Save Files Empty/Broken

@hmik08  Data recovery programs cannot always recover every single bit of data necessary to make a file work.  For some types of files (documents, spreadsheets, etc.), the program opening them can often read enough to make the files usable, perhaps with some filling in the blanks or copying and pasting to a fresh version.  With Sims 4 saves, however, if the game can't read them, they're unusable.

If you want to keep trying, please put your mods aside for the moment.  Move your existing Sims 4 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts, open the game to spawn a clean folder, and copy over one save file at a time to try to open it.  The saves with a .verx on the end are the backups; you can delete the .verx extension (so the file ends in .save) and see whether the game can do anything with it.  This is the manual way of recovering saves, rather than counting on the in-game function.  And if a save file has extra digits in it, e.g. Slot_00000008 3.save, delete the extra stuff (the space and the 3, in this case) before trying to load it.

I wouldn't expect much though.  It's entirely possible that all the save files are too damaged to be used, and that you've lost everything.

I'm sorry you're in this position, and I wish there were something more I could offer.

so i have a similar problem but i did nothing to my files. i didnt delete them change them they arent really old etc. i loaded up the game and it asked if i was new but i have been playing the same game for years now and its never done this before. it required me to make a household first. none of my households were in the world after that. i always checked my files and ive never had problems with them. before i launched it i had to update it so that may have been the issue somehow. another weird thing is its somewhat saved. if i opened up the gallery and looked at my profile i could see any sims i had shared/uploaded. i tried to place one in a household and all the mods were removed. i checked the game to see if it was a glitch by loading up the active mods list and it was blank. the game didnt load in any of my mods. but i checked before playing and it said that mods were enabled and i didnt have to re enable them at all. ive played this game for 3 thousand some hours and if all of that is now gone i dont even know what to do anymore, i may never play the game again, or id just start from scratch and be really upset.

@pastel-bat84  It sounds like your game is reading a new user folder, not the one that contains all your saves, mods, etc.  First of all, what version of the game are you running?  Please load to the Main Menu, where you can choose to load a save or start a new one, and look along the bottom of the screen, or in the lower right corner.  Please list the entire version number, i.e. 1.xx.xx.xxxx.

If you use OneDrive, please also check it for a Sims 4 folder.  OneDrive will upload files from the Documents directory, and it can also remove them from your hard drive if the drive is low on space.  The game can't find the folder in OneDrive and instead creates a new one with no content.  But if you find your saves, you can move them back to your hard drive instead.

@puzzlezaddict  I'm replying two years later just to say I managed to recover my save file because of this thank you so much