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Ison990's avatar
Ison990
Traveler
6 months ago
Solved

All Sims and buildings disappeared after the March update...

First of all, I want to say that I've been playing this game for over 2,000 hours, and I'm no newbie. This issue arose after the recent update in March. The thing is, new Sims added after the update are visible, but old lots and Sims that were in the "Tray" folder before the update are not.

updates
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    6 months ago

    Ison990​  The problem is that most of the relevant files are missing, or at least they're missing from the Tray folder (according to your screenshots).  You can see the files almost all have the .hhi extension, which is only one type; each saved household should also have files with extensions .sgi, .householdbinary, and .trayitem.  A saved build should have .bpi, .trayitem, and .blueprint files.

    I don't know why these files disappeared, but it's possible that OneDrive deleted them, or some kind of cleaner app identified them as duplicates (since the names before the file extension are identical for a given Tray item).  Regardless, there's no way to recover the Tray items if the other files are missing—the game simply won't load them.  So if you can't find the other files anywhere on your computer, you're unfortunately out of luck here.

    As for searching, please see this guide for instructions:

    ⚙️[PC] Sims 4 Missing User Content (saves, mods, etc.) | EA Forums - 12636780

    You can search for *.trayitem to look for stray files elsewhere on your computer.  If you find any, move them to the Tray folder and see what loads.

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  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    6 months ago

    Ison990​  The problem is that most of the relevant files are missing, or at least they're missing from the Tray folder (according to your screenshots).  You can see the files almost all have the .hhi extension, which is only one type; each saved household should also have files with extensions .sgi, .householdbinary, and .trayitem.  A saved build should have .bpi, .trayitem, and .blueprint files.

    I don't know why these files disappeared, but it's possible that OneDrive deleted them, or some kind of cleaner app identified them as duplicates (since the names before the file extension are identical for a given Tray item).  Regardless, there's no way to recover the Tray items if the other files are missing—the game simply won't load them.  So if you can't find the other files anywhere on your computer, you're unfortunately out of luck here.

    As for searching, please see this guide for instructions:

    ⚙️[PC] Sims 4 Missing User Content (saves, mods, etc.) | EA Forums - 12636780

    You can search for *.trayitem to look for stray files elsewhere on your computer.  If you find any, move them to the Tray folder and see what loads.

  • Ison990's avatar
    Ison990
    Traveler
    6 months ago

    Well, in that case, thanks everyone for your help. From now on, I'll be making copies of all my saves and game trays to avoid the frustration of wasted time creating Sims and lots. It's certainly sad.

     

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    1 month ago

    angelheart4991​  Reinstalling the game doesn't work, or at least wouldn't have worked in the case of the original poster, because the missing files are user-generated files, not part of Sims 4 itself.  It's the same as missing a save, or having some of the files that make up a save be deleted while you're playing.  Your own progress isn't part of the game's program files.

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