I have recently gotten a new iMac and wanted to transfer all of my data from my previous Mac to my new one. I transfers my electronic arts folder and all of my sims stuff including my mods and save files. When I load into the game my save files don’t show up. I’m thinking I did something wrong with how I transferred the files but at this point I’m not sure. Edit - moved from Mac forum, edited title to better reflect issue after extensive troubleshooting (Bluebellflora)

@Marimushroom The Sims 4 folder must be in the exact same location on the new Mac for your game to load your user data - Documents > Electronic Arts in your local Mac user account, not iCloud.

It is in my local Mac account and still won’t show up, it is a copy of my previous save file and says, slot000000a.save.ver0 copy. I did move it through putting it in the iCloud then moving it from there.

@Marimushroom That is a copy of a save backup and not an actual save file that can be loaded. All loadable save files are in the following format: Slot_XXXXXXXX.save where the eight Xs are various letters and numbers. You say that you moved it from iCloud which is what may have created the copy as a file with that name is already in the saves folder. Your save backup however would never load even if you removed the .ver0 copy as the filename is incorrect. The underscore in the filename is missing, it only has seven characters rather than eight, and the s needs to be capitalised. If you have a save file with the same characters it needs to be named like this to load:

I’ve looked and these are the only save files I have, in total I have around 200, so do I just rename them or is there nothing I can do?

@Marimushroom It would help if you could post a list of the contents of your saves folder. Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal) then copy/paste the following command into the console and hit Enter: ls -l ~/Documents/Electronic\ Arts/The\ Sims\ 4/saves Please copy and paste the results here.

Save file not loading despite being in saves folder

29 Replies

Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

Thanks. I have the DM and your previous post is properly showing the output too now 🙂

Yes, all the saves that end in .save and have "copy" after them should load if you remove the "copy" so the filename is Slot_00000034.save for example.

The ones with Ver are backups of the corresponding save file and can be ignored for now.
Marimushroom
2 years ago
This worked for a majority of my saves but for the ones I actually care about they don't seem to be showing up, is there anything else I should do?
Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

If it's not working for some files it means that the filenames are still in a format the game cannot read. Could you please post a screenshot showing the save files that aren't loading? Please have the Finder view in list mode, it's much easier to read filenames.
Marimushroom
2 years ago
I believe these are the files that are not working, I am not totally sure but I have only played one save file in 2024 so I am assuming these are the right files? Thanks for all your help.
Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

Thanks. As previously stated, the files ending Ver are backups and any file with the word copy won’t load. The only actual loadable save file is the first one, Slot_00000033.save
Marimushroom
2 years ago
So I have 43 saves and only about 3 or 4 are showing up they are all named Slot_00000043.save ect. They are all named correctly but only a few show up.
Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

If they are correctly named, and directly in the Sims 4 > saves folder, the game will load them. Without seeing a screenshot of all these saves to check they are correct, and with the file path clearly showing at the bottom of the Finder window, I can’t help you further.
Marimushroom
2 years ago
Here are all the photos of my saves, if you can't help anymore it's fine and I thank you for all your help!
Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

Thanks but where’s the screenshot showing the file path at the bottom of the Finder window?

If you’re not going to remove the unnecessary “copy” from those backups you may as well move them out of the folder to a backup folder, they’re useless and clogging up space.
Marimushroom
2 years ago
I think I did it right? And I also put all the extra saves in a backup folder

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Save file not loading despite being in saves folder

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