SimCity 4 compatibility

I managed to get the My Sim import feature working with the Legacy Collection, and the issue really does come down to the changed folder structure.

SimCity 4 is hard‑coded to look for Sims in the original Sims 1 directory layout:

Code

C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserData\Characters\

Since the Legacy Collection stores everything in a completely different location, the Import button stays greyed out because SC4 can’t find the expected folder.

Here’s what I did to fix it:

1. I manually recreated the old Sims 1 folder structure in the exact path SC4 expects:
2. Code
3. C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserData\Characters\
4. I went to the Legacy Collection’s character folder and created shortcuts to the character files.
5. I placed those shortcuts inside the newly created Characters folder.

After doing this, SimCity 4 recognized the files and the Import button became active. The feature works again.

So yes — the Legacy Collection still uses compatible character files. The only thing breaking the feature is indeed the changed directory path, and recreating the old structure with shortcuts resolves it.