I Lost At Least 2 Saves
Hi, I just played my one game save last night only to discover that it had gone back at least 2 saves w/no option to go back to where I was before. First of all, my game did crash, but I know I didn'...
Forum Discussion
@Sonshine77 No, that's not normal, but losing power can have a serious impact on data integrity. However, it's also possible there's an issue with your save itself. Before you do anything else, make a backup copy of your saves folder and store it somewhere other than your computer. An external drive or USB is ideal, but if you don't have one, you can zip the saves folder and upload it to the free filesharing site (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) of your choice.
Next, please play it forward for at least a sim-day, then save your progress, then immediately after (you can wait a few sim-minutes) use "save as" and rename the save. Quit the game, restart your computer, and let me know whether the new save you created with "save as" is present and whether the old save reflects the progress you made in that session.
Please also let me know whether your computer uses Windows or macOS.
Thanks Puzzled Addict! I did play it for a bit last night, but didn't use the "save as." Another thing is that the magic tree going to Sylvan Glade was sealed and I had to open it again. That goes back several saves. Silvan Glade is also acting up in that the wild plants are brown instead of green and there was originally a cherry tree there. but that is nowhere to be found. I'm thinking about moving the fanily to a different save.
I never knew that a power outage could damage data when the comp is off!
I use Win OS
@Sonshine77 A power outage shouldn't affect computers that are shut down, but the way they shut down can leave them a bit vulnerable even if the risk is low. Depending on your settings, a shutdown can write the data from that session to the drive and then read it when starting up again, thereby saving a little time, rather than restarting from scratch. That's why restarting your computer, as in, selecting Restart from the power menu, is an essential part of troubleshooting. It forces Windows to load everything anew rather than saving some data.
I do think it's more likely that something else is going on though, especially because I've seen other reports of progress reverting in existing saves. Are the entire save files gone, or just progress in the saves while the files are intact? That's one reason why I asked about "save as": that would make it easier to tell whether the files were disappearing or just some of the progress of your saves.
If only some progress is disappearing, it would be helpful to know exactly what stays the same and what reverts, for example that new business you built is gone but it's still sim-Thursday like it was supposed to be, and (as you've said) the magic tree is sealed even though you know you opened it a sim-week ago. If you could make at least a partial list—no need to be completely thorough, just whatever you notice or can check easily—that would be great.
Boy, I don't know! I believe everything was lost for several saves. Right now though, my house is frozen. I just moved them in to a new house. I'll try restarting my comp to see if it works. Otherwise. I'm going to try evicting them (move out first, then evict if that doesn't work).
