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merrysimmaker's avatar
merrysimmaker
Seasoned Veteran
3 years ago

Re: Vanilla game doesn't launch after 18 April Apple silicon patch

@puzzlezaddictI was told by EA none of those solutions would work b/c it's a known problem. @j0celynj0nes38 said she is on a work computer and prefers not to make a new account. I also prefer not to do that but most especially since EA chat agents are saying to me nothing I do will fix it b/c it's on their end. It would be great if they offered some info on the fix though, timeframe, anything.

I did troubleshoot intel vs M1 and found the exact error to be duplicated on both machines. My Mac Mini is a 16 gig M1 2020 with a 1 TB hard drive. It has played sims normally with no problem but I was required to update before testing it. It worked fine last time I was on that machine but immediately after being patched the error recreated in an nearly identical fashion to my Intel i9 macbook pro 2019 machine with 32 gigs and 2 tb. This helps me confirm the issue is EA related and nothing to do with my machine(s) itself but it's a bummer. I really hope they are prioritizing the fix.

My engineer husband would gladly talk with EA help engineers to assist and give all the data we have collected.

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  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    @mrstank30

    It doesn't confirm the problem is EA related when you haven't exhausted all basic troubleshooting steps. It doesn't even confirm the problem is EA's if you never get the game running again on your machine. Setting up a new user account and seeing if the game works in that account is one of the basic troubleshooting steps. A new user account is clean of any Library and Preference files, amongst a myriad of other files, that can cause problems in the existing users account. It is a proven fix in the past and has helped some users since the 18 April patch. In fact, getting the game working again is a great way to figure out the issue because you can then try and figure out where the problem may be.

    Maybe it is EA's problem but it is not affecting all Macs. I too have multiple Macs, Apple silicon and Intel. Three of them have the game installed and all are working absolutely fine.

    Just because a random EA chat person said the issue is known and will be fixed doesn't actually mean it is. Us helpers see it all the time on these forums unfortunately. Support tell them their issue is a known problem and EA will fix it, only for it to end up being an outdated Mod problem or their game simply wasn't updated, or their OS wasn't supported, or their hardware wasn't supported or some other problem that is easy to fix or a workaround is known.

    Sorry to burst your optimistic bubble. You're better off trying to help yourself and try our troubleshooting steps in the vain hope that something might work. I don't understand why, if you want to play your game, you wouldn't be willing to try everything suggested to get it working again.
  • j0celynj0nes38's avatar
    j0celynj0nes38
    3 years ago
    @Bluebellflora I do plan to try the new user account, but I don't have time to do so until next weekend. Yesterday, I copied my The Sims 4 folder onto a network drive so I could access it on the new profile and add the saves in gradually as you recommended to someone else. That took 6 hours to complete, so I didn't get around to making the new profile and now I have to work all week.

    I truly appreciate all your help and troubleshooting suggestions and am not ignoring them. At the same time, it's frustrating to keep going down long, involved rabbit holes that don't end up fixing the problem. Especially when the troubleshooting steps seem to ignore the symptoms of the problem. Like clearing Origin cache/reinstalling Origin - this will help if Origin is the problem but Origin is not the problem in my case, it's the Sims4 game itself.
  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    @j0celynj0nes38

    Thanks! Hoping it helps you 🙂 Origin has been horribly buggy since the latest patch and causing an increase in issues. There does seem to be a link between some people’s games and Origin being the problem but no common factor yet. Doesn’t seem to matter what model Mac, version of macOS, DLC installed, it’s affecting people randomly.

    It’s important to discount the usual Mod related issues which make up the biggest proportion of “game will not open after patch” issues by testing a new clean TS4 folder. Creating a new Mac user account helps eliminate corrupted Library/Preference/Cache etc. files, maybe antivirus or other software that overrides certain OS behaviour could have corrupted the User account. Then there’s the possibility the game install is corrupted during the patching process so an uninstall and reinstall may help.

    If all else fails a complete uninstall of the game and Origin, including trashing all the Origin hidden files and folders, may kick it back into working.

    Finally, and this has worked for some in the past but is a last resort, reinstall the OS. This fixes broken links and corrupted files. It also prompts the user to allow permissions again for various apps and OS behaviour which they may have skipped over previously and couldn’t fix in System Preferences/Settings.

    You could open Console and see if anything interesting is happening when Origin is trying to launch the game. It may flag a process that cannot run or a command that cannot complete.
  • j0celynj0nes38's avatar
    j0celynj0nes38
    3 years ago

    Ok, so it doesn't work on the new profile either. Can I send the error file that I am sometimes getting when Sims4 "quits unexpectedly"? I copied all the text in the error report to a word doc. 

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    @j0celynj0nes38

    Yes, that may help. What would be more useful is if you have a Lastcrash file in the Sims 4 folder from when it quit. You could copy and paste it in a post here but make sure you don't copy the XML line.

    You could c/p the error file too in spoiler tags 🙂

    Thanks for trying the new user account!
  • j0celynj0nes38's avatar
    j0celynj0nes38
    3 years ago

    The crash report I attached is from today and 4-22-23 (there are 2 in the same Word Doc) on my normal profile. I also have one from today on the new profile if you would like to see it. 

    I tried to paste into spoiler tags but got this error message: 

    "The message body contains [a string of numbers it won't let me include for some reason] which is not permitted in this community. Please remove this content before sending your post."

    The most recent lastCrash.txt file in my Sims 4 folder is from April 8, 2023. Nothing in my Sims 4 folder has changed since last time I played the game (4-16-23). It's like it doesn't recognize any later attempts to run at all. The last folder to be modified is Mods on 4-22-23 because I moved all my mods out as the first troubleshooting step.

    I also did as you recommended @Littlekitty1007 so I have screenshots of Origin and Sims4 settings in System Settings if you'd like to see those. And I disabled Origin in Origin preferences per your suggestion.

  • j0celynj0nes38's avatar
    j0celynj0nes38
    3 years ago

    Screenshots attached. 

  • j0celynj0nes38's avatar
    j0celynj0nes38
    3 years ago

    Full disk Access is now enabled - it's still broken. 

    Next, I reset NVRAM - I couldn't tell if this actually changed anything/went through but I followed the instructions. It didn't fix it. 

    Finally, I reset SMC. Same thing as NVRAM, I followed instructions but nothing seems different. It didn't fix it. 

    Should I enable Origin again? Uninstall the SIMS4 and Origin completely? If so, where do I find any hidden files that I should also delete prior to reinstalling both.  

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago

    @j0celynj0nes38

    Sigh ☹️ I was really hoping the Full Disk Access would fix it. Yes, as a last resort it would be great to completely uninstall Origin and the game. Make sure to move or rename your TS4 folder beforehand.

    Uninstall the game via Origin then uninstall Origin manually https://bluebellflora.com/how-to-uninstall-origin-on-a-mac/ empty the trash and restart your Mac.

    Next, download a new Origin installer from origin.com/download and install it. When you go to login make sure automatic updates are turned off at the login screen.

    Once Origin is up and running download and install just the base game then try to launch it. What happens?

    Throughout the uninstalling and reinstalling make sure you allow all access when Origin and the game prompt for it.

  • j0celynj0nes38's avatar
    j0celynj0nes38
    3 years ago

    Ok, I uninstalled Origin completely following your instructions very thoroughly and emptied trash before restarting and downloading Origin again. I triple checked all folder locations to make sure Origin was completely removed. Then I downloaded just the basegame. I had the same result of immediate crash. 

    So I repeated the steps - removing all trace of Origin, reinstall Origin, redownload basegame only. Same thing. 

    But I think I have noticed a pattern through all of this. The original steps suggested by numerous people to clear the cache or get a clean The Sims 4 folder never worked for me. When removing all traces of Origin & The Sims 4, I deleted my Documents/Electronic Arts folder because I had saved my The Sims 4 folder in 2 separate spots so I could introduce it back in once I can finally get the Sims to load. But after the 2 most recent downloads of The Sims 4 from Origin, no new Documents/Electronic Arts folder was generated. At no point was there a pop up asking for access to the Documents folder, either. It just told me it was going to install the Sims4 to the Applications folder by default. The second time around, I actually changed that location to my Documents folder in an attempt to get a different result. 

    So it seems like there's a problem with accessing my documents folder overall. But where can I manually grant access to that in the Origin app? I've gone through preferences and Game Properties, disabling Origin In-Game. I don't see any place to grant access to Documents folder. 

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    @j0celynj0nes38

    Urgh ☹️

    The default location of the game install is indeed [User] > Applications. This is completely separate from the permission for the game to access the Documents folder which you should have been prompted for. I'm wondering whether the permission is already active though from the previous install. It clearly showed in your screenshot that the game has access to the Documents folder in System Settings.

    Origin does not need access to your Documents folder because it is just the game client for launching the game. The game looks for access to your Documents folder.

    How about if you change the game library location in Origin to the Macintosh HD > Applications folder instead of your user one? You would need to uninstall and reinstall it beforehand, you could move it from ~/Applications but this risks corruption. Maybe the problem is your User account Applications folder.

    It would also be very interesting to see if an OS reinstall fixes the problem, maybe the problem is broken links/files in the OS install.
  • j0celynj0nes38's avatar
    j0celynj0nes38
    3 years ago

    Yeah I agree the installation should be different than the access. The first thing I'm going to try is turn off Sims 4 access to Documents, then uninstall Origin and Sims as before. Are there any library Sims 4 files I can delete like there are for Origin? I didn't see any. 

    After that, I'll try to download basegame to system/applications instead of user/applications. (I'll try user applications if that doesn't work). 

    I really don't see a way I can ask my IT department to reinstall my new OS (we just got Ventura b/c they wait and check security before allowing OS upgrades at my work) for my video game. 

    Honestly, if this doesn't work I think it's time for me to take a break from the Sims altogether. It's super disappointing that it broke to this degree for no seemingly good reason.

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    @j0celynj0nes38

    No, there are no Sims 4 files like Origin. Just uninstall through Origin.

    An emergency patch has been released today to fix a couple of issues. Maybe that will help (fingers crossed)....
  • j0celynj0nes38's avatar
    j0celynj0nes38
    3 years ago

    Hi I just DM'ed you the most recent crash report I had, it's from last night.  

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    This workaround is really interesting although of course not available to all.

    @BlazinJinxx could not get the game to load on their M1 iMac so used Migration Assistant to install the OS and content from their MBP (Intel), which the game successfully launched on, to their iMac (Apple silicon). The game then loaded happily on the iMac. If anyone is interested you can read their thread here https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/Origin-won-t-launch-without-glitching-and-Sims-4-won-t-open-at/m-p/12508674#M56044

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