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silentwind2's avatar
silentwind2
4 years ago
Solved

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

Hi! At the beginning, I wanna say that I have no mods in my TS3 game, but I got some of the expansion packs and all of the store towns.  I have a save that I've played in for like a year with some l...
pc
technical issues
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    4 years ago

    @silentwind2  There are a few variations on the same approach, but I think this is the simplest.  Load into the household of the sim you can access and let the game clock run for a few sim-minutes.  Pick what used to be an empty house or lot in town, click on a wall or the ground, and select NRaas > MC > Add Sim, then X out the list of filters.  You'll see a list of all sims in the save, at least those that MC can find.  Pick a single sim or a group of them, for example your former active household, and those sims should now be living on the lot you picked.

    After the sims are added, let the game clock run for a few more sim-minutes, then run another MC town reset.  Use "save as" again, quit, delete the cache files, reload, and see whether you can save the household to the in-game bin.  You can also try loading into it, but depending on how much sim data has been recovered, that may not go well.   However, given the current state of your save, it sounds like it's time to move your sims elsewhere anyway, so saving them to the library is what matters.

    You can repeat the process for any number of sims you want to save.  Keep adding them to separate empty houses or lots though, so you don't get any overlap with sims already living there.

silentwind2's avatar
silentwind2
4 years ago

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!

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
4 years ago

@silentwind2  There are a few variations on the same approach, but I think this is the simplest.  Load into the household of the sim you can access and let the game clock run for a few sim-minutes.  Pick what used to be an empty house or lot in town, click on a wall or the ground, and select NRaas > MC > Add Sim, then X out the list of filters.  You'll see a list of all sims in the save, at least those that MC can find.  Pick a single sim or a group of them, for example your former active household, and those sims should now be living on the lot you picked.

After the sims are added, let the game clock run for a few more sim-minutes, then run another MC town reset.  Use "save as" again, quit, delete the cache files, reload, and see whether you can save the household to the in-game bin.  You can also try loading into it, but depending on how much sim data has been recovered, that may not go well.   However, given the current state of your save, it sounds like it's time to move your sims elsewhere anyway, so saving them to the library is what matters.

You can repeat the process for any number of sims you want to save.  Keep adding them to separate empty houses or lots though, so you don't get any overlap with sims already living there.

  • silentwind2's avatar
    silentwind2
    4 years ago

    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.

    • puzzlezaddict's avatar
      puzzlezaddict
      Hero+
      4 years ago

      @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.

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