Re: Can I move my Sims 4 and packs onto an external hard drive?

How do I change where a game pack will go to my external flash drive for EA app? I knew how to on origin but I was forced to make the switch finally and I just bought Spa Day. But now I can’t download it because my laptop has no storage and I have no clue how EA app works

@vanture2  You can't change where a new pack is installed: it'll go to wherever the game itself is installed.  And in the EA App, you can't move the game location once it's installed.  So if you want Sims 4 on your external drive, you'll need to uninstall and reinstall everything.

Make sure to create a backup of the Sims 4 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts before uninstalling the game.  This folder contains your saves and other user content, and while it shouldn't be deleted during the uninstall process, it's better to be safe.  You can put the backup on your flash drive or upload it to a free filesharing service like Google Drive or Dropbox.  I'd recommend zipping it first: right-click and select Send to > Compressed (.zip) file.

Hi, I seem to be having a similar issue. Daughter plays Sims 4 and has TONS of files/mods/downloads. She’s needing to move those and the game to a portable HD to free up space. How do we launch Sims 4 and get it to see those files on the portable HD. I changed the download location in EA app but when I try to remove the files from the laptop HD, it won’t launch Sims at all. 

Is it as simple as uninstalling Sims 4 and redownloading (with new external drive and install location)?

@puzzlezaddictI tried the symbolic link, but it's saying that it can't find the path specified. I followed all of the steps and I've tried it a few times, but it keeps saying the same thing. What do I do?

@dsoltes76  Yes, to move the game's program files, you need to uninstall through the EA App and reinstall in the new location.  Simply changing the install location and moving the files isn't sufficient.

This is a separate matter than moving the user folder, for which you need to use a symbolic link.  The location of the game's program files has no impact on where Sims 4 looks for the user folder, which will always be Documents > Electronic Arts.

@morkledorkle  Instead of putting %userprofile% in the command, please write out the exact file path.  You can find it in-game:

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

You don't need to use the part after The Sims 4 , of course, just the rest of it.  For the command, if my account had the username test , and I wanted to move the user folder to D:\The Sims 4, as it looks like you do, this would be the command:

MKLINK /J “C:\Users\test\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\The Sims 4”

@ConnieEcc  Once you've installed Sims 4 into the new location, launch it once to make sure it works.  If your saves and other user files are present, then you don't need the backup, although I'd still keep it around for a while just to be safe.  If your saves are gone, then you put the backup in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4, where the game should read it again.

If that doesn't work either, here's how to find the correct folder:

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

I was wondering about one thing, if you upload the sims to your external hard drive, can you still get all the updates and buy new packs to the game? And also connect to the gallery in the game? 

@ConnieEcc  Did you do anything else besides reinstall Sims 4 onto your external drive?  Do you use a third-party antivirus, and if so, did you add exceptions for the game and the EA App?  You'd need to create a new exception after reinstalling the game anyway.

Having the game itself on your external drive wouldn't affect how you install new packs or your access to the Gallery.

Is it the same process on a Mac? 

@cchupka  Installing Sims 4 onto an external drive is pretty much the same in macOS, but there are a couple common issues to watch out for.  If you run into trouble, please see this thread:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin-Mac-Client-Technical/Solution-Can-t-find-External-Hard-Drive-in-Origin-MAC/td-p/8682280

And if the info there doesn't help, please post in that thread.

hi there! I have successfully created a symbolic link for my PC documents to external hard drive documents and have been playing the sims off the hard drive for a few weeks now. I want to remove the symbolic link and play the game off the PC instead of external hard drive and update to internal ssd at some point. I don't understand what "Path to Symbolic Link" means and don't want to make any mistakes when running command prompt as administrator. I appreciate the help.

I'm referring to this part of crinrict's blog post:

"To get rid of the symbolic link, use this command: rmdir “Path to the symbolic link” in a command prompt with admin rights as described below."

@kaiyote23  The "path to the symbolic link" is the full file path of the symlink itself, as in, the folder with the little arrow that you created with the symlink command.  You can get its full file path by right-clicking and selecting Properties > General, then looking for the Location.

Or you can just drag the symlink to the recycle bin, then move the proper folder back to your internal drive.

@puzzlezaddict hey! your advice and blog are so helpful! i moved my game to my external harddrive already by uninstalling and reinstalling it, and i moved my mods over but they arent showing in game. i tried to use the symbolic link you quoted but it says it cant create a file that already exists. do you know if theres another way to move mods?? 🙂

@kiaora78  The error you're seeing means there's already a Sims 4 folder or an Electronic Arts folder (whichever one you're trying to create the symlink for) in the location where you want the symlink to go.  So open that location and rename the folder in question, then try again to create the symlink.

If you're having trouble with the process, please post a screenshot of the command you're using.  Please also list the full file path to the user folder Sims 4 is reading, as described here:

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

By the way, it's not my blog; I just link it when people need a guide.

@puzzlezaddict heres a ss of my command prompt. if im just trying to get my mods into the game do i need to do something different??

@kiaora78  The problem is that there's already a Sims 4 folder here:

C:\Users\[your username]\OneDrive\Documents\Electronic Arts

Rename that Sims 4 folder to something else, then try the symlink command again.  If it still doesn't work, pause OneDrive syncing, which you can do by right-clicking the OneDrive (cloud) icon in the lower-right corner of your screen.  Then try again.

@puzzlezaddict hey so i renamed the files and turned off syncing and now its saying the system cant find the path specified lol

@puzzlezaddict omg the game has like disappeared and is saying it isnt downloaded anymore lmao 💔 if i just reinstall it onto my external harddrive will it fix the thing with my mods?

@kiaora78  In this command, you wrote "Documents\ea\sims" instead of the proper location:

C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4"

For the game not showing as installed, that can happen if the external drive now has a different drive letter.  That in turn can happen if you connect a different device first, one that receives the D letter, and then your external becomes E.  Disconnect everything and restart your computer, then reconnect the devices in the correct order.

If that's not the issue, then yes, you can simply download Sims 4 to the  same location as you used before.  The EA App might verify the existing files and finish the install process rather than downloading everything again.