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EmilkaGwiazda's avatar
EmilkaGwiazda
Not applicable
1 year ago

The sims 3 broken save and backup

I play The Sims 3. Yesterday I wanted to load my family, but after selecting it from the menu and closing the loading window, the city editing mode was activated.
I was a bit surprised, but I just wanted to choose my lot and continue playing.
Then it turned out that the plot of my active family was uninhabited.
After a while, I noticed that the whole city was "deserted" - all the lots were empty, without sims.
I've already thrown away and replaced the files mentioned on Internet forums, but my game still doesn't work.
The backup save is quite broken - in image displayed on the menu the family is incomplete and deformed, and after selecting it (and loading for a while), a window appears that an error has occurred, during which it is recommended to restart the game. The family I'm talking about now is called "Pragnienia Zyciowe.sims3.old", and the backup (with the .backup extension removed) is called "Pragnienia Zyciowe.sims3". My family consists of 7 sims and I really want to get this game back. If you are unable to repair the current save, please restore my game to the state of one of the previous correct saves (preferably the last correct save, of course). Thank you

pc
technical issues

1 Reply

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    1 year ago

    @EmilkaGwiazda  Saves are only stored locally on your computer, not on EA servers, so if your copies don't work, there's unfortunately no other backup, unless OneDrive happened to sync your files at an earlier time.  You can check on onedrive.com, including in the recycle bin, if this is a possibility.

    To try to repair this save, I'd normally suggest a few mods.  Do you use any, or are you willing to try?  If so, I'd add NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and MasterController, all described here:

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

    ET and OW do their cleanup work on their own, with no need for player input; MC doesn't do anything unless you use it to issue a command.  To repair the save, I'd load it and let the game clock run for a few sim-minutes, if possible, then run an MC town reset.  Click on the City Hall map tag (in live mode; it doesn't work in Edit Town) and select NRaas > MasterController > Town Options > Reset Everything.  When it's finished, let the game clock run for a few more sim-minutes, use "save as" to rename the save (so you're not overwriting your current copy), quit, and reload.

    You can try your both main save and the backup if you want, especially if the backup is still having trouble loading.

    While troubleshooting, please delete the five cache files in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 every time you quit the game.  For reference, these files are:

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

    The files will regenerate, but that's fine—the point is to delete their old, stale data so it doesn't affect your save.

    Without mods, the only suggestion I have is to evict your household in Edit Town, if you can get either save to load at all, and place the sims back in their house.  This helps with some issues but usually not the kind of serious corruption that leads sims to disappear entirely.

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