I've been working off this page and nowhere does it say how to find the actual .world file, even though the page says "Please do a backup before continuing with the rest of this guide. Go to the path provided above for the location of the .world file."

There is no path above. I've installed countless mods before and I've always been able to figure out what to do. I've been through every folder in my Document/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 folder and not found any .world files.

Could someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Which world do you want to back up? My Sunset Valley.world is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Worlds and my Twinbrook.world is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Ambitions\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Worlds. But my installed Store worlds are in C:\Users\SuperSecretIdentityName\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\InstalledWorlds. Worlds are not the same as game saves.

I believe you can choose where to save it when you save, but usually it's in documents/ElectronicArts/Create_a_World tool/ Usertooldata/Worlds. I think that's the default place. I usually never change a location like that, because I never find them when I need them.

When I installed the games and the eps I made sure to do a Typical install for each of them. I'm seeking to back up an Isla Paradiso (?) to fix the hanging that happens.

Edit: very strange, I followed the path that was posted above, and out of the 3 areas I can choose to start a new game in (Isla Paradiso, Sunset Valley, Twinbrook), only Sunset Valley is in that folder.

Ah-HA! I found it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3 Island Paradise\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Worlds. The trick is that it was downloaded! Hopefully this helps someone else with the same difficulty.

Spiderman! Where have you been?