Despite having been around for a lengthy 7 years, The Sims 4 shows little slowdown in popularity. Indeed, during the last year its popularity surged again.
Amongst the fans is my youngest daughter, who plays it pretty much daily. However, being the in-house IT Help Desk means that I’ve been called many times to help out with it, particularly when it comes to installing third party mods. And, recently, she’s moved from Windows to Mac, which meant moving the game too.
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Thankfully, we bought the game on Origin (in fact I got it when it was available for free), which means that we have the game on both platforms – so, downloading the game onto the Mac was the easy part. The trickier part – how do you get your saved games and mods from one computer to another? Whether you transfer Sims 4 saves to another computer on the same platform (e.g. Windows to Windows) or across them (e.g. Windows to Mac), thankfully it’s relatively easy.
Wait, what about consoles?
Whilst The Sims 4 is available on both PlayStation and Xbox, the files aren’t accessible so you’re not able to transfer data elsewhere. This process only works to transfer Sims 4 saves to another computer.
What you’ll need
Here’s a list of the things that you’ll need to transfer everything over…
- A method of transferring data – this could be a USB memory stick or, for example, Dropbox ( or any other cloud storage platform)
And that’s it. I did say it was simple.
Transferring the data
The key to transferring data is knowing where it’s stored. As it turns out, whether on Mac or PC, the format is the same so the files are totally interchangeable. Not only that but the folder location is the same too!
On the original computer
- Open Windows Explorer or Finder and head to
Documents -> Electronic Arts -> The Sims 4 - Copy the following folders to your transfer method (the aforementioned Dropbox, memory stick, etc.)…
Mods– this is where ‘Custom Content’ is stored. If you don’t use this, you don’t need to copy thissaves– this is where your saved Sims 4 games have been placedScreenshots– if you’ve saved in-game screenshots, then they’ll be put in this folder
On the new computer
- Copy the previously saved files into the folder
Documents -> Electronic Arts -> The Sims 4 - If it asks you if you want to overwrite the existing files then say ‘Yes’
Now start Sims 4 on the new computer and check the content is there.
Checking your Custom Content
If the Custom Content appears to be missing then it may have been switched off. Here’s how you turn it back on:
- Whilst running Sims 4, go into Settings
- Now select Game Options -> Other
- Ensure the option named “Enable Custom Content and Mods” is ticked
- If you had to change anything, now hit the “Apply Changes” button
If that didn’t work then you may need to remove a file from your computer.
- Head into
Documents -> Electronic Arts -> The Sims 4 -> Mods - Look for a file named
Resource.cfgand delete it - Restart The Sims 4 and perform the above check again to ensure that Custom Content is switched on
Hopefully, it should now work.
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I deleted the resource.cfg file, and now my Sims window isn’t right and the game doesn’t run properly.
What if you have game files on more than one pc already? For example, I started playing on a laptop. When I bought a new desktop I mistakenly thought the files would be there, because you know, Internet. Anyway, after I figured out nothing transfers, I had two computers with two separate game files. I want to put everything on the desktop computer without losing any of the files. What would be the best way to do that?
Which information do you have repeated? Customer content, game saves, etc.?
They are all different save files. What I want to do is keep my library and all the houses, etc that I built and move it from a laptop to my PC which also has the game installed but with different save files.
I don’t care that much about the games themselves but I want to keep the library content from the laptop. How can I move all of that without it conflicting with what is already on my PC?
Thanks. Can you just confirm what you mean by “library content”?
By library content I mean, the content that’s in my library via the Gallery. All of the sims I’ve made, the buildings/lots. I don’t want to lose those. If I lost the actual games (or gameplay) from them, I’d be bummed but to lose the hard work I put into CAS and lots, that’s what I don’t want. I hope that makes more sense.
Does the “saves” only include the things you have saved in your gallery or are the whole games in there? If not is there a way to transfer the whole gameplays?
I believe it should be everything Nelli – that folder should include anything specific to you, including game saves, galleries, mods, etc.
What about a Tray, should we copy that too?
hello, i wanted to mention what hasn’t worked in the past before i try this just to make sure i don’t get the same result. i have ubuntu 20.04 and downloaded sims on steam. i made sure the game ran ok before copying my files, i have done it before on another computer (both mac), and it worked out by replacing the entire sims 4 folder on the new computer. i tried it, on this computer, but the game doesn’t launch anymore, and i get a message saying the game isn’t downloaded. i uninstalled and re installed, so i’m able to run it again. would your method give me a different result?
Does this work if I switch from a Mac to windows (or vice versa)?
It does. I successfully transferred my daughter’s Sims 4 files from Windows to Mac using this process.