Hello, please ignore that I'm on a sketchy account, I'm unable to get onto my main. However, for whatever reason, I seem to have an issue loading my old save files of my Sims4 game. For some reason, my EA Launcher often has problems opening, so today, I'd reinstalled the launcher in hopes of revisiting the game, and ended up stupidly moving the game to a different part of my desktop. I still have all of my old save files intact, including one seemingly called a "Steam Autosave", and yet whenever I launch the game, no save is detected, and the game simply won't read them. What can I do? I've troubleshooted as much as I could, even moving the entirety of the game's files around. I don't seem to see another article on the reddit nor on google and I can't find any bug within my mods.Note, I first installed the game via steam, and have launched it through steam ever since.Every single save file is intact and I've even made two copies of the folder just to be sure so frankly, I'm not sure what to do.

zr83q8sdh880 If you had to create a new Sims 4 folder (not sure that's what you meant), then it's not the folder the game is reading. What does the game say is the location of the user folder? How to find out is covered in the link I posted in my first reply.

My game doesn't seem to be registering my past save file.

11 Replies

puzzlezaddict
Hero+
19 days ago
zr83q8sdh880 Please make sure your saves are in the user folder the game is currently reading. Here's how to check:

https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2018/07/how-to-find-your-user-folder/

Please also make sure that the saves are in the correct format: Slot_ followed by an eight-digit hexidecimal (0 to 9, a to f) number followed by .save , with nothing else in the name. The files that end in .verx are backups of the main save with the same number, and you can ignore these unless that main save is missing or can't be loaded. In that case, stripping off the .verx extension will make the save usable.

If this doesn't help, please post a screenshot of the contents of the saves folder, as in, I'd like to see the file names and sizes. Include the address bar, above the list of files, in the screenshot as well.
zr83q8sdh880
Rising Novice
19 days ago
Hi, the thing is, I feel that I've complicated the problem myself as I moved the entire game out of the user folder then uninstalled it. I still have the save folders, I made sure to protect those, but now I've reinstalled the game via steam it doesn't seem to be coming up with any save folder I could potentially add my past saves to. It's frustrating as I do have the saves, there's around eight or nine, I just have no idea on how to get the game to read them. I'm also not good with computers at all haha and can't seem to understand how to fix this issue
zr83q8sdh880
Rising Novice
19 days ago
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
19 days ago
zr83q8sdh880 You've found your saves, but they're not in the folder the game is reading. Open the game and find the location of that folder, then open it and look for a saves folder inside. If you see one, and you should, move the individual saves into that folder. If you somehow don't see a saves folder, move over your entire saves folder (the one in your screenshot).

The point is, the game will only read saves located in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves, in whichever Documents folder it's currently reading.
zr83q8sdh880
Rising Novice
19 days ago
Okay, thank you. I've taken your advice and I also wanted to try and install the game once more, but instead on the same location as my save files and mods being stored. Hopefully that's the reason why?...
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
19 days ago
zr83q8sdh880 Please don't install the game anywhere into Documents, and especially not into Documents > Electronic Arts. That can and will cause problems, potentially including deleting all your saves and user content when the game updates. You can use the default install location, or create a new folder for the program files, but this data should always be kept separate from your user files.
zr83q8sdh880
Rising Novice
19 days ago
Hello, sorry. Update! I have both a C: and D: disk option to install my Sims 4 onto. I didn't install the game onto the documents section but made sure they were both on the same disk. However, I had to create a new location in my documents section in order to store my save file there once more. I hoped that doing so would work, but the game still continuously does not save my game nor does it have a folder that it is saving my game, or that it can read my past saves. I'm having the exact same issue with my mods and I'm honestly stuck and unsure what to do, especially since it's frustrating losing all my progress and I'd tried troubleshooting everything myself multiple times.
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
19 days ago
zr83q8sdh880 If you had to create a new Sims 4 folder (not sure that's what you meant), then it's not the folder the game is reading. What does the game say is the location of the user folder? How to find out is covered in the link I posted in my first reply.
zr83q8sdh880
Rising Novice
19 days ago
Okay, I'll try and find the location however the method is a little confusing.
zr83q8sdh880
Rising Novice
19 days ago
I already found my main issue. I'd previously deleted the folder for my save, and ended up making my own with the same names for each folder (electronic arts, sims etc) so maybe that's a reason why it isn't working. Is there a solution to that?