My game is fully up to date and my computer meets all of the system specs. I have the base game, Ambitions, Late Night, Pets, Seasons, Generations, and University expansions. I followed the ModtheSims "Game Help:Installing Sims 3 Package Files" instructions to a T. For all intents and purposes, I should be able to successfully put package files onto my Sims3 game, but it is not working.

I followed the instructions very carefully, multiple times. I deleted all of the proper cache files, etc., and made sure not to touch anything I wasn't supposed to. The Resource.cfg file in tact. I've been scouring online for an answer and all I've been able to find is articles saying "follow the ModtheSims instructions and it WILL work! If it doesn't you did something wrong!" But I have followed the instructions perfectly, and still it won't work.

Is there any random problem that has been occurring with other Sims3users that isn't an obvious answer but could be the issue? I've been researching online for days trying to find and answer and trying every possible solution other people could come up with, and as far as i'm concerned I've done everything right and nothing is wrong with my game or my computer. I would LOVE to be able to use package files but this just doesn;t seem to want to work for me!! Any help is much appreciated.

There is one thing to check right away that's becoming pretty common. Go to your game folder in Documents, the one that has the Mods/Packages framework, and look for a file called DeviceConfig.log. Does its modification date/time match the last time you launched the game? If not sure, try launching the game and its mod date/time should change instantly. If not, then you have another game folder somewhere on your system (OneDrive perhaps, especially if you are on Win 10) that is the live one and you are adding mods to a game folder that the game isn't using.

Hmm interesting...the date on that file definitely does not match. I've been playing a lot recently but it's date is from sometime last year. I can't seem to find another game folder anywhere though. The only other related folders really are the ones I find when I go the old roundabout way to install packages (the package contents, transgaming way...) But other than that there doesn't appear to be another game folder.

I know this new way of installing packages is "easier" and more straightforward...but would it hurt my game to go about it the old way?

Whoa there, I didn't realize you were playing on the Mac OS.

If your live game folder is still set up the "old" way in transgaming, which goes back to before Patch 1.12, then most modern mods are not going to work. NRaas mods, for example, are totally unsupported under that configuration. Basically, random (bad) things are going to happen and many of your package files just won't load.

I would strongly recommend not having a live game folder anywhere other than the user's Documents folder however you need to arrange this. It's not just a matter of convenience, it's how things were set up to work after the Ambitions patch many years ago.
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php%3Ftit..._Way_to_New_Way

Ya, sorry I now realize I never actually said the words "Mac" or anything in my original post. I was just curious if it would be an issue to set it up the old way...But I have read that wiki before, but it isn't actually relevant to me because I never had it set up the old way. I've never had a packages or Mods folder under transgaming. So I can't move from the old way to the new way. I never used the old way. It doesn't exist on my computer. I'm just not sure why the new way won't work.

Unless it just plain and simple doesn't work anymore because of all the issues with new vs. old mods, and patches, and whatever. Which I can accept, but if it CAN work I would like it too.

Okay sorry, I see that I misunderstood. When you said "The only other related folders really are the ones I find when I go the old roundabout way to install packages (the package contents, transgaming way...)" somehow I got that you were going the old roundabout way and actually installing package content there. Or had at some point. The one that you can find, is there a Resource.cfg file and a Mods/Packages setup there, even if you have never consciously tried to use it? The game doesn't really know how to handle two simultaneous frameworks.

Point is, somewhere on your system you have a live game folder. It has a DeviceCofig.log that is being updated to the current date/time whenever you attempt to launch the game and it has your saves in it. It's clearly not the game folder in Documents as what you are adding there is being ignored. Your game wouldn't function if you didn't have a live game folder and you wouldn't have any saves or game options set.

You could try a Spotlight search on DeviceConfig or some the names of your game saves. Again, they must be someplace. But if they are buried inside an OS X package type bundle, they won't be indexed by Spotlight so you might not get any hits that way.

Hope you find it, or figure out why the game is still reading a game folder from the one in transgaming. At the worst case, you may have to uninstall, reinstall, and patch up again. But the package file framework in Documents does work on Macs up through Patch 1.67 (the highest there is currently), to the extent that TS3 for Mac works at all -- it always was a delicate program due to the improper port EA did into OS X and their refusal to fix things to make them better for Mac players. No help here I suppose, but I gave up on the Mac version of this game years ago after Pets and Seasons killed my gameplay, bootcamped Win 7 onto my iMac, started playing on the Windows side and am still playing there today. The same ongoing game I recovered from the Mac side, in fact, over four years and still going strong (not a record here by any means but still pretty proud of it).