[FIXED] My old save files are folders, not .sims3 files

[Cheez]

[EDIT I had a outdated version of the sims that used a different save system than my old saves I made on the updated version, using the steam version fixed my issue.]

Hi, I have the game as a disk and it's version 1.0.631.00001
I've played the game before and when I check my old save games in file explorer they are saved as folders.

My old saves don't show up in game, and when I make a new save it shows up as a .sims3 file, not as a folder like my old save games.

I had moved my old hard drive with windows on it to my new computer, but a new drive is running windows now, not sure if that messed anything up. I had also deleted the game off the old drive and installed it to the C drive, and I moved my old saves to the new default location of "C:\Users\USER\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves".

How could I play my old saves?
I can't find someone with the same problem online and this seems like a kinda active form for the game so I'm asking here.

[HiFive]

All of your .sims3 save files are stored in that Save folder. If you have been using the regular Save button to save your game, then the game will just overwrite the previous save, only updating things that have changed from the previous save. This tends to lead to a lot of corruption in the save file after a while.

Most of us only use the Save As button after our first save of a household. Making frequent saves also helps prevent corruption to occur in the game, so I like to save at least once every Sim day - usually just before my Sims go to sleep, and I use sequentially-numbered saves each time. This way, there are always backup saves I can go to when I encounter any issues in the game.

I also make my own backups of the Save folder every time I exit the game. My routine is to go into the Save folder and delete any excess saves (these days, I keep about 5 of the most recent saves), make my backup of the Save folder, then delete the 5 cache folders that can sometimes get bloated or corrupted. It is safe to delete only those particular cache files, since the game will make new ones when you boot it up again. They are:

CASPartCache.package
compositorCache.package
scriptCache.package
SimCompositorCache.package
socialcache.package

[HiFive]

Originally posted by Cheez:

I had moved my old hard drive with windows on it to my new computer, but a new drive is running windows now, not sure if that messed anything up. I had also deleted the game off the old drive and installed it to the C drive, and I moved my old saves to the new default location of "C:\Users\USER\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves".

If you placed the old Save folder inside the new Save folder in the game files, you won't be able to access your previous saves. Make a copy of the contents (the .sims3 files) of the old save folder and place those in the new Save folder. In other words, I think you might have one too many layers of Save folders.

[Cheez]

Originally posted by HiFive:

Originally posted by Cheez:

I had moved my old hard drive with windows on it to my new computer, but a new drive is running windows now, not sure if that messed anything up. I had also deleted the game off the old drive and installed it to the C drive, and I moved my old saves to the new default location of "C:\Users\USER\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves".

If you placed the old Save folder inside the new Save folder in the game files, you won't be able to access your previous saves. Make a copy of the contents (the .sims3 files) of the old save folder and place those in the new Save folder. In other words, I think you might have one too many layers of Save folders.

Thanks for the reply, I copied the old save folder contents into the new save folder, but my old saves are still folders named with .sims3 at the end, not actual .sims3 files.

I think they got corrupted somehow, I'll take your advice and use "save as" often for my new saves, thank you again !

[HiFive]

Originally posted by Cheez:

Originally posted by HiFive:

If you placed the old Save folder inside the new Save folder in the game files, you won't be able to access your previous saves. Make a copy of the contents (the .sims3 files) of the old save folder and place those in the new Save folder. In other words, I think you might have one too many layers of Save folders.

Thanks for the reply, I copied the old save folder contents into the new save folder, but my old saves are still folders named with .sims3 at the end, not actual .sims3 files.

I think they got corrupted somehow, I'll take your advice and use "save as" often for my new saves, thank you again !

I just checked my game files, and I see that my Saves are also all folders. I guess I never paid attention to that detail. So it's normal for them to be folders. Is there anything inside your .sims3 save folders?

The contents inside each folder should look similar to this:

1a5tf1l3.dat
Meta.data
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3c.nhd
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3cExportDB.package
TravelDB.package

Other towns or foreign lands that your Sim has visited might also be included on the list.

[Cheez]

Originally posted by HiFive:

Originally posted by Cheez:

Thanks for the reply, I copied the old save folder contents into the new save folder, but my old saves are still folders named with .sims3 at the end, not actual .sims3 files.

I think they got corrupted somehow, I'll take your advice and use "save as" often for my new saves, thank you again !

I just checked my game files, and I see that my Saves are also all folders. I guess I never paid attention to that detail. So it's normal for them to be folders. Is there anything inside your .sims3 save folders?

yeah, here's what one of mine looks like

1a5tf1l3.dat
Meta.data
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3c.nhd
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3cExportDB.package
TravelDB.package

[HiFive]

Originally posted by Cheez:

Originally posted by HiFive:

I just checked my game files, and I see that my Saves are also all folders. I guess I never paid attention to that detail. So it's normal for them to be folders. Is there anything inside your .sims3 save folders?

yeah, here's what one of mine looks like

1a5tf1l3.dat
Meta.data
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3c.nhd
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3cExportDB.package
TravelDB.package

Lol, I just added that info. to my previous reply! Anyway, it looks the same as what I have in my save folders. I'm out of ideas at the moment.

[Cheez]

Originally posted by HiFive:

Originally posted by Cheez:

yeah, here's what one of mine looks like

1a5tf1l3.dat
Meta.data
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3c.nhd
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3cExportDB.package
TravelDB.package

Lol, I just added that info. to my previous reply! Anyway, it looks the same as what I have in my save folders. I'm out of ideas at the moment.

cool no problem thank :D

[Cheez]

Originally posted by HiFive:

Originally posted by Cheez:

yeah, here's what one of mine looks like

1a5tf1l3.dat
Meta.data
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3c.nhd
Sunset Valley_0x0859db3cExportDB.package
TravelDB.package

Lol, I just added that info. to my previous reply! Anyway, it looks the same as what I have in my save folders. I'm out of ideas at the moment.

Hey I was able to fix it and play the old saves by buying the updated version on steam, the disk version is outdated and used a different save system.

So I had the updated game at one point but lost it after reinstall, updates were probably discontinued for the disk version.

[HiFive]

Originally posted by Cheez:

Originally posted by HiFive:

Lol, I just added that info. to my previous reply! Anyway, it looks the same as what I have in my save folders. I'm out of ideas at the moment.

Hey I was able to fix it and play the old saves by buying the updated version on steam, the disk version is outdated and used a different save system.

Nice to hear!