@Luciaaafs I tried everything I could think of to get the save to load, on two different computers, and I'm sorry to say that I came up empty. The game got stuck loading Riverview each time, with the Task Manager reporting that Sims 3's memory use was stuck at exactly the same value after a short burst of activity. So it's reasonably clear that the game is waiting to be able to do something that it can't.
I do have two suggestions for you. One is to clean the TravelDB.package with a save cleaning tool. It's quite large, in fact large enough to possibly be a problem all by itself, and I noticed in a couple of tests that the game was having trouble copying all that data to the CurrentGame folder. That's not to say that this is definitely the problem—it could just be a side effect of the loading getting stuck—but it's worth trying.
The other suggestion, if the save cleaner doesn't help, is to travel your main sim to another world, specifically a residential one rather than a vacation world. Once there, you could try using NRaas MasterController's Add Sim function to add the other family members from the homeworld to a house or empty lot in the new world. They'll lose their house and family inventory, but the sims themselves should be intact. Add Sim allows you to filter by homeworld when selecting the sims.
Out of curiosity, are you sure those eight packs you listed are the only active expansions in your save? Are you using any non-NRaas mods? The reason I ask is because I saw quite a lot of scripterrors, I think more than I've ever seen at once in a save, and I didn't recognize most of the errors. Some mods can't be safely removed, and expansions definitely cannot be removed without corrupting the save and the sims in it.
Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it!
I always play with all expansions active. I do have quite a few non nraas mods. I just delete the script errors before playing.
I know there are a few save cleaners out there. Is there a specific one you recommend?
Is there any advice you have preventing this problem in the future? (the obvious one is keeping a save from before you leave for university (face palm).
@Luciaaafs I hear good things about both Kuree and Regul save cleaners, so choose whichever one has better instructions, or try both. By the way, for the expansions, I actually was asking if you had any others running in this save that you didn't mention, not whether the ones you did mention were active. I had those eight active and no others.
For prevention, the best thing you can do is not use mods that are known to break saves. Without knowing which ones you've used, I can't tell you if any are on that list, but I will say the only one that does NOT tend to break saves but also can't simply be removed is AwesomeMod. If you were using that, it would certainly explain all the errors I was seeing, since I never use it myself.
Having a very large population in the homeworld won't corrupt a save in and of itself, but it can make the save heavier to run and give the game more chances to make errors. Similarly, these tips for better game performance generally just keep saves leaner and easier to run, but that has the side effect of lowering the chances of a problem.
https://www.nraas.net/community/TIPS-FOR-BETTER-GAME-PERFORMANCE
You don't need to take every single step, but at the very least, either disable memories or use a mod to significantly limit their generation. This might have the largest impact of any single feature.
The other highly useful step is running a MasterController town reset every six to eight sim-weeks, perhaps more if your save seems to be getting bogged down. If you find the resets disruptive, you can run them at night and/or exempt the active lot, so your own sims aren't reset, just the rest of the town.
Thanks. I'll try one of those save cleaners.
I don't have awesome mod. Is there a list of mods that are known to break saves? I can look and see if I have any (which i very well might).
I do have a mod that significantly limits the memories. I could definitely do a town reset more often. I'll look through that link and see what else I can do.
Thanks for the advice!
@Luciaaafs I don't know of a master list of broken mods, but one popular example is SimsMX's Hospital Overhaul. (It was a great mod until an update broke it, and it was never fixed.) Another is a very adult-oriented mod that we generally refer to, on official sites anyway, with the initials K and W. Then there are mods that can cause lots of errors but don't generally break saves, for example More Sims in Clubs v.1 and one of the zodiac mods; I'd have to look up which one. Some mods also conflict with others—neither causes problems on its own, but the two can't work together. These generally don't break saves even in combination either.
If you'd like a more detailed evaluation, it's best to post at Mod the Sims or on the NRaas site with your full mod list and ask for an opinion on which, if any, need to be removed. It's sort of outside the scope of this site, but more importantly, the few people that post here are not familiar with all of the more obscure mods, so a problem could easily be missed.
