This might be odd - I swear I read through all 40+ pages of this thread too.
I typically play the Sims 4 on my Macbook pro. I have the game installed in Applications (HD) there and the saves, mods, everything else, etc is running from iCloud Drive > Documents > Electronic Arts, etc.
I want to also play on my iMac - which appears to have the same setup in Settings as far as Optimizing Mac Storage and Desktop & Documents Folders being synced with iCloud.
But the game will *not* launch on my iMac unless I turn off that sync so a Documents folder shows up on my HD again here - although it's not needed on my Macbook? I cannot remember for the life of me what I did to get it working on my Macbook that way, but I truly prefer to have all my saves and mods within iCloud like they are currently. I can't even find where I may have set up a symlink for the Documents folder on my Macbook - though I did try that previously with an external drive (did not work well and moved it right back to iCloud).
Any ideas?
@Bluebellflora wrote:
@FrumiousMimsy
When you are using iCloud Drive for the Documents folder, your game will only load your Sims 4 saves and other user data if there is storage space on the internal drive. If there isn't, and you have Optimise Mac Storage enabled, macOS will be pushing the content to the cloud. Consequently the game cannot find those files because the file path is no longer the local Documents folder, it is the cloud Documents folder.
Maybe your MacBook has enough storage whereas your iMac is full?
This has always been the case for the Sims 4 which is why creating a symlink is the only way to store the Electronic Arts, or Sims 4 folder, in any location other than Macintosh HD > Users > User account > Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4. There is no other way around this.
Funny you say that, because the Macbook is constantly yelling at me about storage space whereas the iMac has WAY more available storage. Both are using the same iCloud.. hmm
The issue with the iMac is more that it's not looking for the Documents folder in iCloud Drive, it will only launch if I have the physical folder created in my main USER folder. Both computers *only* list the Documents folder under iCloud Drive though. There isn't one listed anywhere else. Finder > Go > Documents opens the iCloud Drive Documents folder on both.
I realize this basically means I have to figure out what the heck I did on my Macbook to make it work that way ☹️
The issue with the iMac is more that it's not looking for the Documents folder in iCloud Drive, it will only launch if I have the physical folder created in my main USER folder. Both computers *only* list the Documents folder under iCloud Drive though. There isn't one listed anywhere else. Finder > Go > Documents opens the iCloud Drive Documents folder on both.
Exactly. The game will only look in the local Documents folder, it is coded into the game. If it cannot see an Electronic Arts folder directly in the local Documents folder it will create a new one, and within it a new Sims 4 folder. This is why having iCloud Drive storing your Documents folder in the cloud AND having the Optimise Storage option enabled does not work for the game.
You can use iCloud Drive so long as you still have local storage available but as soon as you start running out of space the OS looks and stores in the cloud.
When you figure out the problem it would definitely help others if you posted what worked for you here. Helping with iCloud issues is very difficult because setups can be so different. I don't use it on the main Mac I play the game on for this very reason, it can produce far too many problems. I have it enabled on another Mac and always make sure there is around 5GB of local storage space available to stop it pushing to the cloud.
