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BabyForPree's avatar
BabyForPree
3 years ago

Sims 4 directory folder changed

I'm not sure why, perhaps it was a Windows 10 update?

I opened the Sims 4 via Origin today and all my mods/saves/settings etc were not found. They are still in their original folders (not deleted) but the game didn't find them. I thought it might be related to the new ea app, so I installed that but the problem remains.

I copied my saves over from where I have them installed (D drive) into the empty folder on the C drive and now the game finds them, but I don't want to put 20+gb of saves and mods etc on my C drive, I want to point the game at the same folder it always has for the past 4 years.

Can I do that? Can I change where the game looks for the save/mod files?

pc

8 Replies

  • DeanXeL's avatar
    DeanXeL
    3 years ago
    @BabyForPree It's possibly the windows 10 update. SInce the only way to move your documents folder from C to D is by changing the windows path, maybe the windows update reverted it?

    - go to your documents folder
    - in the menu with the quick access on the left, right click the documents folder
    - select properties
    - go to the location tab
    - change location
  • BabyForPree's avatar
    BabyForPree
    3 years ago
    @DeanXeL is it not possible to do it only for Sims folders? I have many important things pinned/shortcuts etc from the documents folder, and changing the location messes with these. I'm also worried this action is going to have negative effects on other programs/games that I can't think of right now. I like my documents where they are :/
  • DeanXeL's avatar
    DeanXeL
    3 years ago
    @BabyForPree yes you can, by creating a symbolic link for the folder, but it's quite elaborate and a little less reliable.
    Origin/EA app only allows to change the location of your game (not the saves) and windows only has an inherent way to change the entire directory, not elements in it. And since you mentioned you've had it before, I figured that's how it could have been. 🙂
  • BabyForPree's avatar
    BabyForPree
    3 years ago
    @jpkarlsen the other issues i brought up still remain, and I didn't necessarily mean Windows' definition of shortcuts.
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @BabyForPree  It sounds like a symbolic link is the best option for your current setup.  They're quite reliable, as long as you're careful with the syntax, and not all that complicated to make.

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

    As for why this happened in the first place, what was your original setup?  There's no way that Sims 4 would have automatically read your user data if it was outside of your Documents directory, which makes me think perhaps you had a symlink set up in the first place and it was recently deleted.  As to how or why that happened, I can only speculate, but OneDrive is often the culprit when unwanted changes are made to the contents of Documents.

    What other issues are you seeing right now, aside from your user data not being read?

  • BabyForPree's avatar
    BabyForPree
    3 years ago
    @puzzlezaddict hello, I've always had my user data in a folder called "Sims 4" on my D drive. That's where I put them and they have always worked.

    It was only when I tried to play today that the game appeared as if I had never played it before (no saves/mods available), and I can see that it's spawned a folder in my C drive Documents>electronic arts>sims 4. This folder and all of it's (mostly empty) content has today's date. It was created today automatically I guess. I've never used that location before and have no experience with symbolic links.

    I am wondering if reinstalling the Sims would help. Perhaps it asked me where I would like to install this stuff when I first installed it years ago, and I chose my D drive... I forget. Then for whatever reason it decided to do this today. I have not deleted or changed anything since the last time I logged in. Maybe reinstalling it would prompt asking again where to install?
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @BabyForPree  Sims 4 doesn't ask where you want user data stored, nor does the game launcher you use to install it.  The game is programmed to always look in Documents > Electronic Arts.  So no, reinstalling won't help.

    I don't know what to tell you except that you must have done something specific to direct the game to your folder on D.  Without being able to look at your system myself, it would be silly to speculate; I only know that this is not and has never been the default behavior.

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