Saves not working

Keth · August 2017

I haven't played in almost 8 months. When I tried to load up my last game I got an error saying, "A serious error has occurred when loading [saved game]. Please try restarting the application." I only keep the last 5 saves in my save folder; everything else I move over to a backup folder. I get the exact same error regardless of which save I try to use. There have been no hardware changes since I last played and I'm running the same OS. Anyone know what might be going on?

igazor · August 2017

Hi there. Let's try the most obvious things first. Very often the "Serious Error" being reported on startup means

-- You are out of drive space. How large is the drive that the game is installed on and how much space? Is the user game folder, that is your Documents folder, on the same drive or a different one? Is Windows (I'm assuming Windows and not Mac here) running from the same drive?

-- You have files open that the game needs to use, even if they are just open folder windows in Windows Explorer (for all the issues Mac players face, this isn't one of them and only applies to Windows). Or you might have content files open in a package editor like S3PE, if you ever do CC or mod package editing. Also try rebooting the computer to see if that frees anything up that might be locked for some other reason.

-- You are running an illegitimate copy of the game. But then it probably wouldn't have worked 8 months ago either, so unless you tell us otherwise we can hopefully rule that one out.

By the way, can you startup the game and begin a new save, then load that one up, or does the same thing happen?

Keth · August 2017

It's all on a TB drive (Win 10 64-bit). There's still over 400 GB of free space. The save game folder is in the Documents on the same drive; I put the backups somewhere else.

Rebooting didn't help. I can't see anything in Details that would be causing an issue - nothing new from 8 months ago anyway and I've closed all folders. Also, I open the game by double-clicking on the Sims 3 game file, not on Origins (though Origins still opens).

If my copy of the game isn't legal then EA has some explaining to do.

Starting a new game and saving then opening again worked fine. I also noticed that the load bar that appears fills up almost instantly right before I get the error message; much faster than the bar loads otherwise even with a game with few expansions.

igazor · August 2017

Okay, we've ruled several things out here. But as you are apparently on Patch 1.69, hence the Origin tie-in (Origin must be used to start the Launcher and then the game, there's no bypass possible), are you certain from the 1.69 Launcher's Packs and Stuff tab that all of the EPs these older saved games have ever seen are being listed, staying checked off, and loading up for you? It would be impossible to load a saved game that has seen Pets (and several of the others) without those EPs now in play.

I wouldn't put any stock in the progress bar that displays when the game starts up at all. Even on a properly working set of saves, many of us notice that the bar randomly zooms all the way across sometimes then spends all of the usual time on the last bit, yet other times it progresses more uniformly. It really doesn't mean anything useful.

Just looked this error up on the Sims Wiki and I think we've hit all of usual causes except for one -- saved game names too long. Unusual or unexpected characters in the saved game name could probably do this as well.
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:A_Serious_Error_Has_Occurred

If it's not that, have you cleared your user game folder's cache files lately?

igazor · August 2017

I just remembered another cause for this. Look in the test game you just created and saved to see if things were working. Among other things in the save folder, you should have a file called Meta.data or something really close to that (sorry, I'm not near my actual simming computer at the moment so I can't provide the exact name or a screenshot).

Do the saves that aren't loading still have their Meta.data file in them? If not, try copying the one from the new game to one of those and see if that gets the older save to load. That is, provided you are certain all of the EPs it needs are loading up as per above.

Keth · August 2017

I double-checked that all packs are set to run and also checked the download manager to make sure that everything that's supposed to be there is there.

I tried all the things listed in the link you provided except for installing the third-party software (which I hate doing) and still getting the error. I'll try that if I have to but so much third-party stuff is borderline malware that I try and avoid it whenever possible.

All of the save files still have the meta.data extension in them; both the old ones that aren't working and the new one that is.

igazor · August 2017

I agree that the Unlocker program described in the link I provided wouldn't be my first choice of things to try either. But it should be perfectly safe. If you get some kind of malware warning on the web page that hosts it, that would be because its developer kindly links to his "competitors" (it's all free, so I'll use that term loosely) and some of those might be a bit on the sketchy side, but they certainly aren't part of the intended download.

Other than that, or going through EA support on the TS3 Answers HQ forum, afraid I'm fresh out of suggestions on this one.

Keth · August 2017

I was about to start a new game and I just noticed that Lucky Palms, the world I was using for my borked save, is not showing up on my list of available worlds. Is it possible to just lose a world?

igazor · August 2017

Not usually. Is there an entry for it in your TS3 user game folder (in Documents) under InstalledWorlds? That's where EA Store and custom worlds are supposed to end up when installed. And if the underlying world file goes missing, yes that can cause an ongoing game taking place there to have problems (didn't realize it was this problem or I might have mentioned it...).

Keth · August 2017

It wasn't something I even thought to check.

I also see that I have two folders in Document (3 if you count the Create a World tool) - one is called TheSims 3 and the other is just Sims3. The content is similar but not identical. Sims 3 show multiple files of Riverview, Lucky Palms, and Barnacle Bay (none of which show up as available when starting a new game). TheSims 3 shows one file for each world. TheSims 3 appears to be the file that the game is trying to use as that one has today as the last time it was modified.

igazor · August 2017

The modification date/time of the file inside called DeviceConfig.log would tell you which folder is being read for sure, just in case there is still any doubt. But yes, accidentally having two game folders isn't all that uncommon, some even have two or more on purpose for various reasons. Of course only one can be read by the game. Can't say how this happened, but at least that explains where Lucky Palms went. Sounds like it's time to reinstall some content and get rid of the unwanted game folder.

Keth · August 2017

I downloaded the worlds again but now the launcher is giving me issues. When I open the launcher there's a wide range of downloaded content that I have to install every single time even if I installed it last time. I'm thinking of just wiping out everything and installing everything again (even the core game). I don't really want to do that but it seems that solving one problem just leads to another.

igazor · August 2017

You might want to start by pulling out the two user game folders thus forcing the game to spawn a new, fresh one on its next launch and re-installing your content and worlds from there. It's not usually the program install that causes these issues, that's pretty much all in the Program Files (x86) area.

Keth · August 2017

Lo and behold!

After getting rid of the old game folders and copying things over, the old saves are working again. A corrupt file somewhere, I assume?

I remember (vaguely) that there were certain files that it was good to delete or backup somewhere else to keep game performance solid but I don't remember what they are.

The default resolution for the game is 1024x768 but I have a really large monitor and that resolution is kind of crummy. Any harm in switching to 1920x1080?

igazor · August 2017

Probably talking about the cache files. They should be deleted on a regular basis (not backed up somewhere). They will regenerate on the next loadup of the game.
CasPartCache.package
compositorCache.package
scriptCache.package
simCompositorCache.package
socialCache.package

Many of us run the game on 1920x1080. Puts more stress on things, but it really depends on your graphics card as to if it can handle it well. I wouldn't push it on a weaker card or a integrated graphics chip.

If you do have a modern, dedicated graphics card I hope you have its fps rate capped. TS3 does not have a built-in fps limiter. For other forms of game file maintenance, we have a page full of them worth taking a look at over here. Some of them involve NRaas mod usage (of course), others do not.
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Tips+For+Better+Game+Performance

Keth · August 2017

Thanks.

I have many of the NRaas mods but, after 8 months, I'm having trouble remembering what I did back then.

I use Adaptive V-Sync on my Nvidia card which (supposedly) kicks in if the framerate gets too high or low.

igazor · August 2017

Keth wrote: »

Thanks.

I have many of the NRaas mods but, after 8 months, I'm having trouble remembering what I did back then.

I use Adaptive V-Sync on my Nvidia card which (supposedly) kicks in if the framerate gets too high or low.

It's easy to check on, though. Ctrl+shift+C to bring up the cheats console, type fps on (enter). As you play and move the game camera around, the displayed fps rate should never go far above the refresh rate of your monitor. Most are 60 Hz, so that's 60 fps. Some monitors run higher. To make the display go away, cheats console again and fps off (enter).

Note that vsync is only supposed to work in full screen mode, not windowed.

And you're welcome, glad you got the game folder thing all sorted out.

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