Empty lots

Could be related

Try resetting your user files as described in the factory reset described in this post: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4/FAQ-Troubleshooting-Steps-amp-Known-Issues/m-p/3621199

You won't loose anything. Just make sure to not delete any files  and make a backup.

Hi Crinrict, Thanks for helping! I did as you explained in the guide--backed it up and then emptied the Sims 4 folder and started a new game. In the new game everything worked fine, so I minimised it and moved my save files back and then when I went to try one of my games again, the problem was back. This time it ignored saved game 2 (the one I had clicked on) and brought up the test game, even though I had moved the test game save files from the folder before I moved my back up files in. I then exited the game and restarted it and it didn't show any saved games at all, with the error message that the games I was trying to load used a newer version of the sims 4 and I needed to update it.

But then I tried using the repair game option from the origin window. And it worked! For like, 30 seconds! I exited the game and then reloaded it and the error was back (the orange pop up one). This morning I tried again and no orange pop-up, the games were there but no houses on the lots.

Just tried repair and then loading the game, but no dice, empty lots again! I'm not very tech savvy, so I'm entirely at your mercy! Thanks in advance for your help.

So it worked if you didn't put your saves back ? Sounds like the saves are corrupt. Maybe try just moving the slot_00000001.save away (that's the autosave)

Did you try putting them back one by one ?

Erm no, I just moved the whole saves file back... I'll try it one by one this time and let you know how it goes. Thanks again for your help! You rock!

Hi sorry for taking a while to respond--work got busy and I got sick ☹️ Anyway, I found the time to try it out and here's what happened.

I started with a new new blank game after backing everything up. Then I moved everything in the saves folder back one by one. Only the "short" files (like Slot_00000002.save vs Slot_00000002.save.ver0) seemed to contain the save games. I isolated the bad and good versions in separate folders to keep track of them, because every time I found a "bad" one it would contaminate my good ones and I'd have to make a new blank game. By contaminate I mean that even if I removed the bad one and kept a good one in there, the next time I opened TS4 the good one would be bad. After I finally finished sorting through everything, I had a good copy of my legacy game but had no good copy of my other game. In other words, the first one (the one that kept getting the error 22 message) had no houses and all the lot values were reset to the land value only.

I decided I could live with this loss because I realised that I could build new houses on these vacant lots and they would be saved with no problems. I had no original houses in that game, so no problem. I built a new house over three separate sessions and each time I opened TS4 everything was fine so I assumed it was all solved. I moved a family in to this house and then played it for a bit and then I played my legacy for a bit. Today when I went back to check on it, the second game (non-legacy) was broken again! I got the error message 22 and it redirected to my legacy game like before. When I went in to the legacy game directly, it was all fine. So I backed it up and sorted through the save files again, still separating the good and the bad. I think that there's something wrong with that second game and same thing. Tried it with a new blank game and just my legacy and same thing. I think that the act of playing the game corrupts it in some way so that the save files can't be read even though the data is still there. Any suggestions so I don't have to manually change all the files over every time I want to play?

Thanks for your advice. I will do that, but I want to wait until I finish my legacy because I don't want to risk anything there. In the meantime, I've realised that, since the sims themselves and all of their qualities are preserved, all I need to do is save the buildings to the gallery each time I finish playing. Then if they don't save, I can just download them again and pick up where I left off.

Thanks for all of your help I really appreciate it! Happy Simming!