Author Topic: Fixing/Recovering Saved Game - Saved Game Not in Game Launcher or Corrupted (Read 36935 times)

Carl · « **on:** September 01, 2009, 11:25:07 PM »

Recently a problem presented itself, and a friend lost an entire legacy to a corrupted save file. This can present itself in multiple ways. In her case, the save file was not even present in the game launcher. We tracked down the problem as the save file being corrupted. After a little walkthrough, I'd like to share with you the steps we took to recover her legacy.

The folder where the Sims 3 saved games are stored can be accessed by either going to My Documents in XP or simply Documents in Vista, then going into the Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves Directory.

If you need the absolute paths to the saved game files they're here:
In Vista, head to your Documents folder (C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves
In Windows XP, the folder is found at C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves

Inside that folder, you'll find all your save game data folders. The folder name is the name of the saved game that you see in the launcher. Each folder is duplicated. The most recent save is saved as X.sims3 (the .sims3 file extension is what the launcher detects, unless the file is corrupt, the X is the name of the saved game).

There will also be X.sims3.backup folders, which are the previous save you made in the game for that particular family. I recommend you drag a box and select both the normal .sims3 folder and the .sims3.backup folder and move them to another folder by right clicking the folders once highlighted and selecting copy. Put them in a folder (right click white space and choose paste) where you know you can find them. Something off of Documents or My Documents could be a good idea.

Once you have safely copied the folders, delete the main .sims3 folder and leave the backup. Once the .sims3 folder is gone, right click and rename the backup folder to WHATEVERITWAS.sims3 (removing the extra .backup extension).

Now, when you enter the game menu, you should be able to load your backed up save game. Due to the fact that you have to load a backup if your saved game gets corrupted, we can only recommend that you save the game as frequently as you can tolerate. Rolling back to a backup save will inevitably lose you some progress. Some of us are setting ourselves up for disaster by playing for hours and only saving when we exit. Crashes happen, and so does file corruption.

Ndine · « **Reply #1 on:** January 04, 2010, 04:36:45 AM »

Hi Carl

I firstly want to say thank you for creating a site for peeps not so good with computers like me. All of you here have been a great help.

My problem is the crash dump and I lost my game.

I have copied my saved file to a new folder but don't know how to load it from the main menu. Please could you explain this to me step by step.

Thanks

Pam · « **Reply #2 on:** January 04, 2010, 06:37:12 AM »

Welcome to our forum, Ndine!

Unless I'm misunderstanding your problem, the step-by-step instructions at the top of this thread should lead you through restoring your game. If it doesn't, let us know in greater detail what the problem is.

Ndine · « **Reply #3 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:18:44 AM »

Thank you Pam

I don't know how to load the file through the sims menu $:-\$

Pam · « **Reply #4 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:22:12 AM »

Check this post by PJSim and see if it helps you: http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=412.0

PJSim · « **Reply #5 on:** January 05, 2010, 08:28:32 AM »

Quote from: Ndine on January 04, 2010, 04:36:45 AM

I have copied my saved file to a new folder but don't know how to load it from the main menu. Please could you explain this to me step by step.

I may not understand your problem right but I will try to make it a little clearer what you need to do.

When Carl recommends that you copy the files, this is so you'll have a backup in case you make a mistake. Once you've made a copy of the files you should just leave the copies as they are and go back to the Saves folder where you found them; here:

Quote

In Vista, head to your Documents folder (C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves
In Windows XP, the folder is found at C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves

It's in that Saves folder you need to delete the .sims3 file and rename the backup, like it's described here:

Quote from: Carl on September 01, 2009, 11:25:07 PM

Once you have safely copied the files, delete the main .sims3 file and leave the backup. Once the .sims3 file is gone, right click and rename the backup file to WHATEVERITWAS.sims3 (removing the extra .backup extension).

What you should end up with is a file called WHATEVERITWAS.sims3 in the Saves folder. It needs to be in that folder for the game to be able to find it.

Now when start up Sims 3 again the saved game should be where it usually is.

Ndine · « **Reply #6 on:** January 05, 2010, 11:24:40 AM »

Thank you for your help

Swede1992 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 08, 2010, 06:18:10 PM »

Just for the record: A common trouble that can result in a savefile corruption is a problem with the world cache (stylishly named "save error 12"). I myself have been troubled by this before. That is caused by that the game can just hold that much RAM (I think 2 gigabytes) no matter how strong computer you have. So unless you extend that somehow, instability may occur after a long play session (the game becomes too flooded with information) and result in a very common save error.

Luckily, the game resets its world cache in the load screen when you start the game, so if you don't mind restart the game once in a while, that could increase stablility. However, another way of fixing it is by setting your "High Detailed Lots" to as low as possible (I get by with 4 nowadays). This is just how many houses are run with full graphics at a given time and the other houses will get better resolution just as you go by them with the camera in just a second. A small price to pay (you'll barely notice it) for a more stabile game, saved myself from all these corrupted game files and everything a while ago, and could work for others so that they don't even need to tamper any more with these files (if you have save error 12 showing up).

Saltypaws · « **Reply #8 on:** February 21, 2010, 06:40:12 AM »

Well, error code 12 strikes again! I lost my girl I have been working on for months that has everything imaginable, I know others have lost also, but it is so frustrating. I have tried to recover it from the instructions, which, by the way I did recover another family thanks to those instructions, anyway, I cannot get her back. I copied the file, renamed it and everything, first the blank spot was on the menu after I did that and then I tried it again and nothing. Is there something else I can try. At this point, I love the Sims, but I think I will take a breather for a while and play something else, I know it is just a game, but these games have been my life for years and this girl was my favorite that I made, she was maxed out in all skills, three vacation homes, owned all the companies in town and I had even taken Pams advice and finally gotten a spire cut soulpiece for a ton of money, anyway, if anyone has any other suggestions that I have missed, would appreciate.

Pam · « **Reply #9 on:** February 21, 2010, 06:45:23 AM »

Have you completely lost the entire game file? Or did you just lose the most recent gameplay after your last save? Error 12 doesn't allow you to save, but you should still have the game available from the previous save spot.

Saltypaws · « **Reply #10 on:** February 21, 2010, 06:52:21 AM »

The file is still in the folder, one was the corrupt one, but I remember you or Carl saying that there is an X before the most recent save, I didn't see one in there but the game is still there, like I said I tried everything to get it back, so I am assuming it is just pointless right now. I love all of the info this site gives and appreciate all of the support, right now I am so bummed about this whole thing and I do save frequently, I learned the hard way on that one.

Saltypaws · « **Reply #11 on:** February 21, 2010, 09:38:41 PM »

I did get my game back, thanks to the advice in the forum, but, I do however have another question........the formula for getting your game back worked, ie....WHATEVERITWAS.sims3, but, if you happen to lose another game, you cannot name it the same, nor can you add anything to that extension........so then what do you do? Hopefully will not lose anymore, will take the advice and tone down some graphics and limit my gameplay to a couple of hours at a time, I am guilty of playing for hours, leaving it on pause or whatever, so will try and do things different, do not want to lose another game. By the way, that also worked for my sister, bshag, which lost a game a few months ago, so she was happy to get it back. Thanks guys for posting such wonderful information and hopefully we can keep playing his game for a long time.

Pam · « **Reply #12 on:** February 21, 2010, 10:35:28 PM »

Saltypaws -

I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly. But, something I do sometimes is I do a "Save As" of my game and just add the number 2 to the name of the game file. Like, I'll have "Argos Family" and "Argos Family 2" as two separate game files. You could alternate between saving your game under each name and then you'll always have two of that game available to recover, if needed. It wouldn't necessarily be completely up to date, but it would be considerably better than losing the entire game.

Saltypaws · « **Reply #13 on:** February 22, 2010, 06:11:48 AM »

Duh, thanks, I should have known that one, I think I had a senior moment there.....I know so many have lost games on here, it makes one wonder what the future expansions are going to have in them and what impact it will have on our games already on there, hopefully they will not cause any problems. It is great to be able to come here and get answers and if someone doesn't know something, they will find out for you. Again, thanks.

bshag · « **Reply #14 on:** February 22, 2010, 12:07:50 PM »

Hi all...just wanted to chime in here and say a big thanks. I have not been able to play Bella since the end of September and when the game came back, all was intact. After Salty interpreted instructions, as in "see that box there? click it!"

I am a real noob when it comes to following computer instructions.

I wil try to save each game with a "save as" cause I just don't want to lose any more games.

Good advice, thanks Pam.

certain · « **Reply #15 on:** February 27, 2010, 06:05:38 PM »

In my Saves folder I have three objects: two folders, one named xxx.sims3 and the other xxx.sims3.backup...the other file is called xxx.sims3.legacy...So that's obviously not normal for those two to be folders and not regular files.

In those two folders are five files:

1a5tf1l3.dat
Sunset Valley_0x0859dp3c.nhd
TravelDB.package
Meta.data
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3cExportDB.package

So what do I do? I desperately need to recover my neighborhood for I have readers who depend on updated chapters.

There's also a folder in the Sims3 folder called CurrentGame.sims3. Do I need to copy and paste something in there because it's absolutely empty?

I appreciate any replies.

Pam · « **Reply #16 on:** February 27, 2010, 06:29:20 PM »

Hi Certain and welcome to our Forum.

I don't know why you would have a file named .legacy, but to recover your corrupted game with the previous save, you just need to follow the instructions in the first post on this thread. What you are calling a "folder" is actually the file you need to back up and change the name.

PJSim · « **Reply #17 on:** February 27, 2010, 06:50:11 PM »

Quote from: Pam on February 27, 2010, 06:29:20 PM

What you are calling a "folder" is actually the file you need to back up and change the name.

No, it is actually a folder now. The game saves things differently than when Carl wrote this, it changed with WA I think. It saves folders instead of single files.

Quote from: certain on February 27, 2010, 06:05:38 PM

So what do I do?

Rename the folder xxx.sims3.backup to xxx.sims3 the way Carl describes and it should work. The instructions are still good, just replace the word "file" with "folder" basically.

I have no idea how there could be a folder called .legacy. Are you sure you didn't name it that yourself?

Quote from: certain on February 27, 2010, 06:05:38 PM

There's also a folder in the Sims3 folder called CurrentGame.sims3. Do I need to copy and paste something in there because it's absolutely empty?

No, I think you should just ignore that one. I think the game just uses that for temporary storage while you're playing.

Pam · « **Reply #18 on:** February 27, 2010, 06:53:13 PM »

Thanks for the info, PJ. I'll update Carl's post.

Swede1992 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 27, 2010, 06:59:17 PM »

It changed from one file to a folder with WA since it needed one save file for each destination linked to your game and it stored it conveniently in a folder afterwards. Effectively, the folder functions just as the former file did, just ignore the stuff in the folder; if you tamper with those, you can break your game.

Saltypaws · « **Reply #20 on:** February 27, 2010, 09:36:56 PM »

In mine when I went to recover my games, I do not have anything with x's in front of it and I also have legacy files that I didn't name, but I do know this, I am not messing with any files or folders, the only thing I will do is try to recover and so far so good. I do appreciate the info on how to recover and did turn down my graphics, that seemed to help so far and I really cannot tell the difference, as long as it keeps it from crashing.

HelenP · « **Reply #21 on:** March 01, 2010, 05:04:41 PM »

I *think* that the '.legacy' folder may be made the first time you open a vanilla game after installing WA.

For example you have a game called Jones 1 that you started with vanilla Sims3, so in the saves folder you have a file called Jones 1.sims3 and a file called Jones 1.sims3.backup. Now you install WA and re-open Jones 1. As far as I know the game saves your original Jones 1.sims3 as a folder called Jones 1.sims3.legacy and as soon as you save your game makes a new folder called Jones 1.sims3. Your second save will generate the backup folder to go with the others.

zamxus · « **Reply #22 on:** July 05, 2010, 09:52:24 AM »

I'm going to use as much detail as I can. And try to help you isolate the problem so you can help me.

I recently started playing the Sims 3 after a long time of having it on my shelf completely uninstalled. I missed the feeling of power that came with controlling their lives. After installing the most recent updates, I began playing and toying with new features and even some .package files from modthesims. Occasionally, an unimportant save would disappear. Giving me the outline of an uncreated family and my town name. The town would load instantly before saying that the game was unable to load the files. Recently, I made a game of myself and my friends and allowed things to take their course. (I won't give you the extreme details here). They began as teens (using the testingcheats, I deleted the adult they were with after they moved into a good house). And I made their needs static as I found micromanaging their bladder and hunger and the like was too much of an annoyance. I used the cheats to make the Sim me die of starvation. My "best friend" received the Oh My Ghost! opportunity and revived my sim. I then moved them out and deleted the human left to watch the Ghost me. Soon my sim-ghost started a relationship, moved in with his Romantic Interest, had her break up with her boyfriend. And Married her. They had a Ghost-Baby and I closed the game when they were all home. I saved the game approximately 7 or 8 times in total. Now, when I attempt to load it; I get the outline of the uncreated family, and when I hover over the file it reads "*town name* This file could not be read. It may have expansion pack data which is not available anymore". I have not installed any expansions, nor do I own any. All the tips say to delete the folder and rename the backup. I've done this many times and IT DOES NOT WORK. Now, I come to you. And seeing your capability I hope you can help me. This is by far my favorite save file and I do not want to risk changing a single thing in the story progression. Please help me.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #23 on:** July 05, 2010, 10:32:32 AM »

zamxus, welcome to the forums. Just a quick heads up — please read the forum rules in my sig, especially the one concerning mods. Do not discuss mods. Do not mention specific mods. Now that that's all out on the table given the fact that you did mess with some internal files, that could very well be the source of your problem. I'm not a techie, so hopefully someone else can assist you.

Pam · « **Reply #24 on:** July 05, 2010, 03:50:16 PM »

Welcome to our Forum, zamxus.

I agree with Metro that the cause of your problem could very well be the mods you have installed. They can cause wicked damage to your game. I suggest that you create a new topic for your problem rather than putting it here in this instruction thread. You can get some specific help that way. When you do, please do not mention the name of the site where you got the mods. I'll remove your post from this thread once you've got a new thread started. Thanks!

Burgos · « **Reply #25 on:** October 19, 2010, 03:36:14 AM »

Hey there,

Any news about how to fix this problem, besides backuping every now and then?

Pam · « **Reply #26 on:** October 19, 2010, 04:15:11 AM »

Quote from: Burgos on October 19, 2010, 03:36:14 AM

Any news about how to fix this problem, besides backuping every now and then?

Which specific problem are you referring to?

alyssa.cole · « **Reply #27 on:** October 25, 2010, 09:12:00 PM »

Wow. Just want to post a HUGE thanks for the detailed instructions in this topic.
I was able to salvage my Immortal Dynasty file from a nasty loop of being completely stuck in France. It would have been a devastating loss well into the third generation and (too many?) hours spent building and decorating. Again, many thanks for sharing this advice!

Simstar3 · « **Reply #28 on:** November 16, 2010, 10:56:02 PM »

What if you're computer is a Mac?

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #29 on:** November 16, 2010, 11:03:02 PM »

Quote from: Simstar3 on November 16, 2010, 10:56:02 PM

What if you're computer is a Mac?

The path to the saved game files listed in the first post is essentially the same on a Mac. Follow that path starting with your Users folder.

pologolf · « **Reply #30 on:** November 29, 2010, 11:30:38 AM »

Apologies if this has been covered. I have just had a cursory look over the responses.

My problem is that I went to open a game that I have been working on for ages and my couple were where I left them in bed.

They know longer knew each other! They were married but did not even appear in each other's list of relationships.

All their friends have gone. Their careers have gone. The only option available to them was, "Friendly introduction" which they won't do. They will not start any action.

Oddly enough, their skills and inventories are intact.

Have tried resetsim - nothing.

Help! Restarted the game and the original saved game is now a "ghost" that is not recognised. If someone could talk a (very) computer novice through this there will be many Simoleons!

Best.

Adam

Pam · « **Reply #31 on:** November 30, 2010, 08:29:10 AM »

Hi Adam.

This topic is for how to recover a saved game. I suggest you start a new topic for the problems you're having.

Valion · « **Reply #32 on:** December 06, 2010, 05:44:59 AM »

Thank you so much for this thread! I just lost a save because I had to force exit my Sims 3 because it wouldn't leave "save mode". This is the second time I encountered this. The first was trying to save a copy of my family and lot as what happened recently was it just kept saving after 20 minutes. I gave up and force exited the game. Are these random? Or is it just the game being buggy? Or is it my PC? Although I doubt it since my computer is brand new and has good gaming specs.

Thanks!

Pam · « **Reply #33 on:** December 06, 2010, 06:59:11 AM »

Quote from: Valion on December 06, 2010, 05:44:59 AM

Thank you so much for this thread! I just lost a save because I had to force exit my Sims 3 because it wouldn't leave "save mode". This is the second time I encountered this. The first was trying to save a copy of my family and lot as what happened recently was it just kept saving after 20 minutes. I gave up and force exited the game. Are these random? Or is it just the game being buggy? Or is it my PC? Although I doubt it since my computer is brand new and has good gaming specs.

Thanks!

It's probably the game being buggy. It happens from time to time.

n8thegr8 · « **Reply #34 on:** December 13, 2010, 06:38:14 PM »

This is not working for me. I was into my Dynasty (surprisingly called dynasty), and then I restarted my computer to find that i could not load the game as "Dynasty cannot be loaded, it may contain some material from an expansion pack that was then removed" or somethign along those lines. It was not a dotted line, but was a grayed out icon with a very faint dotted line. Any help would be greatly appreiated. The backup is not helping.

Pam · « **Reply #35 on:** December 13, 2010, 08:25:09 PM »

Quote from: n8thegr8 on December 13, 2010, 06:38:14 PM

This is not working for me. I was into my Dynasty (surprisingly called dynasty), and then I restarted my computer to find that i could not load the game as "Dynasty cannot be loaded, it may contain some material from an expansion pack that was then removed" or somethign along those lines. It was not a dotted line, but was a grayed out icon with a very faint dotted line. Any help would be greatly appreiated. The backup is not helping.

Please start a new topic for this on the Technical Help board if your were unable to restore the backup file.

SuperFuzzed · « **Reply #36 on:** January 18, 2011, 08:14:15 PM »

My computer crashed during SIMS 3 game play today. After the PC restarted, I loaded up SIMS 3 and it just showed an outline of a family called "Ramirez" (that's not my family), with the message "Cannot load this game. It may have been saved with expansion pack data that is no longer present on this system".

Can someone help me get my game back??? I tried going to Documents > EA > Saves
and deleting the "twinbrooklav.sim3" and making "twinbrooklav.sim3.backup" the main file (deleting the .backup in the name). But it makes no difference. I still have the same message. Can someone help?

Pam · « **Reply #37 on:** January 18, 2011, 08:27:17 PM »

Hi Superfuzzed and welcome to our Forum.

Please start a new topic for your question on the Technical Help board. This thread is an instruction thread and not really intended to be a place for discussion of specific problems.

n8thegr8 · « **Reply #38 on:** January 19, 2011, 08:49:26 PM »

Quote from: SuperFuzzed on January 18, 2011, 08:14:15 PM

My computer crashed during SIMS 3 game play today. After the PC restarted, I loaded up SIMS 3 and it just showed an outline of a family called "Ramirez" (that's not my family), with the message "Cannot load this game. It may have been saved with expansion pack data that is no longer present on this system".

Can someone help me get my game back??? I tried going to Documents > EA > Saves
and deleting the "twinbrooklav.sim3" and making "twinbrooklav.sim3.backup" the main file (deleting the .backup in the name). But it makes no difference. I still have the same message. Can someone help?

I have started a thread on that. Couldn't find a solution, but I have not checked it in a while.

Charlie2 · « **Reply #39 on:** February 23, 2011, 09:40:27 PM »

Ok, I'm new here and I'm having an issue with my Sims3 game. I'm not sure what happend, but i have lost my sims3 town and people. I tried the Copy Backup file/rename/delete deal, but I did not work. I can see a silolute of my town with the new town name (whateveritwas). I can select it and click play, but i get an error that states,

"A serious error has occurred while loading "whateveritwas.sims3". It strongly recommended that you restart the application"

Im kind of running out of ideas, Can someone help me?

In addition to Sims3, Im running World adventures, High end loft stuff, Ambitions, and Late night.

Thank you,

Pam · « **Reply #40 on:** February 24, 2011, 12:34:36 AM »

Welcome to our Forum, Charlie. I suggest you start a new topic for your question as this is primarily an informational topic, not one for seeking specific answers.

SassySimmer · « **Reply #41 on:** March 06, 2011, 12:25:23 PM »

Just wanted to express my thanks for this topic as today I suffered the fatal 'Error 16' message when I tried to save my Dynasty, I thought all was lost as when I exited and reloaded (which works for 'Error 12') the save file was not there at all. After calling my computer all the names under the sun and finding out that the last save file I had that wasn't corrupt was from 3 weeks ago, I came looking for answers on this forum first and I am so grateful that I found them. After following the instructions and placing copies of the files on my portable hard drive I was able to recover my saved game that only had 16 minutes of play time missing.

So I thank you and my Sims thank you

BeeGot · « **Reply #42 on:** March 13, 2011, 02:14:15 AM »

Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And bless you!! I can just kiss you!

TwinSpirit · « **Reply #43 on:** April 04, 2011, 01:59:29 PM »

I'm wondering here, if anyone has encountered such a, let's say problem, with save games like I did the other day.
So there I was just playing it like I normally do. Saved and exited. After launching the game later I discovered it prompted me to make a new game, well I thought a corrupt save, but it was still strange cause I had several working ones. Now what I discovered next was that my whole save game folder had been wiped clean. Nothing in there. Peculiar isn't it?
While I have no hope to get those saves back, some suggestions are welcome to keep such an event from happening again.

SassySimmer · « **Reply #44 on:** April 04, 2011, 03:30:04 PM »

Sorry to hear that TwimSpirit

I would suggest that you copy your save folder every so often (once a week or month) and paste it into a separate folder on your computer in my documents (not in the Electronic Arts Folder) or onto an external hard drive.

I tend to back up my saves onto my external hard drive once a week or more frequent if I'm playing a lot.

Hope that helps

Pam · « **Reply #45 on:** April 04, 2011, 07:28:49 PM »

Quote from: TwinSpirit on April 04, 2011, 01:59:29 PM

I'm wondering here, if anyone has encountered such a, let's say problem, with save games like I did the other day.
So there I was just playing it like I normally do. Saved and exited. After launching the game later I discovered it prompted me to make a new game, well I thought a corrupt save, but it was still strange cause I had several working ones. Now what I discovered next was that my whole save game folder had been wiped clean. Nothing in there. Peculiar isn't it?
While I have no hope to get those saves back, some suggestions are welcome to keep such an event from happening again.

If you have a specific issue to discuss, please start a new thread. This topic is only for instructional purposes.

Taxingwoman · « **Reply #46 on:** April 07, 2011, 09:36:38 AM »

Thank You! I lost a Sim two days ago and based on your comments I understand why. That Sim just had too much going on, so I guess I ran out of game space. I had never considered that as a possibility, as I have a really good game computer. I saved a copy of that Sim a couple of months ago. Yeah I lost lots of good stuff but not too much
Besides, I'm hopeless at understanding the instructions to recover a lost game. I'm going to change the settings as you suggested and save another copy.

This forum has very good advice

Quote from: Swede1992 on January 08, 2010, 06:18:10 PM

Just for the record: A common trouble that can result in a savefile corruption is a problem with the world cache (stylishly named "save error 12"). I myself have been troubled by this before. That is caused by that the game can just hold that much RAM (I think 2 gigabytes) no matter how strong computer you have. So unless you extend that somehow, instability may occur after a long play session (the game becomes too flooded with information) and result in a very common save error.

Luckily, the game resets its world cache in the load screen when you start the game, so if you don't mind restart the game once in a while, that could increase stablility. However, another way of fixing it is by setting your "High Detailed Lots" to as low as possible (I get by with 4 nowadays). This is just how many houses are run with full graphics at a given time and the other houses will get better resolution just as you go by them with the camera in just a second. A small price to pay (you'll barely notice it) for a more stabile game, saved myself from all these corrupted game files and everything a while ago, and could work for others so that they don't even need to tamper any more with these files (if you have save error 12 showing up).

the sweetest pea · « **Reply #47 on:** April 24, 2011, 02:30:17 AM »

A piece of advice for people to hopefully avoid save errors: don't delete your WorldCache files. I did this when trying to get my game to run faster, and the result was that all games in Riverview that I had broke. I had to uninstall and reinstall the whole game before I could play them again.

TheChronicR · « **Reply #48 on:** April 24, 2011, 06:51:52 AM »

Quote from: the sweetest pea on April 24, 2011, 02:30:17 AM

A piece of advice for people to hopefully avoid save errors: don't delete your WorldCache files. I did this when trying to get my game to run faster, and the result was that all games in Riverview that I had broke. I had to uninstall and reinstall the whole game before I could play them again.

Do you play on a Mac? I am playing on Windows XP and never had a problem with deleting WorldCache files. Mine were Barnacle Bay ones, and I deleted those several times. Riverview must be the same.

the sweetest pea · « **Reply #49 on:** April 24, 2011, 06:30:02 PM »

Quote from: TheChronicR on April 24, 2011, 06:51:52 AM

Do you play on a Mac? I am playing on Windows XP and never had a problem with deleting WorldCache files. Mine were Barnacle Bay ones, and I deleted those several times. Riverview must be the same.

I run 64-bit Windows 7.

Seabody · « **Reply #50 on:** May 03, 2011, 02:38:49 AM »

So if I have a game called, say, sims3.sims3, and (of course) the sims3.sims3.backup, and sims3.sims3.bad, I should delete the .bad folder?
And would that change my sims3.sims3 save?

the sweetest pea · « **Reply #51 on:** May 03, 2011, 05:02:01 AM »

Quote from: Seabody on May 03, 2011, 02:38:49 AM

So if I have a game called, say, sims3.sims3, and (of course) the sims3.sims3.backup, and sims3.sims3.bad, I should delete the .bad folder?
And would that change my sims3.sims3 save?

You can delete any folder that has .bad in the name, and it won't change the other saves.

pologolf · « **Reply #52 on:** May 06, 2011, 04:01:10 AM »

Thanks for that info! It has saved quite a few games!

I have a problem, hope this is the right place for it. My new games are saving but then do not appear in the menu. They are in the saves folder and I do what you have told me and they still don't show up in the menu.

Also, games I have not played for a year or so no longer appear in the menu. I tried your method and this did not bring them into it. Unfortunately, I cannot uninstall and reinstall any of The Sims 3 games at the moment as they were bought as downloads and the game launcher is currently not working.

I'd love to play some of my older games. Do you have any suggestions?

Best!

Adam

Pam · « **Reply #53 on:** May 06, 2011, 05:11:11 AM »

Hi pologolf.

Your problem needs to have its own thread. Go ahead and start a new one on the Technical Help board and make sure the Subject is specific to the problem. Thanks!

pologolf · « **Reply #54 on:** May 06, 2011, 09:11:30 AM »

Thanks Pam! Have done.

Best.

Adam

simlishlol · « **Reply #55 on:** June 29, 2011, 11:32:11 AM »

Is there a mac version for these instructions? I kind of got the gist of it, but i still need some clarification as to what exactly to do.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #56 on:** June 29, 2011, 09:59:34 PM »

Quote from: simlishlol on June 29, 2011, 11:32:11 AM

Is there a mac version for these instructions? I kind of got the gist of it, but i still need some clarification as to what exactly to do.

The paths in Carl's first post should be identical for Mac users. Obviously ignore the C drive info, but all of the other path names should be the same.

Awks;P · « **Reply #57 on:** July 20, 2011, 11:21:53 PM »

Please help, I really messed up my saved game. I won't go into full details but basically I want to undo whatever I did that messed up my game. So I started by following the steps at the beginning of this forum, and they worked great, the problem is that I did not go back far enough with my last save. Is there any way to do these steps again from off of the backup file.

Seabody · « **Reply #58 on:** July 20, 2011, 11:32:24 PM »

Soory Awks, but I think your game is irrecoverable. Welcome to the forum!

Pam · « **Reply #59 on:** July 20, 2011, 11:51:19 PM »

Welcome to our Forum, Awks;P.

Please start a new topic on the Technical Help board for your problem. This topic isn't the right place for it.

Awks;P · « **Reply #60 on:** July 21, 2011, 07:10:52 AM »

Thanks Pam will do

PoohBear · « **Reply #61 on:** August 22, 2011, 02:23:46 PM »

Hello,

I did all of the steps that was told but it still didn't work. :/
What happened was my computer created a temporary user and it deleted all of my Sims 3 saved
games so I uninstalled Sims 3 but then I found all of my saved games still on the pc on my C drive.
So I still did all of the steps but it still didn't work.
I love this family and have achieved so much.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks,

April

Seabody · « **Reply #62 on:** August 23, 2011, 12:00:40 AM »

Quote from: PoohBear on August 22, 2011, 02:23:46 PM

Hello,

I did all of the steps that was told but it still didn't work. :/
What happened was my computer created a temporary user and it deleted all of my Sims 3 saved
games so I uninstalled Sims 3 but then I found all of my saved games still on the pc on my C drive.
So I still did all of the steps but it still didn't work.
I love this family and have achieved so much.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks,

April

Hi April, welcome to the forum.
Can I just make sure I'm reading this right?
You did the steps with renaming "x.sims3.backup" to "x.sims3", but the computer created a new user and deleted your saves. Then you uninstalled Sims, and found out that the saves were still there. Is that right?

Pam · « **Reply #63 on:** August 23, 2011, 02:24:12 AM »

Quote from: PoohBear on August 22, 2011, 02:23:46 PM

Hello,

I did all of the steps that was told but it still didn't work. :/
What happened was my computer created a temporary user and it deleted all of my Sims 3 saved
games so I uninstalled Sims 3 but then I found all of my saved games still on the pc on my C drive.
So I still did all of the steps but it still didn't work.
I love this family and have achieved so much.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks,

April

Welcome to our Forum, April.

You would be better off starting a new topic for this problem on the Technical Help board instead of using this topic for it.

PoohBear · « **Reply #64 on:** August 25, 2011, 04:49:03 PM »

Hi Seabody,

Yeah, sort of.
So what happened was there was my games "Gamet.sims3" and "Gamet.sims3.backup". My computer
would not let me delete the "Gamet.sims3" file so I moved it to the desktop instead and still did the
instructions at the start of the thread with the "Gamet.sims3.backup" file. But it still didn't work. So
I got fed up and installed The Sims 3 on my Mum's pc instead. I did the the instructions at the start of
this thread again and still nothing worked. My game launcher just wanted me to create a new game as
there are no games on that pc yet.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks,

April

Seabody · « **Reply #65 on:** August 26, 2011, 04:20:56 AM »

Quote from: PoohBear on August 25, 2011, 04:49:03 PM

Hi Seabody,

Yeah, sort of.
So what happened was there was my games "Gamet.sims3" and "Gamet.sims3.backup". My computer
would not let me delete the "Gamet.sims3" file so I moved it to the desktop instead and still did the
instructions at the start of the thread with the "Gamet.sims3.backup" file. But it still didn't work. So
I got fed up and installed The Sims 3 on my Mum's pc instead. I did the the instructions at the start of
this thread again and still nothing worked. My game launcher just wanted me to create a new game as
there are no games on that pc yet.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks,

April

Hm, maybe you need Admin privileges on your Computer?

Pam · « **Reply #66 on:** August 26, 2011, 04:44:43 AM »

@Poohbear:

As I noted in the post directly above yours, you would be better to make a separate topic for your problem. This one isn't for helping with individual problems. It's an instructional thread. Please start a new topic for your issue.

PoohBear · « **Reply #67 on:** August 30, 2011, 06:21:48 AM »

Hi,

Thanks for all your help guys.
It was just me, I realised you had to update the game for it to work.
Anyway thanks again!

April

Silverwingzs · « **Reply #68 on:** September 24, 2011, 03:41:15 AM »

Hi everybody,

I have a huge problem with the save files
This morning I downloaded the new create a pet tool and when I wanted to play the original game my savefiles were gone.
I thought the tool was the problem so I uninstalled it but that didn't fix the problem.
I did some research on the internet and found this site.
I followed Carl's information about the renaming stuff but it didn't solve the problem.
Could someone please help me.

Thanx

Seabody · « **Reply #69 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:25:08 AM »

Hi Silverwingzs and welcome to the forum.
From what you described, I think your saves may be irrecoverable. I would suggest, if you were to redownload the tool, to back up your saves first! This applies to everyone who wants to download CAP.

milosim · « **Reply #70 on:** October 30, 2011, 10:53:23 PM »

Hello my fellow sims fans. I need help with a problem I had recently with my Sims 3 game:
I got a new external HD and I decided to move my whole Sims 3 game because I was running out of space on my computer. I moved it to the external HD so I could play it from there. The problem is that the game doesn't recognize the "save" folder and my saved games don't appear in the launcher. I think it is because the folder address is not the same. Any idea on how to fix this?

BellaClo · « **Reply #71 on:** October 31, 2011, 12:53:53 PM »

Hello milosim and welcome to the forum,

I don't think there is any easy and simple way to solve this problem without involving some advanced voodoo trick with computer. And I don't know those tricks myself :-)

Basically, the game store your user's files under the path c:\Users\[your username]\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3. And it needs to find your Sims 3 folder there to be able to read it and load its content when you launch the game. So, if you're in dire need of free space on your hard drive, better look for some other files to move on your external drive or archive. You can also try a little Disk Clean up to remove useless files on you computer, although this might not free up enough place.

Good luck!

Pam · « **Reply #72 on:** October 31, 2011, 06:16:16 PM »

Quote from: milosim on October 30, 2011, 10:53:23 PM

Hello my fellow sims fans. I need help with a problem I had recently with my Sims 3 game:
I got a new external HD and I decided to move my whole Sims 3 game because I was running out of space on my computer. I moved it to the external HD so I could play it from there. The problem is that the game doesn't recognize the "save" folder and my saved games don't appear in the launcher. I think it is because the folder address is not the same. Any idea on how to fix this?

Welcome to our Forum, milosim.

It would be best if you start a new topic for your problem. This topic is primarily an information topic and not really meant to be a place to discuss specific issues that players have. The Technical Help board is where it should go. Be sure to put a specific subject so you'll get as much help as possible.

Betta91 · « **Reply #73 on:** November 03, 2011, 08:27:22 AM »

Hello!

I've reasently installed the sims 3 pets, and after I did that my game has often "stopped" working. In the middle of a game, it just shuts down and I have to restart everthing (just the game). In that way, I often save my game because I know the game will eventually stop working. But yesterday, I was quitting the game as I was ready to go to bed so I moved my computer (unplugged the computer charger), and in the middle of the "saving" mode, my computer went out of power. So i restarted the computer (well knowing I didn't finish the save in the game) and shut the computer down properly (didn't start the sims 3 again, it takes too long and I was tired!) So when I started my game today, I couldn't find my family! I was upset, because I've reached so far in the game and it would be sad to have lost everything (houses, families etc). And I tried to do what you told in your description, but it didn't work. It seems to be that the entire legacy has some how been deleted from the entire game and folders in the EA documents.

What do I do?! I can't find my familiy anywhere, and the wierd part is that I've saved the family for so many times (because my game shuts down without warning), so it should be somewhere in the EA document folder... but it isn't. Could it be that I somehow deleted my legacy because the computer shut down in the middle of a save?

marymoo1123 · « **Reply #74 on:** November 04, 2011, 01:01:01 PM »

Hi i just got a laptop and i copied all my folders onto my new laptop and when i go onto the sims 3 game, i can see my saved games but i cannot click them and other worlds i have downloaded i cant go on, it says error i think it's best you quit the game.
I can see all my other downloads ie furni ect i got from the sims 3 website on the game. Just not my saved games and other worlds.
How do i get my saved games to show?

loveSims · « **Reply #75 on:** December 27, 2011, 07:42:19 AM »

I just want to thank you Carl! You saved my simmies! I got error16 a lot since I got windows7. Got it today and forget to use save as, my sims was gone! I did WHATEVERITWAS and they are back. Thank you!

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