Re: Sims4 game stuck on load screen after installation windows 10

Hello @puzzlezaddict  Many thanks for your reply.

I have tried disabling origin in game but via the sims game in my library i.e. right click on the game icon, goto game properties then can disable it there. I tried your method but it won't let me do it as in "restricted access mode"??

I've also tried multiple times deleting the Sims4 folder from my documents/moving it to desktop  - given that it won't start at all I don't currently have any games saved. But this still doesn't work ☹️

I've attached my dxdiag file which I ran the other day. My PC is currently running McAfee antivirus - not sure if this is causing an issue?

Many thanks for your help! :D 

@ITurner_Anzac  There's a global setting for Origin in-game and a game-specific one; either should work.  The global one is under Application Settings > Origin in-game, and it's worth trying regardless.

Still, you should be able to turn off restricted access mode in Origin: hover over your username, select Application Settings, and under Application (the first header), scroll all the way to the bottom, under Advanced.  If you can't disable the setting, run Origin as an admin: right-click on the Origin shortcut and select "Run as administrator."  If that doesn't help either, clear Origin's cache and repeat the above.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/

The driver for your graphics chip is also out of date, and that may be causing the Sims 4 errors, although Origin in-game and/or restricted access mode could also cause the issue.  It's a good idea to update the driver either way though.  You can find the newest one on the Dell download page for your laptop:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/inspiron-13-7391-2-in-1-laptop/drivers

I haven't heard of McAfee causing any Sims 4 issues, at least not recently, but if none of the above helps, try disabling McAfee just long enough to test.  As long as you don't open anything other than Origin and Sims 4, your computer shouldn't be in any danger.

Hi @puzzlezaddict I have updated the drivers as per the link you sent, but sadly this still has not resolved the situation.

I've run another DxDiag (attached) - I don't know how to tell if the driver is out of date, hopefully this one shows un updated driver?

Otherwise looks like I may well have to look at what McAfee is doing... I don't get how installing and running a game from new can be so difficult!! Many thanks for all your help so far!

@ITurner_Anzac Here is a troubleshooting guide i made hope it helps you 🙂 https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-4-Troubleshooting/td-p/9630391

@ITurner_Anzac  Your dxdiag does list the new driver, and it looks like the driver is installed correctly as well.  However, there are a number of new errors in your dxdiag, all of which are system issues, not necessarily anything to do with Sims 4.  So it's a good idea to run a couple of basic checks on your Windows system files.  Here's how:

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the button to check for updates.

Did you manage to disable Origin in-game?  It does need to be eliminated as a potential cause of your issue, especially since it's such a common problem.

If disabling Origin in-game doesn't help, please check the Reliability Monitor for any new related entries.  Since your new dxdiag has so many Windows errors, I can't see whether the game is throwing errors as well or not.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes.  You'll see a list of errors and updates, with a column for each day.  (Today is all the way on the right.)

For any errors that mention Origin or Sims 4 from after you run DISM and sfc, or any errors that happened while you were trying to play, click "View technical details," then copy the information and paste it into a text document.  (Notepad is fine.)  You can attach the file to a post as you did with your dxdiag.  Sometimes the Reliability Monitor doesn't update right away, so if you don't see any related errors, be sure to check back an hour or two.  The timestamp on the initial chart can also be off by up to an hour, so that's not an entirely reliable metric, but the one within the technical details should be accurate.

Hi @puzzlezaddict thanks so much for taking the time with this. I have done the restore health and scan commands in the shell (screen shots attached). Both seemed to say the PC was fine. I restarted it and checked for updates, it seems to think it doesn't need any more updates at present.

Origin in game is definitely disabled so this shouldn't be causing any problems.

Have looked at the reliability monitor and this only says there is an error when I have forced the sims to close with task manager. It is not showing any errors while it is "running" i.e. stuck on the load screen. So PC seems to think all is well by the looks of things although clearly this is not the case... gaah.

PS attached is the reliability info when I have to kill the game with task manager 

@ITurner_Anzac  Please try disabling McAfee, if you haven't already.  Even though it's not on the list of current offenders, an overzealous antivirus can always cause this kind of issue.

If that doesn't help, try playing while your computer is offline.  Restart first, sign into Origin, put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or unplug the ethernet cable before launching the game.

If that doesn't help either, please try a clean boot:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10

You'll also need to go through the Task Manager's background tasks list and end any task that doesn't need to be running, for example MSI Afterburner or similar software.  Some of these programs don't respond to a clean boot, so they need to be shut down manually.

Hi @puzzlezaddict I tried disabling the wifi, this didn't work. Whilst offline I disabled McAfee and this also had no effect, but perhaps I need to be connected for this to have an effect? 

I have done a Windows clean boot as well, really hoping it was going to work but alas, still no success.

Perhaps I will need to just keep the game permanently on and let it load for 8 hours or whatever it took before? Seems daft though for a modern system! 

Not sure if I mentioned before, the screen doesn't freeze, rather the green diamond just spins and the annoying music plays. So it's doing something but won't go past this point. Sorry this is being completely bizarre!!

@ITurner_Anzac  You certainly don't need to apologize for having such a strange issue.  And you definitely shouldn't have to let the game load for hours and leave it running indefinitely; that would also not be great for the health of either your saves or your system overall, although in the short-term it would probably be fine.

Try playing in a new user account on your computer.  Make it an admin account, and be sure to use only letters and numbers in the username, no special symbols, accents, etc.  You shouldn't have to redownload Origin or your game, although your saves and other content won't be accessible.   (You can move them over later if this helps, but leave that for now.)  If you get the same delays in the new user account—you really only need to wait a few minutes, not hours, to see whether this helps—please go the clean boot/no internet route again, just to see whether it helps.

@puzzlezaddict  aha finally something worked!! The game loads fine on a new admin account, so there must be something up with my personal account. I played a bit and made some test sims, saved, closed reopened and it works fine and loads within about 5 seconds. But if I switch back to my own account it just sits there. Very strange!!

@ITurner_Anzac  It's definitely strange, but permissions can get broken and other data corrupted, often for no identifiable reason.  If you want to keep trying to fix your current account, let me know, but you could also just use the new account instead.

One common cause of an admin account not running a game is a nonstandard character (a special symbol, an accent, etc.) in the username.  So if your username has one, you can try changing it; that would be an easy fix.  Otherwise, it can be a bit more difficult to find the root cause.

@puzzlezaddict I am quite ok using another account, not a problem as I think otherwise it will continue to be a headache!! I'm wondering if it's because I set up my PC with my old hotmail account which is now outlook live, so my account name is my email address even though it just says my name when I login. Who nows?!

Thank you so so much for all your help with this, I will know what to do if anything like this happens again! :D 

*knows not nows!! Dear oh dear...

@ITurner_Anzac  It's possible the @ in your account name is causing this trouble, although I don't know why it would be a problem some of the time but not otherwise.  Origin can be weird like that.

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@ITurner_Anzac wrote:

*knows not nows!! Dear oh dear...

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We've all been there.  You can also edit a post by clicking on the three dots in the upper right corner.

Doh! :-P