yes i know that’s why it’s so odd that i can’t find them. i already un-selected desktop and document folders from going to icloud. and i also turned off optimize max storage. both of which i did last night. the only thing i had done for storage was the optimize mac option. my mac currently has 24GB of space available, my icloud is only 5GB and is already full. is my icloud what i need to delete even more items from? if i upgraded my icloud storage would that work?
I think I see the problem. Your Sims 4 folder isn't in the iCloud Documents folder, it is straight in the iCloud folder.
Open a Finder window, click on Go in the menu bar then Go to Folder... and type in this:
~/Documents
This should take you straight to your Documents folder. Is there an Electronic Arts folder in there?
yes, there is an ea folder in there. when i click it it’s empty
Ok. If you launch the game does a new Sims 4 folder recreate in that Electronic Arts folder?
yes it did make another sims 4 folder
update: i was able to recover my old save files, but not to the most recent save. it seems to only be loading in from about a month ago. and a lot has changed in my game since so i really don't want to re-do everything. also there are orange ! icons above every lot. Sims that i had wearing cc clothes are red/white with the little question marks on them. so im assuming that means my cc is somewhere on my pc, because if i had accidentally deleted it, wouldn't my sims just be naked? oh and theres no picture of the family in the load game thumbnail. all my packs have been re-installed and i've repaired the game several times.
ok so if i go to iCloud drive> Documents>Electronic arts>the sims 4>saves all my saves are there. from 2017-2023. even my most recent ones from march 31, 2023 at 4:40am is there. but its still not showing up in my game properly. its showing the last family i played as, as being a single mom with her toddler and child. but when i played with them last (on the 31st) she had 2 children and her boyfriend had joined the household and she aged up. I'm just so confused by all this. the thumbnail is still missing and the lots still orange. when i go into cas on the sims that have the red and white it removes it and says the mods may not be downloaded? but i know for a fact i didn't delete my mods or cc. this is just making no sense to me.
I ended up deleting all my mods/cc because it seems all my more recent mods had been deleted anyway. I have so many saves that are taking up storage but idk which ones i can get rid of. I moved some of my older saves into a folder on my desktop to try and load my newer saves. I'm still having the issue of them not loading properly.. oh and my game keeps saying packs aren't installed when they are? i will get pop-ups of every.single.pack that i have when i boot up the game.
This is one of your saves that the game can read and load if it is in the correct location in [USER] > Documents > Electronic Art > The Sims 4 > saves:
Slot_00000005.save
These are examples of your saves files that will not load:
Slot_00000005 2.save Slot_00000005 2.save. 2 Slot_00000005.save 2.ver4 Slot_00000005.save copy Slot_00000005.save.dw Slot_00000005.save.n Slot_00000203.save. Slot_00000206.savee
This is a a backup version of a save:
Slot_00000203.save.ver1
For help with backup saves read Crin's excellent guide here https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2014/09/backups/
For some reason you also have saves as TextEdit files. These will not load.
See those little up and down arrows and clouds? That is your Mac moving files to iCloud. Save files solely in iCloud > Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves will not load. If you read the opening post in this guide it explains that you MUST free up internal space, disable iCloud Drive, and Optimise Storage. Once you have done that, and trashed all those irrelevant saves files, and started with a new clean, mod free game, you could move the Slot_00000203.save into the brand new saves folder, on its own, and see if the game will load it. If it's still blank the save is corrupted and you've lost it.
I think i'm just going to have to accept defeat at this point. The only save file that works is from a month ago. my build world can't be recovered and all the items in my library are gone. RIP to all my progress and builds. thank you for trying to help
