My Mac save files are gone?

First of all, drag your entire Sims 4 folder to your Desktop. DO NOT DELETE IT! This is where your saved games are stored. Next start up the game as normal realizing that your saved games will not show up, but this is to check up to make sure that nothing else is wrong. Create a new Sim and play for about an hour or so, save the game as normal and then quit the game. Check the new Sims 4 folder that should have generated to see if the saved game you just played is there. 

Next check your Mods to insure they are up to date. Whenever a new patch comes out, Mods are usually updated as the patch can change things that may conflict with the Mod or render it obsolete. Add the updated Mods to your game. 

Go back and check your Sims 4 folder on your Desktop to see if you see any files in the Saved games folder. 

I alway recommend to back up your game on an external hard drive or USB thumb drive before patching to insure your Simmies are safe. 

Let me know what happens.

@EA_Mai, this was a problem that was being reported on the regular Sims forums that occurred with the June patch I think, but it was right before the release of Seasons. I found the link to the original post and will paste it here. I never heard back from the OP.

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/940910/my-families-are-missing-please-help#latest

@Leineb, I know it started occurring before Seasons was released. I posted the original discussion from the Sims forum here so EA.Mai can see it. 

I really do recommend regular saves of your entire Sims 4 folder on a thumb drive or external hard drive so that you don't lose all your progress with your families. I play on a Desktop iMac and have Time Machine running all the time. I've had something happen to my computer more times than I can count and it really saves me a lot of aggravation. I understand you can't always back up like this on a laptop. 

Advice for the future. Always back up the Sims 4 folder before updating your Mac OS, installing any new content or patching your game. Happy Simming. 🙂

Thanks for the link, @Tremayne4260, have you seen more players reporting the same issue than in that thread?

I do believe the situation here is different as, unfortunately, @Leineb has no files on her saves folder other than the scratch folder.

@Leineb - the achievements are saved per save game. That means that if you start a new save game, you start over with them. This allows you to restart the achievements.

You mention 'Got the latest patch yesterday. Saved and shut it down normally.' - did you get to play the game normally that day after patching?

Definitely, as @Tremayne4260 suggests, making a backup of your files is always recommended. Keep in mind The Sims 4 does not save anything on Origin's cloud, so everything is saved on your computer.

Thanks,
-Mai

@EA_Mai Yes, there were other players reporting the same issue in other threads, but the June 2 thread was the first time it was mentioned. I wrote a thread that was sticked on the Sims Forum about what to do before patching, updating your OS version and installing new content. I copy and pasted it over here, but since I cannot sticky anything or didn't know who to contact it's probably buried on the 2nd or 3rd page. 

The additional conversations on the Sims Forums are probably under the Mac Bug thread and the OS threads sticked at the top of the Mac Help section.

It says file extension is broken and I should throw it in the trash. What should I do?