Corrupted files

@jeanmarie618  Please open Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > CurrentGame and delete everything inside; this folder should always be empty unless you actually have a save loaded.  In the same Sims 3 folder, delete the five cache files as well (again, if you did it previously):

• CASPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache.package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package

Try to load your save, and if it works properly, let the game clock run for a few minutes, then use "save as" to rename the save, so you have a backup in case you need it later.

If the save is still borked, quit without saving, then inside the Sims 3 folder, open Saves and look for a folder labeled [your save name].sims3.backup.  This folder contains the data from the second-to-last time you saved; if you rename it and delete the .backup extension, you'll be able to load it from the Main Menu.  Delete the cache files and everything inside CurrentGame again, then see whether the backup will load.  Again, if it does work, use "save as" and rename it.

Exchange items are not considered custom content by themselves, but cc can attach to Exchange uploads and then install itself in your game.  Often enough the creator doesn't even know that their content has cc attached, so the "no cc" tag can't always be trusted.

The empty stage is a known issue, and the extra proprietors might be as well—it kind of sounds like something the game would do—but I haven't looked into that in particular.  The easiest way I know of to solve the latter, at least, is with mods.  Let me know if you use any or are interested in adding a few.  You might well need mods to fix your save anyway, given the state it's in at the moment.

As for EA support, this isn't really the kind of issue I'd expect a support rep to be able to solve.  Corrupt saves are more the purview of forums like this one and forums.thesims.com.

@puzzlezaddictThe first suggestion did nothing, but when I tried the second, I found something strange. You said:

If the save is still borked, quit without saving, then inside the Sims 3 folder, open Saves and look for a folder labeled [your save name].sims3.backup.

My saved game has a file extension called "bad." The extensions are:

.sims3
.sims3.backup
.sims3.bad

Edit: I found a reference to .bad files...

Sometimes you will also find folders called .bad. Those are usually created when you have an Error 12, 13 or 16 and should be deleted right away. You don’t need to keep those.

https://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/faq-user-files.html
===============

I did get an Error 12 recently. I used to get them all the time. Not enough Ram, I guess. This saved game is very unusual for me, because it has been running so smoothly for so long (several generations of Sims). Even though I kept adding buildings, Sims from my library, skilled up most of the town, added subways... I've never been able to do this much. Using maybe 6 expansion packs, too. It is an old PC, so this save is highly unusual. But then it died, lol. Maybe it was the Subways. Those are new as of yesterday.

I tried cheats for the first time over the summer and now I use cheats constantly. Mostly to give money and promote in jobs after I skill them up. Do cheats cause any harm?

Edit #2: I deleted the .bad file and no change. On to your solution now.

@jeanmarie618  Most cheats are fine, but a couple can be problematic.  In particular, you should never object-delete a sim, which can and will corrupt your save.  Using moveobjects on a sim can mess up routing; whether it causes broader issues probably depends on where you use it and the sim(s) involved.

Subways aren't problematic in and of themselves, but they do change world routing, and it's possible the game takes more resources to calculate sim routing when there are subways present than not.  But just spending a lot of time in Edit Town can put your save over the RAM limit, at least in that play session, when it's getting close already: Edit Town takes more resources than normal gameplay.

Yes, you should delete the .bad save, you're not going to be able to load it anyway.  It's still worth trying to load the one that ends in .backup, since that's a slightly older version of the save and may be less affected than the newer one.

>>>In particular, you should never object-delete a sim

I've seen that Object thing and hope I didn't accidentally do that. When I need to get rid of a Sim I usually move them out of their home, then leave them on the clipboard and return to game. If it is a zombie, I use resetSim. I do use resetSim often on zombies.

Trying the .backup now.

@puzzlezaddictThank you so much. It worked. I've seen that recommended before, but I'm nervous deleting & moving files. Even renaming them. You explained the solution so well. Thanks a million🙂

Edit: I was able to play for a couple hours then it froze and did the exact same thing. New household and same thing.

@jeanmarie618  Even evicting sims and leaving them on the clipboard can sometimes cause problems, although it's not guaranteed to corrupt a save.  In general, the only reliably safe ways to get rid of sims are to kill them or to use a mod (NRaas MasterController) to erase them from existence.

I'm not surprised that your backup eventually had the same issues—this kind of corruption doesn't usually happen all at once.  The good news is that the backup is intact enough for you to work with it.  You have a couple options from here.  One is to add mods and hope they can clean things up enough to make the save stable going forward.  These mods mostly do their work on their own; other than running a town reset, you'd just install them and not worry about them.  Let me know if you're interested.

The other option is to pack up the households you care about and place them in a new save.  Without mods, each separate household would be strangers to all the others, although sims within a household will keep their relationships.  The new save should be stable for a while at least.

When you say a new household had the same issues, do you mean playing a different household within the same save, or a new household in a new save?  If the latter, did you quit to desktop and delete the cache files before starting the new save?  Switching saves at the Main Menu can transfer data, including corruption, from the old save to the new one.  Additionally, please let me know where the save or saves are taking place.

Thanks for all your help. I suspect I screwed up somehow last night.

>>>The good news is that the backup is intact enough...

Maybe, although it was borked, as you say, upon launch.

>>>>>. One is to add mods and hope

I have been interested in mods for quite a while. I'm just afraid I don't have the technical aptitude to install them safely

>>>>>The other option is to pack up the households you care about and place them in a new save. Without mods, each separate household would be strangers to all the others, ...

It's ok if they no longer know each other.  The town's population is maxed out (no more living quarters available), yet my Sims don't develop love, nor hate, relationships. This is over several generations. They used to find their own partners or enemies (in other saved games from when I first started playing 2+ years ago). Maybe that happens when you change too many traits or skill them all up in charisma, etc. Darn, it took so long to skill up an entire town, lol.

Mostly, though, I want a way to save a town in which I already "updated" the homes and community lots/buildings. We can save each building lot individually, but that means having to place all of them with each new (different) saved game. I've read that updated towns are available (Eg. on Carl's website), but the instructions looked too complicated.

>>>>When you say a new household had the same issues, do you mean playing a different household within the same save...

Yes... I think

>>>, or a new household in a new save? If the latter, did you quit to desktop and delete the cache files before starting the new save? Switching saves at the Main Menu can transfer data, including corruption, from the old save to the new one.

I remember I was surprised there even was a backup. I think I was hesitant to hit save for a long time. Then the game froze and I was clicking anything to try to get out. Wonder if I hit save. When the game freezes, do any of those mad clicks actually go through? The only way I know of to get out of a frozen game is to hit the Windows key and power off my PC.

>>>>Additionally, please let me know where the save or saves are taking place.

Not sure. I can't remember. It was late and I should have been sleeping🙂 I usually save after using Edit Town... so within same save. I also save when quitting for the night. "Save and Quit"

I got another reply from EA Help. Not sure if I'm allowed to post the instructions they gave here. I'll see if I can PM you. BTW, before I started doing your solution last night, I saved a copy of the backup save to my desktop. Oh, now I remember! I also saved a copy of the new saved backup. You had said to change the name. So, I did your steps all over (with the new save with new name)  thinking the game would be fixed like before. But it was borked.

Ps. I'll stop killing them from the clipboard. I've only done that a few times.... when I accidentally added a Sim, or a family, that was already in game. Sometimes I just change their names, traits and appearance.

Edit: One more thing. When I initially got in the good backup, I remembered what happened when my game froze for the first time. It was when I was trying to change a Sims career. Everything was fine until I got to that Sim. I had skilled up the household and was promoting each Sim. The way I do that, since you can't cheat/promote within same career category, is to always change them first to the lowest level Alien job. It is just convenient to click that one. Well, this particular Sim couldn't change to ANY other career... after making her a low level alien. That itself was borked... should have been alien test subject. But she was an alien probe something.

So... last night I got to her and her career was still stuck at alien probe something. The rest of the game was fine. Hope that wasn't too wordy to follow.

@jeanmarie618  It's not too hard, just a bit time-consuming, to place all your households and buildings in a new save.  Since you could start the new save in the same world as the old one, you'd know that everything fit where it needed to go and wouldn't need to plan the town's layout.  I'd skip the "updated" versions of the worlds, at least for now, unless you're playing in Isla Paradiso or maybe Bridgeport.  The other EA-made worlds run well enough that it's not really worth the trouble to switch out the worlds.

However, it would be even easier to "rescue" this save with mods, if it's possible.  Mods are really not that complicated to install; you just download and unzip some files and drop them in the appropriate folder.  Here's a good guide:

https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Installing_Sims_3_Package_Files/Setup_and_Files

The mods I'd recommend to try to fix your game are ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and MasterController.  I'd consider adding Register and Traffic as well, and Traveler if you plan on having your sims travel, but you can start with the first three and see what happens.  You can find links to all of the above here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-Common-Game-Fixing-Mods-Hero-Approved/m-p/9838855#M244208

ET and OW do their jobs on their own; MC doesn't do anything unless you use it to issue a command.  In your situation, I'd add those, load the save (the backup copy, since it's less corrupted), let the game clock run for a few sim-minutes, and then use MC to reset the town.  You can do this by clicking on City Hall and selecting:

NRaas > MasterController > Town Options > Reset Everything

The reset may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many issues it needs to repair and how fast your computer is.  So don't worry if the save looks like it's locked up, or at least don't worry for the first 10-15 minutes or so.

Once the MC reset is finished, let the game clock run for a few minutes more, then use "save as" to rename the save yet again, so you know which one was MC reset, quit, delete the cache files, reload, and see how the save runs.  The reset may fix a number of other issues, and for those that it doesn't, we can try to figure them out afterwards.

If you have any questions about mods, or really anything I described above, please feel free to ask.

I'd also like to know which packs you have installed, and which world (Sunset Valley, Twinbrook, etc.) you're currently playing in.

Thanks for all that info. I am going to try the mods. Do they help older PC's handle the game better? My PC handles it fine, but I worry about the hard drive... or whatever stresses a PC. The CPU maybe?🙂 I reboot my PC when I see things starting to get wonky. Assuming I'm running low on memory when that happens.

This is my PC:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6400 CPU @ 2.70GHz 2.71 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

The broken save is Sunset Valley. I run everything except Pets and World Adventures. I have both, but I read you should limit have many packs you run and I'm over the limit. I'll check which ones I run. For sure I run Seasons, University Life, Nightlife (not sure of the name)... I'll go look.

All the towns run fine, including Bridgeport. But I never bought the island one, after reading it had problems.