Fixing/Recovering Saved Game - Saved Game Not in Game Launcher or Corrupted

[Pam]

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]

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       

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).

[thesweetestpea]

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]

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.

[thesweetestpea]

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]

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?

[thesweetestpea]

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]

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]

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]

Thanks Pam!  Have done.

Best.

Adam

[simlishlol]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Pam]

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.