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EmmaBeeYT's avatar
EmmaBeeYT
Seasoned Newcomer
2 months ago

Launching Sims 4 from external hard drive

I’ve installed the Sims 4 onto an external hard drive, and it all works fine in my main computer, but I’m wanting to play on my laptop also. I have the EA app installed on my laptop, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to launch the game, as it only gives me the option to download it, and doesn’t recognise that it’s already downloaded on the external hard drive. Any help would be appreciated.

  • EmmaBeeYT  You will in fact have to "download" Sims 4 while using the laptop.  The game data on the external drive isn't the only data that matters here—there are also registry entries and other hidden files that tell the App that Sims 4 is installed and you own it and have a right to play it.  These files get created during the install process and are specific to the machine in question.  They're also placed on the system drive (by default; there are ways to change this but they're not recommended) regardless of where you install the game itself.

    Tell the App to install Sims 4 to the location where it's already installed, and the App may simply verify the data and finalize the install.  Or it may download some content again.  I've seen both happen when testing, sometimes in the same session.

    • EmmaBeeYT's avatar
      EmmaBeeYT
      Seasoned Newcomer

      Ah ok. Thank you so much for your help!