[PLEASE READ] Save Game Corruption

This is such a devastating bug. I lost a seven-year save and rebuilt it only for it to happen again immediately in a new save. I really hope EA takes it seriously and fixes it quickly. I don't want more packs or worlds - I want a playable game!

Did you turn off the game completely before starting a new save or just go back to the map and start it from there ? Some bugs are contagious and you need to make sure to turn off the game after encountering an issue.

Yes, I turned off the game completely. From what I'm reading bug is likely hard-coded in due to For Rent and rental properties. In my newest save attempt, I'm trying to see if I can avoid using any rental properties altogether to avoid it. We'll see. It shouldn't take all this. 

Original Encounter: I initially did not get an Error Code, but I was unable to load any properties in the Sage Estates neighborhood of Willow Creek. It was just an infinite loading screen, but no Error Code (I received Error Code 801 later, as indicated below). I did not have this issue before. I only recently noticed this when trying to access a family. 

There was no issue prior to the Life and Death patch. I own all expansion and game packs except Eco Lifestyle, Seasons, Werewolves, and Batuu. I do not have any residential rentals in my game, as I removed them long ago due to numerous issues, including the litter bug. 

First Troubleshoot: I took a look at the Lot Data in Sims 4 Studio and the Object Data for the two Sage Estates lots was missing. I then looked at an older save from late November 2024, and the corruption was present there too (no Object Data present). The last time I played in Sage Estates, and it was normal was in September 2024, prior to the Life and Death patch.

Second Troubleshoot: I was able to access the Sage Estates lots with no cc/mods enabled after the January 15, 2025 update. BOTH HOUSES WERE GONE! The house next door to this one reverted to the default EA house, but when I entered the lot, it was bulldozed. Now both houses appear bulldozed from the neighborhood view, live mode, and map view. I did not save. I exited and rebooted.

Third Troubleshoot: I cleared cache etc., rebooted, moved the families out of the two lots, tried to access one of the lots in build mode, got kicked to the World Screen and received Error Code 801. From the map screen, it appears that the houses are still there, but I know they are not. I can no longer access the two lots. One lot gave me the Error Code 801 and the other lot was an infinite loading screen.

First Last Exception: I received a last exception when I got the Error Code 801. I asked ChatGPT to make sense of what it meant. It said the following:

The XML report you provided indicates that there are two separate desynchronization errors occurring within a game, "The Sims 4." Here's a breakdown of the issues based on the information in the report:

First Desync Issue: Error: RuntimeError('Attempting to set _zone_id to 401118774130050038 when its already set 401118774130050614.') Cause: This error suggests that there is an attempt to set a zone ID to a new value (401118774130050038) while it is already set to a different value (401118774130050614). This kind of conflict typically occurs when there is a race condition or an improper state management in the game's code, particularly in the zone initialization process. The game is trying to create or initialize a zone but encounters a state where it believes a different zone is currently active.

Second Desync Issue: Error: AttributeError("'NoneType' object has no attribute 'id'") Cause: This error occurs when the game attempts to access an attribute (id) on an object that is None. This typically indicates that the code expects an object to be instantiated but it is not, possibly due to a failure in the previous zone initialization or shutdown process. In this case, it occurs during the zone shutdown, where the game is trying to remove an ID from an indexed manager, but the object it is trying to manipulate does not exist (is None).

Summary: These desync issues likely stem from conflicts in the game's state management related to zone initialization and shutdown processes. The first error is a conflict with zone IDs, and the second error is a missing object reference.

Second Last Exception: I tried to access the lots again and received another Error Code 801, and last exception. The possible LE causes were further detailed as above but with additional information:

Possible Causes of the Issue:

1. Race Conditions:
   • The errors may arise from race conditions, where the game is trying to initialize or shut down zones concurrently in a way that leads to inconsistent states.
2. Incomplete Zone Initialization:
   • If the zone initialization process fails partway through, the game might attempt to operate on a zone that is not fully set up, leading to a conflict with existing zones.
3. Scripting Errors:
   • The paths mentioned (e.g., zone_manager.py, areaserver.py) suggest that there may be bugs or unhandled exceptions in the game's scripting. If the code does not properly check for existing zones or handles exceptions during zone creation/removal, it can lead to these types of errors.
4. Game Environment:
   • The report indicates that the game is not modded, which rules out third-party modifications as a cause. However, issues may still arise from game updates, patches, or bugs within the game's own codebase.

This is getting worse for me and is happening on pretty fresh saves of only 68 mBs. It's gotten to the point where in some of my saves, the played household lot is bulldozed every single time I boot in, with no items in the household inventory (all items in the fridge and bookcase are also gone when replacing the lot). All of my save files are impacted to some degree, making the majority of them completely unplayable, or close to it. This is a massive bug and I won't be spending money on a single S4 product until it's fixed.

In my case, I’m not getting infinite loading screens. The lots do load. But just the lot I loaded. Everything else is just EA builds or in the case of Newcrest, completely empty. Like the previous comment said this is a MASSIVE bug that I don’t feel like EA is taking seriously. The game is unplayable but they’re releasing more DLC. Player experience is always a second thought. EA claims to be keeping the Sims 4 alive so players don’t have to start over again, but this is literally a save breaking bug where the only solution that’s being given is to start over or not use content that we paid for.

So if we bring the size of our saves down and lower the rental amounts we have, the corruption will still not stop on that current save? Or have other simmers been able to get the corruption to pause after making alterations?

This is also happening to me in Willow Creek. Lots in the same neighborhood as a rental lot vanish when you go in live mode. They appear fine in Map view, but empty lots in live and build mode. When I try to go edit the rental lot to remove it it gives me Error 800 or endless loading screen.