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My “save” routines for “Live” & “Edit Town” modes: What’s yours? Let’s share!
cameonet1950
Posts: 2,138 Member
Let’s talk about “saving” our beloved TS3 game(s)! These are MY “save” routines and I know you other simmers have your own too. Before starting each and EVERY game I FIRST…
1) Delete the 5 caches files:
a. CASPartCache
b. compositorCashe
c. scriptCashe
d. simCompositorCache
e. socialCache
2) Delete any “bad” backup folder in “Saves” or a backup folder that isn’t the same size as the latest saved game.
SAVING in “Live” mode:
1) Play at low speed for a few sim minutes.
2) Pause the game.
3) Turn OFF any/all cheats.
1) SILENCE speakers.
2) SAVE! Cross your fingers, chant, say a prayer, light a candle, etc.
3) Step away and don’t watch. This is a good time to go pee and/or replenish snacks/beverages.
4) Return to a successfully saved game…yell “YAY” and continue.
5) Return to an unsuccessfully saved game…yell “CRAP” and quit!
6) Start over or do something else like come HERE until recovered.
SAVING in “Edit Town” mode:
This depends on how long I’ve been playing in “Live” mode, started on an empty lot when first opening the game, switched to a different household and then back to an empty or community lot, etc. I think intuition plays a big part here…that and the size of the world and each lot. You kinda get a “feeling” for this so trust your intuition.
1) Try not to do TOO much at a time.
2) Turn OFF any/all cheats.
3) Got back to “Edit Town.” (I HATE this part! I wish we could save it while still IN it.)
4) COPY the lot into the appropriate lot bin.
5) SILENCE speakers.
6) SAVE! Cross your fingers, chant, say a prayer, light a candle, etc.
7) Step away and don’t watch. This is a good time to go pee and/or replenish snacks/beverages.
8) Return to a successfully saved game…yell “YAY” and continue.
9) Return to an unsuccessfully saved game…yell “CRAP” and quit!
10) Start over or do something else like come HERE until recovered.
I’ve tried “Save As” several times but got too confused. The above works great for me and they are generally successful barring any odd/new happenings in the game that I’m inexperienced with.
This game never ceases to surprise and delight me! And there’s still so much more for me to learn about it. I’m hardly an expert...YET!
So…what’s YOUR “save” routine? Care to share?
BTW: It looks like the official *The Sims* Facebook page dumped us for TS4 so I’ve created a page called “The Sims-3 Forever,” if you’re interested. ALL are welcomed to post their TS3 creations, topics, stories, comments, etc:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sims-3-Forever/349140921902678?ref=hl
Hope to read from you soon!
Cameo
1) Delete the 5 caches files:
a. CASPartCache
b. compositorCashe
c. scriptCashe
d. simCompositorCache
e. socialCache
2) Delete any “bad” backup folder in “Saves” or a backup folder that isn’t the same size as the latest saved game.
SAVING in “Live” mode:
1) Play at low speed for a few sim minutes.
2) Pause the game.
3) Turn OFF any/all cheats.
1) SILENCE speakers.
2) SAVE! Cross your fingers, chant, say a prayer, light a candle, etc.
3) Step away and don’t watch. This is a good time to go pee and/or replenish snacks/beverages.
4) Return to a successfully saved game…yell “YAY” and continue.
5) Return to an unsuccessfully saved game…yell “CRAP” and quit!
6) Start over or do something else like come HERE until recovered.
SAVING in “Edit Town” mode:
This depends on how long I’ve been playing in “Live” mode, started on an empty lot when first opening the game, switched to a different household and then back to an empty or community lot, etc. I think intuition plays a big part here…that and the size of the world and each lot. You kinda get a “feeling” for this so trust your intuition.
1) Try not to do TOO much at a time.
2) Turn OFF any/all cheats.
3) Got back to “Edit Town.” (I HATE this part! I wish we could save it while still IN it.)
4) COPY the lot into the appropriate lot bin.
5) SILENCE speakers.
6) SAVE! Cross your fingers, chant, say a prayer, light a candle, etc.
7) Step away and don’t watch. This is a good time to go pee and/or replenish snacks/beverages.
8) Return to a successfully saved game…yell “YAY” and continue.
9) Return to an unsuccessfully saved game…yell “CRAP” and quit!
10) Start over or do something else like come HERE until recovered.
I’ve tried “Save As” several times but got too confused. The above works great for me and they are generally successful barring any odd/new happenings in the game that I’m inexperienced with.
This game never ceases to surprise and delight me! And there’s still so much more for me to learn about it. I’m hardly an expert...YET!
So…what’s YOUR “save” routine? Care to share?
BTW: It looks like the official *The Sims* Facebook page dumped us for TS4 so I’ve created a page called “The Sims-3 Forever,” if you’re interested. ALL are welcomed to post their TS3 creations, topics, stories, comments, etc:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sims-3-Forever/349140921902678?ref=hl
Hope to read from you soon!
Cameo 
1
Comments
1. Pause game
2. Gently click the Save button
3. Hold my breath in case that helps
4. Realize I will die before it actually finishes saving
5. Start breathing again and look away, distracting myself
6. If it works, and it normally does, I carry on my business
7. When it crashes/freezes instead of saving I call it a night (after calling it a name first)
Pray.
Cry.
Shorter than MY list but that pretty much sums it up. Thanks for replying!
How do we delete cache files? Never heard of them.
Hi bobyo2001! Here ya go!
Follow these steps:
Go to >
My Documents
Click on >
Electronic Arts (folder)
Click on >
The Sims 3 (folder)
Under the last FOLDER should be a list of “files.” The 5 you want to delete, which are just of “temporary” data stored and completely SAFE to delete are:
a. CASPartCache
b. compositorCashe
c. scriptCashe
d. simCompositorCache
e. socialCache
On my PC these are not listed together so you have to read carefully and select some of them individually before deleting.
TIP: Open you recycle bin to make sure you deleted the right ones before continuing.
This really DOES help with the performance of your game as well as avoiding the dreaded "error code 12" prompt.
Try it! You'll be very happy you took the time to do this. I promise!
2. Click Save
3. Pray
4.Wait anxiously
5. If it works, yay! If it doesn't come to the forums and try to figure out what's wrong.
Hi MsicalRose! Well maybe after reading this and following the outline above and other suggestions, you won't have to come to the forums to figure out what's wrong. Hope so!
1.Pause game.
2.Hit save as and edit the file name for saving.
3.restart game if not finished a few seconds later or quit.
Edit town:
1.turn any building cheats off.
2.exit to edit town.
3.select save as and edit the save file name.
4.load the lot I was building on after saving or quit game.
Thanks!
I don't delete my cache files as often as I should either .
Had no issues so far, I'm sure the next time I play it will probably crash and burn just to teach me a lesson!
The game's starting to lag! Save
Did I save? Saves again
It's been fifteen minutes! Save
2. Press the play button in the launcher
3. Skip the video
4. Wait till the menu turns up
5. Press icon of my family
6. Fold my laundry or play a little Farmville on my iPad
7. The game opens
8. Hideheadlineeffects on
9. I start to play
10. When it's night in the game I save (save as, I number my saves)
11. I never pray because in my entire S3 'career' saving only failed once, the game just saves.
12. I play and when it's night again I save (as, number)
That's my routine
I've had my share of other bugs though by the way lol.