Help, saved game disappeared

@LILBRO2KBABY  Do you use OneDrive, and if so, is it set to automatically sync the contents of Documents with cloud storage?  If so, your save may have been uploaded and simultaneously removed from your computer.  Here's how to check which folders OneDrive is syncing:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-which-onedrive-folders-to-sync-to-your-computer-98b8b011-8b94-419b-aa95-a14ff2415e85

If this is in fact the issue, you should be able to download the save from OneDrive and put it back in the local version of Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves.

If this isn't the problem, please create a new save (no need to spend much time on it; this is just for testing), exit to the Main Menu, click Load Game, hover over the folder next to the save's name, and write down the file path that shows there.  Please post that file path here, and let me know if the username listed is NOT the username for your Windows account.

I couldn't get the old save to load. I'm not very tech savvy. I found what looked like the file but it just wasn't there when I tried to open it. 

C:\Users\anneb\OneDrive\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\saves\Slot_00000006.save

Here's the new save info you asked me to do. 

I should mention my son's saves are still there, just mine disappeared🤷🏽‍♀️

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@puzzlezaddict wrote:

@LILBRO2KBABY  Do you use OneDrive, and if so, is it set to automatically sync the contents of Documents with cloud storage?  If so, your save may have been uploaded and simultaneously removed from your computer.  Here's how to check which folders OneDrive is syncing:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-which-onedrive-folders-to-sync-to-your-computer-98b8b011-8b94-419b-aa95-a14ff2415e85

If this is in fact the issue, you should be able to download the save from OneDrive and put it back in the local version of Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves.

If this isn't the problem, please create a new save (no need to spend much time on it; this is just for testing), exit to the Main Menu, click Load Game, hover over the folder next to the save's name, and write down the file path that shows there.  Please post that file path here, and let me know if the username listed is NOT the username for your Windows account.

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@LILBRO2KBABY  When you say you found the file, do you mean you found the old save but it won't show in-game?  Does the new save still show in-game now, after you've presumably walked away from the computer for a while?  How full is your OneDrive?  If you're close to the storage limit, it's possible OneDrive isn't syncing everything anymore, and while that shouldn't mean that files get deleted, that does happen sometimes.  Clearing more space in OneDrive would of course help.

There are other options here too, including getting rid of OneDrive if you never use it or creating a new Windows account for yourself (which would keep your saves separate from your son's, among other things).  Let me know if you're interested.

I can track down the old save thanks to the date and time stamp in the one drive folder. But I've tried downloading it and opening and when I do it takes me to the Sims 4 home page and then it's not there when I click on load game. 

The new save is still there. I've gone to it several times. 

The only thing I can think of what happened, and please tell me if I'm way off, but I saved my game after I downloaded new content. I bought a bundle with the cats and dogs, and home designer pack and the tiny living package. I saved the game then went into the gallery to look at tiny houses other people have created that I could download into my game. Do you think when I did that, that one of those downloads maybe had the same file name and erased my game?  I just don't know enough about this but that's the only thing I can think of happening.

Either way this is a fairly new gaming PC and one drive has tons of space still so I don't think that's the culprit. 

I realize that I just have to start new 🤦🏽‍♀️ and maybe I could learn how to back up my game somewhere else?

Thanks for all your help!!

@LILBRO2KBABY  Downloading a Gallery item creates several files, but none of them are the same format as a save or land in the saves folder, so they therefore wouldn't overwrite your save.  I do wonder though if part of the problem is that your OneDrive storage is full.  You should be able to see free and total storage somwhere within OneDrive; I'm not exactly sure where because I don't use it.  This is not about the space on your internal drive(s) but rather the space Microsoft provides to free accounts.

For the save itself, if you place it in the location where your other saves are, in this case:

C:\Users\anneb\OneDrive\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\saves\Slot_00000006.save

(as you said before), AND the save has the correct file format, you should be able to load it from the Main Menu.  The correct format is Slot_ followed by an eight-digit hexadecimal number, with a .save extension, and no other extraneous characters.  For example, if your save file was labeled Slot_00000002 1.save for some reason, you'd need to delete the 1 and the space in front of it.

There is absolutely an easier way to go about this, in fact more than one if you want.  Personally, I might consider creating a new Windows account.   You'd be able to move over your data from the current account, and you could set it up so OneDrive isn't interfering.  You may be able to fix the settings in your current account as well, but the problem is that Sims 4 is already reading the OneDrive folder by default, so things could get a bit more complicated.  But it's a viable option too.  Let me know if you're interested in either one.

The reason I keep mentioning it is because OneDrive can keep causing problems when it's allowed to sync your user files.  Even if you resolve things now, you might run into the same issue down the road, so it's best to find a more permanent workaround.

One drive does seem to delete files quite a bit, I get emails about it whenever I play this game. I just assumed it was deleting the previous version of a save after the new version has been saved. I'm probably not explaining that right. I'm definitely interested in learning how to prevent this from happening in the future. 

Thanks again for all your help.

@LILBRO2KBABY  The complicated way, I mean it's not all that complicated but does require more steps, starts with redirecting your Documents folder to the local location, as in, C:\Users\your username\Documents, with no OneDrive in the file path.  Here's how:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/74952-move-location-documents-folder-windows-10-a.html

You may need to first pause syncing and/or cancel the current sync:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/how-to-cancel-or-stop-sync-in-onedrive-4885c27e-3d89-4d69-be75-2646c71367d3

You'll also need to stop OneDrive from syncing the contents of Documents:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-which-onedrive-folders-to-sync-to-your-computer-98b8b011-8b94-419b-aa95-a14ff2415e85

The problem is, sometimes Sims 4 will still read the Documents folder within OneDrive even after you've completed all these steps.  Once it's "chosen" a location, so to speak, only uninstalling and reinstalling the game will change this, I mean if redirecting Documents doesn't have an effect.

The other fix would be to create a new admin Windows account on your computer and make it a local account, as in, don't sign into OneDrive.  Sims 4 should use that account's Documents folder automatically.  It's easy to move files between accounts: just drop anything you want to move into C:\Users\Public.

Before doing anything, make sure you have a backup copy of all your Sims 4 content just in case something gets deleted along the way.  It shouldn't, but things do happen, and at the very least, having a backup means no moment of panic while you look for a file that may or may not have disappeared.