Hi!
This is probably a stupid Q, lol but I just want to make sure I dont mess up.
I am in the works of uninstalling Sims 3 and the expansions and such on my PC. (Win7).
Can I safely uninstall the entire game from the Windows control panel? Or should I uninstall it from elsewhere? I cant access the EA launcher because it no longer works, so I cant access my game and do anything from there. My discs also cant seemingly do anything as I had migrated to Origin and something or other years ago.

The game is also not saved on C:/ but rather a secondary SSD, if that matters.
All the games and expansions are listed in the "uninstall a program" in my Windows control panel. Is this the best way to uninstall them? Should I uninstall expansions first or basegame, or does it matter? I want a clean slate.

A secondary question I have is, which folders should I be sure to keep if I want to keep a save of a household? Annoyingly, I cant access the game (because of the EA launcher) to make sure I have a copy of the house in the game bin, but I would love if I could have saved one household (the sims and their house...and I'm assuming the world within? But the world doesnt matter much. Just the home) - Which folders/files should I look for/look in? In the grand scheme of things, I dont care about photos/memories and such. I just mainly want the house itself and the simmies, lol. If saving/backing up sims and homes like this is not advised due to any reason, just let me know and I'll cut my losses. I'm just sentimental over them and would prefer to be able to play with them on re-install, but I can always rebuild and whatnot.

As for CC, which folders should I backup? One called Downloads, one called CustomContent I believe, and was there not a third? "Package"? Its been a while so I forget. But I want to keep all CC backed up.

Shouldn't be a problem. Are you planning on installing the game on this system again? If yes, makes sure to erase all traces of the game from your computer using a registry cleaner before doing so.


Before you do anything, make a backup of your The Sims 3 folder in Documents. It contains your saves (Saves), houses and households (Library), SavedSims, your CC. In general, you can use those folders for a new install.


This depends on what kind of CC you have. The Downloads folder might have your Sims3pack CC assuming you didn't back them up somewhere else after installing. Your packages should be in the Mods -> Packages folder. All this is in the The Sims 3 folder, so you should have you want for a new install everything there.

In case you've forgotten: Installing CC and creating the file structure for packages
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti...Setup_and_Files
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti...g%20TS3%20Packs

If you have the old discs, I strongly recommend installing from there and then superpatch your new install. https://www.nraas.net/community/Super-Patch

Yep! I am planning a re-install at some point. For the registry cleaner, is that something native to Windows or something I should download? I def want a real clean slate. Gosh, good thing you mentioned Saves, I almost forgot about that as well, lol.
My Library only consists of files with string of numbers and letters. Is there any way of knowing which is what? I could not find any files in there that are as new as I would assume (newest files there are like from 2018, even tho I played up until 2025).
I guess realistically I'd have to cut my losses. There's only about 1 or 2 I'd be sad to lose, but mostly on account of having to rebuild, haha.