No sims in saved households- completely empty sim world

So, my game kept crashing and would get stuck in those infinite loading screens, so i decided to check all my cc content by removing them file by file then running the game to see which one contained the broken cc mod. 
The game works well with all my cc files but to double check I do a run with zero mods and cc, when I open the sims game, my sim is just a white silhouette and when I click on play it sends me to the world option rather than her house… I click on saved households EMPTY NOT A SINGLE SIM IN GANE?! And this is the case for the world too , the houses are still there but nobody lives anywhere…

The strange thing is that this isn’t a case for my other saved games? I can play those normally it’s just THIS saved game that’s having this problem.

i really want to recover this game as the difference between this save and the others is almost 2 months of gameplay and I don’t want to lose it ☹️ 

I’ve tried repairing the game , removing the custom content and I’m at a loss please help! 

I’ve attached pictures to clarify everything.