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Save Game Corruption - Testing and Findings From 10 Years of Experience
Hi all! I’m not sure if this is the right place to create this topic, but here we go. I’m Davi, also known as ceunon20 on the forum, and I decided to open this discussion about Save Corruption because of my long and close experience with this “bug.” So, I created a topic about this on the former EA Answers, but unfortunately, I never got any solutions at the time. I believe that was because I was the first—and probably the only—person experiencing this issue back then. I’m not sure where that topic went, but you can get an idea from this other thread from 2017, where I left a comment about having the same problem with Magnolia Promenade: Error code: 800 | EA Forums - 11728790 Time went by, and I created new save files. I played a lot of The Sims 4, both with and without mods (I don’t use CC), and fortunately I never faced this bug again. That is, until the release of For Rent… When I first loaded For Rent on an active save file, Willow Creek was immediately affected by all the classic symptoms of save corruption, and my game became unplayable. It was a 3–4 year-old save file that I unfortunately lost and could never recover. After that, I decided to take some time off from TS4 and only came back with the release of the Business and Hobbies expansion pack. And guess what I did? I started a brand-new save file from scratch—no mods, no CC. I built everything myself: every lot in the game, Sims, clubs, and businesses. At first, everything went smoothly. My gameplay style leans heavily on progression—I like to play across multiple families for generations, updating their houses, relationships, and so on. But once I actually started playing… Willow Creek once again began to disappear, little by little. Fortunately, I had a backup save from before I started playing, and I noticed three things that I’ve also mentioned here [PLEASE READ] Save Game Corruption | EA Forums - 5037272 1 - Save file size 2 - Items limit 3 - Lots limit (for rent related) What’s the goal here? The idea is to create a topic where people can actively reproduce this bug, test it, and share their findings. The Save Game Corruption thread is great, but it’s mostly filled with reports of the issue rather than actual testing. Since I’ve dealt with this problem for years—and that thread has gotten a bit overcrowded—I decided to open my own specifically for this purpose. Here, I’ll share the method I use to reproduce the bug, based on my experience and years of observing how this corruption happens. That way, we can all test, discuss, and hopefully help The Sims Team work toward a solution. HOW I BUILD A CORRUPTED SAVE GAME: First of all—no one corrupts a save file on purpose. It just happens, and for many different reasons (you can find plenty of them in the Save Game Corruption thread). What I can share, though, is the way I usually set up my save files—the same ones that eventually end up corrupted. To do that, we first need to prepare a few things so we’re ready when the corruption strikes. 1 - Put lots and Sims in Willow Creek As I mentioned, we need to do a little setup before actually building the save file. - Replace all the base game buildings in Willow Creek with new ones. Every single lot needs to be replaced. - It can be your own buildings or just downloaded from the gallery - Any type of building is allowed but try to diversify as much as you can. Don't fill the world with just residential lots - NO CC OR MOD IS ALLOWED - You can use debug items - You can use cheats like Move objects After that you can start populating the world as you like. My advice is: don’t put too much effort into Willow Creek, since it will serve as our control world. The corruption always begins there. To avoid the frustration of losing a lot of progress, keep it simple but functional. On the picture above, I marked the neighborhoods to show the order in which the corruption starts spreading. It always begins in Foundry Cove and ends in Crawdad Quarter. During the process, the lots in Foundry Cove, Courtyard Lane, Pendula View, and Sage Estates all disappear at once. But Crawdad Quarter behaves differently. There’s something strange about Crawdad Quarter: when it gets corrupted, it happens gradually. You can literally see the lots deteriorating one by one until there’s nothing left. It always goes from Archives to Municipal Muses. For some reason, Magnolia Blossom Park never gets corrupted. It’s the only lot in Willow Creek that survives intact—something I never really understood. With all of this in mind, you can now begin the observation process, always starting in Foundry Cove, since it’s the first neighborhood to get fried. How can I detect the corruption? - Enter the lot and try to play with a Sim inside. - Remember when I said you needed to replace all the lots? Here’s why: while playing with a Sim on the lot, check if the surrounding buildings are still the ones you replaced or if they reverted back to the base game versions. If they reverted, then your save file is officially corrupted. - You need to perform this check every time you finish building a world. It’s mandatory for proper observation! Now your game is set up to start the corruption. 2 - Building the worlds From this point on, you can basically build the rest of the worlds however you like. My advice here is: go all in. But there’s one very important rule to follow: You need to build starting from the most recently released world and move backward to the earliest ones. Why? Over the years, I noticed that corruption always begins in Willow Creek and then spreads to Newcrest, Magnolia Promenade, Oasis Springs, and so on. Since Willow Creek is our control world, there’s no point in wasting too much time building in worlds that are likely to vanish once corruption spreads. So, follow this order: Innisgreen → Nordhaven → Ravenwood → etc. I tend to build my worlds going in a certain order as well: 1 - Lots 2 - Sims 3 - Relationships and drama 4 - Businesses 5 - Clubs LOTS - Try do diversify the lot types - Have at least 1 rental on each world (with at least 2 rental units) - Try to do half residential/community. It's ok if not - At least 1 unhabited lot on each world - Try to edit the hidden worlds as well SIMS - Have at least 1 family with an animal on each world - All ages are welcome - Try to custom them as much as you can - Some supernaturals are a must RELATIONSHIPS AND DRAMA - Set relationships between Sims - Give them jobs and professions - Enable all the story progression (but don't allow them to move) - Unlimited population - All expansion pack features ON (seasons, ailments, fame, etc) BUSINESSES - At least 1 on each world - You can make home businesses or off lot businesses CLUBS - At least 1 on each world (or more) - Try to not repeat the activities on each club - Don't put the same Sim on 2 or more clubs What’s next? After finishing each world, go back and observe Willow Creek. Finished Innisgreen? Check Willow Creek. Finished Nordhaven? Check Willow Creek. Once your save file is done, it’s time to actually play—while keeping a close eye on Willow Creek and Newcrest. Try not to play too much in these two neighborhoods, since they’re the first to show corruption signs. This is basically the routine I follow when creating a save file and dealing with corruption. Test with all the packs you own, and don’t forget to mention which ones you used when creating your save. That way, we can compare results and see which combinations still reproduce the bug (if not all of them). I’ll be starting a brand-new save file myself so I can share my process with you all. What do you guys think? Any suggestions or other methods that we could try?
Game ownership disabled or deleted
when trying to play the sims 4 a notification saying game ownership disabled or deleted comes up despite playing fine yesterday, all expansion packs showed up as completed download and installed… to a game i apparently all of a sudden don’t own? i opened a live chat with ea and have been told their research team will look into it and to post my issue on here. this happened to me before and i was unable to play for about a year and suddenly 4 days it started working again. i have over 60 add on’s so it is a massive loss even though the issue clearly seems to be with the actual game not the packs.
Career Day Not Showing Up On Calendar
The Sims 4: High School Years, for July 2025 - Before the recent (two) updates, and patch the Career Day, for Thursdays were showing up. However, they have not been showing up (after updates/patch). This allows the Teen Aspiration, to not get completed, to attend Career Day unfortunately. May this get fixed/be resolved soon. Or maybe I'll have to wait and see when the Event (Nature's Calling) ends? Thanks for your time, and services. NOTE: *NO CC, OR MODS ARE INCLUDED IN GAME. FRESH NEW GAME DOWNLOAD
Cannot Load Into Residential Rentals since August 2025 Update
I know I'm late for that patch, but I took a break because my game was unplayable. I want to fix it so I can get back into playing. After the update, I couldn't load into any residential rental lots.. other lots were fine. I removed all script mods and outdated mods. I'm not sure what the issue is... I attached my last exception file. If anyone has any tips, I would really appreciate it!!Game Packs
Back in August, I bought 3 packs/kits. I went through the process of clearing cache on EA and then redownloading those packs/kits and then repairing the game, yet I open the game and it says I never bought these packs and now I have to save the money to buy them again. I have photo proof of where I originally bought them. I just want these packs/kits back without paying for them a second time. Please fix this.
Discovery Quests Rewards have already been given
Hi there, I like to do the discovery quests every new save because it gives potions and Simoleons at the beginning but everytime I create a new save and start playing it keeps saying : Rewards have already been given I’d also like to add i’m on Mac and I have <mods> ,could that be an issue too? Please help how can I fix this without having to re do my whole sim again Thanks in advance ! [CM - Removed mention of adult mods]
I can't load Ravenwood in any of my worlds
I have the pack for Ravenwood and always worked normal, as well as other worlds. I was building something in that world and when i wanted to visit it, it was only a white screen. I wasn't the one actually building, i downloaded the build from public Gallery. I traveled to other lots and worlds and everything worked except the Ravenwood. I tried repairing the game many times, exited and opened again the EA app. Still, nothing. I went that far that i deleted that save file completely. So i entered the game with different save file that played before. Assuming the problem was in the that file and something in that build. And again, same thing happened. Every aspect works and every other lot/neighborhood/world. Gameplay is no different, just when i want to travel or do anything in Ravenwood, its just was the white screen with music still playing... How do I fix this? I cant play in it in any of my saves...?
How large is your biggest save file?
Hello, The recent problems with save files make me think about what actually a "large save file" means. In the latest EA article Save File Investigation Recap and Early 2026 Plans | EA Forums - 12987702 they wrote "We’ve found compelling evidence that some cases of missing Lots or disappearing houses may be caused by what we call a Protobuf Overflow - a situation where Lot or save data grows so large it hits its storage limit." How large is too large? My current biggest save file is about 155 000KB. I also remember I've had save files about 230 000KB or even bigger back in 2018. Many thanks for everyone who share with me the size of their biggest safe file and maybe issues they have to deal with!
Playful arches and roofline details.
Hello, dear Sims team! This is a problem that frequently bothers me. I really enjoy building classical architecture in the game, especially buildings with many columns. However, I often encounter this issue: the archways in one part of a room are higher than those in the other half. It seems that after adding the building's cornice, these archways are being incorrectly interpreted as half exterior and half interior. I've tried many ways to avoid this, such as deleting the surrounding space around the room, but this severely limits my architectural design options. Therefore, I wonder if our lovely Sims team could possibly solve this problem? Or perhaps you could tell me about some effective solutions that I might not know about? A devoted player who loves you all!Is it possible to shrink or move the three trees in the magical world?
Dear Sims team, thank you for your hard work in creating such a beautiful and fun simulation world for us. It allows me to easily simulate my imagined buildings and characters. I've encountered a small problem. I want to rebuild a magic school in the hidden area, but as shown in the picture: After I finished building the house, I discovered that a large part of these three trees are within the editing area, but they belong to the environmental landscape and cannot be edited. This is very troublesome... I can only let them poke through the walls and stand inside the house, and I don't know how to deal with it. Is it possible for the Sims team to move these three trees a little further outwards? Or perhaps shrink them so they don't affect the editing area? Anyway, if I ever regret it and want some trees again, I can always plant them myself, haha. Thank you for your hard work, and I look forward to the new expansion pack.Relationship bug
Hello, I’m contacting you regarding a persistent bug related to the relationship system in The Sims. Relationship bars behave abnormally: after only 2–3 positive or neutral social interactions (chatting, compliments, friendly jokes), the relationship suddenly drops or turns negative, without any negative interaction being triggered. This happens even when: Sims have compatible traits there are no active fears or negative moods autonomy is either enabled or disabled only positive social interactions are used The issue affects friendly, family, and romantic relationships and prevents normal relationship progression. The problem is consistent and reproducible. Notes: playing with no mods or custom content Sims have been reset cache cleared / game repair already attempted the issue persists in my main save file This save is very important to me, as I’m currently on the 4th generation of my family. Not being able to play properly is extremely discouraging. Thank you for your help. [CM - Edited formatting]
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