@Moniquee1738 Yes, that's normal. The important info is the part before the Sims 4 folder. You need to open that exact location, not a different Documents or Sims 4 folder.
If you're not sure how to make sure you're opening this exact location, you can open a File Explorer window, click This PC in the left panel, double-click the C drive, and proceed from there.
are you supposed to edit the file location you want to align the sims 4 and your saves with in the game or do it manually? i tried to edit it in game and ts4 wouldn't let me edit the file location so that's why i'm asking!
@dollsaturn You can't edit the location in-game that Sims 4 will read. The game will always try to use the location Windows has set for the Documents directory. So the only ways to change the location of the user folder are to move the Documents directory elsewhere, or to use a symbolic link to point the game to the new location.
If you want your Sims 4 data on an external drive, do not move Documents to that drive. Instead, use a symbolic link, as described here:
If you want the Sims 4 data on a secondary internal drive, you can still use a symlink, or you can move Documents to that drive:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/74952-move-location-documents-folder-windows-10-a.html
If you get an error when attempting either of these, please post a screenshot of the error, and also let me know the current location of the Sims 4 user folder (as the game sees it) and the location where you'd like it to be.
so i was trying to do the secondary internal drive but midway of trying to move my documents folder, there's no tab to merge both folders into, so now i'm stuck since i don't have an external hard drive. here's a screenshot of where the game is reading and not where i want it to read (i want it to read my save files like before onedrive completely ruined EVERYTHING) 😔
@dollsaturn It looks like the game isn't using OneDrive, so you don't actually need to deal with OneDrive at all. Your first screenshot shows you're working with the OneDrive Documents folder, which is apparently not the location of the Documents directory that Windows has set. Sims 4 will almost always use whatever Windows is using, in this case C:\Users\your username\Documents.
If you want to double-check the location of Documents, open Command Prompt (you can search in Windows) and enter this command:
reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"
This will return the location, and as long as it doesn't say OneDrive, you can ignore anything having to do with OneDrive. You could also sign out of OneDrive entirely with no effect on your user data.
To open the correct version of Documents, first click This PC in the left panel, then double-click C, and open Users > your username.
I would suggest simply creating a symbolic link if you still want your Sims 4 folder on your secondary drive, since it's less of a change than moving Documents, but either approach should work.
tried to double check w/ command prompt and this popped up..is this normal? but i'll try the symbolic link for the sims 4
@dollsaturn You didn't copy the entire command. It starts with reg query.
tried it...is it supposed to say this?
@dollsaturn Yes, that's fine, and exactly the result you want. Your Documents directory is not in OneDrive, so you can ignore OneDrive entirely for this purpose.
Are you still trying to create the symbolic link? If so, you don't need to move the Documents folder, just the Sims 4 folder inside. Open a File Explorer window, click This PC in the left panel, double-click the C drive, and open Users > laure > Documents > Electronic Arts. Right-click the Sims 4 folder inside and select Cut, then right-click inside the folder where you want your data to go and select Paste.
When it comes to creating the symlink, the command in the guide I posted will work fine. If it doesn't, please post a screenshot of the Command Prompt window showing the command you ran and the error it returned. A screenshot just like this one you've provided now will work fine.
no i'm not creating the symbolic link again, i ended up just moving the entire electronic arts folder out of documents because the sims wouldn't open in there, but now the game doesn't read my mods or my saved games, but it does read all my packs and my ea account. am i still missing something?
@dollsaturn Yes, you're missing something. When you moved the Electronic Arts folder, you moved all your user data, and now the game can't find it. The data needs to be in the folder the game is reading.
i know that but the game doesn't open when the ea folder is in documents so that's why i moved it
@dollsaturn Then something in that folder is a problem, and you'll need to test the files to find the culprit. Start with your mods and custom content; if you have a lot of files, the 50/50 method can make the process much more efficient:
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content#The_50.25_Method
Any time the game has made a new file or folder, it's best to use that rather than your old one. For example, move files into the Mods folder rather than reusing your old Mods folder or Resource.cfg.
did that, deleted a bunch of copy files that onedrive made, but now it won't read my saves and mods. i moved it back to documents and it opened, so that's another step forward, but is there something else?
@dollsaturn Are you saying that the game currently won't read your saves or mods, or that you put them back and now they work? If they're not showing up, that's because they're not in the folder the game is reading, as in, this one:
https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2018/07/how-to-find-your-user-folder/
But please don't put everything back at once. Instead, test your mods in batches, or use the 50/50 method linked previously to figure out which mods are still safe to use and which are broken. Once you've done that, you can restore your saves.
If the saves themselves don't show even when you've confirmed they're in the correct folder, please post a screenshot of the contents of that saves folder: I'd like to see the save names themselves. And please make absolutely sure you're in exactly the right folder. Your computer has multiple Documents folders, each in a slightly different location, and it's easy to open the wrong one by mistake.
i'm saying i put the ea folder back into documents because originally i moved it to the desktop, but the desktop wouldn't read my saved games or mods, so i moved it back. now it's in documents and doing the same thing it did in desktop. the saves are in documents btw
@dollsaturn The second screenshot shows where the game itself is installed and is irrelevant here. Instead, please go in-game and find the full file path to the user folder, as described here:
https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2018/07/how-to-find-your-user-folder/
Please list that full file path. Then right-click one of the saves in your screenshot, select Properties > General, and list the Location. The two need to match exactly.
The file names look fine, so the problem is likely the location.
they don't match 😟 i turned off onedrive because it kept deleting files for no reason
@dollsaturn Right, so your saves are still in the wrong location. Please open a File Explorer window and navigate to the saves folder in your second screenshot. Then open a second File Explorer window (while the first stays open), click This PC in the left panel, double-click the C drive, and open Users > your username > Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > saves.
Move one save file, a file that ends in .save as opposed to .verx, from the first saves folder to the second, and see whether it loads in-game. (It should.) If it does, repeat for your other saves. You can ignore the files that end in .verx if you want, or put them aside—these are the game's automatic backups, and you can turn them into usable saves by deleting the .verx. But you don't need to do that if the standard save files all work.
it worked!!! can i do the same method to my mods folder?
@dollsaturn Yes, you can. But if adding back your mods and custom content causes the game to stop working, you'll need to sort through those files to find the problem. If you have a lot of them, the 50/50 method can make the process much more efficient:
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content#The_50.25_Method
Hey! My game is apparently reading from the right location after I checked from the screen capture thing and I can still see the saves folder in the Electronic arts folder that the game is running so why is the game still not reading my saves? I was playing this morning and my Onedrive was full and it wasn't letting me download any more mods so i unsynced it and removed it from one drive. please help lol im panicking
@GamingG0804 Thanks for the screenshots. You can see the problem by comparing the file paths in the second and third ones:
C:\Users\your username\Documents etc.
C:\Documents etc.
Move your saves to the first location above, and they should show up again.
Thanks for the fast reply!!! So I tried moving the saves to that location instead and it's showing me this.
@GamingG0804 What exactly are you trying to move, and to where? For example, if you drag an invididual save from one saves folder to the other, does it work?
I'm trying to move only the saves folder from the previous location into the electronic arts folder from which the game is running. So basically, the saves folder which is in C:\Documents etc., im only trying to move that one folder into C:\Users\your username\Documents\Electronic Arts or into Electronic Arts> The Sims 4. I haven't tried moving an individual save.
