Lost all my households
Hiya,
I am actually currently facing the same issue only I am on PC. I am very careful about saving my game as often as possible so I was shocked to find that when I tried to access my game a few ...
Forum Discussion
@EPCreativeMedia I have reached out to other helpers, and we were wondering if it's possible that your played sims ("My Households" - the ones with the blue heart 'checked'/filled in) somehow got unchecked ( with the blue heart 'unchecked'/not filled in) from "My Households" and that's why they're not showing any more (so that would move them into "Other Households"). Please go to "Manage Households" and check the "Other Households" tab. If they are there please click on the heart to and save/move them back to played households ("My Households"). If this turns out to be the issue please make sure to also then save each household into your library so they will be there for reference/re-download to your game if needed. Any household in 'Other Households' is vulnerable to being culled by the game.
If you happen to have saved them in your library already and they are not showing up there, another possibility is that you should make sure that 'Include Custom Content' is checked in the sorter in your library - just in case. Some people have had an issue with households saving as having CC. Plus, since you have used CC, it may be possible that the 'Include Custom Content' sorter kicked in households and there is CC in many of your households so they are not showing up?
I would also recommend keeping regular backups of your game.
- Some additional suggestions on searching for lost households: https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=28384.0
- Saves and backups: https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2014/09/save-games/
Edit: Another helper has a suggestion as well... You could make a copy of your saves folder (save this copy on your desktop or an external drive for reference) then look at your backups of each save to confirm you did not accidentally save the game incorrectly.
It was also recommended that if you are streaming your game or posting 'Let's Plays' that you keep each "story" in it's own folder. Moving saves and creating their own folders becomes easy with practice.
Please let us know how it goes. Thanks!
"I have reached out to other helpers, and we were wondering if it's possible that your played sims ("My Households" - the ones with the blue heart 'checked'/filled in) somehow got unchecked ( with the blue heart 'unchecked'/not filled in) from "My Households" and that's why they're not showing any more (so that would move them into "Other Households"). Please go to "Manage Households" and check the "Other Households" tab. If they are there please click on the heart to and save/move them back to played households ("My Households"). If this turns out to be the issue please make sure to also then save each household into your library so they will be there for reference/re-download to your game if needed. Any household in 'Other Households' is vulnerable to being culled by the game."
I had checked that before, and checked again after you mentioned it just in case I missed something, and they are not in the "Other Households". I shall remember to save each household in the library in the future for reference.
"If you happen to have saved them in your library already and they are not showing up there, another possibility is that you should make sure that 'Include Custom Content' is checked in the sorter in your library - just in case. Some people have had an issue with households saving as having CC. Plus, since you have used CC, it may be possible that the 'Include Custom Content' sorter kicked in households and there is CC in many of your households so they are not showing up?"
I had checked that as well, the only households that are showing up are the ones I created from scratch in CAS as brand new households, as Sims 4 automatically saves them to the library after finishing creating them CAS and before placing them to their new lot.
Another helper has a suggestion as well... You could make a copy of your saves folder (save this copy on your desktop or an external drive for reference) then look at your backups of each save to confirm you did not accidentally save the game incorrectly.
I have made a copy and placed it on the desktop, but I literally have no idea where the backups of each are (is it the same files I am seeing in the saves folder?) and how to check them. I will need your assistance on this please.
It was also recommended that if you are streaming your game or posting 'Let's Plays' that you keep each "story" in it's own folder. Moving saves and creating their own folders becomes easy with practice.
If it is creating seperate games for each Let's Play and Story, I already do that in the main menu, I create new games. If it is the physical folders within the saves under Sims 4 in Electronic Arts folder. I have never done that before, but I will look up how to do that.
I will keep you posted on any progress I make, thanks 🙂
EDIT: Do you think adding the new game and stuff packs might have affected it, because it still doesn't make sense that one household out of all my played households is still there whilst the others have disappeared, plus their houses I added and customised are still exactly as I left them, additionally as some where originally townies that I started to play, other Sims have moved into their homes, but I have the option to add sims to empty lots diselected.
@EPCreativeMedia I am opening this up to input from other helpers, but can I clarify if you have tried checking previous saves (please refer to these walk-throughs) Please backup your current 'The Sims 4' folder to your desktop or external drive first): As stated in Crinrict's link (below) "How do I restore a backup ? From within the game You can restore backups directly from within the game. To do so, click on the load button on the main menu and choose the save you want to restore the backup from. Then click on the recover button.":
Another helper has a suggestion as well... You could make a copy of your saves folder (save this copy on your desktop or an external drive for reference) then look at your backups of each save to confirm you did not accidentally save the game incorrectly.
I have made a copy and placed it on the desktop, but I literally have no idea where the backups of each are (is it the same files I am seeing in the saves folder?) and how to check them. I will need your assistance on this please.
It was also recommended that if you are streaming your game or posting 'Let's Plays' that you keep each "story" in it's own folder. Moving saves and creating their own folders becomes easy with practice.If it is creating separate games for each Let's Play and Story, I already do that in the main menu, I create new games. If it is the physical folders within the saves under Sims 4 in Electronic Arts folder. I have never done that before, but I will look up how to do that.
Please look at the link provided by@SheriGR
See:
How do I restore a backup ?
From within the game
You can restore backups directly from within the game. To do so, click on the load button on the main menu and choose the save you want to restore the backup from. Then click on the recover button.
-
The pictures are a useful guide to finding the backup of each save.
What I meant by keeping stories in their own folder. Let me see if I can explain how I do this to keep my saves safe.
Examples:
Pretend I am playing a story about Tom and Larry
Outside of the game folder I will create a folder called "Tom and Larry Lets Play"When I am done playing that session I will make copies of the save, screenshots and tray folder (if there are things not shared to the gallery).
Add another save with another story involving a challenge. So "Silly Sally Rosebud Challenge" also gets a special folder.
When I am done playing that session I will make copies of the save, screenshots and tray folder (if there are things not shared to the gallery).
Tagging the saves with a date helps me keep track.
Using this process I now have several saved games stored safely outside of the game folder.
I can swap out the saves to switch the stories.
By storing outside of the game it keeps the game folder from being bogged down and prevent issues with playing the game.
- EQ
Avid Sims Player
Game Version 1.53.115.1020 ReBranding Patch
All content installed thru Island Living
PC / Win 7
Never used CC or mods.Hi @EuphorialQueen and @SheriGR
Thank you so much for your help thus far. Ok so regarding the restoration of backed up saves, I have actually done that already in game, and in all the 6 saves the Sims are not there; this is actually one of the first things I did when the problem first occurred. I actually initially thought you were referring to another restore method I did not know about ☹️.
Regarding the separate folders, I think I understand, however looking at the save files, how are you able to know which file corresponds with the each game as it is all zeros and ones.?
Having gone through all the possible troubleshooting methods, I can only think of one thing that caused this, and that is when I added more game and stuff packs to the game, as that is when the problem occured. And I took the liberty of going through the game that lost all but one of my sims and then I started a new one, to compare the townie Sims. I then discovered that in the game that lost my played households, all the Sims (including the unplayed households, except for the one sim I was last playing) are gone, and seem to have been replaced, all the normal townies, gone; Goths, Langraabs, Calientes, Spencer-Kim-Lewis etc, all gone too, and other Sims I have never even heard of before are living in their homes.
So my thinking is, if the game packs and stuff packs caused this shift, and if I still have one of my Sims still in the game as well as all my customised lots and businesses, surely there must be a way to reverse this or at least locate the sims right? The question is how if the cause is the game packs and stuff packs.
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