@azfar90my Does the Steam overlay work in other Steam games? If you own any, please test.
Please also change the key binding for opening the Steam overlay; by default it conflicts with a Sims 4 key binding. You can use whatever keys you want, but try a couple different combinations that (to your knowledge) don't do anything else on your computer.
I tested with Mass Effect Andromeda, Battlefield V, Need For Speed and Mirror's Edge Catalyst, whether with default key binding or even custom binding, I can open the Steam Overlay like normal and Steam can even track that I play those game where its says "Running", except for The Sims 4.
@azfar90my I tested myself just now, and I can also bring up the Origin in-game overlay even with it disabled and with Origin in offline mode. If I click on any of the options though, I get an error. So it seems that the overlay itself doesn't get disabled, just all of its features.
For Steam, please double-check that its in-game overlay is enabled specifically for Sims 4. It's possible Steam disabled it by default at some point, especially since it conflicts with the key binding for first-person mode. If that's not the issue, can you bring up any elements of the overlay while you're playing? Alt-tab back to Steam, click View, and choose a couple of the windows. I know it's not as convenient, but I'm curious whether this works or not.
@azfar90my Okay, but again, can you manually bring up the individual elements of the Steam overlay, as described?
If you feel like experimenting, you can also move the overlay folder you've described and try to play without repairing the game. I have no idea what will happen, but it's easy enough to restore the files if something goes wrong.
@puzzlezaddict That one seems fine. I can Alt Tab and click any of that from Steam Window. But still, there's no Steam overlay enabled when in the game, which means Steam won't track the playtime and I can't take the screenshots.
To know if overlay really works in the game or not, if I can bring it up in the game with shortcut key, then it works. Here's an example:
In Mass Effect Andromeda, after launching the game, I can see the Steam notifications at right bottom side, I can bring the overlay and able to take screenshots. Plus, the Steam also able to track the playtime and the library will show that it's "Running".
And here's The Sims 4, I have it running by executing from Steam, or even from Origin launcher itself. But the game overlay never shows up and Steam does not think that it's "Running". That means, Steam Overlay definitely does not work, along with playtime tracking and screenshots feature.
@azfar90my Thanks. I was wondering if the other features that make up the overlay were somehow blocked or not working, but apparently that's not the case.
I'm still wondering what would happen if you deleted the overlay folder you found in the game's program files. It does sound like the kind of thing that would supercede the Steam overlay with Origin's version, and as you've noted, you could always repair to put it back.
@azfar90my I'll ask around, and if anyone can test or has information about this, they or I will get back to you.
@azfar90my Someone else mentioned that the option to enable the Steam overlay was grayed out for Sims 4, although they didn't currently have the game installed. Is it grayed out for you too? Click on Sims 4 in your Steam library, click the gear icon on the right, choose Properties, and the option should be listed under General.
I checked my currently-not-installed Steam games, and the option to enable the overlay was clickable for all of them, so I don't know why Sims 4 would be different. But please do take a look.
@puzzlezaddict No greyed out here. I can toggle on and off like normal. But tried unchecked and checked, both don't seem to able to bring the overlay still.
@azfar90my Thanks for looking. Just in case it's really that simple, please try playing in a clean user folder. Move your entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and the game will create a new folder the next time you open it. Don't add anything to this folder yet; just see whether the overlay works.
If it doesn't, please let me know what antivirus you use.
@azfar90my Someone else reported the same issues you have a few hours ago, so I'd like to compare your information with theirs. Please let me know specifically which antivirus you use, even if it's never been an issue and all the settings should allow everything through. Please also run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
@azfar90my Your dxdiag lists a number of errors relate to EasyTune, which you may or may not be actively using, and a couple errors that reference a component of the Nvidia graphics driver. So normally I'd suggest you start there. However, the other person with this issue figured out what was causing it for them:
Even if that doesn't exactly apply to you, please try restarting your computer and launching Sims 4 from its desktop shortcut, or from TS4_x64.exe in the game's program files, without opening Origin or Steam first. If you have them set to open with Windows, please change the settings temporarily to test.
@azfar90my Thanks for trying, and I'm sorry it didn't help. I thought I'd already suggested a clean boot, but apparently not. It's possible you have some other conflicting software that neither of us has thought to address:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10
When you reboot, please shut down everything nonessential in the Task Manager, just to be thorough. And please also disconnect any peripheral devices you don't use while playing as well. Even though it's unlikely one would affect the Steam overlay only for Sims 4, it's possible: each game uses a slightly different configuration of resources.
Otherwise, I'm still hoping someone else will have an idea, but until then, maybe just check back whenever Origin or Steam updates? It's possible whatever element isn't playing nice with your system will be updated or replaced at some point in the future.
This is a known problem. Does anyone from developers even read steam forums? The overlay doesn't always work. I reported this to EA support, they refused to help. No one at EA cares and they just blame the user.
The problem:
Steam overlay doesn't work. Which means you can't take screenshots, open overlay to use the chat and your playtime isn't tracked. Actually the last one is funny because you can buy the game, play it for 50 hours and refund because steam will show you've played 0,1 hours.
And please stop blaming your customers. I've played hundreds of games on steam, i also have inquisition, andromeda, titanfall 2, unravel from EA. Overlay works fine. This is the problems with sims 4 only and it's not an isolated issue, a lot of people are having it.
Solution:
Always close origin before launching the game. Close every origin process. Launch the game, see if overlay works. If not, quit the game or just alt+f4, close everything origin related and launch again. Repeat until overlay starts working. sometime it works from the first time sometime it takes 3-5 times. But overlay never works if you have origin open before launching the game.
When this all started:
I bought sims 4 last year, i think summer or early fall. It worked fine. All this started somewhere towards the end of february or early march.
Please fix this. I believe this is extremely simple to fix for developers. We just need to find out the reason. but if all you do is blame the customers we will never get a fix.
@Kushlewskis No one is blaming the customers. However, when a feature works for most people and doesn't for only a few, the issue clearly has something to do with the affected players' systems. That doesn't mean it's only about their systems, of course, but figuring out what can fix it for these people can point to the underlying cause.
I have no idea whether the Sims 4 developers read the Steam forums. I do know this particular issue has been escalated.
@Kushlewskis Yeah, I got that part, it was earlier in the thread. The point is that whatever the reason the process isn't working, it's only not working on a few players' systems, for whatever reason. Or maybe reasons: another person was having the issue only in a very specific circumstance:
Ok actually this problem is happening not only with sims 4. Inquisition does the same thing sometimes. Probably other EA games too. There's clearly an issue with origin and steam interaction.
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