Lost everything on Sims 3 [ Edited ]

[dreamscape15]

Please help! I'm a Mac user with Sims 3 and had spent months building up 3 amazing towns, renovating nearly every house, building great characters and saving custom furnishings etc for my homes, and now it's all gone and I have no idea where it all went. I don't remember doing anything to the program that would have caused it.

All I remember is that I had stopped playing it for a a few months while I was traveling, then when I came back to play it again, it acted like I was logging in for the first time ever. It still had all the expansion packs that I'd bought, but all my towns, characters and customised content were erased. I don't know if there's any way to get it all back. Any ideas? Thanks!!

[Bluebellflora · Accepted solution]

@dreamscape15

Your user data should always be in Documents > Electronic Arts. That's where the game is looking for the saves etc. There shouldn't be an Electronic Arts folder in your Applications folder as that is where the game is installed. So yes, move the data to the Documents folder

[roberta591]

@dreamscape15 This post is being mover to the Sims Mac forum.

[Bluebellflora]

@dreamscape15

Are your saves/downloads/CC/Mods in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3?

[dreamscape15]

Thank you

[dreamscape15]

Thank you so much for your reply! I've just checked that folder and it looks like some of my Sims and possibly some of my worlds and gameplay have saved but it's still missing all my saved outfits and no sign of all my custom content. Even if I had to redo the content and outfits, I'd still be happy to restore what I've found there (it's better than nothing...) Any idea how I can get this loaded back into the game launcher now? Thanks!!

[Bluebellflora]

@dreamscape15

It should already see it if it's in Documents > Electronic Arts, you haven't renamed it at all have you? 

Can you start a new game with a unique name, save it then do a search on your Mac to see where it's saving to?

[dreamscape15]

Okay, so I started and saved a new game, then located the save files on my hard drive. The new game has saved into a second folder (also called "Electronic Arts"), but in a different location on my hard drive. The original "EA" folder is in my Applications, and the new "EA" folder has saved under Documents. Should I just move the old EA folder contents into the new folder? Do you think that would work? Thanks!!

[Bluebellflora · Accepted solution]

@dreamscape15

Your user data should always be in Documents > Electronic Arts. That's where the game is looking for the saves etc. There shouldn't be an Electronic Arts folder in your Applications folder as that is where the game is installed. So yes, move the data to the Documents folder

[dreamscape15]

I moved the folder back where it should be and my entire game content is restored!!  Thank you SO much!!