CRASHES WITH NEW LAPTOP

Joeharkay  I'd need to see the full dxdiag, attached to a post as a text file.

Is there a compatibility issue with Windows 11?  My Sims 3 won't even start.

Joeharkay  Sims 4 is running in DirectX 9 mode, so try using DX11 mode instead.  Open the EA App game library, click Sims 4 > Manage > View properties, and add -dx11 to the command line.

You can always see which mode the game is running in at the Main Menu, in the lower-right corner, to the right of the game version number.  There's currently an issue with laptops with dual graphics defaulting to DX9 rather than DX11, but that should be fixed at some point, so you may not need the command line argument for much longer.

For Sims 3, there is in fact a compatibility issue with newer, higher-end Intel processors.  There are also a few workarounds.  Please see the accepted solution of this thread:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/td-p/11057820

Where is the command line?  All I can type on says is "Advanced launch options"  There is no place else to add anything.

the version number at the bottom right corner is this  1.109.207.1020 DX11

what else could be the issue?

Joeharkay  The "advanced launch options" box is where you put command line arguments.

After yesterday's update, your game should be using DirectX 11 by default, since the issue with dual-GPU laptops was patched.  Please double-check that that's what you're seeing though.

Since you're still getting crashes, please try playing with your computer offline.  You can sign into the EA App and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or disconnect the ethernet cable before pressing Play.  If that doesn't help, please post a new dxdiag.

I mean DirectX 12

Joeharkay  Most of the errors in your new dxdiag are failed Windows updates, so please run a couple of basic checks of 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 & Security, and click the box to check for updates.  If any install, restart again afterwards.

The Sims 4 errors are buffer overflow exceptions, which I don't usually see these days.  So to be thorough, please move the entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts, even if you've done it before.  Doing so will remove (but not delete) your saves and other user content.

If you get another crash, please limit the in-game framerates, as a test.  Open Options.ini, inside Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4, search for framerate, and set the framerate limit to 60.

Joeharkay  When you tried to run sfc, it looks like you pasted the command twice, so it didn't actually run.  The three outcomes are "did not find any integrity violations," "found corrupt files and successfully repaied them," and "found corrupt files and was unable to repair some of them."  Only the last is an actual problem, so let me know if you get that.  If you're not sure whether DISM ran to completion (you'd see an 100% when it finished), please run it again as well.

If you still can't play, please create a new admin Windows account.  Make it local, as in, don't link it with your Microsoft account.  You can choose "I don't have this person's information" and "continue without an email address" or similar; point is, do not supply an email.  You'll be able to launch Sims 4 without reinstalling anything, but your user data won't be available.  Let me know how it goes.

Joeharkay  I think it's possible this is a hardware issue, but it's worth trying a new admin Windows account first.  Here's how to create one:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-user-accounts-in-windows-104dc19f-6430-4b49-6a2b-e4dbd1dcdf32

Please note that you can and should create the account without any email or Microsoft account attached to it.  You can change it to an admin account after creating it.

This does NOT override your main account.  You can have as many user accounts on your computer as you like, and all of them will stay separate from each other.

If the new account doesn't help, and you want to run a basic test of the hardware, you can download the 3DMark demo from Steam.  Run Time Spy a few times in a row and see whether the demo crashes or otherwise doesn't work normally.