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[tylorxmalcolm]

I’ve seen posts about how to properly switch the sims 4 files to a SSD hard drive, but none on how to fix it if you’ve already switched it the wrong way. 

My question is, how do I get the game to play from my hard drive after I already copy and pasted then deleted all the files from the original drive?

I didn’t know that you couldn’t just copy and paste the files into the hard drive until after I had already done it. 

Thanks in advance!

[Bluebellflora]

@tylorxmalcolm

The actual installed game or your user data such as saves and Mods?

Mac or Windows PC?

[tylorxmalcolm]

Windows PC and the actual installed game plus user data is gone. I had to redownload the installed game and when I did, all of my user data was missing.

[puzzlezaddict]

@tylorxmalcolm  There are two separate processes here.  You can install the game's program files on your external drive if you want, and this is as simple as choosing a different install location within Origin or the EA App.

To move your user data to a secondary drive, you need to use a symbolic link to tell the game where to look for the Sims 4 user folder, the one that is normally located in Documents > Electronic Arts.  Here's how:

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

If you still have your previous Sims 4 folder on the external drive, you can use the symbolic link to direct the game to read it.  If you don't have that folder but still have the saves and other user content, create the symlink, test the game to make sure it works, and then place the files you want to keep in the new Sims 4 folder on the external.

[tylorxmalcolm]

When I attempt to do this I'm getting "the system cannot find the path specified." I'm not sure if this is because I wasn't able to do the first steps (cutting and pasting the sims 4 document into the SSD folder) because I had already copy, pasted, and deleted the files from the original folder. I tried to change the game location settings, which just made me redownload the game without my saves available. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@tylorxmalcolm  The game location setting only covers the location of the game's program files, not the user folder.  The point of the symlink is to redirect the user folder; it doesn't have anything to do with where the program files are located.

For the symbolic link, try using the full file path in the command instead of %userprofile%.  To confirm the file path, you can right-click the folder where you want the symlink to go and select Properties > General, then find the Location.  So, for example, perhaps this is where you want the symlink to go:

C:\Users\Fakename\Documents\Electronic Arts

The command would then become this:

MKLINK /J “C:\Users\Fakename\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “E:\The Sims 4”

Except that you'll change the E:\The Sims 4 to the correct location for your Sims 4 user folder, wherever you've pasted it.

If this doesn't help, please post a screenshot of the command prompt window after you've run the commands so I can take a look.  Please also list the full file path to the Sims 4 user folder, wherever you've placed it.

[roberta591]

@tylorxmalcolm NOTE:  When you use symbolic link DO NOT delete the source folder. There is an invisible system file created in the source folder that the operating system looks for. If you delete the source folder the operating system won't know where to look for the destination.