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Chan_Chan2597's avatar
Chan_Chan2597
4 years ago

How to update game on Mac if files are saved on a hard drive?

I recently purchased an external hard drive to save my game files on in order to make more space on my mac. I also saved the origin app onto the external hard drive as well. Now the game has an update and typically I’d put my mods folder on my desktop, update the game, and then place them back in my sims 4 folder. Now, however I’m not able to do that because when I try to move my mods folder out of the hard drive to my desk top it says I don’t have enough storage space. Mind you, I have a folder already on my desktop with copies of my mods, saves, and tray files as a backup, but with that plus the mods folder, my mac can’t hold it. How can I work around this to update my game without messing up my mods? Do I have to delete my backup folder that’s already on my desktop? I do have a third backup of my entire sims 4 folder on Google drive, but I’m always afraid to delete folders in case I lose everything. That has happened to me before.

I hope this makes sense. Please help! I really want to continue playing TS4 without the fear of losing all my hard work.

mac

15 Replies

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    4 years ago
    @Chan_Chan2597

    I’m not saying you should but whether you have or not is relevant to your question (more info about the symlink here - https://bluebellflora.com/saving-your-sims-4-folder-to-an-external-drive/ )

    If your Sims 4 folder is currently stored externally on a hard drive the game will not be loading that data unless you have created the symlink. It will only load your saves, mods etc. from the Sims 4 folder in your Documents > Electronic Arts folder.
  • Chan_Chan2597's avatar
    Chan_Chan2597
    4 years ago

    @Bluebellflora 

    ok, I’ll do that then since it seems like it’ll be the best way to access all my things in the hard drive. Thank you for sharing that link! Do you have any suggestions as to how I can update my game if everything is stored on the hard drive? I moved the origin app to the hard drive as well. I’m thinking once I delete all my game files from the MacBook it’ll allow me to place my mods folder on my desktop every time I need to update, but I’m not sure. I do plan to download more cc and mods and I know my hard drive can hold more info than my Mac…

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    4 years ago
    @Chan_Chan2597

    You just update the game as normal through Origin. The location of the installed game is set in Origin > Preferences > Installs & Saves. If this is set to your external drive, and that is where your base game plus Sims 4 Packs folder is, that's where Origin will look to update.
  • Chan_Chan2597's avatar
    Chan_Chan2597
    4 years ago

    @Bluebellflora 

    ok, and just so I understand, I shouldn’t have to worry about removing my mods first before updating since everything will be stored on the hard drive?

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    4 years ago
    @Chan_Chan2597

    The game is on the hard drive right? And your saves, mods etc. are in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4? It’s always a good idea to remove your Mods before updating because they may not be compatible with the new version of the game.
  • Chan_Chan2597's avatar
    Chan_Chan2597
    4 years ago

    @Bluebellflora 

    No, everything is on the hard drive. My Mac was running out of space from downloading so much cc and mods, so I transferred everything to the hard drive. I haven’t deleted my saves, mods, and etc from my Mac yet because I want to make sure everything is transferred over properly, but once I do that I plan to delete all of that from my computer and have it stored on the hard drive. So when I need to update my mods folder and the Origin game will be on the hard drive. So I’d move my mods folder out of the hard drive onto my desktop, update TS4, and then put it back on the hard drive. But I don’t know if I even need to do that if everything is on the hard drive anyway.

    I hope that makes sense. LoL!

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    4 years ago

    @Chan_Chan2597

    Yeah, I really don't understand why you're removing files from a Mods folder on the external hard drive when the game is ignoring that Mods folder and loading what it in your Documents folder stored internally on your Mac. Which is using space on the internal drive.

  • Chan_Chan2597's avatar
    Chan_Chan2597
    4 years ago

    @Bluebellflora 

    My goal is to have everything related to sims 4 stored on the external hard drive and not my Mac, in order to save space on my Mac.  I know there’s a way to have the game load from the hard drive instead of the electronic arts folder by going into Origin, I just haven’t done it yet because I’m still in the process of putting everything on the hard drive. Does that make sense? I don’t want the game to read from what’s being stored internally, instead I want it to read from the hard drive. That way I have the more space on my Mac and more space to download items onto the hard drive since it’s 2TB worth of space.

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