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breezyeom's avatar
breezyeom
Rising Novice
3 years ago
Solved

Move game/mods to external drive PC

Hello! I recently bought an external drive to put both my sims 4 game and mods/cc onto it. But i'm having trouble.  

* I had sims 4 previously downloaded onto my laptop (The C File) with Origin, had to delete for a few months to have space for other stuff

* I bought the external drive, downloaded sims 4 to it and all my old saves & mods from the original time i downloaded/played (with Origin)  still shows up when I play the game through the EA app. Even though i didnt move anything over onto the drive

Basically, How can I keep my save files & mods and move it to the External Drive instead of everything continuing to go to the "C File"?

Thanks! Attached is the only thing on the external drive for now

pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    3 years ago

    @breezyeom  Do you still have an Electronic Arts folder in Documents?  Please make sure you're looking in the local version of Documents, i.e. not the one inside OneDrive.  You can be sure you're looking at the right one by opening This PC > Users > your username > Documents.  If the Electronic Arts folder isn't there, you can make one; just get the name exactly right.

6 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @breezyeom  The EA App is supposed to offer a way to move installed games to another location, but it doesn't work properly yet.  What you could do is manually transfer all the game's program files to the external, then change the install path for Sims 4 within the app.  (The option is under Manage > View Properties when you're viewing the game details.)  If the App now thinks the game isn't installed, you can start the download, and the App should find the files already there and verify them.

    Or you could reinstall Origin, open your game library, right-click on the Sims 4 icon, choose Move Game, and select the destination folder.  The EA App should still recognize Sims 4 as installed as long as your external is plugged in.  You can download Origin from the link here:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin-Client-Web-Technical/Downloading-and-installing-Origin-Windows-and-Mac/m-p/11915666

    For the user data—saves, saved households and builds, mods and custom content, etc.—you'll need to use a symbolic link to point the game to the correct folder on the external.  Here's a good guide:

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

    Please make sure to choose different destinations for the game's program files and the user folder.  Having all the data within the same folder can and will cause a number of issues which will also be harder to resolve given the overlap.

  • breezyeom's avatar
    breezyeom
    Rising Novice
    3 years ago

    Hello! 

    Im doing the crinrict steps but i keep getting stuck on the command prompt part. it says "The system cannot find the path specified" i moved the sims 4 ea to my external drive

    Edit: All my original save files/mods are on the new External Drive too though 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @breezyeom  Please post a screenshot of the command prompt window so I can see the full file path you're typing.  Please also post the full file path to the Sims 4 user folder on your external, the one you're trying to point the game to.

  • breezyeom's avatar
    breezyeom
    Rising Novice
    3 years ago

    The file path im trying to move it to on my external drive is “E:\The Sims 4”

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @breezyeom  Do you still have an Electronic Arts folder in Documents?  Please make sure you're looking in the local version of Documents, i.e. not the one inside OneDrive.  You can be sure you're looking at the right one by opening This PC > Users > your username > Documents.  If the Electronic Arts folder isn't there, you can make one; just get the name exactly right.

  • breezyeom's avatar
    breezyeom
    Rising Novice
    3 years ago

    that was it! thank you so much i've been doing this all day haha! thank you 🙂

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