Forum Discussion

Rising Novice

Re: PSA: Sims 4 "Failed to launch game - An error on our end" -> Check Your Mods!

I'm reaching out regarding this issue I've encountered the whole day. I can see throughout the forum that others have been going through the same issue as well as of late. You will find a dxdiag file attached to this post.

I have and use mods. This morning I ran the sims 4 for the first time in a while, prompting an update. The game was able to run as after updates mods are automatically disabled. Upon toggling mods on and restarting the game, I have no been able to play.

I've tried (not in order as I've tried so many things I dont remember the exact order):

Disabling the ea game overlay
Disabling (and enabling) my Nvidia game overlay
Updating my Nvidia drivers
Running the game without the mods folder (this works, but the game won't have mods obviously and my goal is to play the game with mods)
Running the game with the mods folder (after removing it and clearing the cache)
Repairing the game through the EA app
Running the EA launcher as administrator
Creating a new EA launcher as an administrative shortcut and running that one
Deleting the file called "localthumb.cache"
Probably some other things I'm forgetting ngl

I'm at my wit's end. I don't know what else to try, except deleting everything and reinstalling everything but I don't want to go through all that for it to also not work. I know some people were able to fix it with simply enabling/disabling overlays, I saw others adding -dx9 as commands (I'm not sure how to do that).

I just don't know what to try and I also want to share what I've tried so far and my experience, if it helps others/EA to fix the issue.

Thanks

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Edit (sept 7 2025)

Concerning the -dx9 command, I figured out how to do it. Unfortunately, it still didn't work for me, but I'm sharing the process in case it helps others:

On the EA launcher go to The Sims 4 → manage → view properties → in the "advanced launch options" box enter "-dx9" → click save then close → launch game → then (according to hellokittyloverz) close the game, repeat the process you just did to enter the command, but this time delete the "-dx9" in the advanced launch options box → save → launch again

I'm hoping EA will address this themselves because 1- they state "it's an error on their end" 2- it's ridiculous for us all to keep scrambling to find a solution while none of their forum staff help...

Also adding the new things I've tried without success:

Turning off "controlled folder access" (sept 7, unsuccessful)
Adding "-dx9" command to the advanced launch options (sept 7, unsuccessful)

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Edit (sept 7 2025)

I contacted an EA advisor to ask because nothing seems to work and here's what they said:

EA advisor (september 7)
"Got it . As I have check , we already have a known issue regarding this, as it has been reported by many of our players. Good thing is that, this has been brought into the notice of the concerned team and they are diligently working to fix it as soon as possible. I would request you to wait for some time till this gets through. We've identified a compatibility issue with the new update. Our team is actively working on a fix and will deploy it as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding."
Me
"How will we know when the issue is resolved? Since so many people are having the same problem. Will there be a public announcement?"
EA advisor
"Yes you can check on the Twitter handle or Official EA website or forum here is the forum link https://forums.ea.com/
Do you want the specific link where the issue is being discuss ?
Click on this link https://forums.ea.com/discussions/the-sims-4-technical-issues-pc-en/windows-11-update/12102549 You will find the discussion on the right side of the screen . Once the issue is completely solve the team manager will post it there ."

So I guess for now, that's all there is...

DxDiag.txt93 KB

5 Replies

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ktbearrr
Seasoned Novice
6 months ago
Search for your "controlled folder access" and turn it OFF. It's in Windows Security under Ransomware protection. This is the only thing that worked for me after hours of trying everything!
zozo-clover
Rising Novice
6 months ago
Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately mine was already off 😭
I tried turning it on, launching the game (didn't work)
Then turning it off again, launching the game, still didn't work.
I find it really weird how people who had the update have this issue, and to resolve it so many different things have worked for different people. I wonder what truly is the cause linking all these "solutions"
corvidrogue
Rising Newcomer
6 months ago
Hi! I'm having the same problem, have also scoured everything everyone has posted this week + old similar discussions from the past few years, even though I figured current updates would render a lot of the older advice useless, tried the Controlled Folder Access menu people recommend and it also didn't work...
Can I ask, do you run Sims through EA only or do you have Steam? I do all my gaming through Steam, so when I open my EA library it just tries to send me to Steam. So...even if the "solution" that didn't work for you would have worked for me, it seems I can't actually do it unless I'm missing something.
Thanks for your time, I know how frustrated you are. I'm literally in the middle of a new build and my weekend plans were going to be "test out this new pile of cc I got." So much for that...
zozo-clover
Rising Novice
6 months ago
Hey, to answer your question: I run the sims through the EA app only. I think (a long time ago) I used to also have it on steam but it created issues during start-up so i decided to just go with the EA app. I think maybe try (if you haven't already) to remove the sims from your steam library and see how that goes?
I understand how you feel, I literally had the same intentions for this weekend (I downloaded so many more mods and had plans)............. I really hope it gets sorted out for us 😭
m0rrigu
Seasoned Novice
6 months ago
This is my same experience. Everything was fine until I updated and now I'm here. I've also tried everything this user mentioned as well as all the steps in the old posts that are marked as "solved" yet this isn't solved.
Things have been really bad you guys, you break the code with every update. But not even being able to launch the game...this is very bad timing considering you're marketing yet another game pack. None of us who can't even launch will even consider buying it.
So I'm sitting here spending my weekend playing Sims 2 and it's 20 years old...umm?