Re: Playing Sims 4 on External HD Mac

Great! This provided the clarification I need. Thank you! 

hmm... I played it just great yesterday so I know it DID work. Now it is telling me Sims 4 is already running. I looked at the original instructions and the instructions of other people who had this problem too but I can't seem to find a solution. 

I put both of these in terminal originally: 

mv ~/Documents/Electronic\ Arts /Volumes/SimsHD/

ln -s /Volumes/SimsHD/Electronic\ Arts ~/Documents/

Origin AND Sims 4 have permissions to access removable volumes and folders. 

Origin still has installs and saves going to /volumes/SimsHD

In my SimsHD drive I also right clicked Get Info and made sure that everything is read and write for everyone. 

I don't get what is going on! 

Yeah. I also do not understand. I do not have any game user data folders and I never did that command in terminal. I'm so confused. I also have a Macbook air from 2014, in macOSCatalina Version 10.15.3.

I've been following some of your steps for getting TS4 onto my SSD drive. So far, it's been working! I do have a few questions. 

1. If I uninstall and reinstall my game + the expansion pack with the new game library location, will I still lose all of my data if I do the EA file transfer through your Smylink method? 

2. At what point in this process can I delete the sims files from my internal drive?

3. Do you have a link to one post with every step/ method to complete transfer TS4 + your data successfully and fully on an external HD? I've been following alot of the post, but It seems like I learn about a new process/step that I also must do in each individual post and I don't want to leave anything out!

4. Additionally, what do I do about my expansion pack data? I notice I have a separate file that is dedicated to the sims 4 packs. 

Thank you so much, you've been extremely helpful!

@CC_Simlover93 

1. Game installation location and the TS4 user data folder are two completely separate entities. 
2. Which Sims files, game installation or the TS4 user data folder?
3. No but there are two distinct posts:
   1. Installing the game on an external - https://bluebellflora.com/2020/11/26/external-drive-not-showing-in-origin/
   2. Storing the Sims 4 user data folder on an external - https://bluebellflora.com/saving-your-sims-4-folder-to-an-external-drive/
4. The Sims 4 Packs folder is automatically installed with the base game and contains all the DLC. If you move this folder to a different location Origin won't think you have any DLC installed and will prompt to re-download

🙂

@CC_Simlover93 

You don't delete the TS4 user data folder. Part of the process of creating the symlink is moving it to the external. An alias is created in the default location.

You can drag and drop your Sims 4 game and Sims 4 Packs folder from the Applications folder onto the external and then follow the steps to tell Origin where your game library location is, no need to re-download. There is a risk the installation may corrupt if moved this way but if it does, just re-download after changing the installation path in Origin.

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So, as long as I transfer my TS4 user data to the external HD, I can uninstall the game from my internal drive and reinstall the TS4 onto the external SSD without having to start over?

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The TS4 user data is not linked to the location of the game installation, they are two separate entities.

@Bluebellflora Hi I'm having a similar problem, except when I look to change the game library location, my external hard drive doesn't show up. Is there any way I can fix this? I can't do school work on my computer without putting the Sims 4 somewhere else.