Moved to new Win 11 PC - saves and mods not working

[BobMoo16]

I fixed the issue.  Summary follows.  Useful reading for Win 11 users:

 

1.  The "Documents" folder that you can see in file explorer is actually the cloud version.

2.  However, the local Documents folder is the one you need (as always) for mods, saves, etc.

3.  Win 11 goes out of its way to obscure which one you're working with; either showing only the cloud version by default and/or insisting on backing up the local to the cloud version by default.  I tried pinning the local Documents folder to its usual spot, but Win 11 would not allow that.  But, it did allow me to pin the EA Games folder from within the local documents folder, thus I was able to put the files into the right locations at last.

 

 

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Hi All,

 

Just built a new Win 11, PC, and am hoping to port over my saves and mods from my older, Win 8.1 PC.  Unfortunately, my current Sims 4 setup is not only not recognizing any mods at all, it's also ignoring my saves.  But it took a while to get to that point; it worked...very briefly, then stopped.

 

Let me step through what I tried / what transpired:

 

1.  EA app download, install, login and Sims 4 install went just fine.

2.  Copied over my saves and mods into appropriate folders, in the usual Documents-->EA Games folders.

3.  Game ran normally, showing savegames.  BUT I got a warning message from Wicked Whims that the main WW script file was not where it should be.

4.  Exited the Sims.  I checked for the mod; it was there as expected.  Re-ran.

5.  About this time, I perceived (as I am new to Win 11) that something weird might be going on with OneDrive cloud backups, which by default happen for desktop and documents folders.  The process got caught in the middle (probably because I was running and exiting the Sims) and it was complaining about having to delete files from the cloud.  I turned off these cloud backups.  But, it occurred to me that maybe Windows was doing something funky to the files I had physically copied over to Documents, because of its default urge to back them up.

 

6.  Re-ran the Sims.  Same deal, with WW throwing an error.  I figured, maybe in the Sims 4 settings I need to turn on the "allow script mods" setting in addition to "allow mods."

7.  This time, re-running Sims 4, the save file I had been testing, and all other saves, were not available.  Exiting and checking the directories, they're sitting there, as before.

8.  Rebooted, etc.  No change; all the mods and save files appear to be right where they should be, but the game is pretending like they're not.

 

9.  Saw a post on this forum about deleting the localthumbcache.package .  Did so.  No change.

 

So, it appears that something has happened to the files in Documents -> EA Games to make them inaccessible to the game.  Or a setting has been flipped (you know, the magic "don't make the game work" setting.)   Could be related to OneDrive.  Was not fixed by a reboot.  Next up, I'll just copy these files back over, overwriting the stuff I had previously copied, because maybe some config file in there will allow things to work.  I dunno.

 

Incidentally, in the middle of all this, I had inadvertently unplugged my USB mic and plugged it back in, with the result that my PC stopped making sound through the speakers.  (Win 11 magically decided that the sound output should be switched to the mic I had just plugged in, which is a mic, not a speaker.  As you can see, I'm struggling with getting Win 11 under control.)

 

Thanks for any ideas you might have.  I will update here if/when I find any solutions.

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by BobMoo16

[BobMoo16]

OK, two updates:

a.  Copied over all the mod and savegame files to Documents --> EA Games as before.  No change.

b.  Decided to start a new (modless) game anyway.  Saved game.  It did not appear in Documents --> EA Games.

 

Making me start to wonder if Windows 11 install of The Sims puts saves and mods into a different location.  That could explain a bit.  But I don't know why I briefly saw my old savegames and mods.  

 

Even more horrifying is the thought that (maybe) sims savegames are being sent to the clould version of my Documents folder.  Which should not happen, ever, but I'm past the point of disbelief now.

Edited December 16, 2022 by BobMoo16

[Crazy Doll]

24 minutes ago, BobMoo16 said:

Making me start to wonder if Windows 11 install of The Sims puts saves and mods into a different location.  That could explain a bit.  But I don't know why I briefly saw my old savegames and mods.  

 

 I'm under win 11, saves and mods folders are in my documents/EA/The Sims 4 at the exact same location than older versions of windows.

 

I suspect you dragged/dropped the folders, and not puted saves and mods/CCs in existing ones try to remove both, run the game, save and quit to let the game create these folders by its own and then do the transfert.

Edited December 16, 2022 by Crazy Doll

[BobMoo16]

Something like that.  Please see my original post for the fix.  Thanks for the reply!