How to Fix The Sims 4 Horse Ranch Not Downloading

How to Fix The Sims 4: Horse Ranch Not Downloading

One step away from riding horses and drinking fruity nectar

With every new Sims 4 expansion pack release, many of us are excited to hop in and see what’s new. However, you may encounter one particular issue: your expansion isn’t downloading. How can you enjoy your new content if you can’t access it? Fortunately, we’ve got some solutions for you to try. If you want to learn more, continue reading to find out why The Sims 4: Horse Ranch may not download and how to fix it.

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Table of Contents

How to Fix The Sims 4: Horse Ranch Expansion Pack Not Downloading

There are several reasons why a Sims 4 expansion pack may not download right away. In some cases, you just have to manually begin the download. Other times, it’s an error with a pending purchase. Thankfully, there are several ways to check what the problem is and how to fix them.

While I’m specifically talking about Horse Ranch today, you can also use this advice for other expansion packs.

Check if the Horse Ranch Expansion Downloads Manually

While this may sound like a classic “turn it on and off again” solution, this is an issue I struggle with often. When you purchase a new expansion, go into the game’s menu in your respective launcher and find Horse Ranch in your DLCs/Add-ons list.

  • EA App – Home > Get the Game > Download
  • Origin – Settings > Automatic Game Updates and restart the app.
The Sims 4 Horse Ranch Download Page
Make sure you manually download it! | Image via EA App (click to enlarge)

Related – The Sims 4 Horse Ranch: All Confirmed Items and Features

Sometimes, you may expect it to download automatically, especially if The Sims 4 installs another update alongside it, only to find a big “Download” button next to the pack. If this happens, press the button and wait for the pack to download before launching up your game and browsing your new content.

Horse Ranch Purchase Errors – Download “Preparing” and “Processing”

In some cases, you’ll go into your launcher to download the expansion only to find that it is stuck on “processing”, “preparing” or other related infinite buffers.

According to a post from a Community Manager on the EA Answers page, there are multiple reasons this can happen:

  • Insufficient funds in your bank or EA account to support the purchase.
  • Outdated billing information
  • Your purchase is still pending

In these situations, check to make sure that your account information is up-to-date and has enough funds to complete the purchase. If you’re certain these are good to go and are still stuck on an infinite loading screen, cancel your order and try to buy the expansion pack again.

Related – The Sims 4 Horse Ranch: Chestnut Ridge World Map Explained

Server-Side Issues

Lastly, the problem might not be on your end at all. On launch days especially, EA’s systems might experience glitches that require a fix on their side. You can check whether this is the case by visiting resources like the official EA Help Twitter for updates on planned fixes and workarounds.

The Sims 4 is available on PC, Mac, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. To learn more about the game, check out our guide on all The Sims 4 level 10 skill cheats or click the tag below to view our growing content list!


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About the Author

Madison Benson

Madison was a staff writer at Prima Games who has played video games for over twenty years and written about them for over two years. Her love for video games started with turn-based strategy games like Heroes of Might and Magic and has since extended to casual farming sims, MMORPGs, and action-adventure RPGs.