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SpiderGames95's avatar
SpiderGames95
Seasoned Newcomer
3 days ago
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Origin Purchases, 7 years later on Steam

So, a bit of a long set-up for this:

I made my actual EA account apparently in 2018, when I first wanted to pick up Sims 4. Other than the freebie Holiday pack, I got the deluxe upgrade and the Vampires. This was back when Origin was the launcher.

Shortly afterward, it came to Steam, which frustrated me because of course it went to my preferred platform after the actual purchase, AND I was annoyed with the Origin launcher. So I just kinda dropped it.

Fastforward to now and I noticed it's actually free to play on Steam now (there was a base price for this game before, right?), with some recent point shop items to boot (which is fun). So I added it to my Steam account too, my questions being how much I'd actually be able to recover from my prior time with Sims 4.

Like, it's a shot in the dark, but I don't suppose there's a way to show receipts from having Deluxe and Vampires on this account to be able to get the keys on Steam, is there?

Or would the keys be added to my Steam after launching the game after connecting it?

It actually took me a hot minute to find my old log-ins, but I did and updated my information as well as connected my account to Steam, among others. I can't play the game right now to verify, as I unfortunately downgraded to a much smaller PC after some mishaps I'll have to rectify at some point, but is there any chance this will help me out any?

Would I still have my old saves, with the game pack and items I bought on Origin (and a small clothing mod someone was nice enough to make for me before)?

Or will I literally have to start from scratch?

Or some combination where I'll have my old save, but no access to my game pack/items and/or mod? (Which I really question what that would look like, considering I made a good handful of Vampire characters.)

Any help or clarification appreciated.

ea app
game packs
steam
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    3 days ago

    SpiderGames95  If your Steam account is linked to the EA account that owns your Sims 4 content, then yes, you can use that content together.  Once you've installed the game through Steam, you can open the EA App and install your packs through the Sims 4 > Manage > Manage add-on list.  Make sure you don't also install a second copy of the base game.

    Your saves and other user files are located in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4, and as long as this folder is intact and you can retrieve it, the files should still be usable.

    Once you have the game installed on a computer, please let me know if you have trouble with any of this.  There's not much point in dealing with hypothetical issues.

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  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 days ago

    SpiderGames95  If your Steam account is linked to the EA account that owns your Sims 4 content, then yes, you can use that content together.  Once you've installed the game through Steam, you can open the EA App and install your packs through the Sims 4 > Manage > Manage add-on list.  Make sure you don't also install a second copy of the base game.

    Your saves and other user files are located in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4, and as long as this folder is intact and you can retrieve it, the files should still be usable.

    Once you have the game installed on a computer, please let me know if you have trouble with any of this.  There's not much point in dealing with hypothetical issues.

  • SpiderGames95's avatar
    SpiderGames95
    Seasoned Newcomer
    3 days ago

    Thanks for letting me know that I shouldn't need to buy them again! And that my saves should be recoverable! (My main worry with the saves, after establishing that I linked the accounts, was just if it wouldn't work properly without the Vampire pack, but thank you for clarifying that that shouldn't be an issue since that game pack should still be there.)

    Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my post, I'm unable to install and play the game right now. Between 2018 and now, there were some mishaps and I needed to unfortunately downgrade to a much smaller computer that doesn't have ~24GB to spare. I do plan on rectifying the situation though, with either a replacement computer or buying a Steam deck, so really I added the game to my library and asked about this issue with my different accounts as research, more or less.

    I guess the main question I have left, as little consequence as it is, is if, when the extra packs are downloaded, my Steam account itself would reflect owning a key to the DLC from the Steam store page, or if I would just kinda stealth-own it through the EA shop. Not a big deal either way, but yknow, just to know.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 days ago

    SpiderGames95  Your Steam library will list all the content you own in Steam and nothing you own in the EA App (or in Epic if you happen to buy anything there).

    When I said let me know if you run into trouble after installing it, I just meant I'm here when you're ready to play again, whenever that is; but going over hypothetical problems isn't usually helpful when you can't sit in front of an actual install to try and fix them.  Going over this kind of information is different, and obviously useful if you need to know whether to budget for repurchasing your content.

    Your save might not work if Vampires isn't installed, depending on whether your sim depended on any content from that pack, or the world for that matter.  But since you still own the pack, it's a moot point.

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