[PLEASE READ] Save Game Corruption

Hello Soanad and SweetShinekah! A way to check to see whether or not your save file is OK or not is to routinely go into build mode in the Willow Creek Archive Community lot and make sure that either the lot is sill there or you don't see red exclamation mark triangles indicating that some of the build items are missing which normally a message like "your game is missing or does not contain 1 or more EA build items". If you see this message as soon as you load into the Willow Creek Archive Community lot, the save file is corrupted or if this lot or any of the community lots in Willow Creek have disappeared. You can no longer see this by just looking at the lots in the Manage World Screen. I check this lot in game each time I go back to the Manage Worlds Screen or make a few "save as" files. (never use "save" which writes over previous saves) I also check the lot as soon as I load into the game before doing anything and also before I exit the game because I have seen that the lot was fine before I close the game and then I load back into the same save file and the lot is missing items and then I know that save file is corrupted and then I just go back a few save files to find a save file where the lot is intact and I know that that save file is OK. I also never "Resume" the game anymore. I always choose "Load" to load into the latest save file. Also, I always delete the localthumbnailcache before starting a new file and copy my save files to another folder before loading into a prior save file. These steps always work for me to avoid playing a save file that is corrupted without knowing it. Also, usually you are safe from save corruption if you are just playing the game, making changes in CAS, or making minor changes to builds. However, you really need to look for save corruption whenever you are downloading a build from the gallery, creating a new build from scratch, or adding a new pack to your game that contains a new world. This is where I have seen save corruption occur the most. If you are in build mode building or making changes to a property and you try to go back to the manage world screen and you get a infinite loading screen (meaning that your game has crashed during the transition) or it takes an extremely long time to transition back to the Manage World screen, you definitely need to check the Willow Creek lot in build mode and if the lot is OK, I recommend saving the game at this point, exiting, and then loading back into that save file and before doing anything else, check the Willow Creek lot in build mode and make sure everything is all there.

 I know this is tedious and I generate about 20 save files or more each time I play the game but it is the only way that I can reliably safeguard that my game is not corrupted when I play. I use to check to see if the orange triangles appeared over any of the lots in Willow Creek on the Manage World screen without having to take the trouble to go into those lots in build mode to know whether or not a save file was corrupted but like you said, these warnings disappeared after one of the base game updates last fall. I don't know if the removal of the warning triangles were intentional or if they disappeared as a consequence of the update. Also, I have seen where you can have a sim travel to the Willow Creek Archive lot and everything appears normal, but when you go into build mode on the lot, it's missing items or not there. Very strange and this also occurred after the update last September 2024. Hope this bit of info helps! Thx for sharing your experiences and comments because we all need to do this until this severe problem is fixed!