Author Topic: Help needed: Saves files corrupt and backup doesnt work  (Read 7931 times)

CatnOnion

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Help needed: Saves files corrupt and backup doesnt work
« on: March 28, 2011, 01:59:15 AM »
My game just crashed during saving and now I ended up with corrupted saves file. I tried restoring the backup saves by renaming it and deleting the old one, but it doesn't work. It says "Cannot load this save game. It may have been saved with expansion pack data that is no longer present on this system.". Then I tried to solve this by following the method shown on simswiki, replacing the meta.data

But still it won't just work. I really need help here to restore my game. All my work...*sigh* I will give virtual cookies to anyone make my save games back to work.  :)
By the way, i have Sims 3 expansion only until Late Night (patched up to date) and I don't use custom content. Below I attached my saves file in case you guys can make it work. It is amazing after compressing, the saves data become so small.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ria7xsr1tsfrm8g

Offline Pam

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Re: Help: Saves files corrupt and backup doesnt work
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2011, 02:23:41 AM »
Welcome to our Forum, CatnOnion.

Unfortunately, sometimes files simply become so corrupted that they cannot be salvaged.  You've already tried to recover the backup from the game and it failed, and that would have been my best advice.  A corruption like this can also spread to your other save files, so I suggest that you delete everything that has "bad" in the file name.  It's also a good idea to save multiple copies of your games under different names so that if something like this happens, hopefully you will still have a previous save that will work.

Also, on a side note, I edited your post for grammar.  Please review the Forum Rules as there are specific rules regarding use of proper English.  There's a link in my signature below.  Thanks very much.  :)
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CatnOnion

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Re: Help needed: Saves files corrupt and backup doesnt work
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2011, 02:34:41 AM »
That's..no, it cant be. Perhaps other members know some way to restore my save files. I can't give up yet. Anyway thanks for the edit. :-\

Offline Hosfac

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Re: Help needed: Saves files corrupt and backup doesnt work
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2011, 03:27:38 AM »
I would absolutely love to help, but unfortunately I don't have any other ideas than the things you've already tried.  But if you're planning on holding out for someone who might possibly be able to fix it, I would suggest at least moving the file out of your saves folder for now, or deleting it altogether since you've uploaded a copy to Mediafire.  Because as Pam said:  corrupted files have a way of corrupting other files.  It's best not to take the chance.

Another thing I would suggest, in addition to creating multiple saves under different names, is to regularly copy your entire save folder to a flash drive.  Don't bother opening the folder up.  Just copy the entire folder titled "Saves."  If your files get corrupted, fixing it is as simple as deleting the old folder and then copying and pasting the one from your flash drive into your Sims 3 folder.

I've had file corruption that was so extreme and far reaching, that it would have wiped out a majority of my saves, including my most recent Dynasty attempt a couple of times now, had I not been doing this.
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CatnOnion

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Re: Help needed: Saves files corrupt and backup doesnt work
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2011, 08:08:52 AM »
I would absolutely love to help, but unfortunately I don't have any other ideas than the things you've already tried.  But if you're planning on holding out for someone who might possibly be able to fix it, I would suggest at least moving the file out of your saves folder for now, or deleting it altogether since you've uploaded a copy to Mediafire.  Because as Pam said:  corrupted files have a way of corrupting other files.  It's best not to take the chance.

Another thing I would suggest, in addition to creating multiple saves under different names, is to regularly copy your entire save folder to a flash drive.  Don't bother opening the folder up.  Just copy the entire folder titled "Saves."  If your files get corrupted, fixing it is as simple as deleting the old folder and then copying and pasting the one from your flash drive into your Sims 3 folder.

I've had file corruption that was so extreme and far reaching, that it would have wiped out a majority of my saves, including my most recent Dynasty attempt a couple of times now, had I not been doing this.

looks like you have experienced some heart breaking file corruption too. I'm sorry about your lost. Anyway, I might not doing it right about the meta.data method. First I played a new game and pick the same town as before and moved in random household into random lot. I saved the game as XXXXX name, and then copy the meta.data from the XXXXX save folder to my backup/corrupt save file. Is that the way you do it? and yeah, I already moved my old saves file to another place.

Offline Hosfac

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Re: Help needed: Saves files corrupt and backup doesnt work
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2011, 12:46:46 PM »
It looks like you might have missed a step in the process.  Once you place the household, you're supposed to send them on vacation and save it while you're there.  I'm not sure why you do this, but from what I've read, that's one of the steps.

One problem with this method is that once you do this, you will have to do this every time you load the game.  While I'm not sure, you could possibly save a copy of the family to the bin once you manage to get it loaded, house and all, and replace it in a fresh neighborhood.  However, you'll lose all of your relationships outside the household.

Another problem with this method is that it doesn't always work.
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CatnOnion

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Re: Help needed: Saves files corrupt and backup doesnt work
« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2011, 07:00:51 AM »
I tried the steps again, but still it doesnt work. Never mind..R.I.P. my beloved saves file. Thanks guys for the help!



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