Ever since steam updated my Sims 4 installation yesterday I have been unable to load the game, and instead get the above error message. I have tried to follow all the things other people have done, including doing a clean windows install on my laptop, with nothing else on it at all, and just reinstalled steam and then Sims and the EA app, and still the same result. I tried raising a ticket in the EA app, but nobody ever responded to it 😠
An IT friend suggested I check my "Controlled folder access" and sure enough, my laptop was blocking the sims 4 from accessing my documents folder... and, now I have allowed it through and the problem is solved!
