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AlexvonAuen's avatar
AlexvonAuen
Rising Traveler
11 months ago
Solved

Re: Need help with new (secondary) SSD and how to move the Sims game to it

Hello (again) Puzzleaddict, Have now finally received a new laptop:      Lenovo Legion Pro 7 / Ryzen 9 - 7945HX / RTX 4090 (mobile) / 32 GB RAM (yes, I know...perhaps a bit of overkill for TS4...b...
pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    11 months ago

    @AlexvonAuen  There are a few issues here.  Before doing anything else, I would actually suggest a different configuration entirely.  Leave the 2 TB SSD intact, not partitioned, and use it for games, backups, whatever.  This is simpler than trying to predict the size you'll want each partition to be, and you can't resize existing partitions without either erasing some data or paying for third-party software.

    Instead, partition the C drive.  Leave ~150 GB for the OS and drivers, and the rare app (like the EA App) that refuses to install anywhere else.  Use the rest of the partition for Documents, Photos, etc.  That will still be more than enough room, both for Windows and for your user files, and you won't be wasting the extra space of the primary drive.

    I would also suggest uninstalling Sims 4, the EA App, Steam, and anything else currently on C with Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine) just to have a completely clean slate.  Revo will remove associated registry entries and other hidden files.

    Once you've done that, move your user folders—Documents, Photos, etc.—to the new partition, let's call it E.  Here's how to move Documents, but the process is the same for the others:

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/74952-move-location-documents-folder-windows-10-a.html

    Or if that's not working, here's how to force the issue:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/operation-to-change-a-personal-folder-location-fails-in-windows-ffb95139-6dbb-821d-27ec-62c9aaccd720

    Then install Steam itself on D, into a subfolder you create.  (You don't want it directly on D.)  Any game you download through Steam will install here by default:

    [Steam location]\Steam\steamapps\common

    You can change this by creating a new Steam library, but you won't have to if Steam itself is where you want it.

    The EA App will insist on being on C, but it's relatively small by itself.  You can choose the install location for your EA App games under Settings.

    Once you launch Sims 4, it will automatically use the location you've set as the Documents directory.  The reason it's not doing so now is probably that Windows still sees the Documents directory as on C, rather than the secondary location you created.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
11 months ago

@AlexvonAuen  There are a few issues here.  Before doing anything else, I would actually suggest a different configuration entirely.  Leave the 2 TB SSD intact, not partitioned, and use it for games, backups, whatever.  This is simpler than trying to predict the size you'll want each partition to be, and you can't resize existing partitions without either erasing some data or paying for third-party software.

Instead, partition the C drive.  Leave ~150 GB for the OS and drivers, and the rare app (like the EA App) that refuses to install anywhere else.  Use the rest of the partition for Documents, Photos, etc.  That will still be more than enough room, both for Windows and for your user files, and you won't be wasting the extra space of the primary drive.

I would also suggest uninstalling Sims 4, the EA App, Steam, and anything else currently on C with Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine) just to have a completely clean slate.  Revo will remove associated registry entries and other hidden files.

Once you've done that, move your user folders—Documents, Photos, etc.—to the new partition, let's call it E.  Here's how to move Documents, but the process is the same for the others:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/74952-move-location-documents-folder-windows-10-a.html

Or if that's not working, here's how to force the issue:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/operation-to-change-a-personal-folder-location-fails-in-windows-ffb95139-6dbb-821d-27ec-62c9aaccd720

Then install Steam itself on D, into a subfolder you create.  (You don't want it directly on D.)  Any game you download through Steam will install here by default:

[Steam location]\Steam\steamapps\common

You can change this by creating a new Steam library, but you won't have to if Steam itself is where you want it.

The EA App will insist on being on C, but it's relatively small by itself.  You can choose the install location for your EA App games under Settings.

Once you launch Sims 4, it will automatically use the location you've set as the Documents directory.  The reason it's not doing so now is probably that Windows still sees the Documents directory as on C, rather than the secondary location you created.

  • AlexvonAuen's avatar
    AlexvonAuen
    Rising Traveler
    11 months ago

    Hi,

    Thank you for the quick response. You really are super with prompt responses, info and friendly assistance – it is very much appreciated.

    The new laptop currently has only the following installed:

       Firefox

       Steam app

       EA app

       O&O ShutUp10

    otherwise it is still completely empty.

    A question concerning Revo Uninstaller:

    I spent half of yesterday on the new laptop deleting bloatware, changing privacy settings, changing the host file to block Microsoft servers, etc., etc..

    If I understand it correctly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7gFg3TngU Revo Uninstaller will allow me to simply ‘pick & choose’ only those items which I want to delete, so that I can completely remove Steam and EA from the registry and then re-install them properly - correct? Or does it get rid of everything and basically set the system back to original?

    For example; after downloading Firefox I uninstalled Edge. If the programme deletes Firefox, I would then be left without any browser whatsoever.

    I completely understand your thoughts concerning the partitioning of the second (2TB) SSD.

    My original reasoning was such:

    Keep (just) the OS & drivers on the primary (1TB) SSD and all of my private files/games on the second (2TB) SSD. That way, if there were ever any problems with the OS or the laptop itself, I could simply remove the second SSD with all of my files. Does that make sense?

    My current ‘old’ laptop (4,5 yrs.) is only using a total of 295 GB (from 476 GB ) for literally everything.

    Of that, 128,5 GB is for OS & Apps alone (OS = 46,1 GB / Apps = 82,5 GB).

    As such, the 2TB on the new laptop’s second SSD should probably be more than enough for some time to come (if I ever do, in fact, need all of it). In the event that I do eventually run out of space there, I could then still move some of the files to the C: drive.

    My reasoning for partitioning the second (2TB) SSD into two separate drives of 1TB each was to keep games separate from personal files (i.e., documents, photos, music, etc.). I have read a number of times that, when playing games, it is much easier/quicker for the system if it doesn’t need to continually search through unnecessary files (documents, photos, etc.). If I am mistaken here, then I could just leave the second SSD as is - without partitions - and use the 2TB as one drive for games and documents together.

    However, having said that, the second (2TB) SSD has already been partitioned (with a few subfolders per partition) - but other than that it is essentially still completely empty. Is it possible/difficult to reverse the partitioning?

    Thank you also for the tips/links about ‘moving’ all my files from the old laptop to the new one. Actually, I was planing on just copying the files, saving them to the new laptop and leaving the original files in the old laptop as sort of ‘backup’. The old laptop is still working perfectly well and I see no need to get rid of it. However with only a Ryzen 7 - 3700U / iGPU, it simply can’t handle TS4 with all of my CC (playing with 4,2 fps is really rather frustrating). That was really my only reason for splashing out on a new laptop.

    Look forward to your thoughts,

    Thanks again,
    Alex

    • puzzlezaddict's avatar
      puzzlezaddict
      Hero+
      11 months ago

      @AlexvonAuen  Revo only deletes the program you target.  I've used it to remove Sims 3 and 4 on a few occasions, and it never touched anything else as far as I could tell, and no other apps broke.  I wrote a walkthrough for uninstalling Sims 4 if you want another example:

      https://answers.ea.com/t5/PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-DLC-shows-as-installed-won-t-load-in-game/m-p/12942151#uninstall

      For the drives, you can arrange them however you want; I was just suggesting that you could make use of the extra space on the 1 TB system drive rather than diverting most data to the secondary drive.

      The information about faster reads when apps and files are separate is a bit misleading.  First, it doesn't help at all to have two partitions of one drive because there's still only one physical drive—one controller, one DRAM cache—doing all the heavy lifting.  Second, at the current NVMe SSD speeds, this is not a practical concern for any modern game and is probably only marginally relevant at best for any use case outside of high-level professional workloads.  The processor or graphics card, even as fast as they are, would be the limiting factor here, that is when the application isn't the limit.  Sims 4 itself is the limiting factor on hardware like yours.

      Removing a partition only erases the data on the secondary partition.  So you can move everything on the secondary partition to the primary partition (or the system drive) before erasing it.  I'd still use Revo if you're erasing any games just because the registry entries, which are on the system drive, wouldn't be removed when the games were deleted.

      When you copy over your saves and other user data, I'd suggest zipping the folders before transferring them.  They might be fine without this, but it does help protect against corruption, and the files will also be smaller and therefore faster to transfer if network speeds are any issue at all.

      • AlexvonAuen's avatar
        AlexvonAuen
        Rising Traveler
        11 months ago

        Sorry, a couple of questions still.

        I removed the partion on the second (2TB) SSD and now have it as one drive D:

        Using Revo Uninstaller I completely deleted EA, Steam and TS4 (including all hidden subfiles) from the new laptop and then re-installed all three apps.

        Have now repeated this four times..but cannot get TS4 to open.
        When I right click the TS4 desktop icon and then click 'open', the small rectangle pop-up with "launching game" eventually appears for 2-3 seconds (as usual), then disappears (as usual)...but then nothing else.

        Have checked and, according to my EA account, my EA and Steam accounts are linked (s. enclosed).

        Have also clicked the EA 'App recovery' and 'App updater' three times - both respond with o.k. or already updated.

        I have not yet moved any of my old TS4 files/Mods/CC from the old laptop to the new one....so it can't be any corrupted MOD/CC files. Other than EA, Steam and TS4 the laptop is basically empty.

        Any idea why the game is not starting?

        As you mentioned in your previous message, when I downloaded TS4 it landed in:   D:\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 4
        which is a bit hidden. Is there any possibility to move it to a different location?  D:\My Games\The Sims 4  (s. enclosed).

        You mentioned earlier this could be done "...by creating a new Steam library..." ?

        Hope I've not been too much of a bother to you.......
        Bst rgds,
        Alex

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