Lesson 1

Backing up Your Saved Games

This will probably be the most important thing you ever learn in the history of The Sims! If you've experienced lost saved game files in the past, then you know how upsetting it can be. Often times, players lose these files when they update their game. This can make game updates very daunting. I've gone as long as a year without updating my game until I figured this out.

Now, you'll no longer need to worry about game updates and lost save files! Welcome to your first class - backing up saved games!

*A lot of players have tutorials on how to do this, some are more specific than the one I am about to tell you. Some players say you only need certain folders, some explain different files. This tutorial will save every file and every folder – that way, you don’t have to worry about doing anything wrong or copying the wrong file. It will take a little longer, but overall, it shouldn’t take more than 5 or 10 minutes minutes. *

First, you need to go into your EA folder. To do this, go to your documents. If you don’t know where your documents are, it can be found in your “Start” menu. Note: this is for PC. If you use Mac, it will be in a similar area, I just don't know how to access that since I use PC. If you don't know how to get to your EA folder, I believe you can search for it. Google will help you with this if you are unsure.

Find the folder that says Electronic Arts – this is the company that makes all of the The Sims games. Double click the folder.

You should now see one other folder (2 if you have The Sims Medieval, maybe more if you have older Sim games). Right click on the folder that says The Sims 3, then click “copy.”

Return to your desktop (this is the screen with all your icons). Right click on a blank section of your desktop and click “paste”. This will make a duplicate The Sims 3 folder right onto your desktop.

Remember how I said some tutorials only make you copy and paste certain folders? This will copy every folder inside the The Sims 3 folder – that means it will copy every single thing needed to make the game work. The reason I suggest copying the whole thing is so you don’t accidentally copy the wrong thing, or forget to copy an important file or folder. This way, you will have every single file and folder, important or not.

Now that you have pasted the folder onto your desktop, you can change the name to The Sims 3 Backup, or something along those lines so you know what it is. *DO NOT REMOVE THIS FOLDER.* It is important that this folder stays on your desktop, or somewhere you will easily be able to find it. This is your back up folder. Do not delete it. That way, if anything happens to your game (or in this case, you need to reinstall it) you will have all your saved files and you will not lose anything.



Updating Your Backup Folder

It is important to remember that your back up folder needs to be updated. Every time you play your game, things get saved into that EA folder you found earlier. The files in there get updated each time you play your game and every time you save, download new things, install new expansion packs, etc. Your back up folder is a very separate folder, so it will not be automatically updated every time you play, which means you need to do it yourself.

Updating your back up folder is easy enough to do, the hard thing is remembering to do it! I try to make it a habit to back up my game every time I finish playing.

To update the backup folder, repeat the steps above (Documents -> EA -> Copy The Sims 3 folder).

This time, however, you can just paste it right into the backup folder you already created on your desktop. You computer will ask you if you want to merge the folders. It will also tell you that you have files with the same name in that folder, and it will ask you if you want to replace them, or copy them with a different name. You can just replace them.

If you feel weird doing that or are afraid you might mess something up, you can easily repeat the whole original back up process, by pasting the folder into a blank spot on your desktop. Just remember to delete the older folder you first created so you don’t get them mixed up.

As long as your computer runs normally and isn’t really old or filled up with things, it shouldn’t take more than 5 or 10 minutes to update or create your back up.

There. Simple as that. Now you know how to make a back up folder and how to update it. Now you never have to worry about losing your progress. Just remember to keep it updated!


For this assignment, just take a picture of the folder on your desktop, and take a picture of the folders inside, too. As I said, there are some folders that are more important, and others that are not. If you follow the directions above, you should have all the folders necessary. But, I want to make sure you guys do, and I will be able to tell by looking at the folders you have inside your back up folder. So, take a picture, or list all the folder names. If you're missing something, I will know and I will help you find it.


If you have any questions, post them in this topic! I check this daily and will reply to all questions as soon as I can.