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Theorist
Original Poster
#1 Old 13th Jun 2020 at 2:34 PM Last edited by ScaryRob : 13th Jun 2020 at 2:51 PM.
Default Downloads Not Showing Up When Searching
I've had an occasional but recurring problem when searching for Lot downloads for Sims 3.
I visit MTS daily and my routine when visiting is always the same, as follows:

(Note that I am permanently logged in)
1) Check my subscribed threads
2) Check new Sims 2 downloads, specifically "Lots & Housing"
3) Click on the Sims 3 button to check on new "Lots & Housing"
4) Click on the Sims 4 button to check on new "Lots & Housing"

The problem occurs when I check on new Sims 3 "Lots & Housing". I occasionally do not see newer uploads and remain "stuck" on older uploads. When I click on "Show filters", I see that "Compatible Downloads" is checked instead of "All Downloads", as well as "This section and children" instead of "All sections". When I look at the filters for Sims 2 and Sims 4, the correct filters ("All downloads") are correctly checked.
So, for some reason the website is resetting my Sims 3 search filters without my input.

Note that I have the Sims 3 base game and three expansions listed as "Games owned" on my profile, so perhaps this is why the site thinks I should only see "compatible" downloads. I would instead prefer to see all downloads and not have the site decide on what I see and don't see, if this is indeed the cause of the problem. However, I suspect this is a website problem because after I manually reset my filters they work fine for a while, only to apparently reset by themselves at some later point.

Addendum: Just to give an example, the Sims 3 Lot "6 Sunshine Estate", uploaded by user zenomia on 17 May was the last Lot upload I saw during my routine outlined above until today when I checked my Sims 3 filter settings. Of course, I noticed the problem much earlier, especially since this has happened a number of times previously, but today I decided to actually check My Sims 3 filter settings and saw the discrepancy.
So, for almost the past month, since 17 May, that the last Sims 3 Lot upload I saw during my searches.
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Warrior Gryphon
site owner
#2 Old 13th Jun 2020 at 10:06 PM
Hi there

The download browser All / Compatible mode is controlled via one of 3 ways:

1.  Via a direct reference to which type, selected via the Filter box
2.  Via a cookie (mts2downloadtype) that is set when you select a type from the filter
3.  If neither of those are set, use the default, which is "Compatible" mode for members, and "All" for guests

The decision to make it so that the default is Compatible for members was made many years ago, so as to avoid people downloading content for expansions or stuff (or game) packs that they didn't own, and therefore cause issues, or lots of "this doesn't work!" or "it's not showing up!" posts on the downloads themselves.  The idea is that you only see downloads based on what you tell the site you own, in terms of games.   It's not technically a website issue because it depends entirely on what you've selected in your profile (in other words, the most recent uploads have more EPs marked than you own, therefore they don't show up).  For a lot of content, it just either wont work, or in extreme cases, will cause crashing if you don't own the EP/SP that the content is for (especially in the case of global mods).  In the case of Lots, there are other factors like parts of the lot or objects resetting if you don't own the content, thus making it so that the creation itself does not match what the creator intended, and therefore, it's better to have it be "controlled" in the sense of erring on the safe side.

The fact that it works for a while, selecting all, means that at some point the cookie controlling the download type gets nuked, or you log out, and everything gets cleared.

The primary way to fix this issue is, if you want to see everything, go in and mark all Sims 3 EPs / SPs as "owned" by the site.  In that situation it actually ignores them and acts like the "all" filter, even if it's set to compatible mode.  Since there's no TS3 games produced anymore, this would allow you to see all content.

Hope this clarifies things.

Story books are full of fairy tales, of Kings and Queens, and the bluest skies.
Theorist
Original Poster
#3 Old 14th Jun 2020 at 4:30 AM
This absolutely clarifies everything and is actually exactly what I suspected, namely, that the site decides what to show me, based on my ownership of games and expansions, instead of me deciding.
Also, what you say about possibly having logged out and the cookies resetting, or some such, is probably also true, since I seem to vaguely remember logging out a few weeks ago for some reason.
So, I'm off to delete my "Games owned" for Sims 3 on my profile, especially since I'm not at all sure I will ever play that game.

-Thanks
Staff - Moderator
staff: moderator
#4 Old 14th Jun 2020 at 9:40 PM
Changed thread category to Solved/Answered
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