Further update: I have not isolated the trigger yet.
After restoring Saves, Tray, and Mods together, all issues returned. Removing those folders one by one did not restore normal behavior. Even after all three folders had been removed again, Error Code 21, save deletion problems, Gallery red X icons, and the New Game hang continued.
The game only returned to normal after deleting the entire Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 user folder and allowing the game to generate a completely new one.
This suggests that once the issue is triggered, it may persist in another generated cache, database, or configuration file inside the user folder. Therefore, my earlier conclusion that CAS CC alone was responsible was not confirmed.
I will retest Saves, Tray, and Mods separately, using a completely fresh user folder for every individual test.
The issue is probably that the game uses a different exe than before.
Just make sure to add all the exes listed above to Controlled Folder Access and check the blocking history even anything else got blocked
Saving now works correctly across multiple launches after allowing all current The Sims 4 executable files through Controlled Folder Access.
However, every time I launch the game, I still receive the “Welcome to...” notification for every pack I own. There are no actual pack downloads in the Steam or EA app queues, so this appears to be a separate recurring welcome-notification issue.
That is usually also related to this. The info if you looked a them is stored in one of the files in the doc doc folder.
Do you also have new highlights all the time ?
The repeated “Welcome to...” messages disappeared temporarily after I deleted the entire Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 folder and allowed the game to generate a fresh one.
However, after I added all of the current Sims 4 executable files to the Controlled Folder Access exceptions and continued testing, the welcome messages for every pack appeared again.
Previously, this behavior usually occurred together with Error Code 21 and the other saving issues. However, last night the game was able to save normally, close, reopen, and load the save again without Error Code 21, while the repeated pack welcome messages still remained.
I also have the repeated “new item” highlights. In Build Mode, items are highlighted in yellow as though I have just installed all of my DLC again. The game does not seem to remember that I have already viewed the pack notifications and new items.
So at the moment, saving appears to be working after allowing all of the game executables through Controlled Folder Access, but the pack welcome messages and new-item highlights are still resetting after relaunching the game.
The Sims Team
