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Britgirl5678's avatar
Britgirl5678
Rising Newcomer
1 day ago

Can’t repair or reinstall Sims 4 — EA App won’t scan existing files

Hi, I’m having a persistent issue with The Sims 4 on Windows 11, and I need help forcing the EA App to recognise an existing installation.

I already have a complete Sims 4 installation with all DLC in:

C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4

The game files are intact (Data, Delta, Game, Support, all EP/GP/SP folders, etc.).

This all began when I tried to launch the game and got an error message referring to mods/custom content (the one that suggests removing mods/CC or repairing the game). After that error, the game would no longer launch properly, and the EA App started treating it as if it wasn’t installed.

Now, when I try to launch TS4_x64.exe, the EA App opens and says the game is not installed.

When I try to “Download” or “Locate” the game, the EA App always insists on downloading the full ~60 GB installation. It will not scan the existing files. Because my C: drive doesn’t have enough free space, the EA App blocks me before installation begins, so it never creates or registers the install folder and never attempts a file scan.

Troubleshooting I’ve already done:

  • Verified the folder structure (no nested folders, all DLC folders present)
  • Renamed the Sims 4 folder multiple times to force a rescan
  • Renamed the __Installer folder
  • Cleared EA App cache
  • Fully uninstalled the EA App, restarted the PC, and reinstalled it
  • Tried “Download → Browse → Select Folder” repeatedly, pointing to the existing Sims 4 folder
  • Tried launching the game directly via TS4_x64.exe
  • Tried the “start download → pause → swap folder” workaround, but the EA App won’t allow installation to begin due to low disk space
  • I do not have another drive available to temporarily move the game

At this point, the EA App will not attempt to install, will not scan the folder, and will not relink the existing files. I need a way to manually force the EA App to recognise the installation or rebuild its manifest without requiring a full 60 GB reinstall.

Any assistance or a manual relink method would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

downloads
ea app
launching
never cc or mods

3 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    1 day ago

    Britgirl5678​  Is there a reason you can't simply delete the existing install and let the EA App redownload the content?  It sounds like it would be faster than trying anything else here.

    If that's not possible, try "downloading" only the base game, which is more like 20 GB.  If you don't even have that much free space, delete some EP folders inside the main Sims 4 folder until you do (and restart your computer after deleting the files).  If necessary, you can "download" your packs afterwards.  The end result would be you might need to reinstall a few expansions, but not the entire game.

  • Britgirl5678's avatar
    Britgirl5678
    Rising Newcomer
    1 day ago

    Sorry I should have said I did try doing this too! I don't know how I forgot to mention that but yes that didn't seem to work either.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    9 hours ago

    Britgirl5678​  Then I think your best bet is to delete the game and reinstall it from scratch.  I understand that some people have very limited internet, but it doesn't sound like the App is going to cooperate here.

    You might still be able to only reinstall the base game.  Move the pack folders  and _Installer elsewhere, delete the base game, reinstall it, close the App and kill the EABackgroundService in the Task Manager, and move the pack folders back to the correct location (and the data inside _Installer as well, but don't replace the new folder with the old one, since the new one will have base game data that needs to be there too).  Then "download" them there, or just repair the game and see whether the packs show up.

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