Custom Content will not show up with Sims4 on external drive

[laijahd]

Hi, so I’ve downloaded sims 4 on my external drive because of low storage due to custom content and my custom content now does not show in the game. I’ve even uninstalled and redownloaded Sims 4 and tried to move it to the external drive but the custom content still does not show. I’ve made a complete mess , should I restart my whole computer? And if so what would be the correct way to download sims 4 on an external drive and the content actually shows 

[puzzlezaddict]

@laijahd  There are two separate locations for Sims 4 content, and they need to be handled differently.  The game's program files, those that Origin installs, can just be installed to the external drive, and if Sims 4 runs, you've handled that fine.

But that doesn't cover custom content, which is stored in the Documents directory.  If you simply move the Sims 4 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts. or move the Mods folder inside it, the game won't read the folder in its new location and will instead spawn a new instance of that folder, one with new content.  The solution here is to create a symbolic link within the Documents directory pointing to the location of the Sims 4 folder on your external.  Please see this guide for details:

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

From your description, I don't think you need to wipe your computer and start from scratch.  However, when creating the symlink, please be very careful to get the commands exactly right—one small typo can ruin the whole process.

[laijahd]

I think I’ve done something wrong , my document folder is no longer documents it’s basically a shortcut to my external drive , I have no saved data except cc on sims should I still NOT restart because the cc still isn’t working.

[puzzlezaddict]

@laijahd  Please undo the process and start over.  You're not supposed to redirect the Documents directory, just the Sims 4 folder (or the Electronic Arts folder) inside.  Having Documents on an external drive will make Windows extremely unhappy should the drive ever be disconnected.

[MarMarDinah15]

Do I still do the full process in this guide AFTER I've installed the sims 4 on my external hard drive? When I cut The Sims 4 folder from my document and pasted it on to the external hard drive it disappeared. I'm assuming it combined with the already existing folder on the external hard drive?

[puzzlezaddict]

@MarMarDinah15  Your Sims 4 user files may well have gone into the folder for the game's program files, and I would sort that out before doing anything else.  At the very least, grab the saves and Tray folders so you've preserved your saves and saved households and builds.

You can create the symbolic link before or after you've moved the game's program files, or without moving them to the external at all.  But one critical detail is that you need to have the program files and the user files in separate folders.  You can't just dump everything into D:\The Sims 4 and hope it works.  Create another folder on your external, call it whatever you want, and direct the game to look for the user folder there, for example D:\Game Data\The Sims 4.

[katie51609]

I’m just wondering if you know how to fix my issue, my sims game works perfectly fine, no issues there, however when trying to add my cc I’m struggling as it doesn’t appear in game, I’m also using the EA app since origin doesn’t work on my device anymore, I also have an external hard drive ; I have no idea how to get my cc in game, since when I try to add it to the mods folder nothing happens / it doesn’t appear in my game

[puzzlezaddict]

@katie51609  Sims 4 will still read and write to the user folder in Documents > Electronic Arts regardless of where you've installed the game.  If you're already looking there, please make sure the file path to your Mods folder exactly matches the file path you see in-game:

https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2018/07/how-to-find-your-user-folder/

If you do want to move the user folder to your external drive, you'll need to create a symbolic link to tell the game where to look:

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

[katie51609]

I appreciate the help however i think due to my type of laptop maybe the https://crinrict.com/blog/2020/02/moving-windows-documents-folder-to-external-drive-via-symbolic-lin...

didn't work, again I could be doing something wrong but i tried following it step by step, whenever i tried to make an empty text file (  MKLINK /J “%UserProfile%\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\The Sims 4”  ) it would say 'A file name can't contain any of the following characters' . Again, thank you for the help you have given but my brain is malfunctioning lol

[puzzlezaddict]

@katie51609  Why are you trying to change the name of the text file?  The name doesn't matter; the point of opening the text file is so you can modify the command for your purposes, and check your work, before inputting it into Command Prompt.