Re: Sims 3 Family disappearing?
@meakaren I didn't mean that you should delete the backup save. I meant that you should load the backup save, which is only possible if you delete the .backup part of the save name. That means, in turn, that you have to rename the backup so it doesn't have the same name as your main save.
As a more concrete example, you might open the Saves folder and see these folders:
SunsetValley.sims3
SunsetValley.sims3.backup
After renaming, you'd see this:
SunsetValley.sims3
SunsetValley1.sims3
The first of the two would still be broken, but you could load the second one at the Main Menu.
For the other part, you had said that loading the save puts you into the game setup screen, where you can choose to create sims, move in a household, or load an existing household. I was wondering if your old household was available on the map when you chose to load a household. But since you said you tried with a different household and no one lives in the original household's apartment, this approach I described would not be possible.