How to change the Sims 3 installed content and saved games location

sims-3

Because my C: drive is just a 40gig SSD and space is an issue with it, I tend to keep games from saving files, DLC and screenshots there.

I've changed my 'Documents' target on Windows 7 to target a folder on my D: drive. However, Sims 3 doesn't seem to care about this and keeps creating files at Username\My Documents on my C: drive.

Could anyone tell me if its possible, and how I can get it to download store content, save screenshots, save games, etc., in a folder on my D: drive and not there?

Best Answer

I'm guessing the game has been hard coded to use C:\ instead of checking where the documents directory is, you could use a NTFS Symbolic Link to workaround it. This will essentially create a shortcut, that programs will actually follow it properly.

To create one you will need to open a command prompt as admin. To do that just open the Start menu, type "cmd" and press Control + Shift + Enter. From there the basic command your going to want is

mklink /D "C:\Users\[you]\Documents" "D:\Users\[you]\Documents"

Of course supplement the directories for the ones you're using. You can either do it for the entire Documents directory or just for The Sims 3 data. In other words, move the Sims 3 folder, for example, to drive D before entering the above command.