I tried to install some lots recently, but they didn't appear in the catalog. They had no CC and I used the Clean Installer, but once again - they are nowhere to be found. I have UC so incompatible expansion packs aren't the problem. I tried to install them again, but I got the message that the lots have already been installed. I looked into the 'Teleport' folder, but it's empty, and the LotCatalog folder doesn't show any new files. I don't recall having this problem before.

I also have the issue where lots dragged into the bin from the neighbourhood, vanish and appear only after I restart the game. Sometimes I'm worried that they won't reappear.

Is there anything I can do to get my missing lots?

Installed lots should appear in the Teleport folder when you've installed them, and will move to the LotCatalog when you've run your game.

A bit unsure if you need to have CC enabled for them to show up, but just in case, make sure you have your CC properly enabled.

Also make sure you have the proper install location for your game in the "S2PCI" file in the install location for the Clean Installer (You can open the file with Notepad). Sometimes whatever is already set as the default location won't work properly, so you may have to edit this file if your game location is somewhere else than the default, and occasionally if you have the UC.

Should be something like this (but check the path and substitute the all-caps with whatever username you have, the location could be different for you)

[CONFIG]
AutoInstallLotFiles=False
SaveGamePath="C:\Users\YOURUSERNAMEHERE\Documents\EA Games\The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection"

[Subfolders]

Not sure about the last issue. Could be they end up at the end or a bit scrambled, and/or are difficult to find.

Thank you very much for your help!
I opened the file and turns out the SaveGamePath was empty. I fixed it and tried installing the lots again. I went to the Teleport folder right after, but there were no new files in there. After i opened the game, I also checked the LotCatalog folder, but no new files appeared.
But at least I fixed the S2PCI file, so that's a plus

If it didn't work, make sure you had the proper path - it could still have some differences from mine. If you go to the "The Sims 2 UC" folder in Documents, copy the folder path and paste this into the SaveGamePath and try again. Maybe that helps.

There's also this note in the comments from the CI download page, in case you're getting duplicate folders or things aren't working.

This one could possibly be of help if you're getting broken characters for the "TM" symbols in the file.

If you have multiple drives, also check that there aren't multiple folders being created on the other drive (because the usual default path is the C: drive).

Looks like something might be wrong with the installation path; I temporarily switched it to Documents and everything installed there, instead of the files vanishing into thin air. I think the culprit might be the 'tm' symbol. Changing the coding to UTF-8 BOM solved the issue of the tm symbol appearing broken in S2CPI, but the files still don't install.

But I found a workaround, like I mentioned - I can install the files somewhere else and then manually move them where they're supposed to be. (Why hadn't I tried this earlier!)

Thank you for your help!