Downloading the sims 4 without an optical drive? [SOLVED]

Hey everyone,

I know this isnt an issue with the game exactly but I wasn't sure where else to post. I'm looking into getting a new laptop (mine is super slow and old, it takes a long time for the sims to load) and I am noticing the trend is laptops without optical disc drives. I'm guessing it is possible to use the games4theworld downloads with an external optical disc drive? Or should I spend the extra and make sure the laptop has one built in? I really don't use my laptop for anything it would just be lite playing of the sims and occasionally my boyfriend will use it for online training for work so I don't want to spend $800+ for something that won't be used everyday. I'm in Canada so laptops are quite a bit more here and we are very limited to decently priced laptops with a disc drive (but I can find a relatively good laptop without for ~$500). Thanks!

bdinney wrote:Hey everyone,

I know this isnt an issue with the game exactly but I wasn't sure where else to post. I'm looking into getting a new laptop (mine is super slow and old, it takes a long time for the sims to load) and I am noticing the trend is laptops without optical disc drives. I'm guessing it is possible to use the games4theworld downloads with an external optical disc drive? Or should I spend the extra and make sure the laptop has one built in? I really don't use my laptop for anything it would just be lite playing of the sims and occasionally my boyfriend will use it for online training for work so I don't want to spend $800+ for something that won't be used everyday. I'm in Canada so laptops are quite a bit more here and we are very limited to decently priced laptops with a disc drive (but I can find a relatively good laptop without for ~$500). Thanks!

Hello @bdinney,

Yes, you can install The Sims 4 (or in fact almost any other application) on an external hard-drive setup. But as attractive as these new-style laptops may seem, you should take great care. Because it's basically low-tier hardware, and if something breaks on the laptop and the warranty period has passed, you'll almost always have to buy a new one. On "oldschool" laptops you could still try fixing stuff yourself by e.g. simply replacing a hard-drive or RAM-modules.

The power cords of these new laptops are also usually of bad quality; a relative of mine also has one of these and she had to order a new power cord because the one that came with the laptop broke after a year.

Something else you have to take into account is that these modern laptops indeed have lower "internal" storage space, and you'd need to buy extra stuff. Such as the aforementioned external hard-drive setup, or SD cards, stuff like that.

If you say you won't be using that laptop much, I guess it'll be fine, but keep in mind that there will inevitably be additional costs to the laptop. 

Thanks for getting back to me! And I agree, the older laptops were so much better and honestly of a lot higher quality. Now it seems everything is double the price for not as great stuff. I'll probably just end up buying a laptop without as I have spent hours trying to find a laptop with decent enough graphics, an optical disc drive and one that isn't super pricey all with no luck. Thankfully most external optical drives are about $30. I just figured a laptop would be harder to return after opening, downloading all the sims files and then attempting to install only to discover I needed an actual optical drive.

So do I need to move the files after installing in order to remove the optical disc drive from the USB port? Thanks!

bdinney wrote:So do I need to move the files after installing in order to remove the optical disc drive from the USB port? Thanks!

I'm not sure I understand correctly, but you don't need to 'move' any files. If you grab this format here for example:
https://www.games4theworld.club/t35810-the-sims-4-all-in-one-global-patch-selectable-dlcs-version-1-61-15-1020-tiny-living-stuff

You can directly extract everything onto your external hard-drive setup, and play from there. When you're done playing, simply save/exit the game and use the windows function "safely remove hardware". When you have an external storage setup connected, there will usually be a symbol in the lower right corner of the taskbar, which you can use to safely eject an external storage.

I would advise to only disconnect the external storage with that method, because simply pulling the USB cable or turning off the power button on the external storage might result in data loss or otherwise damaged files.

If you already have an installation for The Sims 4 though, you can simply also move it (I mean the installation folder) to the external storage. Note that by default your saves and mods/custom content will still be saved under C:\Users\(your name)\Documents, but if you like you can theoretically also move the location of the Documents-folder. You can do so by going under its properties (right-click => properties), and choosing the appropriate option there.

I'm not going to be using an external hard drive. I was going to be using an external optical disc (cd/dvd) drive. Is that what you're referring to with that? Or do we not actually need one for the sims 4 installation? I haven't installed the sims 3 for years and I remember quite a few years ago you either needed one or had to mount the iso image? Something like that.

bdinney wrote: I'm not going to be using an external hard drive. I was going to be using an external optical disc (cd/dvd) drive.

Wait, what? I knew that optical drives were CD/DVD drives, but I thought you just mixed up the terminology, and left it at that ...  No, I always meant to say "external hard-drive setups". Those little boxes with a separate power-supply, where you typically insert a 2.5'' HDD/SSD, and then connect the setup via USB to your PC. I myself recently bought this external docking station here:



For like 35 Euros or so, from Amazon. It has two slots (for connecting two hard-drives) and can even clone hard-drives. Works for both 2.5'' and 3.5'' hard-drives. But this is just an example of the "setup" that I kept referring to in the previous comments.

Yes, the base game of The Sims 3 on G4TW had .iso images, but even then you didn't need to use an actual optical drive. With the help of software like PowerISO you can create so-called virtual optical disc drives, without the need for actual hardware. The only instance where your idea could be important is when you e.g. want to re-install Windows with the help of a DVD. But even so, you can use tools like "Rufus" (search it) and put the Windows installation files on e.g. a USB-flash. And boot the PC/start the Windows installation from said USB-flash. Again, no need for an actual optical disc-drive.

Keep in mind that The Sims 4 is very large in filesize, and I'm not sure how you would fit that onto a single (optical) disc. I haven't really been keeping up with these discs in recent years. I know there are these Blu-Ray discs with a larger capacity. But "burning" The Sims 4 onto such a single optical disc and playing the game from there? Not sure how that would work out. The base game alone is already almost 9GB in size.

If you purchase a setup with an external hard-drive however, you'll achieve the same effect.

Ha ha okay no I think we were just confusing each other sorry!! I don't even want to make the download into a game disc or anything like that I just remembered that back in the day you needed to have an optical disc drive in order to install the sims 3 files from games4theworld so I wasn't sure if that's how the sims 4 worked! (Or I guess using software such as powerISO but I've just always had a laptop with a cd/dvd drive) That was really only my question so I guess I'll be safe to get a laptop without (since apparently that's the new thing!)

bdinney wrote:Ha ha okay no I think we were just confusing each other sorry!! I don't even want to make the download into a game disc or anything like that I just remembered that back in the day you needed to have an optical disc drive in order to install the sims 3 files from games4theworld so I wasn't sure if that's how the sims 4 worked! (Or I guess using software such as powerISO but I've just always had a laptop with a cd/dvd drive) That was really only my question so I guess I'll be safe to get a laptop without (since apparently that's the new thing!)

Nowadays, you should virtually never really need optical drives anymore, unless you have a bunch of CDs/DVDs, or if you want to re-install Windows. Cracked games and software in general come as "files" that you simply download, and you just start the installation with a "setup.exe" or whatever else needs to be done.

With streaming services of all kinds becoming more and more prevalent (Netflix, Amazon Music, etc.) and video games/software also increasingly taking the form of "digital downloads" (a.k.a. you download/install game files through the internet, and not through an optical disc), this type of medium is not as visible anymore. I wouldn't say optical discs and associated hardware are totally obsolete, but if you take a closer look around, you'll probably notice they are a lot less common than 15-20 years ago.

Since the discussion seems to be resolved, I shall go ahead and close the topic too.