I wondered if you could help me...

I bought Virtual Families
yesterday for my iPhone. When I go away and come back,
all my work and family are gone. I go
to menu and pause my game, but everything is gone. I love Virtual Villagers 2
and know that Virtual Families will be fantastic!!!
Please help.
Thanks!
JASC

We tested Virtual Families extensively on many iPhones and iPod touches running both OS 2.x and 3.0, and we never saw that problem occur on any device. However, it is possible that, for some reason, there was a problem during the installation of the game. It would be helpful to us to know how you installed it: purchased and installed directly on the device or purchased through iTunes and synced to the device.

In any event, the following procedure will correct the problem you are experiencing:

1. Sync your device with iTunes to back up the application
2. Delete Virtual Families from your device (tap and hold until the 'x' appears, tap on the 'x' and confirm delete of Virtual Families)
3. Sync your device with iTunes again to reinstall Virtual Families (make sure that the game is checked to sync with the device on the applications tab when the device is selected in iTunes)
4. Disconnect the device when the sync is finished
5. Before you run the game again, hold the power button for at least 5 seconds until the red slider appears and turn the device off. Then turn the device back on
6. Run the game again, and it should now save properly.

I have 3.0 and I constantly have to power down my ITOUCH due to the game freezing:(

Have you tried to reset your iPod touch, Bajan Barbie?

(Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.)

Thanx....so far so good!!!

I had the same problem when I first purchased it. I bought it right from the app store on my iPhone, and downloaded it from there. I just followed your advice, about syncing it with iTunes, and installing it from there, and now it saves fine. Thanks for your help!!

Now if I could only zoom in on the screen. My horrible eyes are really getting challenged on that small screen.

It's meant to save automatically when I quit the game right?
But when I turn it on again, the game starts from the very beginning, every time
I don't understand why this is happening, I always do the same thing.
I've heard other people complaining about this before but I was wondering if anyone knows a solution?
I love the game and I'd really appreciate your help!
x

Hi Butterfly,

This answer in the FAQs should help.

I have a similar, but not identical problem. I had a family which saved on my iPod multiple times, but the save file was randomly erased, and I cannot get it back. When I tried with new characters, they saved, but it is possible that they too would be erased after multiple saves. Does this require the same syncing procedure as mentioned before, or does it have a different solution?

It is possible, however, we are finding that the game is most often not saved if the application is not allowed to fully load before being exiting (pressing the home or power buttons).

To avoid that situation, be sure to always allow the application to load fully before exiting.

Currently, the syncing procedure you mentioned is the only solution, however, we are looking into this situation.