Re: Sims 3 Folders

I created a new folder and started a new game. Everything started like it is suppose to. Then I tried loading the last game I was playing and it will not load. It just sits there at 99% and won't go any farther.

@Regi67If a new save will load in a clean folder but your old one won't, it's entirely possible that the existing save is corrupt in some way.  It's also possible that some content present in your existing save isn't installed in the new folder, but usually missing items are replaced and the save loads anyway.  One thing you could try is loading a backup save in the clean folder instead.  Even if you don't regularly make backups, the game does, keeping the second-to-last save in your saves folder as well.  This one will have a .backup extension (so if your main save is SunsetValley.sims3, the backup would be SunsetValley.sims3.backup).  If you delete the .backup and rename the save (i.e. SunsetValley1.sims3), it will be available to load at the Main Menu.  It's a good idea to make a copy of this backup as well, so that you can revert to it if something else goes wrong.

It should also be said that your system is somewhat underpowered to be running TS3.  You only have 6 GB RAM, which is technically enough for the game and your OS, but not much else.  It's a good idea to restart your computer before playing, and to make sure nothing is running in the background besides essential Windows functions and Origin, if you need it to play.

More important is that you only have an integrated graphics card, and not a particularly strong one at that.  I'm not sure which packs you have installed, but Pets and Seasons, and maybe even IP and ITF, might be more than this card can manage.  (This could also change with the in-game seasons—snow and hail are particularly hard to render—and whether you currently have any pets in your active family, particularly long-haired ones.)  You can help your card by turning down the graphics settings somewhat (particluarly water and high-detail lots—I have those on "mirrors only" and 2, respectively), but there's only so much stress it'll be able to handle.

This is, I guess, a long way of saying that your computer might not be able to handle running TS3 the way you'd like.  I'm not sure if this is why your existing save isn't loading, although it's certainly possible, but you could run into a situation where your system has trouble loading and maintaining existing games, once they progress past a certain point.  Again, this depends on which packs you have installed.  But if you're having trouble running the game on a regular basis, or existing saves often fail to load, you might need to uninstall some packs in order to keep playing on this computer.

I'm just going to recreate the sims and rebuild the houses and mark this one as a learning experience I won't be repeating.... I will start saving the sims as I create them.. Same with the houses I design. Thanks for the help....

Not sure if you know anything about Runescape or minecraft but I let my son add both games to my computer the morning that I started having the issues. Up until then I had never had any problems with my game. So could adding those 2 games have caused me TS3 to start acting up?

@Regi67  I don't know anything about either of those games, but I can ask around.  Installing the games themselves shouldn't have had any effect on TS3, and you have more than enough drive space to accommodate them.  The only thing I can think of is that perhaps you or your son updated your OS or installed some other software to make the games run more efficiently.  Windows 10 runs TS3 just fine most of the time, but it has been known to get cranky.  (And the multiple TS3 game folders suggest an update—OneDrive likes to reenable itself without asking permission.)  As for any other software, I'd only be guessing.

I still think that the issues are more likely due to some corruption in your ongoing save.  The other games wouldn't touch your save files, and since a new save loads just fine, the problem is probably the save itself.  What you've described is how game corruption can look, at least once it's progressed past a certain point.  This is one reason it's a good idea to keep a few backups of your current game.  You can use "save as" and rename the save; I do so at least once every sim-day, and I keep 4-6 older saves at a time.

By the way, you may not have to recreate your sims.  Any household you've created will be saved in a file in your game folder (your old folder, in this case: the path is Documents\EA\TS3\Library).  The names of those files are random, but if put them into your new folder, they'll show up in the bin when you select a household to move in.  The same goes for any builds you happened to save to your library.  You can also save an individual sim to the in Create-a-Household and then reload that sim later to work on or add to another family in progress.  Those sims saved in CAH have corresponding files in your game folder, in SavedSims.

Thank you so much for your help. I hope if anyone else has this issue that this information will help them too.