Save files corrupted Sims 3
I have a very nasty problem with my Sims 3 game. When I tried to save my game I got error 12, which means the file i'm trying to save on is corrupted. I've had this problem before and could always fi...
Forum Discussion
@dmacay95 The original technique was for recovering the sims that were active the last time you saved the game. I didn't realize there were other sims in the town that you also wanted back. The data for each save is spread out among several different files, and any one of them could potentially be the issue. So, if you want to experiment, you could use the same approach as before to replace one of those files at a time, testing to see if you get a usable game that includes all the sims you care about. Unfortunately though, it's possible that the data you want is already too corrupted to recover.
I'm sorry that there isn't a more useful way to approach this. The unfortunate fact is that saves get corrupted, and sometimes they're too far gone to repair. In the future, aside from keeping backup saves, you might want to look into adding mods to clean up your game. There are a few that don't change gameplay at all, they just remove bad data and reset stuck situations when necessary. It's the only way many of us have been able to maintain games over a number of generations without having to periodically transfer our sims to a clean save.
Okay thanks so much for explaining! I was a little confused because in the documents folder of the Sims 2 you actually have your sims and lots saved in multiple maps but now I understand that the Sims 3 works different. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that all the content is in those save files, it's weird :P
I will also try to test the other files then. So does that mean that if you create a new and clean .nhd file, you still can have your content back or is that unclear?
That might be very useful, thank you. Do you know any of these mods?
@dmacay95 I haven't experimented enough with swapping around the files within the save folder to be sure exactly what information is stored in each. (Some of it is obvious, but not all.) But the .nhd file is the big one, other than TravelDB if your sims travel a lot. So I would imagine that most of the data you want to preserve is in there, unfortunately. If you can't find some working combination of files that includes the .nhd, you might not be able to recover the save.
Just in case you didn't know, the sims you create in-game are also saved to Library when you exit CAS, as are any lots you save after building them. Anything that has an entry in the in-game bin you see in Edit Town also has a Library entry. The sims there won't have progressed though—they'll be the same clean slates they were when they came out of CAS.
The save-preserving mods are all from NRaas.
- ErrorTrap and Overwatch work together to clean up errors, corrupt data, and stuck sims. ErrorTrap is the only core mod on this list; be sure to get the version that corresponds to your type of install (Origin/Steam/disc).
- MasterController loads a very long list of commands for you to run. The most useful for the health of your saves are the ones to reset sims, objects, lots, or the whole town at once.
- Traveler replaces the broken travel transition with its own and makes errors much less likely.
- Register controls the Service (maids, repairpeople, burglars, etc.) and Role (assigned to role-giving objects, like cash registers) sims. You may or may not need it, but it's very helpful if you notice issues with either type of sim.
- Traffic prevents the unnecessary excess spawning of vehicles. If Overwatch is reporting on hundreds or thousands of vehicles cleaned up every night, or your town is overwhelmed by ice cream trucks, Traffic will shut that all down.
All of these mods work just fine on default settings, so you can drop them in your game folder and not pay too much attention. ErrorTrap in particular creates a lot of reports, both in-game notifications and scripterrors in your game folder, but those are mostly just it doing its job; there's no reason to worry unless you're having issues with your save. In that case, you can take the scripterrors to NRaas and ask that someone read them for you. The people there are very friendly and helpful, and someone will let you know what's going on, and what needs to be fixed.
Thank you very much anyway for helping me. It didn't work for me but it might as well have and could possibly be a solution for anyone else who runs into this problem.
I also figured out that the .nhd file was the biggest so probably all content is indeed in there and can't be recovered. I've tried to use it in combination with the clean files, but unfortunately without success. I will just create a new game and make frequent backups to prevent this from happening again. I also learned that error 12 is caused by exceeding RAM usage. There are ways to lower that so I'll try those out as well.
Okay that's interesting. And where is this library located?
Thanks for sharing these mods, I will definitely give them a try.
@dmacay95 I'm sorry that swapping around the files didn't help, but it's not always possible to recover a save beyond a certain point. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Hopefully, the mods will prevent you from getting to the same point in the future, or at the very least, you'll be able to revert to a backup and start resetting things with MasterController to clean up the save.
Library is in your game folder in Documents\EA\TS3, just as Saves is. The files are labeled with random strings of characters, but you can rename them however you want; just keep the .package extension at the end. The creation dates should help you distinguish among the various files, or you could put one at a time into a clean game folder and see what shows up in the in-game bin in Edit Town.
No problem! I hope so too. I just moved the files from the old library folder into my new game folder and I have my old sims back in my bin, yay! So after all they were stored somewhere! I have to start their lives over from the beginning though but i'm so happy to have them back and that saves me a lot of time and work. Thank you again! This was very useful 🙂
Featured Places
