Can't move Sims 3 Folder

I tried to avoid making a topic on the forum but i just can't seem to find any fixes for this.

So to start, I have a split hard drive; my C drive and D drive. I wish to allocate all my games to my D drive and just save my C drive for other various computer things like downloads, music, pictures, files, etc. The very first time I tried downloading Sims, I downloaded to the C drive and moved the folder to my D drive, but it didn't work as the game refused to load up and kept saying to "reinstall base game." (Recently saw that doing this will cause the game to not work.)

I have seen a guide on how to install Sims 3 onto another drive, but I believe it was an external drive. I was able to install onto the D drive, but when trying to apply the 1.67 update, it'll only update whatever is in the C drive and not the D drive, so I get stuck with the EA Manager thing saying I need to enter a valid registration key. 

What I'm asking, is how can I put all sims 3 related files onto my D drive and still play the game properly without having any errors.

P.S. I've downloaded it before but had it on my C drive and it played fine.

Gashimon wrote:I tried to avoid making a topic on the forum but i just can't seem to find any fixes for this.

So to start, I have a split hard drive; my C drive and D drive. I wish to allocate all my games to my D drive and just save my C drive for other various computer things like downloads, music, pictures, files, etc. The very first time I tried downloading Sims, I downloaded to the C drive and moved the folder to my D drive, but it didn't work as the game refused to load up and kept saying to "reinstall base game." (Recently saw that doing this will cause the game to not work.)

I have seen a guide on how to install Sims 3 onto another drive, but I believe it was an external drive. I was able to install onto the D drive, but when trying to apply the 1.67 update, it'll only update whatever is in the C drive and not the D drive, so I get stuck with the EA Manager thing saying I need to enter a valid registration key. 

What I'm asking, is how can I put all sims 3 related files onto my D drive and still play the game properly without having any errors.

P.S. I've downloaded it before but had it on my C drive and it played fine.

Hello and welcome to the forum @Gashimon,


Simply "moving" install folders AFTER they have been installed in a certain place does not work under Windows OS. At least not for our release of TS3. 

Sorry to say that, but I strongly suggest you start afresh by uninstalling your Sims 3, re-booting the computer, and then re-installing everything (properly) on the D: drive.

Thank you and thank you again for the speedy reply. I'll try everything over from the beginning and will let you know how things go. *Crossing fingers*

Gashimon wrote:Thank you and thank you again for the speedy reply. I'll try everything over from the beginning and will let you know how things go. *Crossing fingers*

I just wanted to add that many modern cracked games can - nowadays - be moved, even after they have been installed. Meaning, these games are "fully portable". But our Sims 3 release is still based on the old system, and you really need to go through the proper installation, for our stuff.

Take your time, and no rush. Good luck!

During the base game installer, it prompted me to select the folder with Disk1 that has in the data. Is it supposed to only prompt once? I only got the prompt to choose disk1 and not the StartDisk one, though, it says in the guide it should ask for both of them.

Hey, i did the same thing in the beginning with changing the location from Drive C to D. You have to uninstall from drive C and than use Custom when it comes to installing the game and choose your folder in D drive. It look me 3 hours to do so

Gashimon wrote:During the base game installer, it prompted me to select the folder with Disk1 that has in the data. Is it supposed to only prompt once? I only got the prompt to choose disk1 and not the StartDisk one, though, it says in the guide it should ask for both of them.

Did you use WinRAR for extraction of the two .ISO images, that are inside the .RAR ?

I did. I then went into the StartDisk folder and opened the installer in there. During the installer, it asked me to select the folder with the required data. I selected the folder and the install continued.

Gashimon wrote:I did. I then went into the StartDisk folder and opened the installer in there. During the installer, it asked me to select the folder with the required data. I selected the folder and the install continued.

You should normally "Mount" those .ISO images properly; if you are having further difficulties, have a look at the guide here:
https://goo.gl/tyPm7v

The_gh0stm4n wrote:

Gashimon wrote:I did. I then went into the StartDisk folder and opened the installer in there. During the installer, it asked me to select the folder with the required data. I selected the folder and the install continued.

You should normally "Mount" those .ISO images properly; if you are having further difficulties, have a look at the guide here:
https://goo.gl/tyPm7v

Thing is, before I managed to play it just fine before. Had no probs with the installation and everything went fine. What I'm going to do, is download powerIso and redownload the base game.

The_gh0stm4n wrote:

Gashimon wrote:I did. I then went into the StartDisk folder and opened the installer in there. During the installer, it asked me to select the folder with the required data. I selected the folder and the install continued.

You should normally "Mount" those .ISO images properly; if you are having further difficulties, have a look at the guide here:
https://goo.gl/tyPm7v

Seems like I got it to download and install properly. Only problem so far is it seems to be a bit laggy. Taking a lot longer than usual to start up and load up past the initial loading screen, as well as ingame lag and delays. Don't know if it's because I already have a lot of progress in my current file, but I'm going to try restarting my computer and see if that helps things.

Also, is there a way to reduce the general lag of the game? Not fps lag (well yes that'd also help) but in terms of like.... sticking or freezing a bit, idk how to explain it.

Take a look at The Sims 3 Optimization Guide. Also, some worlds are bit laggy and bugged, as they are unoptimized and/or have routing issues.