In this troubleshooting tutorial video, I'll show how to fix the "A serious error has occurred" problem in The Sims 3. This is a very frequent problem that affects several The Sims 3 players ("simmers") because there is an incompatibility between The Sims 3 saving function and OneDrive. The Sims 3 save games are usually locally stored in "Documents", which is the same folder OneDrive "pulls from" to save the files to the cloud. OneDrive generally moves these files to a different folder, and in this process, the game fails to recognize the files and also in some cases the files can become corrupted due to these incompatibilities.
These incompatibilities can generate problems such as "A serious error has ocurred while loading [name of the Sims 3 world]", and also "error code 16", which are bugs usually specifically related to save game files of The Sims 3. Unfortunately, due to the severity of these problems, their presence very often indicates that the save game files have already been corrupted, and are probably unusable. While there are online guides providing ways to attempt to recover and restore these corrupted save files, in this video I will focus on preventhis these problems in the future. While this method will protect your future save files, unfortunately it will not be able to restore already corrupted and already lost save files.
This is a quite complex tutorial video, there are multiple steps in this video. I divided it into chapters to make it a bit more organized.
00:00 Warnings and Information 00:55 Backup Your The Sims 3 Saves 01:22 How to Fix the OneDrive Problem With Sims 3 Saves 02:10 If You Decide to Uninstall OneDrive 02:30 Moving the Save Files Back to Documents 02:40 Explanation: Saves May Be Corrupted 03:00 Avoiding File Corruption in the Future 03:20 What to Do If Save Files Are Corruputed 03:49 How to Protect Future Sims 3 Save Files From Becoming Corrupted
1. Back up your "Electronic Arts" folder (It is possible that they are already corrupted, due to OneDrive and due to the saving method) 2. Click "OneDrive" 3. Click the "Engine Wheel" - Click "Settings" In the video, I show the navigation to do these steps. 4. Click "Manage Backup" 5. Turn off OneDrive for "Documents" folder (or uninstall OneDrive) 6. Restore your "Electronic Arts" folder to "Documents" (There is the possibility that the save files are corrupted and lost. If this is the case, delete the "Electronic Arts" folder and start over in the game) 7. Use the "Save As" button to save instead of "Save", to avoid corrupting save files in the future [You need to use "Save" for the first time, in order for the "Save As" button to appear in the future. After this, always use "Save As"]
00:00If you are playing The Sims on Windows, there is a good chance that you have OneDrive installed in your computer.
00:07OneDrive is known to cause issues with saved games of The Sims.
00:11This can prevent the correct loading of the game and also cause the a serious error has occurred problem.
00:18Before we do this procedure, it's important for you to know that there is a good chance that you have already lost your saved games.
00:26There are some methods online for trying to recover those saved games, but in this video I'll show you how to prevent this problem in the future and protect your saved games.
00:37I'll show you how to make a backup of your saves, but there is the possibility that they are already corrupted.
00:44If that is the case, we will have to delete the folder and start a new saved game.
00:50For most users, the saved games are located in the Documents folder.
00:55Before we do this, it's important to backup your The Sims saves.
01:00To do this, go to Documents, open the shortcut to OneDrive, select the Electronic Arts folder and copy it.
01:15Now, paste it in your desktop.
01:22To fix this issue, click OneDrive, click the Engine Wheel, click Settings, click Manage Backup and make sure that the Documents folder is not activated.
01:42When you are asked for a confirmation, click Stop Backup.
01:47It's important to be aware that this will stop the backup of all files in the Documents folder.
01:54So if you are using OneDrive to backup important files, I suggest to create a different folder and enable the backup for that folder.
02:03If you are not using OneDrive, you can also uninstall the program to prevent other problems.
02:09If you decide to uninstall OneDrive, make sure to take all of the folders in the OneDrive folder and move them to a different place, such as, for example, your desktop.
02:22It's important to do this to make sure you keep your files even if you uninstall OneDrive.
02:30After we have turned off OneDrive, you can take the Electronic Arts folder and move it back to the Documents folder.
02:37Please be aware that in some cases, even after you backup the save before turning off OneDrive, the save can still be corrupted.
02:47Because OneDrive moves files between folders and this can sometimes have problems with the sims.
02:55So there is a chance that you are not able to restore your save game.
03:00However, as long as you keep OneDrive turned off and you use the Save As function, you can keep your saves from now on.
03:08If after turning off OneDrive and using the backup of your saves, you are still getting this problem, there is a good chance that your save games are corrupted.
03:19Unfortunately, if this is the case, you have to delete your saved game folder and start over.
03:26To delete your saved games and start over, while the game is closed, go to Documents, select the Electronic Arts folder and delete this folder.
03:38This will allow you to start over with a new saved game and make sure to follow the Save As procedure and to not use OneDrive with the saved game files.
03:48When you are playing The Sims, it's important that when you save the game, you go to Options and use the Save As option instead of Save.
03:57The Save As option will appear after you have saved for the first time.
04:03When you use the Save option instead of Save As, there is the risk of corrupting the save file.
04:10And this can cause issues such as Error 16 and a Serious Error has occurred.
04:17To prevent this, always use the Save As option.
04:21Like and Subscribe to support my work and is there any other solution you need? Tell me in the comments.
Be the first to comment