Save crashes when loading any household after update 1.118 (worked in 1.117)

After updating The Sims 4 from version 1.117 to 1.118, one specific save became completely unplayable.

Before the update (1.117):
– The save worked normally
– All households loaded without issues

After the update to 1.118+:
– The main menu loads correctly
– The affected save appears in the Load Game menu
– The world loads successfully in Manage Worlds
– BUT the game crashes to desktop when trying to load ANY household
  (including newly created households on empty lots)

Important details:
– This happens with NO mods and NO CC
– localthumbcache.package deleted
– Clean user folder tested
– DX11 and DX9 both tested (no difference)
– Repair via EA App done
– NVIDIA shader cache cleared
– All backup versions of the same save (.ver0, .ver1, etc.) crash in the same way
– Other saves and new games work normally

System:
– Windows 11
– NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super
– EA App
– Game worked correctly on version 1.117

Conclusion:
This looks like a save compatibility / serialization issue introduced in patch 1.118, where existing saves crash when initializing households.

The save cannot be rolled back because EA App does not support version downgrades.

Please investigate save compatibility regression between 1.117 and 1.118.