transfer sims 4 to hard drive, tips?

[redstarmoo]

 i plan on transferring my sims 4 game to an 1tb external hard drive (which i do not have yet). i have SO many questions:

- what can i/can i not delete off of my computer entirely once the game is on my external hard drive?

- how do i make sure my saves are kept within the game?

- do i just transfer the saves file from documents>ea>sims 4>saves  directly to my hard drive?

- (this one is probably a dumb question, but i'm not a technologically proficient person AT ALL) do i have to keep the origin application on my pc? 

the sims 4 takes up 20gb of storage so i really want to conserve as much space on my laptop as possible.

any help is appreciated!

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@redstarmoo  Sims 4 data is stored in two different places.  The game's program files are wherever you installed them, by default Program files (x86)\Origin Games.  You can uninstall from there and reinstall to your external hard drive, or move the files directly to the drive through Origin's Move Game function.  When it works, it should transfer and verify the install files in one step, so you don't have to redownload.  In any case, make sure you're installing to a folder within the external, as in D:\Origin games or something similar.

Your user-generated and -downloaded content is stored in the Sims 4 folder in Documents\Electronic Arts.  The game will only read this folder if it's in its proper place.  So moving your saves, or the whole Sims 4 folder, to the external drive won't work.  There's a way to redirect all of Documents to the external, but this isn't a good idea unless you plan on never unplugging the external at all.  It's much better to leave the Sims 4 folder on your internal drive instead.

The TS4 folder in Documents isn't usually that large anyway, unless you use a lot of custom content.  If you have a number of saves you're not currently playing, or old saved sims and households you don't currently need, you can move those files to the external drive instead.  (Saved Library entries are in the Tray folder.)  Just be sure to put them back when you want to play them again.

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@redstarmoo  Sims 4 data is stored in two different places.  The game's program files are wherever you installed them, by default Program files (x86)\Origin Games.  You can uninstall from there and reinstall to your external hard drive, or move the files directly to the drive through Origin's Move Game function.  When it works, it should transfer and verify the install files in one step, so you don't have to redownload.  In any case, make sure you're installing to a folder within the external, as in D:\Origin games or something similar.

Your user-generated and -downloaded content is stored in the Sims 4 folder in Documents\Electronic Arts.  The game will only read this folder if it's in its proper place.  So moving your saves, or the whole Sims 4 folder, to the external drive won't work.  There's a way to redirect all of Documents to the external, but this isn't a good idea unless you plan on never unplugging the external at all.  It's much better to leave the Sims 4 folder on your internal drive instead.

The TS4 folder in Documents isn't usually that large anyway, unless you use a lot of custom content.  If you have a number of saves you're not currently playing, or old saved sims and households you don't currently need, you can move those files to the external drive instead.  (Saved Library entries are in the Tray folder.)  Just be sure to put them back when you want to play them again.

[redstarmoo]

thank you for the clarification! just to make sure, i have to keep the origin application on my pc for the sims to function right?

regardless, i'll be sure to follow through with your answer when i get my hard drive

[puzzlezaddict]

@redstarmoo  You can usually install Origin on an external drive as well, although some people find it doesn't work properly.  If you want to move Origin, be sure to put it within its own folder on the external, so if you need to uninstall it, you won't also accidentally uninstall anything else.  And be sure to uninstall Origin "the hard way" before reinstalling it elsewhere.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/

But since Origin is a relatively small app (around 350 MB), it might be easier to leave it where it is.

[redstarmoo]

thank you!!!

[cosmoblivion]

Okay...sounds simple enough... but I am so worried I will mess this up!

I have run out of room on my main hard drive & have plenty of room on my external hard drive.

I just don't want to lose all my hard work, like I did when my old computer's hard drive failed.

Designing lots, especially residential homes is my fave passtime in sims 4...

then I enjoy sharing them when I know they're polished.

Already planning to leave the Origin launcher on my main hard drive.

I just want to move sims 4 with my saves most especially.

So, am I reading your instructions correctly... ? that I can uninstall the game;

then, reinstall but choose the folder (created for TS4) on my external hard drive to install the game to?

Because that sounds the simplest.

I've checked & TS4 is taking 15.4GB on my hard drive.

(To be honest, DAI is taking the most at 36GB).

Thanks so much for your willingness to share your experiences with this.

[puzzlezaddict]

@cosmoblivion  Yes, you can install Sims 4 on the external hard drive just as you described.  You may also be able to simply instruct Origin to move the game files to the external:  right-click on the Sims 4 icon, select Move Game, and pick the folder you want to use.  But this doesn't always work, so be prepared to fully uninstall.

What you can't really do is redirect the active game folder, with saves, builds, and other content, to your external drive.  That folder needs to always be in Documents\Electronic Arts, or the game won't read it.  While it's possible to move the entire Documents folder to an external drive, that's not a good idea unless you plan on never unplugging that drive.

You can however back up the Sims 4 folder in Documents\Electronic Arts to your external drive, however many times you want.  Or you can copy the Tray folder, which contains your saved builds and households.  There's no harm in having lots of backups, and you can move any content back to your internal hard drive when you'd like to use it again.

[cosmoblivion]

Thanks so much @puzzlezaddict ! I appreciate your specific answer to my question. You are very kind. 

[yesimjill]

hello! i'm having an issue and was wondering if you could help. so i plan to move my sims 4 files onto an external hard drive, to have more room for custom content. i did research and was pretty sure i knew what to do, change the Origin Installation path. everything was going fine at first when i uninstalled Sims 4 and changed the path. i was pretty sure it would work, but when i reinstalled sims, it redownloaded in the documents file, under Electronic arts. i tried to put Electronic arts in the external hard drive, nut it wont work, any advice?

[yesimjill]

ightve found the solution, found the move game, thing, will update if that doesnt work either.