Lost all my households [ Edited ]

[EPCreativeMedia]

Hiya,

I am actually currently facing the same issue only I am on PC. I am very careful about saving my game as often as possible so I was shocked to find that when I tried to access my game a few days later, all my played household sims were gone completely, as though they did not exist.

I read through this thread just to check if there was anything I left out, and I checked OneDrive as it is installed on my system, but I have never used it; like EVER! And when I checked, as suspected my OneDrive folder is empty, as a matter of fact, it tries to get me to register when I click on it.

I also went into the game and tried to retrieve previously saved games to no avail. What has basically happened is ALL my played Sims households are gone but the properties are still intact, all the modifications I made to them etc are still intact, but my sims are not there. What I found further annoying is that in one of the properties, another random sim has even moved in, but I have the option to auto-move sims into empty lots disabled, plus I have aging disabled so it isn't likely that they died. Additionally the only played Sim household that is still in the game is the one that I last played, before closing the game; he is the only one that is still in the game, the game is currently showing that I have only 1 played Sim, when I had about 32 of the 150 cap that I had set. So I am totally confused as to what happened.

I am currently using the sims in that game for machinimas and lets plays so I cannot afford to lose them as I don't have them all saved in the gallery, as some I added to existing households, so I did not go through the option of saving the household after creating them in CAS.

Regarding using MODS and CC, yes I use both, and I did try opening the game without the MODS and CC, but still nothing, my Sims were still nowhere to be seen or found. I also went through the game in LIVE mode to see if they appear as bartenders, or passerbys etc. and nothing, no sign of them at all, as I stated above, it is as though they never existed. I am trying to figure out why only the Sim I played last is still in the game, and the others have vanished.

Regarding where I save my game, I have my game in two locations, the main game files and exe. file is installed in one of my external hard drives as it has larger capacity memory wise, and I did that to enable the game to run smoother, (which it has been without any problems), then the other Electronic Arts elements such as screenshots, recorded videos, mod folder etc, are in my main C: drive through the standard Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 etc. (I do not however know where to locate my saved files such as my created Sims and lots etc.)

Other things that have happened since my last save: Origin had an update, then I installed additional packs a total of 7 (2 game packs, and 5 stuff packs). I do not know if this might have affected the disappearance of my Sims or not.

Any help will be so very much appreciated.

Apologies for the essay, but I needed to make this as detailed as possible to ensure that I receive the most accurate solution.

Thanks in advance

E.

[puzzlezaddict]

@EPCreativeMedia  I've split your comment into its own thread and moved it to the Sims 4 tech section, where technical issues on Windows systems belong.  The original poster in the previous thread had a Mac-specific issue.

[EPCreativeMedia]

Thank You

[SheriGR]

@EPCreativeMedia Even though you tried the game 'without the mods', please bear with me that I would like to have another go-round at that angle (in the following manner and for the following reasons) to make sure that this is not the root of the problem.

The large, recent patch/update brought in many changes. These types of changes effect many aspects of the game. Mods and CC involve code that can sometimes clash with the updated game code, and even cause damage, if not properly updated to match the new changes in the game's codes. Even after you remove the Mods/CC, sometimes damage can linger in the game code that can be addressed by removing cache and repairing. I would recommend that you do the following in this order:

• Exit your game then exit Origin. Copy the Mods folder from your 'The Sims 4' folder onto your desktop (for future reference) then delete the mods folder and the localthumbnailcache.package file in your 'The Sims 4' folder and restart the game and so that the game will re-create the folder.
• Then run a game repair [ Open Origin, click 'Game Library' then right-click Sims 4 > Repair Game ]. Make sure to let it run until it has completed all repairs (it will do the basegame first, then run through each of your expansions/packs). After that, please see if the issue has stopped.

If It fixes the situation I would recommend that you check with the Mod and CC creators to see if there are any known issues with their Mod/CC clashing with the update and if so do they have an updated Mod/CC that will address the changes in the game's code from the update. You can then re-add your updated Mods/CC one at a time to see if one was conflicting with the function/causing the glitch - but do not re-add the old config file from the old mods folder, as it is possible for it to have become corrupted also.

[EPCreativeMedia]

Hi @SheriGR 

Thank you for this, for clarity something I forgot to mention is I did run the game repair and had removed the localthumbnailchache.package file, and after the June patch update, I went through my mods using the sites that provide lists of broken, updated and obsolete MODS and updated and deleted the relevant ones, during this period, my sims hadn't vanised yet, they only vanished last week after I bought the new stuff packs and game packs; however I did not move the mods folder. So I shall follow the steps you provided, and let you know how if that works.

Thanks again

E.

[EPCreativeMedia]

heri @SheriGR,

i went ahead and took the steps you advised, however unfortunately nothing changed. My sims are still missing, and I am still can't figure out how that happened. If you have any other recommendations, I am happy to try.

Thanks in advance

E.

[SheriGR]

@EPCreativeMedia I am also baffled, I'm sorry to say. I'm sure this has occurred to you, but just in case... Is there any chance that you accidentally saved a game (with your households in it) as a different game-save? In the initial load screen when you start up your game, can you try selecting 'Load Game' rather than clicking the big green play triangle and see if there are any other game saves in that area?

[EPCreativeMedia]

Hi @SheriGR 

I always start my game by clicking on load game as I have a couple of other games i use separately for let's plays which I use only one Sim household for each game.And so the one I lost all the Sims for is the one where I played multiple households. Some of which were townies and some I built from scratch. So I do not know what else to do, at first I thought I might have deleted them by accident, but if that was the case, the one remaining household that I played should have disappeared as well.

[SheriGR]

@EPCreativeMedia I have reached out to other helpers, and we were wondering if it's possible that your played sims ("My Households" - the ones with the blue heart 'checked'/filled in) somehow got unchecked ( with the blue heart 'unchecked'/not filled in) from "My Households" and that's why they're not showing any more (so that would move them into "Other Households"). Please go to "Manage Households" and check the "Other Households" tab. If they are there please click on the heart to and save/move them back to played households ("My Households"). If this turns out to be the issue please make sure to also then save each household into your library so they will be there for reference/re-download to your game if needed. Any household in 'Other Households' is vulnerable to being  culled by the game.

If you happen to have saved them in your library already and they are not showing up there, another possibility is that you should make sure that 'Include Custom Content' is checked in the sorter in your library - just in case. Some people have had an issue with households saving as having CC. Plus, since you have used CC, it may be possible that the 'Include Custom Content' sorter kicked in households and there is CC in many of your households so they are not showing up?

I would also recommend keeping regular backups of your game.  

• Some additional suggestions on searching for lost households: https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=28384.0
• Saves and backups: https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2014/09/save-games/

Edit:  Another helper has a suggestion as well... You could make a copy of your saves folder (save this copy on your desktop or an external drive for reference) then look at your backups of each save to confirm you did not accidentally save the game incorrectly.

It was also recommended that if you are streaming your game or posting 'Let's Plays' that you keep each "story" in it's own folder. Moving saves and creating their own folders becomes easy with practice.

Please let us know how it goes. Thanks!

[EPCreativeMedia]

"I have reached out to other helpers, and we were wondering if it's possible that your played sims ("My Households" - the ones with the blue heart 'checked'/filled in) somehow got unchecked ( with the blue heart 'unchecked'/not filled in) from "My Households" and that's why they're not showing any more (so that would move them into "Other Households"). Please go to "Manage Households" and check the "Other Households" tab. If they are there please click on the heart to and save/move them back to played households ("My Households"). If this turns out to be the issue please make sure to also then save each household into your library so they will be there for reference/re-download to your game if needed. Any household in 'Other Households' is vulnerable to being  culled by the game."

I had checked that before, and checked again after you mentioned it just in case I missed something, and they are not in the "Other Households". I shall remember to save each household in the library in the future for reference.

"If you happen to have saved them in your library already and they are not showing up there, another possibility is that you should make sure that 'Include Custom Content' is checked in the sorter in your library - just in case. Some people have had an issue with households saving as having CC. Plus, since you have used CC, it may be possible that the 'Include Custom Content' sorter kicked in households and there is CC in many of your households so they are not showing up?"

I had checked that as well, the only households that are showing up are the ones I created from scratch in CAS as brand new households, as Sims 4 automatically saves them to the library after finishing creating them CAS and before placing them to their new lot.

Another helper has a suggestion as well... You could make a copy of your saves folder (save this copy on your desktop or an external drive for reference) then look at your backups of each save to confirm you did not accidentally save the game incorrectly.

I have made a copy and placed it on the desktop, but I literally have no idea where the backups of each are (is it the same files I am seeing in the saves folder?) and how to check them. I will need your assistance on this please.

It was also recommended that if you are streaming your game or posting 'Let's Plays' that you keep each "story" in it's own folder. Moving saves and creating their own folders becomes easy with practice.

If it is creating seperate games for each Let's Play and Story, I already do that in the main menu, I create new games. If it is the physical folders within the saves under Sims 4 in Electronic Arts folder. I have never done that before, but I will look up how to do that.

I will keep you posted on any progress I make, thanks

EDIT: Do you think adding the new game and stuff packs might have affected it, because it still doesn't make sense that one household out of all my played households is still there whilst the others have disappeared, plus their houses I added and customised are still exactly as I left them, additionally as some where originally townies that I started to play, other Sims have moved into their homes, but I have the option to add sims to empty lots diselected.