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SweetesTee24's avatar
SweetesTee24
2 years ago
Solved

Game isn't reading files

Help please!!!! After the update, I had to delete EA and my sims 4 game, not before I saved my "mods," "saves," and "trays" folders. Once reinstalled, I relocated my Electronic Arts folder to my "D" drive along with my game but once I copied everything that I saved into the new Arts folder, my game isn't reading any of the files. Can anyone assist in this error?

pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    2 years ago

    @SweetesTee24  The location under Shortcut refers to the "target," as in, where the symlink is pointing.  It's a good thing that it's pointing to D: that means creating the symlink worked.  The symlink itself is on C where the game will look for the Electronic Arts folder.

    However, I think the issue here is that the symlink is called "Electronic Arts" but is pointing to a folder called "The Sims 4."  The idea here is that the symlink should point to a folder with its same name, whatever that is.  So if you want the symlink to be "Electronic Arts," this would be the correct command:

    MKLINK /J “%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts” “D:\Games&Data\Electronic Arts”

    or

    MKLINK /J “%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts” “D:\Games&Data\EA\Electronic Arts”

    depending on how deeply you want to nest the folders on D.  Point is, please delete the symlink and recreate it so that it's pointing to an "Electronic Arts" folder on D.

    Alternately, you could have a proper Electronic Arts folder (not a symlink) in Documents and create a symlink for "The Sims 4" inside.  Then you could link it to the "The Sims 4" folder on D:

    MKLINK /J “%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\Games&Data\EA\The Sims 4”

    Either answer is fine; the important part is that the symlink points to the folder it's supposed to replace.

6 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @SweetesTee24  What Sims 4 folder is the game actually reading?  Here's how to find out:

    https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2018/07/how-to-find-your-user-folder/

    The idea here is that you can't simply move the Electronic Arts folder to a different location and expect the game to use it.  You either have to use the folder the game is already reading, or you have to tell the game where to look for the new folder.  For the latter, please see this post:

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

  • SweetesTee24's avatar
    SweetesTee24
    2 years ago

    For some reason, it’s reading the “C” drive but to my understanding I properly transferred everything to my “D” using the symbolic link method. What should I do?

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @SweetesTee24  Where did you create the symbolic link, and is that exactly the location the game thinks it's reading?  If not, that's the issue.  As an example, you could have created the symlink here:

    C:\Users\your username\Documents

    while the game is looking here:

    C:\Users\your username\OneDrive\Documents

    If that's not the issue, double-click the symlink itself to jump to the folder linked to it, and make sure this is the folder with your user data in it.

    If this doesn't help, please list the full path to the symlink and the full path to the folder Sims 4 is reading, so I can be more specific with my suggestions.  Please also post a screenshot of a folder that contains your missing saves, as in, I'd like to see the save names themselves.  Include the address bar in the screenshot.

  • SweetesTee24's avatar
    SweetesTee24
    2 years ago

    Ok so this is the youtube tutorial that I used to help with the transition of everything: 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaLnm8t7hgk 

    I've attached all of the screenshots that I have. I see do see that the original folder is reading from the "C" drive under the "General" tap but under the "Shortcut" tap, the location states it's the "D" drive. 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @SweetesTee24  The location under Shortcut refers to the "target," as in, where the symlink is pointing.  It's a good thing that it's pointing to D: that means creating the symlink worked.  The symlink itself is on C where the game will look for the Electronic Arts folder.

    However, I think the issue here is that the symlink is called "Electronic Arts" but is pointing to a folder called "The Sims 4."  The idea here is that the symlink should point to a folder with its same name, whatever that is.  So if you want the symlink to be "Electronic Arts," this would be the correct command:

    MKLINK /J “%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts” “D:\Games&Data\Electronic Arts”

    or

    MKLINK /J “%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts” “D:\Games&Data\EA\Electronic Arts”

    depending on how deeply you want to nest the folders on D.  Point is, please delete the symlink and recreate it so that it's pointing to an "Electronic Arts" folder on D.

    Alternately, you could have a proper Electronic Arts folder (not a symlink) in Documents and create a symlink for "The Sims 4" inside.  Then you could link it to the "The Sims 4" folder on D:

    MKLINK /J “%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\Games&Data\EA\The Sims 4”

    Either answer is fine; the important part is that the symlink points to the folder it's supposed to replace.

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