It has been brought to my attention that the Download Basket/Installation Wizard does not particularly care for the naming convention I use for my packages.  Evidently, the brackets are somehow interfering with package installation programs (possibly including, but not limited to, the Q-Xpress Installer). 

Although I am currently in the process of trying to remedy this (and have been for almost a month now), I have a few suggestions for those of you who are having issues.

Note: I have everything but the M&G Stuff Pack installed and have always had my files with their current [livingdeadgirl] based naming convention installed in both the Downloads folder and subfolders within that folder and haven't experienced any problems whatsoever.  This leads me to believe that some, if not all, of the non-TSR basket/wizard based issues are caused by the improper installation of collection files in the Downloads folder, which can be easily remedied by searching the Downloads folder for all files and folders that have "collection" (without the quotes) as all or part of the file name & then either deleting those files or moving them to the "My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Collections" folder.  I have been wrong before (and will be again), but the first thing you should do is make sure your Downloads folder doesn't contain any collection files. 

1.) If you're having trouble & install objects manually, create a subfolder for objects in your "My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Downloads" folder & install downloaded objects within.  This is probably the easiest way to fix any manual installation based issues.  Of course, you'll also want to make sure that any collection files (all of which have the word collection in the file name) are installed into your "My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Collections" folder rather than in the downloads directory or a sub-directory within the downloads directory as well as deleting the .txt file included with sets downloaded as .zip files.

2.) If you install objects manually, are having trouble and would prefer not to create any subfolders, simply rename my files (to be on the safe side, do NOT use spaces or any special characters except for underscores).  I intend to use LDG_ to replace the [livingdeadgirl], but you can rename them in any way you see fit.  It'll obviously be more time consuming than creating a subfolder, but it's your game, so you can do whatever you like.  ;)  Again, make sure that you put collection files in the "My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Collections" folder rather than in your Downloads folder and delete any .txt files you find within the .zip files.

3.) If you install Sims2Pack files, use the Sims2Pack Clean Installer to install them.  If you have installed a new EP or SP and the Sims2Pack Clean Installer no longer appears when you try to install a Sims2Pack file, you can right click on the Sims2Pack file and select Open With --> Sims2Pack Clean Installer.  Or you can simply uninstall Sims2Pack Clean Installer and reinstall it.  If you're installing files using this method, you may find that you still need to 1.) install files into an object subfolder or 2.) rename files if you choose to leave them in the main Downloads directory.  Either way, you will still have to make sure that you put collection files in your "My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Collections" folder rather than in your Downloads folder.

If you are still having problems, make sure you have the proper SP/EP's for the following files.  If not, simply delete the files that are incompatible with your game:

FT is required for functional books/magazines and stereos/radios (including the metro computer speakers & functional subwoofer).

Kitchen & Bath SP is required for the Lime Zest kitchen.

Seasons is required for the Mission Bay Dresser.

If you need further assistance or have any questions, leave me a comment, and I'll try to help.  For those of you who have been wondering about the Notepad & Pen, it should be published tomorrow.  I tried to rename the files in that set using the LDG_ naming convention, but I can't test my sets prior to publishing, so for all I know, it may include both the old and new files.  If the old files have magically disappeared, I'll unpublish, reupload renamed files and republish everything.  If not, my limited access to the technical side of TSR will likely continue to limit what I can do to remedy the download basket/installation wizard problem.