Sims 3 (and 4) being saved to One Drive not C Drive by default

[Deklitch]

Hi,

Just recently discovered my one drive is full.

When I investigated why, I discovered that all of my Sims 3 (and 4) files went onto my OneDrive and not onto my C: like on every other occasion.

Is there anyway for me to move them to C:/<user>/Documents/Electronic Arts instead of OneDrive and to tell Sims 3/4 to save to the C:/ location in the future.

Many thanks,

Dek

[MrsFlynn]

It's been suggested to turn off OneDrive for Origin, Sims 4, and Sims 3 as the neither game will recognize files from OneDrive. For the game to recognize the files, they have to be in the Documents/Electronic Arts folder.

If you're using the Origin version of the games you would change the install location via Origin for both games and moving the Electronic Arts folder would move both user folders for Sims 3 and 4.

I have OneDrive turned off for everything, but if you don't want to do that you should be able to turn it off just for Origin, Sims 4 and Sims 3.

I'm sharing a few links that might be helpful, as it sounds like you want to either change the install location or move the Electronic Arts folder?

Turn off, disable, or uninstall OneDrive
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Change the Install Location for both games via Origin
https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=29295.msg401673#post_CL

Move the Electronic Arts Folder via Windows
https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=29295.msg401673#post_MEAF

[Deklitch]

Thanks Mrs Flynn, I think it is both of those things and I will turn off the onedrive for Origin/Sims 4.

I'm amazed I didn't pick up that it wasn't saving to my desktop hard drive sooner.

Dek

[Deklitch]

A further question Mrs Flynn ... is it the same process for Sims 3 as well as Sims 4 (Sims 3 being my main concern)

[Deklitch]

Oh ... I found the answer to the Sims 3 part of the question ...

https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/How-do-I-move-EA-folder-from-OneDrive/td-p/5821160

[MrsFlynn]

I'm thinking yes if you're using Origin you would change the install location via Origin for both games and moving the Electronic Arts folder would move both user folders for Sims 3 and 4.

I have OneDrive turned off for everything, but if you don't want to do that, you should be able to turn it off for Origin, Sims 4 and Sims 3.

A further question Mrs Flynn ... is it the same process for Sims 3 as well as Sims 4 (Sims 3 being my main concern)

[Deklitch]

I found the following instructions online and they worked for me, so I thought I'd share. These instructions mean you don't need to turn off or disable or uninstall one drive, which is handy if like me you need it on your computer. I have a PC, so I don't know if these work for the MAC or not. As always use these instructions at your own risk.
===
Make a symbolic link.

1) Move the entire "The Sims 3" folder to where you want it. For example in D:\Sims3 - or, if you're like me, to "D:\The Sims 3". You need to make sure there is not a "The Sims 3" folder behind in the previous location, or it won't work. You DO, however need to leave the "Electronic Arts" folder behind.

2) Open a command console with admin rights (UAC)
a) Click the start button
b) Type CMD in the Start Search box
c) Press and Hold down [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Enter]

3) Type

Code: [Select]

mklink /J "C:\Users\username\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3" "D:\The Sims 3"Please note the inverted commas around the directory locations and replace username with your username. Obviously if you've saved it to a different letter drive "X" for example, you'd type in "X:\The Sims 3" instead of "D:\The Sims 3".

This will make a junction (symbolic hard link) to "D:\The Sim 3" from the original location. It recreates the folder you moved in the first step, but now as a symbolic link. It is like a folder level shortcut. Windows and all programs will think the files are still in "C:\Users\username\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3", but they are really in "D:\The Sims 3" now.
===

Original Post I saw: https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/34702/how-do-i-change-my-sims-3-installed-content-and-saved-games-location
Also in: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/731492/moving-the-ea-document-to-a-different-drive

It works for me, game files are on my D:, my onedrive has space for my work files again and it also worked for Sims 4 ... replace Sims 3 references in your commands for Sims 4 and I'm happier than a tribble that's just found a secret stash of grain.