Can't find my saves

[Tandrael]

Hi everybody!

I'm very new to Sims, last year I got the basic game and pets, I was having so much fun I make pictures of my Sims! Then I got Supernatural and the game slowed down a bit so I learned to clean the caches and the game went back to normal. Then I got Ambitions over internet, through a link here. I also read that it would be a good idea to have a back-up file somewhere else, and I did, in an extern memory.

Now that I joined this forum I looked for saved images to share with you and I can't find them, the cache is clean as if I haven't played, my saved games are only the ones before I had Ambitions. I don't know what happened or what I did, but now the game is starting to slow down again and there aren't any caches to clean. I don't know where everything is going. I don't know if downloading an expansion would damage the game. I understand that even if you make a back-up copy the saves would go to the default folder... still, I've looked everywhere and I just can't find anything!

I hope someone can help me!

Greeting and good Simming!

[Blackrosea]

Hi everybody!

I'm very new to Sims, last year I got the basic game and pets, I was having so much fun I make pictures of my Sims! Then I got Supernatural and the game slowed down a bit so I learned to clean the caches and the game went back to normal. Then I got Ambitions over internet, through a link here. I also read that it would be a good idea to have a back-up file somewhere else, and I did, in an extern memory.

Now that I joined this forum I looked for saved images to share with you and I can't find them, the cache is clean as if I haven't played, my saved games are only the ones before I had Ambitions. I don't know what happened or what I did, but now the game is starting to slow down again and there aren't any caches to clean. I don't know where everything is going. I don't know if downloading an expansion would damage the game. I understand that even if you make a back-up copy the saves would go to the default folder... still, I've looked everywhere and I just can't find anything!

I hope someone can help me!

Greeting and good Simming!

Did you get Supernatural through Origin?

[Tandrael]

No, supernatural is a CD, it must always be in the CD slot for the game to run.

[Twinmum]

If you are talking about screenshots you have taken in game, they will be in the screenshots folder, not in any of the cache folders. The full path should be something like C:/users/your name/my documents/Electronic Arts/The sims3/Screenshots
The contents of that folder don't usually get deleted with the addition of EP's unless you have done it manually. Are they not there? If there are no screenshots, you could look in the recycle bin (if you haven't emptied it in a while, they might be there)

[Blackrosea]

No, supernatural is a CD, it must always be in the CD slot for the game to run.

Opps, I meant Ambitions. You stated you got it over the internet, so I was unclear what you meant by that.

[Tandrael]

Blackrosea; Yes, I got Ambitions through Origin.

Twinmum- I guess I didn't explain myself: caches are not in the cache folder anymore, screenshots are not in the screenshot folder anymore, saved games are not in the Saves folder anymore, nothing is saving in "...Electronic Arts/The Sims 3" folder anymore... There I can find old screenshots and old saved games but not the newest ones.

There is even a folder named "Installed towns" and I recently installed Riverview, but it's not there.

I have no idea where things are being saved now! 

[DanBrunetu]

Check out if was created another Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 folder .  If yes, copy your old content into new The Sims 3 folder to reappear in-game.

[Tandrael]

Check out if was created another Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 folder .  If yes, copy your old content into new The Sims 3 folder to reappear in-game.

Thanks, I checked and didn't finds anything... 

[Blackrosea]

Do you have an old file of the Sims 3 saved to another place (like your desktop?). If you do, I would look there to see if you have any saved screen shots there.

You may need to uninstall and reinstall your game, but I would try a factory reset first then go into your game, take a screenshot, and then look to see if you can find it in your screenshots folder.

[Tandrael]

Thanks Blackrosea,

I took a screenshot but it didn't save anywhere, I guess I need a factory reset, but... what is it?
and, if I uninstall and reinstall my game, what happens with the expansion I bought in Origin, on internet?

[Pam]

Thanks Blackrosea,

I took a screenshot but it didn't save anywhere, I guess I need a factory reset, but... what is it?
and, if I uninstall and reinstall my game, what happens with the expansion I bought in Origin, on internet?

Do you feel comfortable that you're looking in the right spot to find the saves and screenshots?  If you're running a Windows operating system (not a Mac), I'd be happy to walk you through exactly how to get to where you need to be to see these files.

Another thing...  you have the base game, Ambitions, Supernatural, and Pets.  Is this correct?  Which of these are on a disk and which did you download over the internet?

I'm going to tag this thread so I'll be notified if you post and I'll try to help. 

[Blackrosea]

Thanks Blackrosea,

I took a screenshot but it didn't save anywhere, I guess I need a factory reset, but... what is it?
and, if I uninstall and reinstall my game, what happens with the expansion I bought in Origin, on internet?

Factory reset instructions are here .

If this does not work, then you will need to uninstall and reinstall your games. Have you registered all your games on the the Sims 3 website? I would recommend you do that. When you do, the games will copy over to Origin and you can download them all from there.

Are you using windows or Mac? Information to uninstall and reinstall your games can be found at The Sims 3 Expansion Pack Guide . This guide has a lot of useful information regarding installing and uninstalling the Sims 3 and the order to install all your EP and SP.

[Pam]

Can we hold off on the re-install for a bit? I want to understand more of the situation. I'm also wondering how it's possible to use the most recently released expansion when that most recent release is a digital download. Could this be causing the problem?

[Blackrosea]

Can we hold off on the re-install for a bit? I want to understand more of the situation. I'm also wondering how it's possible to use the most recently released expansion when that most recent release is a digital download. Could this be causing the problem?

The digital expansion from Origin is Ambitions.

I personally do not think it is what is causing the problem. I had something similar to this happen to me and ended up having to do a full uninstall, reinstall with special updates for my store bought items and saves etc to show in my folders again.

[Pam]

The digital expansion from Origin is Ambitions.

I personally do not think it is what is causing the problem. I had something similar to this happen to me and ended up having to do a full uninstall, reinstall with special updates for my store bought items and saves etc to show in my folders again.

Well, by all means, continue what you were doing and I'll stay out of it. My apologies for interfering.