Load game error

Load game errors are errors which can occur in The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval. It can also happen on other games of The Sims.

Cause
This occurs if The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval is unable to load the saved game or a town. This usually occurs if the file is corrupted. In fullscreen, there is a black background with the message and a gray background (If running on Windowed mode). When this occurs, the message is displayed upon loading the game

''A serious error has occurred while loading. It is strongly recommended that you restart the application''

Note:  refers to the game The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval is trying to load such as   and

This can also occur when starting a new game in The Sims 3 and if The Sims 3 is unable to load the town, the same message will also appear with the world file being corrupted such as.

Moving a file that has a town in the filename (Which is stored in  or  ) such as Sunset Valley will also cause a load game error.

Recovery
It is possible to recover from this. Windows and Mac OS X has a backup feature and if the current file is corrupted, the last save file (.sims3.backup & .tsm.backup) can be used.

Another way to recover this is to use a backup file that the user has copied and use that backup to load the game.

For .world files, it is suggested to reinstall The Sims 3 games or reinstall Riverview, Barnacle Bay or any town made in Create a world.

In other games
In The Sims, The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories, a load game error can also cause the game to crash.

In consoles, load game errors will occur if any of the following are true
 * There is no save file
 * The file is corrupted
 * No memory card is inserted (PS2, GameCube and PSP)
 * Card is not recognized by game and/or system (PS2, GameCube and PSP)
 * File is stored on a Memory Stick but the system does not recognize it (Usually this is caused by using a different file system such as NTFS)