Ideas
I was wondering if anybody else has had this issue or currently has this issue. I was playing all morning without issue until I updated. Now anytime I try to open my game and load up a save it acts like its a new save (I have to select my save through the load save option), It takes me to the selecting a season and a world, and the lots look like the picture below. I removed my mods folder, deleted my local thumbnail cache file, and repaired my game through the EA app with no success.
I was having the same issue!! Neither of the other solutions worked for me but I noticed a windows notification when my game was loading that windows security was blocking part of my game. I had to go into windows security and turn off Smart App Control and my game started to work again! The notification is quick to miss. I hope this helps anyone else