no sims in game only houses

*sigh* where to start? 

I’d love feedback or advice if anyone can give it, but I also just needed an outlet and support. 

I’m very excited for this update. Lovestruck and the base game update look very cool. I also use a lot of mods. I deleted those that I knew, for a fact, would mess with the base game update. 

My game was functioning just fine for a while. But then, the “cheat need -> make happy” cheat wasn’t working, and my sim’s sleep need wouldn’t go up (This is no longer my problem). 

I got mad and deleted a bunch more mods as well as my local thumb cache. Then, when I went back into my game, the “load game” screen shows my saves - But when I go in, ALL OF MY SIMS AND TOWNIES ARE GONE. THERE’S NO ONE THERE. And when I try to play my household, it only shows my lot and a disfigured panel (my sims aren’t there, I can’t look at their needs, etc. I can only leave the game) 

I’m going to back up my save files, god forbid something truly terrible happens, but oh my god, why is this happening? I have close to NOTHING in my mod files that could be causing this to go on. I tried to repair my game and that didn’t help either. 

this is truly a head scratcher for me. I know this update is new and not all the answers may be out yet, but I’m so annoyed and wanted to share what was going on in case anyone else is too. I appreciate any comments/advice!