#infinite saving

There are many threads on the internet (e.g. 1, 2, 3) regarding the issue but none of them gives a reason or a meaningful solution. What is this bug then? From the links I provided, my understanding is that it has started around Seasons release, most likely after an update and, not surprisingly never been solved. I really wanted to believe that it's CC related but even vanilla players claim to have it; so CC is not the reason. My tests also came up with the same result so that's a bummer.

It seems to be triggered by going into Buy/Build Mode on certain lots; but my experiences also showed that it can spread to other lots. That's why I think it's a save/world corruption. But it also appears on different saves in the same Sims 3 folder. I have found a way to uncorrupt the building to be used in other worlds but the empty lot even after the building is bulldozed remains corrupt.

Meaning, you cannot build anything on that lot without triggering the bug. The so-called saving bug also affects the process of saving the lots to your library. So once you start getting it you can't even send the building into your library. There is a way to do it using Nraas Debug Enabler but it only worked for me once.

To save you the trouble, I have a list of things I've tried and now know that don't work at all against the saving bug.

Resetting everything via Nraas MC.

Resetting lot via Nraas MC.

Bulldozing the building and resetting the lot; using hammer tool to delete every visible or invisible object on the lot.

Saving lot to the bin; adding it to another world or a clean save of the same world and editing it there.

Starting a clean save of the world and build something in a lot seems to be fine at first; but saving bug returns eventually as stated in the threads I linked.

Creating a new Sims 3 folder doesn't work, either, as long as you use the same save.

So, what does work? Well, this is where the mystery lies. My conclusion is that it's a save corruption affecting the Sims 3 folder, as a whole, which doesn't make sense; and can be spread by installing corrupt buildings. I'll summarise my testing process:

I had a separate Sims 3 folder that I use to test stuff. This folder had a slightly different mods setup and any save I have in this folder could be saved successfully no matter how long I have stayed in the Buy/Build.

Then I moved the fresh save that eventually got the saving bug (mentioned in the 5th point above), into this bug-free Sims 3 folder and guess what? I could save without a problem. That made me think this is actually a CC thing. So I carried the ingredients of my Mods folder one by one and continue testing and each time I could save, like, in 2 seconds.

The world is a small world with no population and no buildings other than my test building, an empty house and the corrupt bar that started this all. And each time it saved until I finished with the building and moved everything from my Mods folder. I was really tired and confused at that moment. If it's not CC or the save folder, then what is it?

Then I entered the corrupt bar and bam! The saving bug returns. What I did after that was a desperate move. As I stated earlier, once the saving bug begins you cannot even save the building to your library. But one can click on any venue/house map tag, Door, Window, Wall, Ground > Nraas > Debug Enabler > DEBUG: Move Lot To Game Bin. The building will disappear. Then you need to switch to Edit Town Mode wait for a minute or so. The lot will appear at upper left corner of the screen (as evicted families do) from there you can save it to your library.

Unfortunately, this method only worked once for me. If it doesn't work at first try, quit the game, restart and do this first upon loading your world. This is how I moved my corrupt building to another save and initiate the saving bug there. But I also found a way to uncorrupt the said building.

And here's my desperate move: In game select the corrupt building in your library and choose pack as a Sims3pack or whatever the option is. You wouldn't miss it, it's there. I believe you can also do it with the building still in your world, so you may not even need it in your library. Game packs it successfully and tells you so, even if the lot/building is corrupt. Because this is EA and you should share your corruption.

Ahem. Quit your game. Go to your Exports folder. Move the file to some work folder, it doesn't matter where. You need to extract it. Since Sims3pack files are nothing but containers like zip files that can hold multiple package files, they are nothing special and should be avoided normally. To unpack/extract you need either s3ce or Delphy's Sims 3 Pack multi-extractor. Or any other tool that you know of except the Launcher.

After that you will open your newly extracted package file in s3pe and delete resources that normally belong to objets. Best way to be sure is to open another lot package in your library and examine the contents. But let me help you here: Delete EVERYTHING BUT 2ARY, COMP, ICON, LDES, RFES, TXTC, TXTF, UNKN. These are the lot resources. Be patient and carefully delete everything else.

Well, this was the good news! Now you can rescue your beloved building and use it in a new save. I don't know why it works, it just does. The really bad news is like I said, your world is most likely corrupt and not only the buildings in problem lots but the empty lots themselves are corrupt. You get the saving bug again when you place your cleaned-up building in the same lot in your affected save.

OK. I think I've managed to clean the empty lot itself as well. So, it's all good. I don't know if it's a fluke but I did this and my game saved without an issue after editing the problem building:

Bulldoze the building and reset the lot via MC. Go to Edit Town and change lot type to Residential>Regular (or vice versa if it's a Residential Lot). Return to Game reset lot via MC again. Save & Quit to Desktop. Not to Main Menu.

Go to The Sims 3/WorldCaches Folder and delete the cache files belonging to your world.

Start the game & load your save. Go to Edit Town and change lot type to Community>Whatever you like or whatever the lot type was before. Go back to game and reset lot via MC again. Save and Quit to Desktop.

Go to WorldCaches and delete your world's cache files again.

Start the game & load your save. Put the building that you've cleaned up as described above in this wall of text. Go into Build Mode, do something, stay there for a while. Go back to Live mode and try to save. If it works do this with every corrupt lot in combination with uncorrupting buildings method. And you're good.

Some steps may be unnecessary like constant resetting or deleting world caches but I exactly did this so take it as you like. If nothing works, your other options are:

Use Nraas Porter and move your town to a new save. Use the method above to make sure your buildings are safe from corruption. And use a newly created Sims 3 folder.

Bulldoze both the building and the empty lot. Do this to every problem lot. Then maybe you can save your game after wandering in Buy/Build Mode. But I wouldn't hold my breath for this one. Another issue with this method is that you will most likely not be able put another lot in place of the one you bulldozed. Because Sims 3.

Or make a copy of your save and enter Buy/Build Mode on every community lot one by one. Try to save once on each lot. If it saves, the lot is safe; if it doesn't lot is corrupt. Quit, load your game and do this for every lot one by one. Make a list of every corrupt building. Either bulldoze them all or never go into Build Mode on them. This way, in theory, you can play your save until another bug hits you in the face! 👍🏻 That's my plan. 👌🏼

I tried to be as clear as possible, keeping it simple, omitting some details but the issue is very complex and confusing. Also heartbreaking 💔 and rage inducing. 🤬 Well, this is it. Wish me luck and good luck to you all trying to play this cursed, borked bugfest of a game.

Before trying anything, we recommend for the players to give the next steps a go:

Clearing their cache

Following Steam guide, or our guide, to optimise their game.

Should the tips from these guides not work, we suggest the following solutions.

Infinite loading can be caused by: bloated (big) or corrupted files, too many mods, mods getting corrupted (broken or outdated) or incompatible with one another, duplicated or broken CC, too much of CC, Sims2 files in package form within your Packages folder, in-game options referenced in guides haven't fully been adjusted, long save files with large households and builds, gaming device issues. When the loading persists and doesn't move from the same point for a prolonged time, we suggest attempting to bring up Task Manager to "kill" the TS3 program. We do not recommend hard shutdown (holding power button), as it can cause device damage, unless the game is impossible to shut down through Task Manager.

Solutions:

Removing save files ending in .bad, and reverting to a previous save,

Removing missingdeps.idx from DCCache folder,

Steps of getting ErrorTrap, Overwatch, MasterController from the guides above - reset the town with MC on City Hall, use MC or Overwatch to delete all Sims' inventories in town, run daily town clean-up with ET and OW. Get Traveler if you have World Adventures, University Life and/or Into The Future,

Running a Save Cleaner on your problematic Save file,

Redownloading new copies of your mods, and making sure they're the latest updated versions which match your game version,

Researching to check if mods used are incompatible (if they edit the same thing), and removing the mods which clash,

Using Delphy's Dashboard for previous bulletin, along for checking CC in .package forms and making sure they're not Sims2 content,

Using Delphy's CUSTARD to check your CC in Sims3Pack,

Removing unnecessary (unwanted or duplicated) Mods, Custom and/or Store content,

in-game options of Memories and InteractiveLoadingScreens disabled + removing Memories from Scrapbook,

Using NRAAS Porter to pack up and move your household to another town with their relationships intact,

Using NRAAS Saver to Save thoroughly, under new name each title, instead of always saving over the same file,

Removing extra saves from your Saves folder (Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Saves) to another trusted device (we suggest an external disk), and keeping under a handful of wanted ones - the folder shouldn't have 4GB & more of files.

No space on Disk - the game requires at least 35GB extra free space to be able to run smoothly. Free up some space or reinstall the game on another disk/drive with more space (back up your The Sims 3 folder before this).

Gaming device ran out of memory or is incapable of running that specific save.

If all else fails, removing your current The Sims 3 folder outside of Documents to somewhere safe, and generating a new one. See if the issue persists with other towns and other families.

Infinite Saving is often caused by the same or similar reasons as Loading above, but there are few other things which can cause the saving loop. Besides using tips from above, we also recommend:

Turning off cheats - sometimes using cheats like moveobjects and buydebug can cause saving issues. Simply bringing up the cheat console and turning them with typing moveobjects off or buydebug off can help.

Also remember to turn off all cheats before saving, testingcheatsenabled false included.

For Store Content users, Store Content needs fixes to work properly. For those who've used Games4TheWorld's KT Store Fixes or those who never tried Store Fixes, we strongly advise to download and install Phantom99's Store Fixes.

Gameplays should be shorter (no longer than a couple of hours) for different reasons. Create a few save files. Fully exit the game. Clear the cache and remove unnecessary saves (or all except the last one). This allows your device to cool off and possibly regain the memory it lent to the game. You can get back into your gaming again.

Useful websites, forums and posts on the topic:

[FAQ] Troubleshooting Steps - Answer HQ (ea.com)

Steam Community :: Guide :: Toubleshooting for The Sims 3

SimsPlayer's detailed post on Fixing Problems with Custom Content and Mods on Reddit

Bad CC – Crinrict's Sims 3 Help Blog

Incompatible Mods – Crinrict's Sims 3 Help Blog

Long Loading Times – Crinrict's Sims 3 Help Blog

Sims 3 won't save :( : r/Sims3 (reddit.com)

Fix for Infinite Save loop? : r/Sims3 (reddit.com)

Game is on the infinity saving screen? : r/Sims3 (reddit.com)

Mod The Sims - Infinite saving loop + Continuous loading loop - any solutions?

In order to make it look more rundown, I decided to use wall decals with cracks and damages. But every time I use them the saving bug returned. And this time, my method just didn't work. I first thought that particular CC was the problem; then I realised every item that goes on the walls caused the said saving bug/infinite saving.

That sent me on a CC hunt, where I checked the contents of every wall item I have with S3PE. I found several objects with faulty _RIG resources and fixed them. Alas, it didn't make any difference.

In the end, I found a couple of objects in my Test folder that I EDITED like years ago and totally on a whim decided to put them in my game around the time that I was building Liquid Charms and then FORGOT ABOUT them.

How they managed to evade my tests during the saving bug crisis is appalling to me. But I'm known to make things much harder for myself for no reason. Since I've already declared my idiocy on this blog several times, this shouldn't be surprising to anyone.

Some questions remain, though: Was my experience limited to my ADHD induced idiocy, separated from all those reports where people claimed to have no CC at all? Or did all those people have some sinister CC lurking in their folders without any knowledge? OR was this just a chance occurrence of double incompetence on both my and EA's part?