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Jehane40's avatar
Jehane40
Seasoned Veteran
3 months ago

Double installation on C and OneDrive??

I have a rather weird problem with  my installation, or at least I think it's weird. I decided to uninstall the game because it kept crashing after being stuck on a black screen, and when I wanted to reinstall via the EA app, I noticed two things:

  • The suggested installation path is C\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 3
  • There also seems to be an installation in OneDrive\Documents\Electronic Arts

This is very confusing because even after uninstalling the game, the files on OneDrive are still there - I don't even know why the game has been installed there to begin with. I have aborted the reinstallation because I suspect that having this weird double installation (if it even is one) might cause problems. 

My question is: Can I just ditch all the files in OneDrive (maybe with a backup...) and then reinstall the game on my C drive? I've never had such a weird problem before, so any advice would be very much appreciated. DxDiag file is attached.

  • Jehane40  The install location refers to what the EA App installs.  The Sims 3 folder in Documents holds user data: saves, saved households and builds, mods Store stuff, etc.  These two folders are and should be kept separate for various reasons.  So having two folders is normal and a good thing.

    I would suggest moving the Sims 3 user folder out of OneDrive to avoid any potential syncing-related issues.  I wrote this guide for Sims 4, but the principles apply equally to Sims 3:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-saves-user-content-disappearing-PC/td-p/12475370

    If you have any questions about the process, please feel free to ask.

  • Jehane40  The install location refers to what the EA App installs.  The Sims 3 folder in Documents holds user data: saves, saved households and builds, mods Store stuff, etc.  These two folders are and should be kept separate for various reasons.  So having two folders is normal and a good thing.

    I would suggest moving the Sims 3 user folder out of OneDrive to avoid any potential syncing-related issues.  I wrote this guide for Sims 4, but the principles apply equally to Sims 3:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-saves-user-content-disappearing-PC/td-p/12475370

    If you have any questions about the process, please feel free to ask.

    • Jehane40's avatar
      Jehane40
      Seasoned Veteran

      Thank you! So it's basically the same as with Sims 4 - try to avoid One Drive? 😁 I usually have it disabled anyway and only turn it on every once in a while for backup reasons.

      So there won't be any conflict if I reinstall the game using the path suggested by the app? 

  • Jehane40  Yes, it's exactly the same as with Sims 4: there's a game data folder and a user data folder, and OneDrive will only lead to bad things.

    If you install the game anywhere that isn't synced by OneDrive, including the default install location, you should be fine on that front.

    • Jehane40's avatar
      Jehane40
      Seasoned Veteran

      Thanks! I reinstalled it, using the path the app suggested, now let's hope it works, too 😁