A Guide to Synchronizing Your Sims 4 Saves Across Multiple Computers Through The Cloud
Hey! We all know that Origin doesn't support cloud syncing for TS4 because our gameplay data tends to get really big. I decided to experiment a bit and see if I could sync my saves between my home and work PC (we're allowed to play during breaks, so it's fine). I did a little research and found a method that worked for me, so I'm sharing it with you guys. As a bonus, my files are on the cloud, so if my hard drive crashes, my saves will always be up-to-date.
To the best of my knowledge, this method works for:
We're going to make use of something called symbolic links. Symbolic links are like shortcuts, but a bit fancier. On Windows, these let you trick Dropbox and other cloud services into syncing any folder in your computer, regardless of its location.
We're mostly concerned with these folders in your The Sims 4 folder in My Documents. If you play in a language other than English, the names of these folders will be different.
Why not just sync the entire Sims 4 folder? This is what I did at first, but the disadvantage is that these cloud services don't let you choose which files to sync. You'll end up with a lot of junk that you don't need in your cloud storage. Most of the files outside these folders are temporary files that the game uses for processing or trivial stuff like which CAS items you haven't used yet. Plus the game updates these a lot, so they'll use up your bandwidth too.
Let's get to it!
Windows
1. If you've already synced your folders to the cloud and want to sync a new computer, pause your cloud storage service, and delete any Sims 4 folders that it tried to download. We want it to download the folders into your documents folder.
2. Open your start menu
3. Type cmd
4. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator (you need to use an administrator account to do this)
https://i.imgur.com/JJOzsHd.png
5. For each folder that you want to sync, type the following:
mklink /d "" ""
Don't forget to wrap them in quotation marks. This is for paths with spaces, which the documents folder has (because of the "Electronic Arts" and "The Sims 4" folders)
For example, I want Dropbox to sync my saves folder. I might type something like this:
mklink /d "C:/Users/Iceman/Dropbox/saves" "C:/Users/Iceman/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/saves"
Of course, the folder paths are different per user, so it's up to you to figure out where everything is.
Mac
Coming Soon
It takes a while to set up, but it's well worth the effort, IMO.
Some tips:
To the best of my knowledge, this method works for:
- Dropbox
- Sync
- OneDrive
We're going to make use of something called symbolic links. Symbolic links are like shortcuts, but a bit fancier. On Windows, these let you trick Dropbox and other cloud services into syncing any folder in your computer, regardless of its location.
We're mostly concerned with these folders in your The Sims 4 folder in My Documents. If you play in a language other than English, the names of these folders will be different.
- saves
- Custom Music (if you have any)
- Mods (if you have any mods or CC)
- Recorded videos (if you would like to sync these too)
- Screenshots (if you would like to sync these too)
- Tray (for the households and lots saved locally in your library)
Why not just sync the entire Sims 4 folder? This is what I did at first, but the disadvantage is that these cloud services don't let you choose which files to sync. You'll end up with a lot of junk that you don't need in your cloud storage. Most of the files outside these folders are temporary files that the game uses for processing or trivial stuff like which CAS items you haven't used yet. Plus the game updates these a lot, so they'll use up your bandwidth too.
Let's get to it!
Windows
1. If you've already synced your folders to the cloud and want to sync a new computer, pause your cloud storage service, and delete any Sims 4 folders that it tried to download. We want it to download the folders into your documents folder.
2. Open your start menu
3. Type cmd
4. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator (you need to use an administrator account to do this)
https://i.imgur.com/JJOzsHd.png
5. For each folder that you want to sync, type the following:
mklink /d "
Don't forget to wrap them in quotation marks. This is for paths with spaces, which the documents folder has (because of the "Electronic Arts" and "The Sims 4" folders)
For example, I want Dropbox to sync my saves folder. I might type something like this:
mklink /d "C:/Users/Iceman/Dropbox/saves" "C:/Users/Iceman/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/saves"
Of course, the folder paths are different per user, so it's up to you to figure out where everything is.
Mac
Coming Soon
It takes a while to set up, but it's well worth the effort, IMO.
Some tips:
- Always make sure you have enough space left in your cloud storage
- Always make sure your files are fully synchronized before playing to avoid conflicts
- Always make sure to let your files fully synchronize after playing to avoid conflicts
- You can pause syncing on your cloud service while playing to save on bandwidth, but don't forget to unpause after playing!
