installing as follows: first I select the lot file only, which goes to teleport and then... poof! But at least it's in game (downloaded lot), even when I never get to organize it.

Then I select everything else I want to install, unpack it to a temporary folder with .package extension because I don't want to have the stuff all over the place or just vanish (and being in game nevertheless, just invisible to my eyes). Then I go into that folder and change the file names which now end in .package.package (cos there's no option to NOT put an additional extension to it). Then I put the files in the correct folders. I mean, what else are my over 100 folders for than for keeping some kind of order?

I guess, as long as I don't understand aforementioned mysteries, I'll never understand where my self packed lots go when I install them, either. Soooo, anyone care to enlighten me a little bit?

[Micco]

They go to My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/LotCatalog.

[Wednesday17]

Thanks, Micco. I found... something. Lot of numbers.
But how do I get them to show up in my game again?
And can I somehow avoid the extended extensions (I mean the object installing, see above)?

[Micco]

Have you tried trash-canning everything in your lot bin in game and then reinstalling?

As for the extended extension issue, unless you install them to the default location you are probably stuck with it. It is safe to rename the file and remove the extra extension though. It does however make the point that creators should include as little CC as possible in their uploaded lots and provide DL links for people so they can order things as they go.

[Wednesday17]

Have you tried trash-canning everything in your lot bin in game and then reinstalling?

Nope. And I don't intend to because it would be too much effort to catalogue all the lots I've in the bin, finding the corresponding Sims2Pack files in a huge lot folder and then deleting and reinstalling them. There are also sitting lots in the bin that aren't even packed, just as backups for more difficult building projects. Plus I kinda don't see the point of deleting lots of stuff when I really want to ADD something. Okay, I see, the point being the weirdness that is The Sims.

It is safe to rename the file and remove the extra extension though.

Of course it is safe. I'm not a complete idiot - just not a native speaker and therefore not everything I write is guaranteed to make any sense, lol.
However, it is a lot of work to change the extensions of a lot with lots of CC (sometimes it's the CC that I'm after, not the lot).

So that kinda contradicts your opinion on CC in a lot. Also, I guess you assumed that the lot in question was either something I downloaded or something I had inteded for uploading. Neither was the case. What I tried to do was pack a house with it's inhabitants to get quick clones of the sims. Since that little trick didn't work, I dared to clone the sims (made in CAS, not BS) with SimPe, though it's still the Pets version and I play Seasons. Fortunately that went very well without any complications.

But it still worries me, that I can't get lots back in my game that I packed myself. It's not only the lot with characters in it, but also empty lots.

[MissDoh]

When you install new lots it is put into the teleport folder at 1st and then if everything is ok they will show up in your lot catalog after you start the game.

If they are still showing in the teleport folder, something is going wrong.

[Wednesday17]

I find the packaged lots properly deposited in the PagagedLots folder. But when I install them by double clicking the Sims2.Pack file, I never find them in the lot bin in game.