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Re: A serious error has occurred while loading

@Cwiczuk  First of all, please try to start a new save in Sunset Valley to make sure the world loads at all.  If you get another "serious error," stop here and let me know.

If that works fine, are you willing to add a few mods?  I'd suggest NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, MasterController, Traveler, and Register, all described here:

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

Traveler is the key here, but the others except for MasterController will clean up bad data and fix certain glitches that might be affecting the travel transition.  They'll do this on their own, without need for user input.  MC doesn't do anything at all unless you use it to issue a command.  I'd strongly suggest running an MC town reset in France before leaving: click on the base camp's map tag and select NRaas > MC > Town Options > Reset Everything.

If this doesn't help, or you don't want to use mods, let me know.  Please also open Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Saves > [your save name] and take a screenshot of the contents, and post that here.

5 Replies

  • Cwiczuk's avatar
    Cwiczuk
    2 years ago

    I've tried starting a new save in Sunset Valley and it works. I've also added the mods you suggested. I reseted Champs Le Sims and when I tried returning to Sunset Valley, the serious error showed up again.  

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @Cwiczuk  Sorry for the late-ish reply.  One other experiment worth doing is trying to load just the .nhd file from Sunset Valley.  Create a new save in SV, save your progress, and quit.  Then go into the folder for the new save and delete the .nhd file.  Copy over the Sunset Valley .nhd file from your affected save, but nothing else, and try to load the new save.  If this works, it's at least a way to recover your sims.

    To be clear, I wouldn't recommend playing forward this way; it's more of a proof of concept combined with a plan for rescuing your sims if all else fails.  Whether it works or not, we'll know the next step to take.

    The other option is for you to upload this save somewhere, for example Google Drive, and I can take a look.  You can post the link here or send it to me via private message.  If you're interested, please also list the expansions, stuff packs, and store worlds (if any) you currently have installed.  I own everything except Katy Perry, so I can match your content and try to fix the save myself.  I've been able to get through some travel transitions that others haven't, although it's kind of hit or miss.

  • Cwiczuk's avatar
    Cwiczuk
    2 years ago

    I've tried some of the other fixes to this error and I don't really know what to do? I hope that you'll be able to help me with this error!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @Cwiczuk  I'm sorry for the late reply.  I tried everything I could think of with your save, including traveling to your instance of Sunset Valley from a different save, and I couldn't get the world to load.  I couldn't even get your original sim (the one currently in Egypt) to come up as an option for MC's Add Sim command, which is unusual and suggests that the homeworld might be so corrupted MC can't read the data properly.  I did some research on this issue, having seen other people try to troubleshoot it, and none of the suggestions I found had any effect either.

    I think that the only conclusion, unfortunately, is that your save is corrupted beyond repair.  If you want to save this single sim, you can probably do so while in Egypt: go to Edit Town, save the sim to the library, quit the game, start a new save, and place that sim.  But that doesn't help any of the other sims left behind.

    Going forward, I'd strongly recommend keeping backup copies of your saves in case this ever happens again.  If you use "save as" and rename the save, the previous save remains intact under its original name.  I do this at least once a sim-day, and I delete older copies when I know I won't need them anymore.

    I'd also suggest keeping the mods in play.  I personally would never play without ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and MasterController, plus Traveler if my sims are ever going to travel and probably Register as well.  Sims 3 lacks the ability to remove trash data and mild corruption on its own, so without the mods to clean up, the problems build up until the save no longer runs properly or even fails to load.

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