Lost all my households

@EPCreativeMedia 

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.
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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.

@EPCreativeMedia What do you see on the save right before you see all of the 'other households' (the non-played sims) gone? Can you check in the 'other households' tab and everywhere else in that save - plus click the white heart in all of the ones you want to make sure do not get culled in that save, including the Goths, etc., as once you do this it should move them to 'my households'... also, please save any that you want to make sure are not lost to your 'my library' area. Btw... is there any chance that your game is a bit maxed out? You can do things like play in windowed mode, reduce the graphics and other settings to be moderate, play 'offline', etc. Is your 'My Library (and your tray) very full? Sometimes that can also cause issues in some games, as @EuphorialQueen mentioned.

Omg so I’m not sure if you will see this because when you had this issue it was in 2019, however I am having the same exact issue. The only thing with me is everybody is there except for the family I last played with. I’ve tried everything that you tried and they’re still not showing up. Is there by any chance you found a solution by now? I play LPs as well and the family that’s the most popular is just gone. 

Hi everyone, 

Since this is an older thread that's been inactive for a few years, I am going to lock it to prevent necro-posting. 

If you need some help with a similar issue, please feel free to create a new thread. 

Thanks!