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

Much better 🙂 Is the Sims 4 folder directly in the Documents folder or is it in an Electronic Arts folder? You need to click on one of those saves so it's highlighted and then the full file path will show. Please do so then post another screenshot showing the file path.
Marimushroom
2 years ago
Yes it is in my electronic arts folder, here is the screenshot!
Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

Thanks! That all looks good. Could it be the WonderfulWhims Mod causing the issue? Does it interfere with saves? I’m guessing it does if it’s in your saves folder and it has a more recent file modified date than your saves.
Marimushroom
2 years ago
I do not think so I just removed it and the rest of the save files still will not show up
Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

There is nothing wrong with the saves files or the folder location so the problem is in your user data somewhere. Move the whole Sims 4 folder to the desktop then launch the game and quit at the main menu. A new Sims 4 folder will have been created. Move one of the saves from the folder you moved to the newly created Sims 4 > saves folder then launch the game. Can you load the game?
Marimushroom
2 years ago
Yes, I just did that and I was able to load the game. Then I put the most recent save I created on this computer and it loaded into the game. The one save I want from my old Mac is still not showing up, and it is in my saves folder.
Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

Can you upload the save that isn't loading to a file sharing site and DM me the link? I can test in my game.
Bluebellflora
Hero+
2 years ago
@Marimushroom

Thanks for the save 🙂

It happily loaded into my game:

So I would guess your CC/Mods are interfering. Moving your thread to the Mod issues forum.
luthienrising
Hero+
2 years ago
Hi @Marimushroom Given that you had a mod in the wrong folder, this is probably time to go through your mods and make sure they're all in the right place (in Mods, not Saves), that they're the most recent versions, that they're not known to be broken (which means there's no current working version), and that you don't have duplicates. Also, every time you delete a file from Mods or replace one there, delete the file called localthumbcache.

The current Broken/Updated Mods and the previous Broken/Updated Mods list are good starting points for this process. If you'd like some support during it, I'm happy to provide that.

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Save file not loading despite being in saves folder

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