The Sims 3 | no sims in town problem (solved)

@silentwind2  This is what happens when a save gets so corrupt it can't even properly load critical data.  There's no way to fix it without mods, although if you've been creating backup saves, you may have one that's unaffected and be able to save your sims from there.

If that's not an option, and you're willing to use mods, I'd add ErrorTrap, Overwatch, Register, and MasterController, all from NRaas.  You can find links and brief descriptions here:

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

The first three will do their job without any user input; MC won't do anything unless you issue a command.  If you're willing, download those mods, follow the instructions in the linked guide to installing mods, and load your save.  From there, let the game clock run for a few sim-minutes, if it does run, or else wait a minute or two.  Then run a town reset: click on City Hall and select NRaas > MasterController > Town Options > Reset Everything.  This can take a few minutes to run depending on the size of the save and the speed of your hardware.

You'll see a pop-up when the reset is finished.  From there, let the game clock run a bit more, use "save as" to rename the save (so your original isn't overwritten), quit to desktop, and delete the five cache files in your Sims 3 user folder:

• CASPartCache.package
• compositorCache.package
• scriptCache.package
• simCompositorCache.package
• socialCache.package

Load your save again and see whether you can access your old sims.  If you can't, please let me know whether you can load a different household—there's another approach (using MasterController) to recovering your sims that might also work.

Hi! Thanks for your help, but after I've done everything as written, I've realized I have to try the second method. I installed all of those mods and they're working properly, so I launched my save. The town reset took only a few seconds and I thought it would take at least a few minutes to wait, so then I've already started to worry again. I restarted the game, deleted cache files and loaded the save once more, but my sims ain't back at the town. I also tried that with backup save (cause that one is also corrupted) and it did not help either. At least other sims can be loaded now in the town, so I'll be grateful if you could write me exactly how to try this second method. Thank you for helping me again!

OH MY GOD, IT WORKED!

I've immediately saved my most important sims and stuff to the library and moved to the new save. Of course, all the relationships are cleaned, the rest of the sims ages are reset, but I'm too happy I have them back!

BIG thanks for the help again. Also btw - is there something like a list of things to do to avoid bugs/situations like this in the future? I don't really want to begin a new save in a few months and repeat all this.

@silentwind2  There's a short list and a comprehensive list.  The short version is to keep using NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, MasterController, Register, Traveler if your sims ever travel to other worlds, and probably Traffic too, although it's not as necessary if you don't have Showtime installed.  Running a town reset every six to eight sim-weeks is also highly recommended.  The other mods will clean up most issues on their own just by being there.

The comprehensive list includes suggestions to both keep saves from getting corrupted and help the game run better overall:

https://www.nraas.net/community/TIPS-FOR-BETTER-GAME-PERFORMANCE

You certainly don't need to do everything, especially the steps that help limit memory use, that is unless you notice a save running over the 3 GB RAM mark.  It's more a list of all the things you can try if necessary and if they're not too inconvenient for your playstyle.  The one suggestion that's definitely worth doing is disabling memories, or at least using a mod to limit them: the memory system is a huge resource hog all by itself.

Hello, it was two years ago but I think it will help a lot of people. And maybe you still have your save somewhere. There is a utility program  called RegulSaveCleaner that can clean and repair backups. in the sims 3. The utility is recent and there are always updates It's very easy to use, just open it and select the backup you want to repair, I was able to save backups that were becoming too heavy and completely corrupted backups.(due to mods or not)

Even a save where all the sims disappeared even those of my family or another where the CAS had remained in the normal world and transformed the world into a blue screen with just the ocean texture.