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filledemot's avatar
filledemot
1 year ago

Stuck on the ol' green spinner while trying to load a saved game.

Hello, everyone! After searching here all day yesterday and attempting to troubleshoot with the EA technical support team, I thought I'd start a new thread with an issue I'm having loading a saved game. It might help to know that everything worked fine up until the most recent update on 06/06/2024.

The problem I'm having is I get to the initial launch screen and click on "Resume Playing" to load my saved game, and then I get stuck on the loading screen forever and have to force-quit. I've tried loading the game from the "Saved Games" tab and that didn't work, either. I'm able to load the lot in Build/Buy mode, but I can't load the saved game.

Here's what I've tried so far:

  • created a new/clean The Sims 4 folder (EA told me to do this and I've tried three times to no avail)
  • uninstalled and reinstalled the game 
  • repaired the game
  • cleared the loacalthumbcache
  • restarted my computer 
  • logged in and out of the EA app
  • ensured my connection is working properly 

I play with CC, but no mods. I haven't added any new CC recently and played my saved game just fine before the update, so I don't think it's that. I can start a new game just fine, so it appears to be a problem with this particular save. I've been playing this household for 4+ years and would hate to lose all that work and progress.

Over the years, I've had a number of issues with the stuck loading screen - last time this happened, EA instructed me to go into my Mac's disk drive and delete The Sims 4 from my Library or something like that (sorry if I'm not explaining that very well) and it worked, but for the life of me I can't remember exactly what those directions were. I had the Origin app at that time so not sure that makes a difference. 

Anyway, it's a bummer because I haven't been able to play this save in five days! I know it's just one save, but like I said, I've been playing this household for many years and would like to continue doing so.

Thanks so much in advance for any help or advice you can provide! Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

[CM Edit: Formatting]

gameplay issue

5 Replies

  • crinrict's avatar
    crinrict
    Hero+
    1 year ago
    @filledemot Hi, thanks for all the details

    You say you can load the lot in build mode but not play with it, so the map does load when you load the save game via load, right ?

    Can you load other lots ? If so, is this a big lot with lots of stuff ?
  • filledemot's avatar
    filledemot
    1 year ago

    Thanks so much for responding! Yes, the map does come up when I load the game via "Load Saved Game", and it also loads in Build/Buy mode. And I have no trouble loading other lots or starting new games.

    I'm thinking I might need to do the 50/50 method with my CC, because yes, the lot I'm talking about has a lot of stuff. I don't use mods but I do have quite a bit of CC. The fact that I began having this problem after the last update makes me think I have some broken CC somewhere.

    Anyway, I'll try the 50/50 method and report back. Thanks again! You're such a helpful contributor here. 

  • crinrict's avatar
    crinrict
    Hero+
    1 year ago
    @filledemot There is a known issue where older huge lots with tons of stuff stop working. There's a thread for that in bugs. That isn't tied to cc.

    Please test the following two things to know what it is in your case

    1. Move the mods folder to the desktop, delete localthumbcache file and try loading the lot on a backup of your save game and see if it loads.

    If it doesn't

    2. Evict your Sim from the house, then move them back in with no furniture. if that works, then it's the known bug.
  • filledemot's avatar
    filledemot
    1 year ago

    Hello again! So I wanted to check back and let you know that you were indeed correct (of course you were!) about there being too much stuff on the lot of the particular save I've been trying to load.

    I accessed the lot by loading the game via "Load Saved Game" (as opposed to "Resume Game") and deleted a big deco garden full of CC I built last time I was able to play - I think that's what sent the lot into "too much stuff" territory (sucks that this bug exists, but at least we found the root of the problem). After I did that deletion, I saved the lot, exited the game, deleted my localthumbcache file, and then started the game again. And what do you know - THE SAVE LOADED and now I'm playing it for the first time in a week! Woot!

    Anyway I just wanted to thank you again for your help and update this thread for anyone who might be having the same issue. I'll be more careful and choosy from here on about how much stuff I add to my lots (I'm a huge fan of clutter)!

  • crinrict's avatar
    crinrict
    Hero+
    1 year ago
    @filledemot If the lot was full of cc it could have been a specific cc item. I would keep an eye out when placing cc if the issue comes out and if it does, remove the cc from your game.

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