Sims 4 External Hard Drive Issues [ Edited ]

[ohjosiek]

Hi all! I recently (like a few minutes ago) moved my Sims 4 game to an external hard drive because I ran out of space on my laptop. I followed instructions online to move the game from Origin to the hard drive. After I moved it and clicked play in Origin I got a message, see the attachment. I am willing to do whatever I need to get the game working again!

I have a Lenovo Yoga 730-15IWL with Windows 11 installed. As for the hard drive, I don't have info on it because it was a gift from my boyfriend

Thank you for the help!

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@ohjosiek  The file in your error is a part of the newest VC++ runtimes, which Sims 4 uses.  So please uninstall your current versions, if you have them, and install fresh copies.  Hit Windows key-i, select Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables, click on any version from 2015 or later, and select Uninstall.  Don't touch the older versions.  You can download the newest runtimes directly from Microsoft:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-US/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

You'll need both the x86 and x64 versions of the 2015-2022 runtimes, but you can skip the ARM version, which is for a different class of device.  Restart your computer after installing and before trying to play.

If this doesn't help, please link the instructions you used for moving Sims 4 to the external drive so I can see exactly how you did it.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@ohjosiek  The file in your error is a part of the newest VC++ runtimes, which Sims 4 uses.  So please uninstall your current versions, if you have them, and install fresh copies.  Hit Windows key-i, select Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables, click on any version from 2015 or later, and select Uninstall.  Don't touch the older versions.  You can download the newest runtimes directly from Microsoft:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-US/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

You'll need both the x86 and x64 versions of the 2015-2022 runtimes, but you can skip the ARM version, which is for a different class of device.  Restart your computer after installing and before trying to play.

If this doesn't help, please link the instructions you used for moving Sims 4 to the external drive so I can see exactly how you did it.

[ohjosiek]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you for this! I'm following your instructions right now. One quick question: when I download the runtimes, where should I download them to? Do I put it under "This PC" or do I put it somewhere else?

[puzzlezaddict]

@ohjosiek  You're actually downloading the installers, not the runtimes, so you can put the installers wherever you want.  When you run the installers, they'll install the data to the appropriate location.

However, it's probably best to leave the installers on your internal drive rather than moving them to the external.  You can delete them once you've installed the runtimes.

[ohjosiek]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you so much! Got my game up and working again!

[muellerlamicka]

Hello I am having the same issue but am a little confused on which ones to delete so I have attached a screenshot. I f you could please tell me which ones to delete that would be so awesome!!

Thanks

P.S. The second screenshot is the ones to download from Microsoft. I f you can tell me what to download please.....

[puzzlezaddict]

@muellerlamicka  The answer would be to uninstall the last two VC++ runtimes listed and download the x86 and x64 versions (not the first one, the other two) that Microsoft offers.

However, you shouldn't be getting this error with the runtimes you already have installed.  Do you see exactly the same error, right down to the numbers before the .dll extension?  If not, please don't uninstall anything; just post a screenshot of the error.  If you're sure it's exactly the same, then go ahead and uninstall and reinstall the runtimes.