Playing Sims 4 on External HD Mac

[thelordsgrace]

BluebellFlora,

Thank you for being so helpful to many people. I followed your website instructions very carefully for the symlink to my external hard drive that I formatted APFS beforehand. I gave Origin access to the external hard drive for Installs and Saves. I have not tried to run The Sims 4 yet. I have some follow up questions before I do. 

1) I decided to drag the Sims 4 from Applications to my external hard drive and it created a copy. Can I click that to play the game? 
2) Can I uninstall The Sims 4 from my computer now?
3) I have a "The Sims 4 Packs" in my applications folder. Can I drag that over to the external hard drive? Do I have to create a symlink for that too? How do I do that? 
4) Basically can I play TS4 from my external without being on my main Mac at all? My computer says TS4 is taking up 17 GB of disc space so I am trying to decrease this and create more space on my mac.
5) I want to download more expansion packs in the future. Can I save them directly onto the external hard drive? 

Thank you, 

Grace

[Bluebellflora]

@thelordsgrace 

1. No, you need to change the game library installation location in Origin > Application Settings > Installs & Saves. Mine is installed on an external. After changing the location I would download a fresh copy of the game and packs to avoid any corruption from moving apps around: 
2. After you have successfully done step 1, yes.
3. Changing the location in step 1 applies to the base game and Sims 4 Packs folder. No symlink is needed.
4. Yes. The symlink is used to move your Sims 4 user data folder containing your saves, tray etc. files to the external. Installing the game on an external doesn't require a symlink, that's why you need to do step 1.
5. Origin will do this once you have completed step 1.

Hope that helps!

[thelordsgrace]

Great! This provided the clarification I need. Thank you! 

[thelordsgrace]

hmm... I played it just great yesterday so I know it DID work. Now it is telling me Sims 4 is already running. I looked at the original instructions and the instructions of other people who had this problem too but I can't seem to find a solution. 

I put both of these in terminal originally: 

mv ~/Documents/Electronic\ Arts /Volumes/SimsHD/

ln -s /Volumes/SimsHD/Electronic\ Arts ~/Documents/

Origin AND Sims 4 have permissions to access removable volumes and folders. 

Origin still has installs and saves going to /volumes/SimsHD

In my SimsHD drive I also right clicked Get Info and made sure that everything is read and write for everyone. 

I don't get what is going on! 

[Bluebellflora]

@thelordsgrace

It sounds and looks like everything is where it should be. I don't know of any other reason it could be popping up with that error. This person posted why it was happening for them https://bluebellflora.com/saving-your-sims-4-folder-to-an-external-drive/#comment-67624 maybe that helps although you are moving the EA folder like I did.

Can you screenshot the permissions in System Preferences > Files & Folders for Origin and the game?

[thelordsgrace]

Yeah. I also do not understand. I do not have any game user data folders and I never did that command in terminal. I'm so confused. I also have a Macbook air from 2014, in macOSCatalina Version 10.15.3.

[Bluebellflora]

@thelordsgrace

Yep, that all looks good. Have you ejected the drive, restarted your Mac, plugged it back in and tried again?

10.15.7 is the latest version of Catalina. Upgrade in System Preferences and see if that helps. I'm not sure it will but not sure what else to suggest

[CC_Simlover93]

I've been following some of your steps for getting TS4 onto my SSD drive. So far, it's been working! I do have a few questions. 

1. If I uninstall and reinstall my game + the expansion pack with the new game library location, will I still lose all of my data if I do the EA file transfer through your Smylink method? 

2. At what point in this process can I delete the sims files from my internal drive?

3. Do you have a link to one post with every step/ method to complete transfer TS4 + your data successfully and fully on an external HD? I've been following alot of the post, but It seems like I learn about a new process/step that I also must do in each individual post and I don't want to leave anything out!

4. Additionally, what do I do about my expansion pack data? I notice I have a separate file that is dedicated to the sims 4 packs. 

Thank you so much, you've been extremely helpful!

[Bluebellflora]

@CC_Simlover93 

1. Game installation location and the TS4 user data folder are two completely separate entities. 
2. Which Sims files, game installation or the TS4 user data folder?
3. No but there are two distinct posts:
   1. Installing the game on an external - https://bluebellflora.com/2020/11/26/external-drive-not-showing-in-origin/
   2. Storing the Sims 4 user data folder on an external - https://bluebellflora.com/saving-your-sims-4-folder-to-an-external-drive/
4. The Sims 4 Packs folder is automatically installed with the base game and contains all the DLC. If you move this folder to a different location Origin won't think you have any DLC installed and will prompt to re-download

[CC_Simlover93]

@Bluebellflora

2. Both the game installation and user data folder, if both are successfully transferred onto the external SSD.

So, as long as I transfer my TS4 user data to the external HD, I can uninstall the game from my internal drive and reinstall the TS4 onto the external SSD without having to start over?