Sims 4 - How do I retrieve lost families?

[jesuslvr12345]

Today I decided to go through and clean out some old games I haven't played in a while. In the process, I had my auto save changed from my main family to the last one I opened. As a result the only family I can access is the one in the last file I opened. I did not delete my default family, but now I can't find it either. If I can't find it i will have to start the whole family over again, and that is at least 3 generations deep. Please help me!

[MrsFlynn]

Have you looked for the family in your library/gallery? (Click on the thumbnails to see larger view).

After the family has been created, it's usually saved to the My Library tab. You may need to click the Advanced button to the lower left of the menu in the library and checkmark Include custom content. As even if you don't have cc, some families and lots get incorrectly saved with cc. It has something to do with the way the save system works from what I can tell.



If they are no longer in the library, check Manage Households up in the right corner of the map screen.



In the My Households tab (which is automatically selected) you should be able to find what families are in-game and what world they are in. To play a family, find them in the world they are in and select them to play.

Manage Households - My Households tab



Maybe you saved your game playing one household and then switched to another household before exiting the game?

If that doesn't help, click Load Game, from the Main Menu to see what other saves you have to see if you can find any of your missing families.

 

Please Note: Sim families from another game save cannot interact with another Sim family from a different game save. To get them to interact with each other they need to be in the same game save.

To get the families all into one game save, go to the main menu and click Load Game for each of the families you want to save. Save the family and their house to the library and place them into one game save.

How to Save Family to Library:
- From Manage Households - Select family, take them into CAS (click the pencil icon in lower right). Then click the folder in the upper right corner to save to the My Library tab.
- In-game - Click on the mirror, dresser or closet and select Change Sim.

How to Save House to Library:
- From Build mode, select the folder in the upper middle/top of the screen and select Save lot.


** Important Note: **

If you exit CAS or the game before the household is finished being created, you loose that family and will need to start over. 

However if you've already created the household, but not placed them in the world you need to load the game and either click the Play button to continue from when you last played, or Load Game button to select the household.

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The My Households tab has player created, played or unplayed households. Sims in the Other Households tab may loose progress information such as skill levels, relationships, etc.

If you don't want this to happen to any of the households, click the heart to the right under the household's photo to move them to the My Households tab.

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In case you need help with anything mentioned above or need help restoring or renaming a saved game file, please see the posts linked below.

How to Play/Start the game?
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=29319.msg450011#msg450011

How-To: Restore a Saved Game
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=21519.msg387147#msg387147

Saving Sims to Library
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=26325.msg439597#msg439597

How-To: Save A House/Lot To Library and Sharing it to Gallery
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=26324.msg439569#msg439569

Families Keep on Getting Deleted
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=29389.msg473904#msg473904