Forum Discussion

omakcse's avatar
omakcse
2 years ago

can't download the sims 4, stuck on "preparing".

hi, i was wondering if anybody had any suggestions -- i've been playing the sims 4 for at least 7 years now and i've never had an issue. i recently deleted it and origin to free up space, and when i...
bug
mac
pc
moonnyxx's avatar
moonnyxx
New Rookie
2 years ago

Product: The EA app
Platform:PC
Error Report ID (learn how to create an Error Report ID in the sticky post)
Which client functionality are you experiencing this bug with? Download Game
When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm) 30.11.23
Summarize your bug My TS4 download is stuck on 52%
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Try to download the game
What happens when the bug occurs? The download gets stuck on "preparing" at 52%
What do you expect to see? The download progressing

‌

I'm having problems installing The Sims 4 with the EA app. I recently did a factory reset of my computer (which is a whole other story I'm not going to cover) and I was trying to install The Sims 4. However, this led me down quite the dwindling path of confusion, Windows update problems, & a lot of restarts. Here's what's going on: whenever I try to install TS4 to my D:/ drive (my computer has 15 GB available, so it should download fine), what it should normally do is take a while to prepare the installation, download the game, apply the finishing touches, and installs the game and adds it to my library. However, when I try downloading it, the "Preparing" bar immediately jumps to around 47%, goes to 52%, and the download just stops. Here's what I've tried:
 
  • App Recovery which hasn't done anything so far
  • Signing in and out
  • Cancelling the download which never works properly
  • Letting it download overnight
  • Manually updating the app
  • Restarting my computer
  • Uninstalling and reinstalling the EA app
  • Deleting the "cachecreated" file
  • Repairing the app
  • Enabled background downloads and auto updates in the settings as described by another forum user

I'm stumped and have no idea how to fix this problem. If anyone has a fix, that would be great.

  • justinb113's avatar
    justinb113
    Seasoned Veteran
    2 years ago

    I fixed it on Windows 11 doing the following steps. 

    1. Close the app (taskbar > exit)

    2. Task Manager > Processes > End Task: EA Background Service 

    3. Run (Windows key + R) > %ProgramData%\EA Desktop then delete everything there

    4. Run (Windows key + R) > %AppData% > Local then delete anything that says EA / Electronic Arts / Origin

    5. Run EA App as Administrator

    After preparing for hours i did this and it immediately started to download.  

    • Nickle1206's avatar
      Nickle1206
      2 years ago

      THIS WORKED FOR ME!!!!!!!!! THANK you SO much for this! It was stuck on preparing for EVER! did exactly as you noted and now it is downloading and will be done in 23 minutes 🙂 You saved the day!

    • moonnyxx's avatar
      moonnyxx
      New Rookie
      2 years ago

      Unfortunately this hasn't worked for me. I've noticed that reformatting my drive as NTFS seems to get past the "preparing" part but download speeds are incredibly low and the estimated download time often shows an unrealistic amount. This isn't drive-specific, as I got my other NTFS USB drive and the results were identical. 

      • moonnyxx's avatar
        moonnyxx
        New Rookie
        2 years ago

        Update: I js did a full factory reset of my computer and that didn't do anything. Also here's a dxdiag if that helps.

    • HedyHeartsong's avatar
      HedyHeartsong
      Seasoned Newcomer
      2 years ago

      My last two purchases would never pass preparing in the download (One kit and For Rent).  I saw your instruction and followed your procedure partially.  It worked!  Thank you.  I did not know where to start.

      I fixed it on Windows 11 doing the following steps. 

      1. Close the app (taskbar > exit)

      2. Task Manager > Processes > End Task: EA Background Service 

      3. Task Manager > Processes > End Task: All other EA related processes that were running

      Restarted the application and downloaded both as soon as I requested.

      Going to check it out now!

      Thank you again,  HedyHeartsong

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