Save file keeps crashing

[WesselTT089]

Hey there, I have been playing with a family for a while now and I'm far from done with them. I was unable to play The Sims 3 after I got my Origin accounts merged. Back in April I got it working again, but 1 Save file keeps crashing. Does anyone know what to do?

[Zod Rau]

From another thread:

Originally posted by ModerNertum:

The save and quit option is known to add up to save file corruption. So this may be a save file on its last legs.
To find out the answer you need to try saving with a brand new save file and see if the same happens (back up the old save file first to test it out). Because if the result is the same then we need to think on what other issues may be happening

Originally posted by Zod Rau:

It's important that you make a new save every time you save. A single save file in this game gets corrupted when it is repeatedly overwritten. So use "save as", name your save, and I typically use a number in the save, combined with my household name. So first is Carter 1, second Carter 2, third Carter 3, etc. Once you have around 40 saves you'll want to delete all but the last 3 or so and start over with the numbering. The saves are located in Start>Documents>Electronic Arts>The Sims 3>Saves.

If you want to 'Save and Quit', instead 'Save as', make your numbered save, and then choose 'Quit' without saving.

The technical term for it is "save file bloating". A save file that is saved over and over and over on top of it gets bloated and thus corrupted. Then it takes longer and longer to load up and eventually does not even load at all. For now since I have 2 worlds different from each other and play both households I use the world name on the save file, since both are different worlds and I use romanic numbers -Like Bridgeport, Bridgeport II, etc..then I delete all of the temp saves and just leave the latest one to not clutter the save folder. I know you can rename it and just needs to have the file extensions preserved so I remove the temp romanic numbers from the latest save after clearing the Saves folder and make a backup copy of the folder

[WesselTT089]

Originally posted by Zod Rau:

From another thread:

Originally posted by ModerNertum:

The save and quit option is known to add up to save file corruption. So this may be a save file on its last legs.
To find out the answer you need to try saving with a brand new save file and see if the same happens (back up the old save file first to test it out). Because if the result is the same then we need to think on what other issues may be happening



The technical term for it is "save file bloating". A save file that is saved over and over and over on top of it gets bloated and thus corrupted. Then it takes longer and longer to load up and eventually does not even load at all. For now since I have 2 worlds different from each other and play both households I use the world name on the save file, since both are different worlds and I use romanic numbers -Like Bridgeport, Bridgeport II, etc..then I delete all of the temp saves and just leave the latest one to not clutter the save folder. I know you can rename it and just needs to have the file extensions preserved so I remove the temp romanic numbers from the latest save after clearing the Saves folder and make a backup copy of the folder

Sooo basically, it's gone. I copied the save file yesterday in-game, and it still crashes.

[Zod Rau]

Yep - Gone. I learned this the hard way too, so FWIW you're not alone. I did learn it pretty quickly though because I'm so risk-adverse that I was saving every game night. I still do that, but a fresh save each time., My pregame preparation is now to clean out the save folder, getting rid of all but the last three, and starting over with my numbered saves once in game.

[WesselTT089]

Originally posted by Zod Rau:

Yep - Gone. I learned this the hard way too, so FWIW you're not alone. I did learn it pretty quickly though because I'm so risk-adverse that I was saving every game night. I still do that, but a fresh save each time., My pregame preparation is now to clean out the save folder, getting rid of all but the last three, and starting over with my numbered saves once in game.

Oh my god I've spent like 5-6 years with that family and I have still many ideas with them. Now I'm really sad

[4K_240hz_MLED]

Originally posted by WesselTT089:

Originally posted by Zod Rau:

Yep - Gone. I learned this the hard way too, so FWIW you're not alone. I did learn it pretty quickly though because I'm so risk-adverse that I was saving every game night. I still do that, but a fresh save each time., My pregame preparation is now to clean out the save folder, getting rid of all but the last three, and starting over with my numbered saves once in game.

Oh my god I've spent like 5-6 years with that family and I have still many ideas with them. Now I'm really sad

do you have it backed up somewhere at least?

[WesselTT089]

Originally posted by Bill Jobs:

Originally posted by WesselTT089:

Oh my god I've spent like 5-6 years with that family and I have still many ideas with them. Now I'm really sad

do you have it backed up somewhere at least?

Just the normal back-up automatically made by The Sims itself. So I guess no.

[ModerNertum]

Originally posted by WesselTT089:

Hey there, I have been playing with a family for a while now and I'm far from done with them. I was unable to play The Sims 3 after I got my Origin accounts merged. Back in April I got it working again, but 1 Save file keeps crashing. Does anyone know what to do?

Check the save file directory and remove all files with the extension .bad (this are failed save files created due to error codes)
Use a Save Cleaner program to try and shrink save file size
Clear the 5 cache files
If none of this works sounds like you are dealing with a case of bloating (bloating save games happen as the save file gets bigger and bigger due to to constant use of the "Save" instead of "Save as..." button. The larger the save the longer it takes to load until it stops loading and hangs or a crash may happen while loading it). This also means it would now be a corrupted save file and thus should be deleted because no metter what it will fail to load. This is why the Bin should be used regularly to save backups of your current household so you wont lose progress when this happens. There is a way to recover it but only if you have the sims3.backup folder of that save file (this is the folder that has the last previous save before the current one and can be used to recover corrupted saves, even if all you want is save the household to the Bin to place it in a newly fresh game)

[Maxter1o2]

I recommend going to Nrass https://www.nraas.net/community/Mods-List

A ton of usefull mods

always use save as when your done playing for that session i also recommend using

Saver
https://www.nraas.net/community/Saver
This mod prompts the user to save after a given amount of play-time. By default, the mod will wake after 30 real-time minutes and ask the user to save the game, cycling through four saves of differing names.

ErrorTrap
https://www.nraas.net/community/ErrorTrap
This is a core-mod intended to catch and correct data corruption errors that can render a save-game unloadable. Any corruption errors that can not be corrected will be trapped and logged, allowing the save-game to load regardless. Unhandled script errors may be posted on the forum for review and possible repair.

Overwatch
https://www.nraas.net/community/Overwatch
The primary purpose of this mod is to act as a periodic clean up system for correcting errors and eliminating junk that accumulates over a regular play-session. A menu called "NRaas \ Overwatch" is added to the City Hall and the Active Sim.


There is plenty of others also that will help your game out your save file you current have may not be saveable just a heads up but this will help you on future saves.

Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages
is where the package files go

you will need the Resource.cfg quick google search should net you that
but that will go in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\