Sims 3: town won't load

by Guest Sun 18 Mar 2012, 08:14

Hi, I have the Sims 3 base game downloaded as long as the Master Suite Stuff expansion.

A few hours ago I switched from full screen mode into window mode and one of my sims was permanently frozen, as in, I could give him new tasks and deal with his wishes and he kept getting unhappier and unhappier, but the first task he had was stuck deleting. I restarted my computer and now when I try to load the game I get to the part where I can pick a town, and the house and the people are just generic dotted outlines. When I try to play it just tells me: "A serious error has occurred while loading 'Sunset Valley.sims3'. It is strongly recommended that you restart the application."

Version: 11.0.84.014001

Thanks for any help!

Mod edit: Topic moved to the right section.

- Lady ElDi

by **☠ ~ Aɳɳ ~ ☠** Sun 18 Mar 2012, 10:55

Hello,

Go to My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves and have a look at the save games folders in there, does your save look like Sunset Valley.sims3 or Sunset Valley.sims3.bad.
If it has the bad extension your save game is corrupted.
If your sim gets stuck again, you can attempt to reset him by opening the cheat console and typing resetsim [firstname] [last name].

by Guest Sun 18 Mar 2012, 20:17

There're two files in the save folder Sunset Valley.sims3 and Sunset Valley.sims3.backup.

Also, what is a cheat console?

Sorry for all the questions, I am not very technically inclined.

EDIT: I followed the instructions found in other topics with the same problem but with the .bad (moving the first out of the folder to the desktop and erasing the .backup from the second) but I'm still having the same problem.

EDIT 2: I also tried to follow the directions found here but I got all the way up to Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\ but there was no layers option. And when I right clicked on the .exe files the compatibility mode was not checked.

EDIT 3: I applied the ultimate fix, still no change.

by **☠ ~ Aɳɳ ~ ☠** Mon 19 Mar 2012, 08:32

Hello,

The cheatconsole is brought up with the key combination SHIFT-CTRL-C and opens up a box to type in on top of your screen. That's the cheatconsole.
It doesn't look like your save game is broken, not in the most regular sense of the word anyway.
Did you keep another back up of your save games somewhere?
The other guide you tried only applies to games that get this error after applying compatibility for win 95/98.

I think your next step is this:
1. Go to: (My) Documents\Electronic Arts\
2. Backup (Read: copy to an other folder) the folder called "The Sims 3".
3. Now completely remove the "The Sims 3" folder from: (My) Documents\Electronic Arts\
4. Start the game and see if it works now.

If you can load a new town without any error coming up, go to the folder you backed up before and copy the saves folder to (My) Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 and try loading your save game now.

by Guest Mon 19 Mar 2012, 09:07

I was able to start a new game with the method you laid out, but when I put the folder back in I'm still having the same error.

by **☠ ~ Aɳɳ ~ ☠** Mon 19 Mar 2012, 09:25

Hello,

I'm afraid that means this particular save game is corrupted. You may try errortrap, but there's no guarantee that it'll work. It doesn't hurt to try though.

by Guest Mon 19 Mar 2012, 10:42

Thank you for trying so hard to help! I suppose I have to start over now?

by **☠ ~ Aɳɳ ~ ☠** Mon 19 Mar 2012, 11:22

Hello,

If errortrap doesn't work, I'm afraid so yes.
When you do, make alternating save games. Always save as and save as savegame1 today and savegame2 tomorrow, that way you always have a back up save game and you don't loose much progress.

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