Re: Can't launch The Sims 4 while Steam is in Family View
@macfreek EA games don't work with Steam Family View, unfortunately. I'd guess this is a deliberate "feature" on EA's end, although I'm not sure I've seen any official confirmation. Either way, there's nothing you can fix on your end.
Transferring Steam games to Origin hasn't worked for years, at least not for "newer" releases. Games as old as Sims 3 often still work that way, but certainly anything added to Steam's catalog after the Steam-Origin tie-in from 2019 does not.
Your saves are stored locally on your computer, specifically in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves. This Sims 4 folder contains all your user data: in addition to saves, saved households and builds are in Tray, mods and custom content in Mods, etc. The contents of this folder can be transferred from one install to another, from one computer to another, and even between Windows and macOS; they're not specific to any particular install. As long as all packs originally used in the save are also present in the new install, the saves and other content should work fine.
By the way, you can have separate user folders for yourself and your daughter if you want and just swap one for the other as necessary. Many of us have several user folders for different purposes.
So it sounds like buying the game in Origin is the best option here. If you're still eligible for a refund from Steam, which sounds unlikely, you could buy directly through Origin after the refund went through. Otherwise, the only way to buy directly through Origin on your current account would be to unlink. You could however buy product codes from a third party and register them in Origin. As long as you buy from an authorized third-party seller, you should be fine.
https://help.ea.com/en/help/faq/where-to-buy-ea-games-v2/
Newegg.com isn't on that list, but given that it's a trusted retailer in general, it's also worth looking there, especially given the current prices:
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=sims+4
Sims 4 is also on sale in Origin right now, so buying directly from Origin wouldn't be too expensive either.
Whether you create another account or just rebuy the content on your account is really just about your personal preference. Personally, I'd go for separate accounts just so your daughter can have her own when you're ready for that, but then again who knows if she'll still be playing Sims 4 at that point.
Off-topic, your son might be interested to know that the Epic Games store doesn't force a DRM on users either—it leaves that up to the game's publisher. I'm not a huge fan of the Epic launcher, but it works well enough, and it also offers about one free game a week.
