Game crashing after repair and reinstall, multiple folders

Question

Hi,&nbsp;I have read so many of these posts but can't resolve my issue and worry I'll keep making it worse.&nbsp;Here is my story: I have The Sims 4 installed on PC. I realized that my OneDrive storage was full because a bunch of Sims images were being stored there. I looked it up and apparently, you shouldn't have your Sims folders synced to OneDrive and should be moved onto your computer itself. I deleted the OneDrive images, realised that was a mistake, restored the files from my trash can, but I think things some files didn't restore properly or replaced files with the same names. When I opened the game, my current saves were gone. I tried a bunch of things to get them back including repairing the game through EA, restoring saves in the Main Menu of the Sims, resetting my computer to a point in time earlier that week, etc. None of them worked.&nbsp;I grieved and then gave up on getting them back, thinking "fine, I'll just start over, and at least this time I can make sure my game is saved in the right place". So I unsynced OneDrive from my PC. Then I uninstalled the game, went back into EA, and reinstalled it in the suggested folder (Program Files). The game wouldn't start. I would press Play and it would try to start but crash before even getting to the loading screen. So then I opened Steam was prompted to install the game (I forget if I had to install in twice, in both places, when I originally bought it but since it was asking me to I did). The game still won't start. The icon pops up on the bottom of my screen and I can click on it to expand the window but then it just shudders and closes itself.&nbsp;I went into My Files to see what there was to see and I seem to have folders called EA Games, Electronic Arts, and The Sims 4 multiple times in multiple places. I'm sure this is wrong but I'm scared to delete anything else.&nbsp;Is there anyway to get help in a live way from a real tech support person? Can I get someone on the phone or share my screen? Has anyone else ever achieved this? It's been two days of looking up answers on forums and I just don't know that I will be able to solve this without someone guiding me step by step.&nbsp;If you've read this far, thank you. Here's hoping I can ever play my game again.&nbsp;

roberta591 · Answer

@gracelynmageI probably can't help you get back to where you were but I can help you with OneDrive. Microsoft wants you to use OneDrive so now they almost (but not quite) made it part of the Windows operating system. Over the years I noticed that Microsoft REALLY wants you to use Windows their way. I don't need OneDrive, I don't want OneDrive. But I noticed that now if you delete (you can uninstall) OneDrive Windows will nag you about that. What you can do is stop just the EA folders from syncing. That's part of it. OneDrive will continue to move files so you have to check the option to keep files on this computer and OneDrive restores all the files (if they are still there) so EA can find them.&nbsp; The ONLY issue is those files will not have backup. You don't need to backup the game core files as those can just get reinstalled. I have a NAS box (network attached storage) that I can copy my user files to as backup if I so choose. What I have for the company is a very expensive (Synolgy) NAS that is configured disks configured in a RAID for redundancy. For the other network I have a D-Link 2 bay NAS (Ebay $50 no disks) now with 2Tb of storage. Once you het OneDrive configured right it won't bother the game anymore.&nbsp;&nbsp; hth

puzzlezaddict · Answer

@gracelynmage&nbsp; Just to be clear, there are always two Sims 4 folders, at least when the game has started.&nbsp; One contains the program files, which by default will be stored in one of these locations, depending on the app you use to install:

C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 4

The other folder contains user data and is always stored in Documents &gt; Electronic Arts.&nbsp; But the full file path follows the Windows location for Documents, and enabling OneDrive can change that, as can other user interventions.

You don't need to reenable OneDrive, and it sounds like you'll be beltter off long-term if you leave it disabled.&nbsp; The first step is to find out what folder Windows is using for Documents.&nbsp; Search Windows for "command prompt," open it, and enter this command:

reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"

If the file path points to OneDrive, that's the issue.&nbsp; Here's how to change it to the proper location:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/operation-to-change-a-personal-folder-location-fails-in-windows-ffb95139-6dbb-821d-27ec-62c9aaccd720

You'd change the Personal value to %USERPROFILE%\Documents .&nbsp; If the file path doesn't point to OneDrive, you can still change it; either way, this may well be the reason Sims 4 won't start.

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Game crashing after repair and reinstall, multiple folders

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