@lorelei5 Please try the suggestions in the first post of this thread:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-already-running/m-p/13276380
The error the thread covers is slightly different, but the causes overlap considerably, as do the fixes.
As a side note, your laptop's current Nvidia graphics driver is somewhat old, and Dell offers a newer one:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/g-series-15-3590-laptop/drivers
You're also one or more versions behind on some other software, including the audio driver and, more critically, the BIOS. I would suggest going through the list and installing whatever Dell detects needs to be updated. The BIOS should be the first step, then the chipset drivers (if any), then the rest after a restart.
This is important not only for general upkeep but because your dxdiag shows a couple of BlueScreens and some other serious errors. These may simply be due to outdated firmware and drivers though, not necessarily anything to worry about.
Thanks for offering the help.
So far I'm working through the trouble-shooting.
The OneDrive fix hasn't worked. I tried with OneDrive not even open and the game crashes when I try and start a new family, or do anything entailing running the actual game.
I moved the Electronic Arts file onto the desktop and now the game won't even open, giving an error message that there is not enough memory to run the game. I moved the files back and now I get an initialisation error when I try and run the Sims.
I'm not sure how to proceed further at this point as it seems worse than before.
@lorelei5 Where is your Documents folder located? If it's inside OneDrive's folder, disabling OneDrive entirely, rather than simply pausing syncing, will in fact make it impossible to launch Sims 4. The workarounds are to pause syncing only, or to move Documents out of OneDrive.
To find the full path to your Documents folder, search in Windows for Command Prompt, open it, and enter this command:
reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"
Please list the result for me. You can write [username] instead of your actual username if you want, but leave the rest intact.
Hi,
Thanks again for your help. I never use OneDrive to install programs, so I doubt that might be the problem. The result to posting that command in Command Prompt is below:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
Personal REG_SZ C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents
I did update all my Dell drivers etc. That was so far the least problem so far trying to get Sims 4 to run.
@lorelei5 Let's find out whether your user account is the problem here. Please create a new admin Windows account, specifically a local one, as in, don't link it to your Microsoft account. Try to play there and let me know what happens. If you get another crash, or the game won't open at all, please post a new dxdiag.
