Cannot Play Anything on EA App

Hi there,

Can you please confirm if you're playing on PC or MAC? 

Also, when launching the EA App while online, have you managed to update the games or you get this error message before the app gives you the option to update the game?

PC.

The error message only happens in offline mode. In online mode it's just the launch loading bar that hangs indefinitely. I can repair and uninstall/reinstall games okay.

And in fact after finally finding a way through the official help pages to try and report the bug I found the live chat, and I was advised to uninstall both game & EA App and restart PC using clean boot and reinstall both. I tried that and currently some games seem to load in offline mode (whether or not that will remain true I'm not sure), but the one I did the full re-install of still gives the EC:204 error in offline mode or hangs in online.

...Or did when I tested it after doing the re-installs. Now, when I test it to confirm the error code, it runs fine and I'm really confused because literally nothing has changed since the last time I tried to run the game offline and now.

Sometimes some cached files or pending updates can cause that. 

It is always good to go online and update the EA app and the games from time to time.

I'm glad everything is sorted and you can run your games in offline mode now. Please let us know if you ever need any further assistance. Have fun!

Since the very recent EA App update I now cannot play my Sims 4 game offline.

Whenever there is a game update/patch, I play the game offline for about a week waiting for all the mods I use to be updated. I have always been able to do this - for years. Today, all of a sudden, I can't. I just went to play the game offline as I am not ready to update it yet, but when I go into offline mode and click play, now all I get is a message that reads: "The Game License has Expired - Launch your game online to renew the license - Error Code: EC:204".

So now it seems I can't launch the game without going online - which will automatically update the game - which I don't want.

What is this??? I have never had this issue before. How did a game license that I own expire??

I see from a previous bug report that this exact thing happened last July after the EA App was updated. I tried a few things suggested in last year's bug report thread but nothing has worked (cleared cache, logged out and back in, restarted computer, my Xbox account and EA account are not linked, etc.) It doesn't seem like it was fixed back then until EA put out another app update fixing the issue.

How does this get fixed now, and how do I play the game offline while I wait for mods to be cleared/updated?

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? 1.107.151.1020
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Everything EXCEPT: For Rent, Horse Ranch, HSY, Werewolves, Batuu and Crystal Creations
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? I'm not sure
What happens when the bug occurs? I've always been able to play the game in offline mode until just after this last update to the EA App. When a game update/patch is put out, I always hold off on updating the game and just play in offline mode for about a week while I wait for all the mods I use to be updated/patched, and for the new bugs generated by the update to be resolved. It's never been a problem until now. The EA App updated and then the game update was put out today. I don't want to update the game yet, so tonight I went to play my game in offline mode, but when I go offline and then click play on the game, I get an error message that says "The Game license has expired - Launch your game online to renew the license - Error Code EC:204". I've never had this issue or error before. I've always been able to play the game in offline mode. So now I can't play the game AT ALL because I'm not ready to update (besides waiting for mod updates, I also see in the reports that there are a few significant bugs being reported) and I can't play in offline mode because it's saying my game license is expired. ???
What do you expect to see? To be able to access and play my game in offline mode like I always have
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Yes
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes
Please describe the patch or change you made. The recent EA App update

‌

I saw in a previous bug report for this error code that this issue arose last July after an update to the EA App. I tried some of the suggestions folks listed in that bug report thread (i.e. clear EA App cache, log out and back in to EA App, restart computer, ensure XBox account isn't linked to EA Account, etc.) and nothing has helped. It looks like from that thread, nothing helped until EA put out another update to the EA App to fix the issue.

How do I fix this issue now so that I can play my game in offline mode until I'm ready to update?

I did submit a report through the EA Error Reporter. My Report ID is "a292d264-a26b-431b-9f81-dae2224090ad".

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@ChelleBelle716 wrote:

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? 1.107.151.1020
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Everything EXCEPT: For Rent, Horse Ranch, HSY, Werewolves, Batuu and Crystal Creations
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? I'm not sure
What happens when the bug occurs? I've always been able to play the game in offline mode until just after this last update to the EA App. When a game update/patch is put out, I always hold off on updating the game and just play in offline mode for about a week while I wait for all the mods I use to be updated/patched, and for the new bugs generated by the update to be resolved. It's never been a problem until now. The EA App updated and then the game update was put out today. I don't want to update the game yet, so tonight I went to play my game in offline mode, but when I go offline and then click play on the game, I get an error message that says "The Game license has expired - Launch your game online to renew the license - Error Code EC:204". I've never had this issue or error before. I've always been able to play the game in offline mode. So now I can't play the game AT ALL because I'm not ready to update (besides waiting for mod updates, I also see in the reports that there are a few significant bugs being reported) and I can't play in offline mode because it's saying my game license is expired. ???
What do you expect to see? To be able to access and play my game in offline mode like I always have
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Yes
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes
Please describe the patch or change you made. The recent EA App update

‌

I saw in a previous bug report for this error code that this issue arose last July after an update to the EA App. I tried some of the suggestions folks listed in that bug report thread (i.e. clear EA App cache, log out and back in to EA App, restart computer, ensure XBox account isn't linked to EA Account, etc.) and nothing has helped. It looks like from that thread, nothing helped until EA put out another update to the EA App to fix the issue.

How do I fix this issue now so that I can play my game in offline mode until I'm ready to update?

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That's exactly what happens to me, and I started to have this issue in MARCH! They didn't fix anything yet.

It's been almost 9 months for me and I can't play any of my EA games.

Has anyone had any success in getting refunds, it seems they've sold me sometthing which I'm unable to use.

The amount of 'fixes' and try this, try that is quite embarrassing for a company of this size.

I'll not be spending another penny of my hard earned cash with EA, and would dearly love to extract some of it back that they appear to have removed from my pocket knowing that I won't be able to use the products I'm buying.

I sometimes get the start up screen of BF2042 before it either just closes or hangs my enitre PC.  Apex won't even give me anything when I try to start it.