The Sims 4 is one of the most popular simulators out there and has many players spending hours creating houses and changing lots in their spare time. What happens, however, when there is an update, or you change computers and find that when you start back into the game, you cannot see the load button, and it seems that all your saves have gone? This has happened to more than a few people. At times, people have found that their saves are nowhere to be seen after major updates and are left disappointed that their countless hours of building have seemingly vanished. But never fear! There may be an answer for this problem when and if it occurs.
How to Back Up and Rescue your Saves in The Sims 4 on PC
First, it is important to know that your saves do not get uploaded to an EA cloud system, but are saved directly to the file system on your computer. The Sims only uses a local save file system, and has yet to adopt a cloud based system.
If you want to make sure that your saves are always safe, then it is best to back them up to your hard drive or another system just in case. As stated before, there may be times when the load option does not appear when you are in The Sims 4 welcome screen, so here we will show you what to do when this happens and where to find your saves for safekeeping.
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As of 2021, this is what the welcome screen for The Sims 4 looks like. If you are missing the Load Game button when you have signed in, then here is how to locate your saves and what to do to restore them.
Firstly, go to your Documents folder by accessing This PC, and clicking on Documents. When you have double-clicked that folder, scroll down and locate the Electronic Arts folder, and open that up. Next, locate The Sims 4, then look for Saves inside that folder.
The folder structure should look like this: This PC > Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves
Look to the image below if you are having trouble.
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In this folder, you will see all of the manual saves for your sessions in the game. There will be six of each, they will be time-stamped and will all be different, but it is best not to mess with or delete them. This is how you can back up your save files to make sure that they do not get lost; just copy all six of the ones you want over to another hard drive, a USB, or even to a The Sims 4 back-up folder on your Desktop.
This is also necessary if you have bought a new computer and have not added your previous save files. Once you re-install the game, you will be able to find the folders shown above, and then you can place/move all of your saves in there.
Do not place them in the folder when the game is running, this can damage and corrupt your save files.
Please note: in order for this to work, you need to back up your saves beforehand. If you have not backed up your files from your old computer, then this will not work, and they cannot be rescued.
If after adding your files you still need to restore the Load Game button, then here is what to do next:
— Start a New Game and create a new Sim (it can be a quick and basic creation).
— Make sure that the game has been saved.
— Back out to the Main Menu.
When you come to the welcome screen, you should see the Load Game button there. Once you have added your old files, you should then see them appear in the load option, and your previous game will be playable from there. You can delete the test Sim you created after you have found your previous saves.
With that, you should be up and running to continue your Sims adventure! The next time there is a big update you can be confident knowing that your saves are going to be in good hands!
Once you are back in the action, why not find out how to summon Bonehilda in The Sims 4?
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