Tips for Re-Installing from External Hard Drive?

by Guest Sat 25 Jan 2014, 20:17

Hi- I got a new computer because my old one was busted. (HP, man. They'll get ya. They're not EA bad, but they're not great.) Thanks to the badass dudes at Micro Center, I was able to put my old hard drive in a case so that I didn't lose my files. All of my Sims 3 everything is on that hard drive, (including my save games, hopefully.) and I'm wondering a few things; would it be possible to save all of my Sims 3 stuff on a separate hard drive, one that would only contain Sims 3 things and be plugged-unplugged as I want, so that it doesn't take up space and/or slow things down? Would the game be able to work properly that way, or is that impossible?

Building on that, how do I reinstall the Sims 3 from those external hard drive files? I feel like if I just access the installation files on the external drive, it'll **** things up somehow. That tends to happen if I do anything without seeking the sagely advice of G4TW first. I checked the "How to Install the Sims 3 correctly" thread, but it doesn't seem to show how to manually install from those files, unless I missed that (which is entirely possible).

Thanks for your help in advance, everyone!

by **The_gh0stm4n** Sat 25 Jan 2014, 20:42

Aquabreeze wrote:Hi- I got a new computer because my old one was busted. (HP, man. They'll get ya. They're not EA bad, but they're not great.) Thanks to the badass dudes at Micro Center, I was able to put my old hard drive in a case so that I didn't lose my files. All of my Sims 3 everything is on that hard drive, (including my save games, hopefully.) and I'm wondering a few things; would it be possible to save all of my Sims 3 stuff on a separate hard drive, one that would only contain Sims 3 things and be plugged-unplugged as I want, so that it doesn't take up space and/or slow things down? Would the game be able to work properly that way, or is that impossible?

Building on that, how do I reinstall the Sims 3 from those external hard drive files? I feel like if I just access the installation files on the external drive, it'll **** things up somehow. That tends to happen if I do anything without seeking the sagely advice of G4TW first. I checked the "How to Install the Sims 3 correctly" thread, but it doesn't seem to show how to manually install from those files, unless I missed that (which is entirely possible).

Thanks for your help in advance, everyone!

Hello,

As far as I know, you cannot just play the games from your external hard-drive, unless you also have backed up and restored your old registry entries. You can use your old "user data" (saves, mods, CC, etc.).

As for re-installing, you'd need the original installation files (either the original .RAR download, or the extracted content in folders, separated by each expansion). And this is the point which is most crucial here: you should ALWAYS back up your downloaded stuff, so you don't have to re-download everything in case something 'unexpected' happens with your computer.

So, if you still have your original downloads (or after you've re-downloaded them), then start the procedure from the 'beginning': you open the .RAR files with WinRAR, then extract the contents of each .RAR file to a separate folder - you want to have ONE separate folder for EACH expansion. You then go into each folder and start the installation with the "autorun.exe" (look into the "Installation guide.txt" if you need a serial number).

For the base game installation, refer to this video here:

If you then follow the guide here it should be self-explanatory: https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t1171-must-read-how-to-install-the-sims-3-correctly

Good luck, but I'm sorry I can't give an easier or quicker solution here. But let us know if you need more help with the installation or anything else !

//EDIT

Besides, you would also need to change the "letter" of your external drive to "C:", and also change the letter of your current main drive, from C: to anything else. And even if you backed up the registry, I personally can't recommend this, not only because of performance issues, but also because of what I call "stability issues". Windows tends to have occasional glitches in which the drive letters get changed by "magic". While changing the drive letters is not a big hassle, it's certainly an annoyance.

by Guest Sat 25 Jan 2014, 23:52

I found the files I needed- turns out I had backed up the .rar files and the extracted versions in a remote corner of my desktop in my old computer. My problem now is that bittorrent won't cooperate on downloading the new expansions- it's stuck on 'finding peers' and/or 'connecting to peers'. I'd assume campus wifi has something to do with it, but I had problems with bittorrent back at home, as well. Any idea on what could be wrong?

by **The_gh0stm4n** Mon 27 Jan 2014, 04:17

Aquabreeze wrote:I found the files I needed- turns out I had backed up the .rar files and the extracted versions in a remote corner of my desktop in my old computer. My problem now is that bittorrent won't cooperate on downloading the new expansions- it's stuck on 'finding peers' and/or 'connecting to peers'. I'd assume campus wifi has something to do with it, but I had problems with bittorrent back at home, as well. Any idea on what could be wrong?

Hello,

I'm not sure if your campus wifi has some 'restrictions'; but check out this topic here for now:

https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t11496-how-to-speed-up-fix-utorrent-downloads

And then try again, both at home and on campus. Good luck ! Smile

by Guest Fri 14 Mar 2014, 02:34

First of all , thanks for the help you give people who have problems installing etc. Sims3.
I found running Sims3 in summer caused my laptop to crash due to overheating. I have a reasonable sized external hard drive, so decided to try and run the Sims3 from that. I copied all the Sims rar files I had onto the hard drive and then extracted then to another folder. When I ran the Sims3 install file, I chose to install the programme onto my external drive, which was E: I then followed the "How2 to Install" instructions and continued to install the other EPs I have. The games ran, but there were no characters (Sims). Another problem was I didn't know where to find them on E: drive. I eventually found them and deleted them all.
Before re-installing, I created folders on E: Program files(x86)/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3.
I then continued to make separate folders for the EPs I have "Into the Future etc", in the Electronic Arts folder.
When I installed the programme, I directed them to be installed on E: drive and in their respective folders. Using the most helpful installation instructions I downloaded from this site, I finished the installation and shut down the laptop. On restarting the laptop, I found icons on the desktop for each Sims3 programme I had installed. The moment of truth came when I tried to run one of them. The only snag I hit was that Origin could not be found. I ignored that and went on to spend the night playing the game. I have since found I can go to a friends house, plug my external drive into his PC and as long as I get the drive letter for that drive E:, I can play the Sims on his PC.
Thanks again Carlos and company.

by **The_gh0stm4n** Sat 15 Mar 2014, 12:13

tamariki wrote:First of all , thanks for the help you give people who have problems installing etc. Sims3.
I found running Sims3 in summer caused my laptop to crash due to overheating. I have a reasonable sized external hard drive, so decided to try and run the Sims3 from that. I copied all the Sims rar files I had onto the hard drive and then extracted then to another folder. When I ran the Sims3 install file, I chose to install the programme onto my external drive, which was E: I then followed the "How2 to Install" instructions and continued to install the other EPs I have. The games ran, but there were no characters (Sims). Another problem was I didn't know where to find them on E: drive. I eventually found them and deleted them all.
Before re-installing, I created folders on E: Program files(x86)/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3.
I then continued to make separate folders for the EPs I have "Into the Future etc", in the Electronic Arts folder.
When I installed the programme, I directed them to be installed on E: drive and in their respective folders. Using the most helpful installation instructions I downloaded from this site, I finished the installation and shut down the laptop. On restarting the laptop, I found icons on the desktop for each Sims3 programme I had installed. The moment of truth came when I tried to run one of them. The only snag I hit was that Origin could not be found. I ignored that and went on to spend the night playing the game. I have since found I can go to a friends house, plug my external drive into his PC and as long as I get the drive letter for that drive E:, I can play the Sims on his PC.
Thanks again Carlos and company.

Yes, using an external hard-drive might be a temporary solution, but I still don't recommend that. Wink

Not only because of the "drive-letter issue", but also because of performance issues. Unless your external drive is a relatively newer model, it probably can't "keep up" with most internal drives.

Thank you for the nice words though ! Smile

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