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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 28th Jul 2019 at 8:07 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Supernatural, Seasons, University Life, Island Paradise, Into the Future
Default Moving Game Files from (D) to (C) Drive
Hello,

My game (22.8 GB) is currently installed in my D drive which is a regular hard drive, and after some cleaning up in my C Drive (which is an SSD), I now have 30+ GB free space inside where I want to place my Sims 3 game files. The save games, mods etc are already in the SSD, as they were under My Documents inside C: in the beginning. Now I would really like to move or redirect the core game files to C:, if possible. I read around a bit but people seemed to suggest uninstalling and re-installing, whereas I'd really not prefer doing that, if I can avoid it. I would rather simply re-direct the game if it saves me from re-installing.

Edit: I'm at patch 1.67 and Origin isn't involved.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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Scholar
#2 Old 28th Jul 2019 at 8:22 PM
short way: reinstall
long way: hunt down registry keys for each installed component and correct theirs values for a new location.
hint: they will be under #Software/Electronic Arts branch in several places (Generic, CURRENT_USER, USERS) - I have no idea of which one is actually used (it should be an actual user and maybe general one, but it's Windows, "brain not included" approach) so you'd need to correct each instance.


favorite quote: "When ElaineNualla is posting..I always read..Nutella. I am sorry" by Rosebine
self-claimed "lower-spec simmer"
Inventor
#3 Old 28th Jul 2019 at 9:05 PM
Without needing to uninstall: Install Link Shell Extension, cut your Electronic Arts folder from D to C, right click on the folder and select Pick Link Source, go to D:\Program Files\ (or whatever it was previously installed) and right click on empty space, select DROP AS -> Symbolic Link. Note: If you have other games in D inside the Electronic Arts folder, you may need to copy The Sims 3 and each EP separately.

Best way if you have the Steam version: Just launch Steam, uninstalled the game and reinstall (select C as the drive on which you want to install it). Wait until Steam finishes installing the game and all packs, Launch the game through Steam once so it creates all the registry keys. Now you can run the game from the TS3W.exe program and skip the Steam Launcher and The Sims 3 Launcher altogether. Steam version is DRM free.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 28th Jul 2019 at 11:36 PM
Is the 30 GB all that you have for free space on the C drive? Windows itself requires 35 GB of free space (give or take) to function properly, and the game requires some free space in which to maneuver as well. If this is all the drive space you have to spare, then the drive is not a good candidate for having the game installed on it.
Scholar
#6 Old 29th Jul 2019 at 2:27 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Gargoyle Cat
What is the proper way to install on a SSD? I tried it once awhile back; it didn't work. I was given errors although I couldn't tell you what they were as it was almost a year ago.


There's nothing special; for the system it's just another drive (in Windows it will be C: D:, whatever, in *ux - just a space however you mount it). What went wrong?

as @nitromon said - linking is not optimal (though it would work), it add a bit of latency and ofc it will still spin HDD, which - especially if put into one of the energy saving/safe mode (HDD parks its heads if the drive has nothing to do, then slows down plate(s),then sleeps itself), even if not completely sleeping additionally slow things down.

And one thing to OP - how much free space is on this ssd (C: )? It's in general unwise to fill ssds more than >75%, aside potential errors and cell wear problem, which may become problem when the drive is filled too much, they start to work slower at this point (depends of model and firmware). Also - the system drive (C: ) in Windows is constantly in use and - you did not tell us what Windows it is - in W10 it's like *USE*, so you'll loose some speed and efficiency.


favorite quote: "When ElaineNualla is posting..I always read..Nutella. I am sorry" by Rosebine
self-claimed "lower-spec simmer"
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 29th Jul 2019 at 5:15 PM
Hello everyone! I hope it's okay to ask a question here, because it's not my thread. I bought a new ssd and i want to reinstall sims on that ssd.
Last year i replaced the featured items folder with a text document (there was a tutorial how to do that, but i cant remember where anymore). My question: Can I delete the featured items folder in the newly created sims 3 folder with the text document or do I have to go through that tutorial again?
I hope my question is understandable.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 29th Jul 2019 at 5:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Fluse
Hello everyone! I hope it's okay to ask a question here, because it's not my thread. I bought a new ssd and i want to reinstall sims on that ssd.
Last year i replaced the featured items folder with a text document (there was a tutorial how to do that, but i cant remember where anymore). My question: Can I delete the featured items folder in the newly created sims 3 folder with the text document or do I have to go through that tutorial again?
I hope my question is understandable.

You can use the same text document replacement for the FeaturedItems folder to get the game to leave it all alone when setting up a new or copied over TS3 user game folder on a new drive. But the trick to create one if you wish isn't all that involved.

Using Notepad or any text program you like, create a text document called FeaturedItems with a .txt, .rtf, or really any extension. With Windows set to show extensions in file names, lop off the extension part so that the file is just called FeaturedItems (no extension). Replace the FeaturedItems folder with this document.
Scholar
#9 Old 2nd Aug 2019 at 12:29 AM
Lol I would just copy paste everything and then cry after it blows up in my face. After which I will proceed to uninstall then reinstall.

But anyway uninstalling and reinstalling will be the safest way. Also it's not as time confusing as people think.

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