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How to roll back your save

icmnfrshicmnfrsh Posts: 18,789 Member
Edit: As of version 1.30, the in-game UI now has a Recover Save option that handles backups for you. It was nice helping you guys out for the past two and a half years. :)

Hello, everyone. I realized that some people aren't aware of TS4's auto-backup feature. Personally, I think it's a lifesaver, and everyone should know how to roll back in case they accidentally save over something, realize that they want to undo a previous mistake, or end up with a corrupted save file.

First, you need to go to your saves folder. It's in My Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/saves
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Before anything else, you should make a copy of your saves in case you make a mistake. Copy and paste the folder into your desktop or some other safe place. Just right click on the folder and choose copy.
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Then go to your desktop, right click on any empty spot, and choose paste.
image.png

Now go into the saves folder in My Documents.
image.png

You'll see that unlike in The Sims 3, the filenames don't match the name you gave your save in-game. Each save file has up to 5 back ups from the previous times you've saved, with .ver0 being the most recent, and .ver4 being the oldest.

In order to find out which file corresponds to the save that you want to roll back, you'll have to launch the game and click on Load Game.
image.png

Let's say I want to roll back the Parsons save. It was last modified on 9/4/14 at 2:15 AM. You'll have to look for the .save file (without any .ver extensions) that has the matching Date Modified field.

Credits to @Ayradyss for pointing this out: Keep in mind that the backup files (.ver0, .ver1, etc.) have the same "Date Modified" value as the main .save file. This is because each time you save, the backup files are also updated, where the previous .save file becomes .ver0, .ver0 becomes .ver1, etc. Hence, Windows considers them to be all modified at that same minute.

In this case, Slot_00000004.save matches. We'll want to rename it to something else. It can be anything different. For example, I can add a .x to the end of the file by right clicking on it, choosing Rename, and typing .x.
image.png

Btw, you can do this while the game is running, AS LONG AS IT'S NOT CURRENTLY SAVING OR LOADING.

From here, you can choose to roll back to one of the backups. Let's try .ver0, which is the most recent one. Right click, Rename, and delete the .ver0 extension.
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Go back to the game. Click on Load Game. If the Load Game window is already open, it won't immediately reflect the changes, so close it first and open it again.
image.png

Apparently, in my case, I renamed my save file to Parsons, which is somewhat more descriptive than My Saved Game 4.

From there, you can load the save file and see if it's the version that you want. If it's not, just re-enter the .ver0 extension and repeat the above steps for .ver1, .ver2, and so on. If it's none of those files, then I'm sorry, but you can't go further than 5 saves ago. :(

If you decide to change your mind on rolling back, just rename the original file (in this case, the one I added .x to) to its original name (in this case, Slot_00000004.save).

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, just ask, and I'll try to answer when I'm online. :)
Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II

Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Post edited by icmnfrsh on

Comments

  • luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,615 Member
    Thank you so much for this explanation!
    EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
  • ceejay402ceejay402 Posts: 24,507 Member
    Brilliant! I'll give it a test
  • KruemelKruemel Posts: 7 New Member
    Thanks for your tutorial, unfortunately it didn't work for me :( I played one family about 2 weeks, 2 days ago I decided to create another one and I didn't even notice what happened until I wanted to play again today...
    the game says I do have one auto-save (of the new family) and another 2 saves, all from the new created family. Can I still somehow restore my lost save from the first family?

    I tried to rename the files and start from an older save but I can't find anything before 2 days ago, so I can't load my first family.

    I'm pretty upset about this because I spent a lot of time on the first family :( Maybe you do have another idea how I can solve my problem :)?
  • icmnfrshicmnfrsh Posts: 18,789 Member
    If you saved more than 5 times, this method won't work. If you're using Windows 7, a previous versions feature is available. If you're lucky it may have saved a version before you overwrote your first family.

    Are you sure you haven't tried up to .ver4? :)
    Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II

    Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
  • KruemelKruemel Posts: 7 New Member
    Wow... you're my personal hero xD! I just tried it again with .ver4 and it worked... I feel a bit dumb but I'm so happy right now, thank you :'D
  • icmnfrshicmnfrsh Posts: 18,789 Member
    Glad to help. :)
    Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II

    Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
  • You are my hero. For real. Last night my sims all vanished into thin air and I have no idea what I did wrong, but upon doing this, everybody is back in the neighbourhood! I'm so happy because I thought like 60-odd hours of gameplay was gone, skills and relationships and everything. Thank you x 10000! :D@icmnfrsh
  • icmnfrshicmnfrsh Posts: 18,789 Member
    That's great. :D I guess it works if people's saves disappear as well. It's kind of scary reading about people losing hours of gameplay that way.
    Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II

    Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
  • Bronwin2Bronwin2 Posts: 2,010 Member
    edited September 2014
    Very helpful. My question is why did EA come up with such a convoluted system. Game have been saving and saving as for years without the need to seperate the name of the save from the actual file name.
  • icmnfrshicmnfrsh Posts: 18,789 Member
    Bronwin2 wrote: »
    Very helpful. My question is why did EA come up with such a convoluted system. Game have been saving and saving as for years without the need to seperate the name of the save from the actual file name.

    I ask myself the same question. :s
    Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II

    Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
  • MsPrissy88MsPrissy88 Posts: 3,122 Member
    Bookmarked - for the "just in case" day :D
    Origin ID -- MsPrissySim

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  • EnormousHeart87EnormousHeart87 Posts: 3 New Member
    My girlfriend accidentally saved over my saved game and I was trying to recover it. I'm try to follow your steps but I'm having a hard time doing so!
  • icmnfrshicmnfrsh Posts: 18,789 Member
    Which part are you having difficulties with?
    Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II

    Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
  • EnormousHeart87EnormousHeart87 Posts: 3 New Member
    Basically, the whole thing and I don't remember the last time I saved it!
  • icmnfrshicmnfrsh Posts: 18,789 Member
    edited September 2014
    Essentially, the files in

    My Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Saves

    that end with

    .ver0, .ver1, .ver2, .ver3, or .ver4

    are older backup files. You can try removing the .ver# endings at random to see if any of them are your save. But I recommend you back up your saves first. :P
    Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II

    Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
  • EnormousHeart87EnormousHeart87 Posts: 3 New Member
    Ok, will give it a try tonight
  • SunnyBelleSunnyBelle Posts: 1,262 Member
    Wonderful, thank you. Shall save this for that day I just may need it :)
  • momboqueenmomboqueen Posts: 1,721 Member
    Thanks for this.
  • gamegrl66gamegrl66 Posts: 51 Member
    Has it worked for everyone that tried it? It didn't work for me. I tried this with a game from 09/24/14 after the patch which I suspect did this. I renamed files .save, .ver0, .ver1, .ver2, .ver3, .ver4. I did most renames while the game was loaded but without the save select screen up. I also tried exiting out the game and then reloading and one of the sons are still missing. I renamed all the files back to their original names each time it didn't work. Anymore suggestions? :neutral_face:
  • morgygurlmorgygurl Posts: 1 New Member
    It didn't work for me at first, either. I put a ton of time into my game, but my only saves were autosaves. Once Origin patched my game on the 25th, there was no "Load Game" option on my menu. Rolling back saves didn't bring the option back; it seems that going to the main menu just creates a new (empty) save, and bumps my backup back to the .ver0 extension. I've also tried restoring my computer, but that doesn't touch the My Documents folder. I've tried Restore Previous Versions on my saves folder, and it doesn't go back far enough to a point before the patch installed.

    I finally fixed my game when I started a new game with a new character, and saved that new game using "Save As". THEN I rolled back the save to my previous game, and I was able to load it from the main menu. Finally!
  • gamegrl66gamegrl66 Posts: 51 Member
    Did you start that new household within the old save or created an entirely new game? If so, how did you merger the two?
  • luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,615 Member
    gamegrl66 wrote: »
    Has it worked for everyone that tried it? It didn't work for me. I tried this with a game from 09/24/14 after the patch which I suspect did this. I renamed files .save, .ver0, .ver1, .ver2, .ver3, .ver4. I did most renames while the game was loaded but without the save select screen up. I also tried exiting out the game and then reloading and one of the sons are still missing. I renamed all the files back to their original names each time it didn't work. Anymore suggestions? :neutral_face:

    Rename your files when you aren't in the game. Start the game up after renaming the files. Try a renaming like this:

    Slot_00000001.save -> Slot_00000001.save.orig (the game will stop seeing this one)
    Slot_00000001.save.var0 -> Slot_00000001.save (the game will now see your next most recent save)
    Slot_00000001.save.var1 -> Slot_00000002.save (the game will now see the one before that as a separate save from #1)

    etc.

    Then start the game and look at each save. They should be stepping you back in time.
    EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
  • icmnfrshicmnfrsh Posts: 18,789 Member
    It actually worked for me when I was running the game. Of course it's safer to do so when it's not, but it does speed up the trial and error process. :P
    Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II

    Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
  • gamegrl66gamegrl66 Posts: 51 Member
    @luthienrising I have two other player's game so this slot is just for the one game. Do I have to set them all back for the one to work?
  • celeste821celeste821 Posts: 543 Member
    icmnfrsh wrote: »
    Hello, everyone. I realized that some people aren't aware of TS4's auto-backup feature. Personally, I think it's a lifesaver, and everyone should know how to roll back in case they accidentally save over something, realize that they want to undo a previous mistake, or end up with a corrupted save file.



    Now go into the saves folder in My Documents.
    image.png

    so the only save files that you work with are the ones in the save folder? not the scratch folder? cause I have saves in the scratch folder
    scratch folder
    easavescratchbysize.png
    in save folder
    easavefolder.png
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