Save Randomly Deleted

Froil

I was playing earlier today, testing out a new home I built for my Sim's extended family. I just started to play later the same day and found out all of my saves are just... Gone. I checked the documents folder and looked in saves only to find nothing in there. Honestly I'm so sad, having played one save for four(?) years now. I didn't even get to save the newly made house in my library...

The weird thing is this happened to my mods folder about a month ago. The folder was just randomly deleted, as I was checking out some new mods. Started up the game, tested them, took them out, and that folder was definitely still there, started up the game again and was going to use MCCC only to find there were no mods at all.

I guess I'm going to take a break from this game for a while...

SweetieWright_84

Are you on Windows? Do you by chance have it set to automatically backup to One Drive? I'm not 100% sure but it seems like something similar happened to me a few years ago and I found out it had backed up to One Drive. I can't remember the setting I changed though.

Froil

I don't have One Drive so it shouldn't be that. If it is that's even weirder since I checked that and I haven't even "signed up" yet.

joleaco

This is mysterious. Have you checked the recycle bin to make sure it hasn't ended up in there?

Have you been doing any maintenance in the Sims 4 folder and accidently dragged the saves folder into one of the other folders? I have done that myself once.

MrPlumbob

@Froil As for your saves folder, try doing a search in File Explorer for .save files (From your C drive under "this pc") Maybe they got moved by mistake? As for your mods folder, do you use the Curseforge App? Maybe there's an option in there that accidentally deleted your mods. Do you use any other cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox? Are they enabled for the documents folder?

One more thing: Is there any chance you made a backup sometime in the last four years? Even if it's not recent, at least it wouldn't be starting from the beginning.

Froil

I keep my Recycle Bin empty, so it's possible it might've accidentally gotten in there, but I usually right-click and cut files precisely, not drag'n'drop.

After searching in the File Explorer, the only save found is the new one I had to make. I don't use the CurseForge app or either Google Drive or Dropbox, nor do I have any backups, as this is a newer computer.

I guess it's likely it was my mistake, accidentally deleted it or moved it to the Recycle Bin.

Behappy1st

Froil wrote: »

I keep my Recycle Bin empty, so it's possible it might've accidentally gotten in there, but I usually right-click and cut files precisely, not drag'n'drop.

After searching in the File Explorer, the only save found is the new one I had to make. I don't use the CurseForge app or either Google Drive or Dropbox, nor do I have any backups, as this is a newer computer.

I guess it's likely it was my mistake, accidentally deleted it or moved it to the Recycle Bin.

Would repairing your game do anything?

mrs_starkey

I'm so sorry this happened to you. If my 6 year old save file all of a sudden went missing I would be so sad.
Would you consider to set your whole computer back to a earlier date, where your save file was still there? It is the last thing I would try and it is a bit drastic, but if the save file is so important it is worth a try.

But before you try this make sure to save every important changes and papers you made/worked on in the meantime somewhere else on a an external save card or something.

Hopefully this was understandable, english is not my first language.

I hope you will somehow get your savefile back.

GalacticGal

I am so sorry this has happened to you. I've had my share of accidental deleting of save/files, so I know just what you're going through. Did you create your original Sims in CAS? If so, you should have a copy of them in your My Library. Every time we create a Sim/family and place them in the game, it's automatically placed into our My Library, that you access through the Gallery. If you need to, take that break and when you come back, you can either look for that original Sim(s) and start again. Or create a brand new Sim, whatever you feel up to. I'm the Queen of Restarts. It can still be fun to play them over again.

Froil

The original family is in my library, but it the save was like four generations in, a lot of lots I didn't save. It'd feel weird having to "redo" everything.

Besides that, I also remember it wasn't just one save, it was three, and they were all gone. I still say something weird was going on, but nobody else has access to my computer, so unless EA can delete saves, for whatever reason, I have no idea what could've happened.

I appreciate everything everyone's said, but I've decided to just start over with a new family and build from there.

luthienrising

Going forward, every now and then make a copy of your Saves folder somewhere. Just in case weird things happen again.

Chicklet453681

Maybe try to do a system restore, I've had that "undelete" stuff when I've done it