Openai/696fd81d-e8e8-8002-b9cb-9c2f9e76828e

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User: Ruined my wifes Sims 4 games

Ruined my wifes Sims 4 games

My wife has a pc with steam and years worth if game time. Sims 4 was not installed at the moment. I logged into my user on the pc and my steam account, and wanted to try the game, so I downloaded it from the "family library", and the started up a new game.

Today she logs into the game from her user and her account and sees all her saves are gone.

What did I do and how can I fix it?

Assistant: You didn’t permanently delete her Sims 4 saves, but you did almost certainly cause Steam / EA App to look in the wrong …

You didn’t permanently delete her Sims 4 saves, but you did almost certainly cause Steam / EA App to look in the wrong save location and possibly sync an empty folder over her real one. This is a very common Sims 4 + Steam + multiple Windows users issue.

The good news: the saves are usually still on the PC.

What likely happened (in plain English)

The Sims 4 stores saves per Windows user, not per Steam account.

When you:

• logged into your Windows user
• launched Sims 4 via Steam Family Library
• started a new game

…the game created a new Sims 4 folder under your Windows profile.

Then when your wife later:

• logged into her Windows user
• launched Sims 4

Steam / EA App likely:

• pointed the game to a fresh, empty Sims folder
• or cloud-synced the empty folder, hiding her real saves

So the game thinks there are no saves.

Step 1: Do NOT start a new game on her account yet

Starting a new game can overwrite or cloud-sync again. Close the game completely.

Step 2: Find her original save files (most important)

On her Windows account:

1. Open File Explorer
2. Go to:

Documents
└── Electronic Arts
    └── The Sims 4

Look for these folders:

• saves
• Tray
• Mods

If the saves folder exists but is empty or very recent, the originals are likely elsewhere.

Step 3: Check YOUR Windows user’s Sims folder

Log into your Windows account and go to:

Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4

If you see:

• her old save filenames (Slot_0000000X.save)
• older timestamps
• lots of files

Then that’s the missing data.

Step 4: Restore the saves

If you find her saves under your user:

1. Copy the entire saves folder
2. Switch to her Windows user
3. Paste it into:

Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4

Overwrite when prompted.

Do the same for:

• Tray (households & lots)
• Mods (if she uses them)

Step 5: Disable Steam Cloud for Sims 4 (very important)

Steam Cloud causes this exact problem.

On her Steam account:

1. Library → The Sims 4
2. Right-click → Properties
3. General
4. Turn OFF Steam Cloud

Do this on your account too to avoid future sync conflicts.

(The Sims 4 does not need Steam Cloud; it breaks multi-user setups.)

Step 6: Launch the game and verify

• Start Sims 4 on her Windows user
• Load Game (not New Game)
• Her saves should reappear

If the saves aren’t in either folder

Try these backups (in order):

Sims automatic backups

Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\saves

Look for .save.ver0, .save.ver1 files Rename one to .save and try loading it.

Windows Previous Versions

Right-click:

Documents\Electronic Arts

→ Properties → Previous Versions

How to avoid this in the future

• Only play Sims 4 on one Windows user
• Keep Steam Cloud OFF
• Never mix Family Library + Sims 4 across users
• Backup Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 occasionally

If you want, tell me:

• Windows version
• Steam or EA App only?
• Whether Steam Cloud was enabled

and I’ll walk you through exact recovery steps for your setup.