How To Recover Saves - PC Only Guide

princessika wrote:omg!! this has been doing myhead in for ages!! so so smany lost games..now i've reinstalled my game..and i've come across this!!! too late for the lost games now...but for future.. I LOVE YOU! xxx

Glad I could help! Now you know what to do in case this happens again.

My problem (very, very frustrating) is if I pause the game to take a break for any length of time, it is always 'frozen' when I return. I could pause Sims2 for literally days and then pick up where I left off. This one? Not even 20 minutes.

Hopefully, your advice will work for me as well. Thank you.

Okblondee7 wrote:My problem (very, very frustrating) is if I pause the game to take a break for any length of time, it is always 'frozen' when I return. I could pause Sims2 for literally days and then pick up where I left off. This one? Not even 20 minutes.

Hopefully, your advice will work for me as well. Thank you.

Game frozen when paused? That sounds like a memory issue. Try upgrading your ram, and see if that makes a difference.

Shadow wrote:

Rosieglo16 wrote:okay there is no backup file for my saved game. There is only the .sims3 and .sims3.bad. so what do i do now? there is a backup file for every other saved game but mine.

First off, delete any files that end with .bad
If you leave that in, your game will still be corrupted.

Second, after you delete .bad just load your game and your game should be back.

There's no .bad file in my folder. I moved the whole EA folder before I format it.
Other saves without .bad files are ok, only this file.

But thanks a lot anyway

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 08/11/09 05:10 PM

Shadow, this is GREAT! Thanks you SO much!

gojyunin_master wrote:

Shadow wrote:

Rosieglo16 wrote:okay there is no backup file for my saved game. There is only the .sims3 and .sims3.bad. so what do i do now? there is a backup file for every other saved game but mine.

First off, delete any files that end with .bad
If you leave that in, your game will still be corrupted.

Second, after you delete .bad just load your game and your game should be back.

There's no .bad file in my folder. I moved the whole EA folder before I format it.
Other saves without .bad files are ok, only this file.

But thanks a lot anyway

You're welcome!
The .bad file generally appears when you get error code 12, or 13.

Neurotisk wrote:Shadow, this is GREAT! Thanks you SO much!

Glad I could help.

Hi! Shadow Please help me if you can. I did exactly as you said only my original town sunset valley did not return. And as for Sunset Valley it had three backup files and none said corrupt or bad. But the Riverview had bad files that I deleted like you said. Only I still have the Riverview Town. On the lol I am not that smart with computers and since the upgrades of patches been downloaded into my game I've been having a several problems. Help me if you can.

Thank you

Great tutorial Shadow!

TooCute50 wrote:Hi! Shadow Please help me if you can. I did exactly as you said only my original town sunset valley did not return. And as for Sunset Valley it had three backup files and none said corrupt or bad. But the Riverview had bad files that I deleted like you said. Only I still have the Riverview Town. On the lol I am not that smart with computers and since the upgrades of patches been downloaded into my game I've been having a several problems. Help me if you can. Thank you

This reverting saves trick doesn't work unless the saved game has a .bad file.
You said Sunset Valley had three backup files. Try making a copy of the most recent Sunset Valley backup, and renaming it to yourtownname.sims3.

Sunset Valley should return. If not, let me know.

Hey Shadow: Thank You so much for your help it worked great! I am not at all smart with computers your help means a lots to me so thanks again. I am looking for a friend if interested in having one who isn't computer smart but love Sims. I'm willing if you are!

TooCute50 wrote:Hey Shadow: Thank You so much for your help it worked great! I am not at all smart with computers your help means a lots to me so thanks again. I am looking for a friend if interested in having one who isn't computer smart but love Sims. I'm willing if you are!

You're welcome. Glad this guide helped you out.

Thank you so much, I'm just about to reload it but I loaded it this morning like NOOOO.

Since I spent like my whole life on it yesterday oh dear.

Should probably go out more

Thanks in advance.

Oh my gosh, thank you for this!

Just a quick question though; does anyone know why this happens?

roundedbluecube wrote:Oh my gosh, thank you for this!

Just a quick question though; does anyone know why this happens?

I've noticed it happens when you go several hours without saving. By not saving often, your save could become corrupted.