Downloaded sims 4 custom content but not accessible in the game

@pugicornlover  What do you mean that the custom content works but you can't access it in-game?  Is this true of all cc items, or just some?  Is it possible that the cc is recolors of items from packs you don't own, or of other cc items you haven't installed?  There are plenty of reasons why cc might not work, so it's necessary to narrow it down a bit.

So all the custom content used to work previously before I moved the location of the game and files. The laptop had no storage so aam now using an external hard drive for it. It's my daughters game so need to try and get it sorted before she really falls out with me😕

@pugicornlover  If you simply moved the Sims 4 user data folder (the one in Documents\Electronic Arts) to the external drive, without telling the computer where to look for it, then it's not surprising that the custom content wouldn't show up.  The game looks for the user data folder in one place, and if it doesn't find a folder there, it creates a new one, with none of the previous content.  Adding more cc to the external won't change anything if the game isn't reading that folder.

If you'd like to move the user data folder to the external, you can create a symbolic link to tell the game where to look for it.  This is relatively simple, but please back up the data before you do this, just in case it doesn't work the first time you try.

https://crinrict.com/blog/2020/02/moving-windows-documents-folder-to-external-drive-via-symbolic-link.html

And just to be clear, this only applies to the user data folder in Documents.  The location of the program files is governed and read by Origin, and if the game is launching from the external, then you've done that part correctly and don't need to change anything.

God this stuff is all foreign to me. So I've done what it said to do in that link, but I got the attached message. 

@pugicornlover  It looks like your command was missing a space in it, or at least one.  (I can't see the rest of the text string you entered.)  The command starts MKLINK /J, with a space before the slash.

If you want, you can post the entire command you want to enter, and I'll take a look.

@pugicornlover  It happens.  Did you move the Sims 4 folder to D itself, or did you move the entire Electronic Arts folder to D?  If the file path on D is just D:\The Sims 4, try this:

MKLINK /J "%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4" "D:\The Sims 4"

 If you moved the Electronic Arts folder to D (with the Sims 4 folder inside) and want it to stay that way, try this:

MKLINK /J "%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts" "D:\Electronic Arts"

In either case, copy and paste, don't just write it out.  It's really easy to get one space or quote mark or whatever out of place, and then Windows won't read the command correctly.

@pugicornlover  That means there's already a Sims 4 folder in Documents\Electronic Arts if you're going with the first option, or an Electronic Arts folder if you're going with the second option.  Either way, there can't be a folder with the same name in the same location where you're trying to create the symbolic link.  So please move that folder elsewhere and try again.  There does have to be a folder in the destination, i.e. the external drive, for the symlink to point to though.