(2024) Sims 4 Crashes Before Title Screen - Customer Service Didn't Help

Question

So, I haven't played Sims properly in a couple of years and really want to play it on my birthday just over a week from now 😩

Here's what happened:

I downloaded the EA App once I found out Origin was discontinued
I tried to play it but it always crashes before I can even try to play (right after the Sims 4 logo animation)
I've uninstalled & reinstalled both the EA App and Sims 4 like 5 times, I've turned off one drive syncing, I've repaired the game, restarted my PC, fit the system requirements etc.
Customer service just sent me a bunch of generic links and barely helped which was great
I've attached a video & DxDiag file (bc I saw others do it), but if you need any more information, I'll give it
If you help me, I'll bake you virtual cupcakes in any flavour you like 🧁✨

puzzlezaddict · Answer

@infinite101_&nbsp; A dxdiag is always appreciated for a crashing issue.&nbsp; Yours only lists one Sims 4 crash, and that crash looks like it's related to conflicting software.&nbsp; So please try playing immediately after restarting your computer, with nothing else running aside from the EA App.&nbsp; Please also make sure your indirect display software is disabled; check the Task Manager as well as the Tray.&nbsp; Sims 4 sometimes reacts badly to this kind of software.

If that doesn't help, please try playing in a clean boot:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

The one service to leave enabled is the EABackgroundService, which the EA App needs in order to run.&nbsp; Disable the rest as described.

When you reboot your computer, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down any service that doesn't absolutely need to be running, for example anything from MSI Afterburner to RGB software might still be enabled.&nbsp; If you accidentally kill a critical process and it doesn't restart on its own, just reboot your computer again.

Don't open anything other than Sims 4 and the EA App while testing, not even a browser window.

infinite101_ · Answer

OK, I finally got around to doing this and...nothing changed. I did find out, though, that the file that's failing is called 'ntdll.dll'

puzzlezaddict · Answer

@infinite101_&nbsp; The ntdll.dll file is part of Windows, and such an essential part that it's unlikely to be corrupt given that your computer is working overall.&nbsp; This is probably about some other resource that calls the .dll file instead.&nbsp; Still, you can try running a couple of basic checks on your Windows system files:

Hit Windows key-X
Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes, and enter
The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator)”
Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes, and enter
Post the message you receive here

Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update &amp; Security, and click the box to check for updates.&nbsp; If any install, restart again afterwards.

Please keep testing in a clean boot, at least for now.&nbsp; If this doesn't help, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.&nbsp; Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.&nbsp; Today is on the right.

Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempt to launch Sims 4, specifically after running DISM and sfc.&nbsp; If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.&nbsp; If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

infinite101_ · Answer

Here's the message!'PS C:\Users\(username)&gt; sfc /scannowBeginning system scan. This process will take some time.Beginning verification phase of system scan.Verification 100% complete.Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.'My PC is completely updated. I did another clean boot, and closed all of the bg processes - except from the ones saying 'access denied' like 'Antimalware Core Service' or that just kept coming back within a few seconds. This reliability monitor shows what happened after I did the first clean boot at 1 am (when I replied) and now at 1 pm. (I'm having the same issues with Gotham Knights, so I thought I'd try starting it too after I was finished running Sims 4).

puzzlezaddict · Answer

@infinite101_&nbsp; Please right-click one of the "Sims 4 stopped working" entries, select View technical details, copy the info you see there, and paste it into a reply here.&nbsp; Then check the other Sims 4 entries too.&nbsp; If they're all the same error, you can just say so.&nbsp; If you see a different error, I'd like that as well.

As for the other errors, I'm only interested if they happened while you were trying to play Sims 4.&nbsp; It's a bit worrisome that you have so many system errors too, although that might be a relic of trying to kill some processes in the Task Manager.&nbsp; But let's start with the Sims 4 errors and go from there.