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Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
9 years ago

Missing Households and Now All Sims Lost: please help!

Hi all, 

Initially, my Sims 4 "manage worlds" screen was loading fine, with all my households, but when I clicked on a household it start loading but then take me back to the manage worlds screen. For a solution, I looked on this forum and found the following accepted solution for the problem: 

Close the game
Move your documents\electronicarts\thesims4\saves folder to the desktop
Start a new game for testing purposes and see if it works now
If so, exit your game and put the game named slot00000002.save from your folder on the desktop back into the new saves folder
Start the game and see if it loads If so, proceed for every game (except slot00000001.save) and see if you find the corrupt one. Do not worry about the slot1, or the two folders in the saves folder. They are not needed.
If you found which save is bugged, you need to decide if you want to try and save it or not.
If you do, check if you have any files called slot0000000X.save.ver0 - slot0000000X.save.ver0 (X is the number of your bugged save).
If you do, move the slot0000000X.sav back to the folder on your desktop and move the ver0 file to the active folder and rename slot0000000X.save.ver0 to slot0000000X.save.
If it still doesn't work, try any of the other backups.
Once you found a working save game, immediately use save as to save it under a new name.

I attempted to follow the directions above but found them confusing, and in the process of moving the save files around most of my .save files were lost or deleted, and I couldn't find them in my trash can. I am not sure where the files are, and although several .save files do remain in the saves folder, I had hoped it would open up to some saved version at least. Instead, now when I open the game it goes straight to create-a-sim, as if all of my households are gone. I checked and all my households are still in the gallery. 

Any help on clarifying the earlier directions to fix this problem, or offering a solution to recover my households, would be greatly appreciated. Best, 

Diva

mac

9 Replies

  • crinrict's avatar
    crinrict
    Hero+
    9 years ago

    Could you post a screens shot of your saves folder to see what's left ?

    Did you move your saves to the desktop and do you still have a folder there ?

    I assume you didn't backup your stuff beforehand ?

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    9 years ago

    Hello, 

    Thank you for your reply! I have attached a screenshot of my current saves folder. 

    The first four are from 8/8 of this year, and the last two are from February of this year, according to their last save dates. The saves folder is currently on the desktop, but my game doesn't work regardless of if it's on the desktop or in the EA folder. I am not sure what you mean by "backing up" the saves - I always save my game when I'm playing, and the time stamp on the saves indicates this I think (the 8/8 ones), but I don't know why these games aren't loading.

    Let me know what other suggestions you have. Thanks, 

    Diva

  • roberta591's avatar
    roberta591
    Hero (Retired)
    9 years ago

    @divazumaya As the Sims 4 works different on a mac then a pc I'm going to move this post to the sims mac forum.

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    9 years ago

    @divazumaya

    Your saves won't load in your game if they're on the desktop as the game looks for them in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Saves.

    The instructions can't really be any simpler though. Put that Saves folder from your screenshot back into the Documents Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 folder (replacing a new Saves folder that has been created). Does your game load your save now?

    A backup is a saved copy of a file/folder so if you lose the original you have a backup copy to use. Like when you backup your Mac 🙂

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    9 years ago

    Hello, 

    Thank you for your response. I have moved the saves folder with my remaining saves back into the Sims 4 --> Electronic Arts folder, but I am continuing to have the same problem where it opens with create-a-sim, as if I have no households. I do have several saves in my save folder - do you have any idea why they are not opening? Are these backed up files, or would I have to have made a copy? Thanks, 

    Diva

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    9 years ago

    @divazumaya

    You should be putting them in:

    Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4

    Where there are other folders such as Mods, Screenshots, Recorded Videos etc.

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    9 years ago

    I have saves in my save folder, and the folder is located in the Sims 4/Electronic Arts folder as you recommend. Any idea why nothing is loading, nonetheless? 

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    9 years ago
    @divazumaya wrote:

    I have saves in my save folder, and the folder is located in the Sims 4/Electronic Arts folder as you recommend. Any idea why nothing is loading, nonetheless? 

    @divazumaya

    The Sims 4 folder should be in the Electronic Arts folder which in turn is in your Documents folder. There should be no Electronic Arts folder in your Sims 4 folder:

    Please can you screenshot what is in your Saves folder following the file path above and add the picture here?

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    9 years ago

    Sorry, I did not word my reply before clearly - the saves folder IS in Documents --> Electronic Arts --> Sims 4 --> saves 

    I have attached a screenshot of what is currently in the folder. 

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