Corrupted files
Hi, Last night my Sims 3 game never fully loaded. There is no panel showing in order to access the Sims Inventory, etc. Also, there are no character icons showing to control them. In EA Help, the ...
Forum Discussion
@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:
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.
Here is what is installed in that save:
Ambitions
Generations
High-End Loft Stuff
Late Night
Seasons
Showtime
Supernatural
University Life
Like I said, I left off Pets and World Adventures, but I didn't realize I had eight packs installed. Surprised my PC is still running☹️ I already killed one (older) PC playing Sims and this one may be next.
