As I said, you guys are so tidy! I might try that (but knowing myself, will start from scratch before loading back a new game...). I tried backing up saves in Sims 2, and when I put it back, sims were missing, I think some were in the wrong houses, etc. Lol. It went really really badly. I never tried since that day.
Yeah, it is harder to backup your saves in Sims 2, and even worse in Sims 4. But it's very easy in Sims 3 - one more reason Sims 3 is my favorite.
Not sure it's really a matter of "tidy," but to me an individual saved game (folder) is like a huge document. Most of us wouldn't think twice and would automatically store and copy documents like important word processing docs and spreadsheets in various places to make sure we never lost our work along the way, but they don't all need to be in the "live" Documents folder or the work folder currently being used and accessed.
I wasn't aware copying and moving saved games around in other iterations of Sims games was so difficult, but yes thankfully in TS3 it's really quite easy.
I have several ongoing stories and I use save as frequently when I play. I pull those out of the save folder in the sims 3 game folder every couple of days and place them in a special save folder on my desktop. I try to cull it weekly but sometimes forget. I did cull it about 2 weeks ago. It currently is 69.6 GB, has 369 total saves in it. I think it needs culling again. I do have what I call Master saves that stay forever in case of a major malfunction with my puter. They are stored on a second computer as well as external hard drive. Someone mentioned you can store on the cloud, but I have not checked into that yet. If it cost's money, it won't happen.
OMG! This is the kind of post that is scary when you actually go into your saves folder and check... Must say that usually I never have more than 5 or 6. But now, as I have juggled with picture contests and stuff, lo and behold - 48!!!
I only have 1 saved game. I've spent so much enjoyable time remodeling every apartment, house, venue, plus I made so many Sims to replace every townie. I have Sims in every house except now I'm working on the Vacation venues and Get Famous. Plus, as EA release new items in build mode, I go back and remodel homes, apartments and venues. Added a restaurant to Magnolia Promenade, working on building a Upscale night club there now; really only need one shopping store there. So one saved game is good for me.
I only have 1 saved game. I've spent so much enjoyable time remodeling every apartment, house, venue, plus I made so many Sims to replace every townie. I have Sims in every house except now I'm working on the Vacation venues and Get Famous. Plus, as EA release new items in build mode, I go back and remodel homes, apartments and venues. Added a restaurant to Magnolia Promenade, working on building a Upscale night club there now; really only need one shopping store there. So one saved game is good for me.
That sets off all kinds of alarms unless it's the case that TS4 arranges for multiple backup copies of your one ongoing game for you (I think it does but am not sure). This discussion is about TS3, though. Relying on the one automatically made backup for a long running ongoing game is not a recipe for sanity if something were to go wrong with it and the player needs to revert to a prior save to fix things.
I have several ongoing stories and I use save as frequently when I play. I pull those out of the save folder in the sims 3 game folder every couple of days and place them in a special save folder on my desktop. I try to cull it weekly but sometimes forget. I did cull it about 2 weeks ago. It currently is 69.6 GB, has 369 total saves in it. I think it needs culling again. I do have what I call Master saves that stay forever in case of a major malfunction with my puter. They are stored on a second computer as well as external hard drive. Someone mentioned you can store on the cloud, but I have not checked into that yet. If it cost's money, it won't happen.
@bekkasan We have Carbonite backup that backs up everything on our computers. Learned the hard way! That's what I meant by cloud.
@igazor TS4 keeps an automatic save of the game you are currently playing. The files names look like this: slot_0000000a.save.ver0. You can make your own saves too, but regardless of what you name it, the file in the game folder looks just like all the others, each with a different "ver" number. @Hearts4u said they have only one saved game, but if they're making their own saves, they do have a backup within the game folder.
Saving backup copies elsewhere, however, is not so easy. A friend of mine saved the most recent of those files, but when she put them back in her game, she still didn't have any of her saves, and she lost them all. There are other files in other folders that have to be saved too. Back when I played (for about 4 months), when the game was updated, I saved the entire TS4 folder as a backup, because I didn't want to play the games that I had been playing anymore, until the mods I was using were updated too. That worked, but then I had to swap folders to go from any of those older games to any of the ones I started while I was waiting for the mod updates, because the new save files were given the same names as the ones I had moved out.
@igazor ...A friend of mine saved the most recent of those files, but when she put them back in her game, she still didn't have any of her saves, and she lost them all. ...
I guess that pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of my ever getting TS4. I hope when the devs consider making TS5 (if they ever do) that the un-portability of save files is the first error that they correct.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
I've got 6 different worlds... 2 bigs ones and the other 4 are small. The big games are my main games and the others are just for me to get a breath of fresh air when I'm sick of those 2.
I've got 14 saves in my live saves folder now from my 100 baby challenge in Storybrook County,a legacy challenge in Deery Meadows and another legacy challenge in Evermore FallsI've also got Logan being set up for live play.
My other user account on my laptop has another Sims 3 folder with my apocalypse challenge in Sunset Valley2 and a few worlds being prepared for live play.My third folder has games in Gibsons,Glenvale County,Winfield and Oak Leaf.
I always use save as and save to new filenames for each game every time I save it.
Currently playing in one save, but I typically have a couple backups of that same save in my game folder for every few play sessions. Clutter gives me anxiety..
I currently have one save. I'm quite proud. I've played it for quite a few days now. I live dangerously, no backup. I feel like a gamer daredevil! I'm very proud, because I know jumping into too much saves takes the fun away from me. If it crashes, I don't think I'd want to go back to a previous save... It would just mean I need to move on to a fresh new save (I like the sound of it, light and clutterless!)
Maybe I'll just save the sims (especially the kids born into the game). Then age them and move 20 years later... Whooosh. Like from sims 1 to 2. Or do a prequel. But that's more difficult and more work.
I wonder how you backup a sim, folder-wise...
I want to play ALL the premade families! One day...
@hejix the way I back up a Sim is 1. Save sim to the library 2. Click on the sim in the library 3. Click the Share Button 3. Go to the Exports folder (its in the Sims 3 folder) and move the file just created for that sim to a backup folder
To install them later just put the files in the Downloads folder and install with the launcher
Currently have two save games. One for normal sims living in the Sunset Valley, while the other is a Harry Potter RPG save. When I play Sims 3, I typically play the first save but when I am bored, I go to the magical world outside of muggles
Too many. I think I have like 17-23 saves, not including the saves that are just frequently played towns already edited. I keep most on my backup HDD and only keep 3-5 currently playing saves in my saved games folder. I have a problem with starting up a testing save game and getting too attached to the Sims I'm playing. All my testing saves become playing saves.
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Yeah, it is harder to backup your saves in Sims 2, and even worse in Sims 4. But it's very easy in Sims 3 - one more reason Sims 3 is my favorite.
I wasn't aware copying and moving saved games around in other iterations of Sims games was so difficult, but yes thankfully in TS3 it's really quite easy.
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I have 6 Saves in there right now.
NRaas has moved!
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@bekkasan We have Carbonite backup that backs up everything on our computers. Learned the hard way! That's what I meant by cloud.
https://youtu.be/X2eiCUQDNvQ
Saving backup copies elsewhere, however, is not so easy. A friend of mine saved the most recent of those files, but when she put them back in her game, she still didn't have any of her saves, and she lost them all. There are other files in other folders that have to be saved too. Back when I played (for about 4 months), when the game was updated, I saved the entire TS4 folder as a backup, because I didn't want to play the games that I had been playing anymore, until the mods I was using were updated too. That worked, but then I had to swap folders to go from any of those older games to any of the ones I started while I was waiting for the mod updates, because the new save files were given the same names as the ones I had moved out.
I guess that pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of my ever getting TS4. I hope when the devs consider making TS5 (if they ever do) that the un-portability of save files is the first error that they correct.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
My other user account on my laptop has another Sims 3 folder with my apocalypse challenge in Sunset Valley2 and a few worlds being prepared for live play.My third folder has games in Gibsons,Glenvale County,Winfield and Oak Leaf.
I always use save as and save to new filenames for each game every time I save it.
The Cruz Family Tree-https://www.theplumtreeapp.com/public/5cb32b2064b13c00069842d2
Maybe I'll just save the sims (especially the kids born into the game). Then age them and move 20 years later... Whooosh. Like from sims 1 to 2. Or do a prequel. But that's more difficult and more work.
I wonder how you backup a sim, folder-wise...
To install them later just put the files in the Downloads folder and install with the launcher
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/924539/features-that-needs-depth-and-ways-to-improve
I just counted - I have 42 saves, no two of the same world, and more worlds to check out!