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RJameson08's avatar
RJameson08
5 years ago
Solved

Lost households after update, cannot merge files

Hi! I am having some issues with my save files for my Sims 4 game. I looked around to see if someone else had this experience, but I'm still unclear since there are a couple variables to this including updates and merging files on my computer.

It appears I have multiple versions of this on my computer (I thought I lost my household after EA updates, but I guess not, they're just lost on my computer somewhere) and when I click the desktop link to play the game, I only have access to one of the three households I am playing with.

Attached here I have a screenshot of the path for each of the Sim 4 locations on my computer, and also what is in the save file for each computer. I've also read that the tray file could be significant, but I'm nervous about playing with it without knowing exactly where I should move what.

Is there a way to merge these three different households that appear to be in different places? Or are they lost to time forever?

Thanks in advance for your help, I am so lost!

R

pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    5 years ago

    @RJameson08  It sounds like your households are in two different saves, not simply two neighborhoods within the same save.  Each save is independent of all the others; when you start a new save, you get the default, un-progressed versions of everything, regardless of what's happened in your other saves.

    If you want the two households to be in the same save, you can save one of them to your in-game library and place it in your other save.  The sims moved this way will lose all outside relationships, but they'll keep their jobs and skills.

    If you're comfortable with having two separate saves, that's of course also a perfectly reasonable approach.

5 Replies

  • roberta591's avatar
    roberta591
    Hero (Retired)
    5 years ago

    @RJameson08   Did you log into OneDrive? Under your user login directory, check OneDrive  (user)/documents/electronic arts. OneDrive moves certain user files to sync. If you activated (logged into OneDrive) AFTER you installed the game Windows knows where the files are but the game still looks in the default use documents for the game files. See if this helps.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    5 years ago

    @RJameson08  The game will only read the files in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4, not the other folders.  What you need to do is move your saves to the currently empty saves folder in the proper location, and they should show up again.

    One important detail is that some of your saves have the same name, e.g. there is one version of Slot_00000002.save in each of the other save folders.  So you'll need to rename one copy before putting it in the same location as the other copy.  It's probably easier to do so before you move anything around.  Choose one folder, change the 2 in each save name to a 4 and the 3 to a 5, and move those saves over.  Then move the others over without renaming them, so you'll end up with saves numbered 2 through 5, and some backup versions.

    Once all the saves are in the correct location, it's a good idea to make a backup copy of your saves folder, so you don't end up losing anything.  You can transfer the saves to an external hard drive or USB stick or upload them to cloud storage; either is better than leaving the backup copy on your hard drive.

  • RJameson08's avatar
    RJameson08
    5 years ago

    This appears to have fixed the issue 95%! I can access all of my lost files (2 households, 1 build).

    The only thing is that I can't see both of my households (they are in different worlds), but is that just because I loaded the game to play with one household so I am unable to see the other when I switch worlds?

    When I load the game as household 1, I am able to play fine, but if I switch worlds to see if household 2 is there, I am unable to see it. When I go back to the main menu and load the game with the saved file for household 2, it is there and I can play just fine.

    Ultimately, I suppose it doesn't really matter because all my households are accounted for an playable, but I'm used to being able to see all of them at once.

    Thanks so much for your advice!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    5 years ago

    @RJameson08  It sounds like your households are in two different saves, not simply two neighborhoods within the same save.  Each save is independent of all the others; when you start a new save, you get the default, un-progressed versions of everything, regardless of what's happened in your other saves.

    If you want the two households to be in the same save, you can save one of them to your in-game library and place it in your other save.  The sims moved this way will lose all outside relationships, but they'll keep their jobs and skills.

    If you're comfortable with having two separate saves, that's of course also a perfectly reasonable approach.

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