I recently was using a method to find the name of some CAS content I no longer wanted so I could uninstall it that involves sharing it and then using another program to take the resulting file apart as packages. I found a house attached to my sim when before it wasn't and I only shared the sim in CAS not a sim with a house. This was the house attached: http://modthesims.info/d/520084/5-sunshine-estate.html

I repeated this test with multiple sims and have seen this happen with all of them, it's like the creepy doll from earlier days or something.

So, what do I do to stop this?

That lot is in a sims3pack, so I have to ask have you added that lot to your game without using the launcher to install it.

Also how much of the CC being used by your Sim is in the Mods folder.

I seem to remember using Delphy's Sims 3 Pack Multi-Extracter to make it into a package and put it in the library folder. Like I said I repeated the experiment several times and if I have store content base game content or CC I still get the same result.

I thought you might have, you see the "share sim" feature really doesn't work well with anything that isn't part of the game (base, EP, SP), or installed through the launcher (store or 3rd party sim3pack).

Chances are there is something about that lot that draws the "share sim" feature to it like a magnet, and unpacking it instead of installing it has opened it up to being "attached" to your sims.

I have 30+ sims here that I have downloaded, most have extra items "attached" that the sims don't actually use, and it's all down to unpacking sims3packs instead of installing them.

The fact you have the package file make removing the lot from your sims easier, you can use S3PE and the method for removing items from a merged package file that you can find HERE.

Thats why I did it, I read plenty about how much easier it is to uninstall and I never read anything about it leading to them auto-attaching to sims, everything I've read regarding auto-attaching is bad. Also, its in the library folder NOT a merged package. I've had a number of houses that way and some CAS CC in a merged package file I made and I've never had this issue before. It seems to me like bad news. Can someone verify what Bejaymac said? Someone hit the disagree after all, can that person shed light on the issue or share an experience or something?

From my experience it is less the unpacking with Delphy's Installer than the exporting of Sims or lots etc. with the Export (as sims3pack) function of the game that causes stuff to attach itself.
If you export a Sim from CAS as a *.sim file or a lot from the bin as a Library *.package file then these are usually clean.

All my CC lots, Sims and items and most of my Store stuff is installed as package and none of my exported lots and Sims have anything attached. But I never use the Export or Share functions from the game. On the other hand I have found the occasional lot or household attached to a Sim or other lot that I've downloaded and these had been installed as sims3pack by the creator of the lot or Sim.

So its nothing to worry about?

Been running several experiments, and I just can't get that lot to "attach" to a sim, I can get plenty of other manually installed package files to "attach", just not that lot.

So I'm wondering if you have something else that's causing a conflict, which might explain why it's "attaching" for you but not for me.

Going from my own experiences with those 30+ sims I mentioned earlier, I believe the built in share function just doesn't like manually installed CC. Using the Share Sim function in CAS as an example, it doesn't copy the manually installed CC like it does for launcher installed CC, instead it badly clones the CC, merging it with the sim file before putting the sim file into a sim3pack.

I suspect this is why we have so much broken and bad CC out there, corrupted code can cause all sorts of in game issues.

Basically manually installed package files in "The Sims 3" folder are fine, so long as you stay well away from the share function.

You said that this happens with all the Sims you export, so for me personally that would be a cause of worry. It is well possible that the lot contains some hidden and broken CC that got into the lot creator's game unnoticed and that causes your game to attach the whole lot in order to preserve some dependencies inside the file. One would have to look at the lot file in S3PE to check whether it is clean.

There is an easy, although a bit time-consuming, way to clean the lot and place it back into your game:
1. Rename your regular "The Sims 3" user folder in Documents, start the game and quit it again; this will create a new and clean Sims3 user folder
2. Place the affected lot in the Library folder of the new user folder; if the game didn't create a Library folder on its own make one yourself
3. Start the game again and load a neighbourhood and place the lot on an empty plot
4. Once placed save the lot into the lot bin and quit the game
5. Look into the Library folder and search for the most recent .package file in there (there should only be two now anyway: the old lot and the new one)
6. Copy the new lot into your old user Library folder (you can rename it into Sunshine Estate if you want); this one should be clean of any CC references
7. Delete the new user folder (or rename it to something for later use like "Sims3_testfolder) and rename your old user folder back to "The Sims 3"
(8. Test again if this new copy of the lot still attaches to your Sims)

The instances of attaching CC that I found most often were when a Store item had been used as its cloning base or when it was made with older versions of the sims3pack tool from The Sims Resource (TSRW) and then extracted as package file. Other instances are when a user decrapified the sims3pack before installing it.

OK, when I get a shot I'll give it a try. If it still auto-attaches what should I do? Remove it completely or what?

Since I didn't decrapify it it must be a store item clone or something then.

Store content can only be installed through the launcher, to get around that you need to use decrapify on it before you can turn it into a package file for manual installing, or for using pirated store content.

I'm not seeing anything in this lot that says there is anything but base game content in it.

Which makes me think that what you are getting is the end result of something else causing issues in your game.

It's hard to understand just how much content is loaded with broken, bad and/or corrupt content, especially sims, you only realise just how bad it is once you start looking closely.

So there is no telling what might be causing it, removing the lot might help, but then again you might find something else gets attached once that lots gone.

No wonder I don't know what the heck decrapify even is then. All I know is this never happened before the lot :/