Re: I updated my mac, and my households got deleted

@tinateen122  The reason your game is generating a new game folder each time it launches is that it can't find any existing folders to use.  It can also happen if you rename the existing game folder to something other than "The Sims 4."  This is precisely how you generate a clean folder for testing purposes.  If you want it to use an existing folder (which you might not right now), you have to put that TS4 folder (the whole thing) into the folder labeled Electronic Arts, inside your Documents folder.

Yes, it's a good idea to leave your iCloud drive disabled for now.

If you're not sure which game folder TS4 is loading, you can copy one of your saves into the folder you want the game to use.  (Don't just move it, as you want to keep the original safe from all this fussing.)  Right-click on the save, select copy, and then right-click inside the saves folder in appropriate TS4 folder and select paste.  When you load the game again, if you see that save available, you'll know that the correct folder is being used.  If not, the game probably generated another folder.  Go look for that folder and see where it is and how it's labeled; that's the only name and location that TS4 will recognize.

As long as your cc and mods setup looks like the screenshots in the second post I linked above, and the game is loading the appropriate TS4 folder, any usable cc should show up in-game.

I don't think you need the unarchiver app to extract .zip files; that's only for other kinds of compressed files.  But either way, double-clicking should extract a .package file.  Perhaps it's being sent to another folder (I extract mine in Downloads, which is where the .package files appear).  You can try to search in the finder for the name of the file—it should have the same name, or mostly the same name, as the .zip file.

You can take screenshots of what you're seeing by holding down the command and shift keys and pressing 4.  Your cursor icon will change, and you can drag it across the field that you want to capture.  The screenshot should appear on your desktop.  You can attach it here by clicking on the "browse" button next to the paper clip icon just above the "preview" and "submit" buttons when you're typing a reply.

@tinateen122  And no, you're not stupid just because you don't know how to figure these things out on your own.  The task can be much harder when files keep getting moved or otherwise don't behave properly.  Still, it would be a good idea to study the screenshots provided on Bluebellflora's website (linked above) so that you know how your setup is supposed to look when your computer is cooperating.  That way, it will be much easier for you to spot a discrepancy when something has gone wrong.

@tinateen122

I'd just like to jump in for a second, @puzzlezaddict is doing a great job patiently explaining about the user data files and cloud storage but I think you providing screenshots will help you better understand the issue. So, could you please navigate to your Sims 4 folder(s). Click once on the folder to highlight it, hold down the Command key and press the i key. This will bring up an Info window for the folder. Please look in the first section under General and copy the EXACT file path into this thread, or post a screenshot. It will look like this:

If you have multiple Sims 4 folders please do this for all of them. We are not interested in the Sims 4 app in your Applications folder, that is the actual game. Your user data is the Sims 4 folder that contains Mods/Saves/Tray/Options.ini and many other files and folders specific to your game.

 As a side note, in your Mods folder there should not be any .zip, .rar, .7zip, or any other compressed files, only the resource.cfg file which the game creates and the CC/Mod .package files.  You can put the .package files into separate folders if you like. But let's ignore getting CC to work until you've managed to load your saves properly 🙂

@tinateen122

No problem, we want to get you playing again 🙂

Can you upload them to a file sharing site and post the links here? Although you should be able to upload directly into your post. Can you just copy and paste the file path from the Info window?

I put my saves folder back in my Sims 4 folder for some reason. Can the game still generate if I leave it out or not? I feel like it doesn't make sense to leave it out of the sims 4 folder. Also, I have my testing mods inside the mods folder and the rest are in a different folder on my desktop. Hopefully I am doing something right because I was a little confused on where to put everything when I am testing my cc. I didn't know whether I should leave all my stuff on desktop including my saves folder or keep everything in the sims 4 folder while testing. 

I tried hiding my last name and saving my image to downloads but it didn't work so I gave up. 

@tinateen122

The game will only load saves from Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves. That is the file path it is looking for and if that saves folder doesn't exist it will create a new one.

You now have iCloud Drive off, yes? If so, please do the following:

1. Create a folder on your Desktop and call it Sims 4 User Data
2. In that folder create a new folder called Sims 4 data 1
3. In that folder move the Sims 4 folder that you showed me the file path to in the screenshot, where your saves are.
4. Create another folder in the Sims 4 User Data and call it Sims 4 data 2
5. Move your sister's Sims 4 folder into it.
6. Create another folder in the Sims 4 User Data and call it Sims 4 data 3
7. Move the other Sims 4 folder with the music into it.
8. Delete the other Sims 4 folders which are empty and empty the trash.

Restart your Mac and load your game, it will be like new and a new Sims 4 folder should have been created in Documents > Electronic Arts. Play for a little bit then save and quit. Go into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves and check that the save you just created is in there and that the date and time is now.

Let me know how you get on with that and then we can move onto the next steps 🙂

@tinateen122

Yes! And then create another folder within Sims 4 User Data and call it Sims 4 data 2, move your sister's folder into that one.

The idea is to clear up your Mac with all the Sims 4 folders you've managed to create and then start a fresh game. Once we've established that you are indeed saving correctly and your game is loading the save properly we can then move onto getting your old saves to work.