My Sims 4 Game & OneDrive

Thanks for sharing your experience. I’ve seen many people post about OneDrive issues and also warn us to avoid using auto-sync with The Sims 4 folder. It’s more safe to backup manually.

I don’t use OneDrive because I already have Dropbox. And I backup save files and screenshots daily (in Dropbox that I use Drive D as a location). My old PC was in terrible condition and instant shut down many times. So, I have a habit to backup save files everyday even my current laptop is safe.

My average save file size is 10-20mb which is not too big. So, I copied the backup of each day in case I want to reverse my progress or look back what I did in that day. I did this for a few years.

I don’t back up the whole folder too often. Just before big update patch. But I had saved every household in all of my save files to the offline library and back up tray files in case I face the corrupted save file.

OneDrive is known to cause issues with The Sims 4 which is why most people have disabled it. It CAN work, but I wouldn't take the risk. I had it do its job one time by sheer accident because for some reason, I hadn't completely disabled it so it kept synching stuff in the background. I only found out after my computer crashed and needed a complete reset; when I reinstalled The Sims 4 and launched it, it started downloading tons of files from OneDrive. I still have no idea how I didn't notice OneDrive was active all this time because I KNOW I detached it from the Sims folder, and I really consider myself lucky it didn't break anything. I've deactivated it after the game was working again because I don't want to take any risks. Just because it did its job once without causing any issues doesn't mean it'll stay this way.

Ever since that crash, I've started to backup the Sims 4 folder regularly, using an external hard drive. You could also use Google Drive if you have enough room.

I've never trusted OneDrive, or 'the cloud' for that matter. (Yeah, Gen X here, so one foot in all the fun tech stuff, and one in all the older Boomer stuff.) That's why I have a 2terabyte external drive that I back up my entire file system to each week.  The size of my backup saves may be excessive, but it works for me. 

Yes!  When the Windows update completed and my desktop came up OneDrive started downloading tons of files and a duplicate Sims 4 folder that it put on my desktop.  I'm glad I know I'm not alone onthis.

I have extra disk space, so it's not a problem for me to back up the whole folder.  I also move my screenshots out of the Sims 4 folder because this can contribute to the dreaded corrupted For Rent save files.  My Sims never really need to look at the for any reason and I don't use the memory system.

If you don't have a problem with extra disk space, backing up the whole folder is easier and safer, especially if you have mods. For me, I daily backups for saving files and still keep the files of each day in case I want to go back longer than the recent one.

Some corruption was hidden in the game for a long time before taking effect such as For Rent bug. So you should keep the daily or weekly backup save because you may have to flashback more than you thought. (But I hope it doesn't happen in our games.)

I never use memory systems either. Because I save over 100+ screenshots each day, it's impossible to save in The Sims 4 folder forever. And for in-game photos, I usually delete unnecessary photos to keep save files small too. Big save file is one of the risks of corruption. So, we have to avoid that.

Yep the OneDrive got me also.  Went to play my Sims yesterday and all my files were gone.  Sims 4 thought I was a brand new player and did all the tutorials and I had to acknowledge all my games I have.  I'm not sure if I disabled it or not but so far it hasn't popped up again yet. I lost all my Sims families, all the houses I had built and all my downloads from the gallery.  Not a big fan of OneDrive at all.

How do you disable OneDrive? It always deletes my files!

Count me in as another OneDrive victim. I backed everything up on it, but while it saved every Sims 4 folder, the actual files inside didn't make it. It was such a downer.

Really wish the EA App offered some proper Cloud service, like Steam.

Just today windows prompted me to use one drive when I booted up my pc. I declined and try to stay as far away from one drive as I can because of the sims.