Tutorial:Cloud Syncing Your Game

Why?

The main reason for syncing your sims files is so you can play your neighbourhoods or saves on more than one computer. You might also want to do it to keep your downloads or mods/packages folders in sync, so you don't have to add new CC to two folders every time you download something. You can also use this method as a way of backing up your game, but beware: this method will save your game if your hard drive dies or computer stops working, but it won't protect you from corruption (because any corrupted files will be immediately saved into the backup), so you should still do regular backups using another method.

Pros

• Once you've set a sync up, that's all you need to do. You don't need to remember to copy any files.
• You don't need both computers to be switched on at the same time in order to sync your games.

Cons

• You must be connected to the internet on both computers, or your files won't sync.
• If you have a data cap on your internet connection, syncing sims files could eat up a lot of that cap.
• If your internet connection drops out halfway through syncing, you musn't play sims again until the sync has been able to complete.
• You MUST NOT have the game running on both computers at the same time.
• You MUST close your game on one computer before opening it on another - you can't just put your laptop to sleep and then go play on another computer, this will corrupt your 'hood/saves.

Alternatives

If those cons sound too conny for you, you do have other options. You can tell Windows to sync the folders over your local network, but that will only work when both computers are switched on and connected to your home network at the same time. If you play on one computer and then on the other without syncing, you'll have to lose one set of progress.

You can also copy the files yourself over your local network, or via an external hard drive, but it's a lot of hassle and, again, you have to have both computers switched on at once, and remember to do it every time you play.

Before You Start

Whenever I talk about the sims folders/EA Games/Electronic Arts folders, I am talking about the ones in Documents. You don't need to mess with Program Files for this.

Setting Up Your Game

• Make sure you have exactly the same EPs and SPs installed on all the computers you want to play on. Make sure all your EPs are patched for TS2, and that your games are on the same patch for TS3 or TS4.
• Clean up the EA Games folder(s) - delete the junk!
• Check that your EA Games or Electronic Arts folder is less than 50 GB. 50 GB is the maximum space you can get with free cloud syncing services, so if you need more than that, it might be time to clear out some CC. ;) If you want to keep the folders from both computers, you need to make sure they're less than 50 GB combined.
• Rename your EA Games or Electronic Arts folder to something else, or move it to your Desktop.
• Back up your game!

If you want to keep both of your games and be able to access them from both computers, also do these steps. If you only want to keep one game, skip these steps and just delete the EA Games or Electronic Arts folder that you don't need.

• Rename the TS2/TS3/TS4 folders on both computers to something unique. In my case, I'm syncing between my laptop and my desktop, so I'm going to rename them to The Sims 2 Laptop and The Sims 2 Desktop. Do the same for any other folders with the same names that you want to keep separated.

Choosing a Cloud Service

There are a bunch of cloud storage services to choose from, and there's not a great deal to choose between them. The primary factor in which one you choose will probably be how much space you need. If you really need more space than you can get for free, you do have the option of paying a subscription to get more space - pretty much all cloud services will let you do that.

The following are the best offers available right now, but this list will go out of date quickly, so it's always worth doing some googling to see if there's a better deal available.

Company	Free Space	Other Features
Mega	50 GB	Can choose not to sync some files (e.g. your graphics settings)
OneDrive	15 GB
Copy	15 GB
Google Drive	15 GB
Box Sync	10 GB	Can choose not to sync some files (e.g. your graphics settings) or some folders (e.g. your testing game)
MediaFire	10 GB

If you're researching other companies, make sure that they offer folder sync - a folder on your computer that you can drop files into to have them automatically uploaded. A service where you have to upload files through your web browser, or through a program or app, won't work.

One important thing to bear in mind is that you can't use the same company for your sims syncing as you already use for other stuff - so if you already have, for example, a OneDrive folder on your computer for your work or school stuff, you'll have to pick a different service for your sims.

I'm going to use Mega since I have way too much CC, so all the following screenshots will be of Mega. Most of these services work pretty much the same, though, so you shouldn't have too much trouble following along with a different service.

Setting Up the Sync Folder

Okay, so you've decided which company you're going to use and, if necessary, made an account with them. You now need to download the installer onto both your computers, and run the installer. With Mega, you need to install and launch MegaSync before you can set it up properly; other cloud services let you do the setup during installation.

Run MegaSync and log in. Choose Selective Sync.

Then change the ??? to match where your EA Games or Electronic Arts folder should be:

You should now have an empty EA Games or Electronic Arts folder with an M icon on it, and all your actual sims files in another folder somewhere else. So now, you just need to move them back into the new EA Games folder:

The files and folders will get a little blue 'syncing icon', as will the Mega icon in the bottom right of your taskbar. If you want, you can click that icon to watch the files being uploaded - it'll probably take a fair old while, by which I mean 12 hours+, depending on your internet speeds and how generous Mega's servers are feeling. If you need to shut down your computer before the syncing is done, you can, and it will start up again the next time you turn your computer on. If you watch your other computer, you'll see those files appearing in your EA Games folder as Mega uploads them. While Mega is doing its first sync, your folders might get red X icons - don't worry, just wait until all the syncing is done and it should sort itself out.

If you want to sync folders from your other computer too, now is the time to drop them into the Mega EA Games folder.

Excluding Files

There are a few files that you probably don't want to sync. You can add exclusions - rules which tell Mega not to sync particular files - by clicking on the Mega icon in your taskbar to open the status window, and then hitting the cog icon to open settings. Go to the Advanced tab:

To add a file, click the Add button, type the name and hit OK.

Some of the files you may want to exclude for Sims 2 are the following:

• userProps.xml - This file contains all your settings, including graphics settings. If your computers have different screen sizes or different graphics cards, you'll probably want to exclude this.
• FullGame.id - This file is used by AGS to remember which game is your usual one. I'm not entirely sure that using AGS at all with a Mega sync is a great idea, but if you do, you probably want to exclude this file.
• Groups.cache - Excluding this one is optional, it just seems a bit pointless to spend time and bandwidth syncing it when the game can happily make a new one every time you play.

If you know which files should be excluded for Sims 3 or 4, please edit this page and add that info. ;)