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Inventor
Original Poster
#1 Old 24th Oct 2021 at 5:48 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default If I want to move Sims UC to a different laptop, what are the steps I should take?
I've downloaded TS2 through a link in the Sims tech support, but I want to move all my Sims files to a different laptop. What are the steps I should take?

* Do I have to run the installation file again?
* How can I copy-paste my files from the C-drive the best way? Because some of those files and folders are modified with e.g. mods, modular stairs, CEP, etc.
* Besides modifying the GraphicRules file, what other files should I modify further to align with the specs of the other laptop?
* What measurement should I take to prevent hood corruption during the copy-paste of the folders in My Documents?

The destination laptop has slightly better specs than the current one, like an i5 instead of an i3 processor and 8 GB RAM instead of 4 GB RAM. They have the same video cards.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 24th Oct 2021 at 6:49 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 24th Oct 2021 at 9:52 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Softlism
* Do I have to run the installation file again?


Yes.

Quote: Originally posted by Softlism
* How can I copy-paste my files from the C-drive the best way? Because some of those files and folders are modified with e.g. mods, modular stairs, CEP, etc.


(Note: If I say "Copy/paste" anywhere, I mean copy the files from your old computer, note down the location the files were in, then paste the files into the same location after you've installed your game on the new computer. Use an USB device or similar to transfer the files. If you have to swap out files, it's fine to let individual files overwrite, but NEVER let folders overwrite).

Documents location:

Remove the The Sims 2 (UC) folder the game generates, and copy/paste in the one from your previous game, downloads and all. This should take care of everything you've done with your old game that's hanging out in that folder, and is by far the easiest.

Install location:

.CEP - Install it first, then copy/paste any CEP-Extra items you've downloaded outside of the regular CEP files. Make sure you check both the CEP-Extras folders, in the Install location and Documents.
For modular stairs, check the folders you'd normally install those files to.
Also check Bins folders, and similar (some defaults go in there)
Lighting mods and similar - probably best to reinstall, as there are a lot of files to change.

I usually check all the folders in the basegame and M&G folders, and anything with a different name or date is probably something of interest.

Other programs like Compressorizer, S2CI, SimPE, etc, you'll have to reinstall and possibly set up.

If you want the Holiday files properly set up, I suggest you also check out this link, because the UC has some of the files set up wrong:
http://sunradersims.com/2020/11/fix...-holiday-items/

Quote: Originally posted by Softlism
* Besides modifying the GraphicRules file, what other files should I modify further to align with the specs of the other laptop?


VideoCards file - make sure your graphic card is on the list.

If you use GraphicRulesMaker, make sure you have V2 (the newest on their site, from April-20). The old one causes severe pink-flashing with newer cards (if you install the new one on your new computer and fix the GraphicRules and VideoCards files there, you should be good).
--> https://www.simsnetwork.com/tools/graphics-rules-maker
(Don't download it from elsewhere)

To also set up Bodyshop, once you've fixed them for the game and everything works fine, copy/replace the files from
\TSData\Res\Config
to
\TSData\Res\CSConfig
in the SP9 (M&G) folder to also do the same fixes for Bodyshop.

You'll also want to do the 4GB patch for both of these.
Possibly also the Memory Allocation Fix.

If you get any issues with a "Direct X" error, or screenshot programs are giving you trouble when in fullscreen mode, you can consider using windowed mode, or you can try to use the same screen resolution for the game and your screen, but don't worry about this unless you actually get those issues.

Quote: Originally posted by Softlism
* What measurement should I take to prevent hood corruption during the copy-paste of the folders in My Documents?


Work from a backup. Don't move the files, but always copy/paste, so you have an untouched copy. It's always a good thing to have something to go back to. And it's probably a good idea to keep a backup handy, because things can go wrong sometime after you've started playing, too - things missing, files you haven't put in, stuff you forgot to copy over, etc.

Remove the folders you don't want (use only full neighborhood folders, so N001/N002/N006/etc.) then copy/paste in the folders you want from your old computer.

Never overwrite a folder with another folder, because this causes the files to blend/merge, and can cause corruption (not even blending files in the same hood from a different backup).
Mad Poster
#3 Old 24th Oct 2021 at 9:13 PM
You can actually just copy over your whole The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection folder from My Documents, remove the one the game generates, and replace it with the one you copied. That will transfer all of your lots, CC, userStartup.cheat, neighborhoods, etc.
Field Researcher
#4 Old 25th Oct 2021 at 9:57 AM
If you have an Ultimate Collection that installs using Touchup.exe, you can copy your current installation folder to the new laptop, update the command line parameters to match the new install location and run Touchup as Administrator. This only works if your version of UC has the same structure as Origin's version. Check if the installation folder has a subfolder named _Installer, and Touchup.exe inside that uses Origin's icon.
Inventor
Original Poster
#5 Old 10th Feb 2022 at 9:56 AM Last edited by Softlism : 10th Feb 2022 at 10:11 AM.
Updating this thread because I've finally have purchased a new laptop. I will check the earlier replies once I'm ready to install UC.

Since I already set up OneDrive upon startup, I had to reset the registry keys through this override: https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/...faults-restore/
Otherwise, my OneDrive gets clogged with Sims downloads
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