More Awesome Than You!

I am running WA with no mods on windows vista.  I got the error 16 code when trying to save the game.  I know there is a post from EA stating that we should save our games under a different name until they resolve this problem.  At my husband's suggestion (I know nothing about computers) I right clicked on WA and clicked "run as administrator."  So far, I haven't had the error 16 problem again.

Maybe someone else might want to try this to see if they get the same result.

Use 'Save As' instead of 'save'. EA changed the way that games were save and (surprise surprise!) they screwed something up and they are supposed to be releasing a fix soon.

i found this information at ea bbs and have tried it and it worked for me no more error 16.

Backing Up Saved Game Files
Before attempting to fix your saved games, please back-up your saved game files. In Windows 7 and Vista, go to:

My Documents (Documents) > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Saves

Highlight every .sims3 and .sims.backup file > Right Click... > Copy

If you have folders, for example "Riverview.sims3/sims3.backup/sims3.bad", leave them there (there were created by The Sims 3 Patches 1.5/1.6).

Create a new folder somewhere (e.g. The Desktop) > Right Click... > New Folder (enter any old name) > Paste

Start The Game

Once you've made a back-up, it's time to make the game do some of the leg work.

Open The Sims 3 Launcher > Start the game.

When at the loading screen, load up one of your saved games. Once loaded, go to:

"Options" > "Save As..."

You can use a new name, or just over-write the file (I over-wrote mine, and it worked fine).

Close The Sims 3.

Open Documents and go to the Save folder again.

Delete ANY .sims3 files (not folders). These include the sims3.backup files. I only had .sims3.backup files.

Open The Game Again

Open The Sims 3 Launcher and play the game again.

Just click "Save" and it should hopefully save the game without Error 16. It should also load noticably faster.


Open Saves Folder Again
Check to see if there are THREE folders, named (for example):

-Riverview.sims3
-Riverview.sims3.backup
-Riverview.sims3.bad

YOU'RE DONE!

After Thought...

It looks like the error is quite a simple one. The game is attempting to load and save the saved games from and to multiple files because it still thinks the old save type (the files) are still of some use, so it loads slower and glitches at the same time. The sims3.backup files are the ones left behind when you click to "Save As", which disrupts the saving pattern of the game.

  

You can't  have folders with same names as files in Windows folders. Pre patch the saved files where files but post patch they are folders with several files in them. It's so basic I'm astonished things like this can pass the first test at EA.