Hey everyone, I am submitting a post here on the forums in hopes of receiving an answer that will fix my ongoing issue. As of today, I have had an issue with the EA App and the Sims 4 that I just cannot seem to get resolved, even after searching for this forum and reddit and following instructions on both sites.Whenever I try to launch the Sims 4, EA App automatically says the game is already running, even though it is not. I'm incredibly frustrated with the situation and would love some advice from anyone who has encountered the same issue recently and found a solution.Just some examples of things I have done:- Repair game files- Cleared cache- Full install of BOTH EA App and The Sims 4- Ran both programs normally and in admin mode- Removed the Mods folder and attempted to run the game- Rebooted computer (restart and full shut down)

@LadyLucinaTwitch Try moving the entire Sims 4 user folder (the one in Documents > Electronic Arts) to the desktop. If you get an error when trying to move it, or it copies rather than moving, stop here and let me know. Otherwise, try again to play. If you see the same error, restart your computer, then pause OneDrive syncing, that is if OneDrive is running at all. To see the option, right-click the cloud icon in the lower-right corner of the screen. If that doesn't help either, please set exceptions in your antivirus for TS4_x64.exe and EADesktop.exe. Even if you only use Windows Defender, Controlled Folder Access might be the problem, and you can set the same exceptions. Don't enable it if it's not already running. https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/03/windows-10-defender-controlled-folder-access.html

Hi @puzzlezaddict Thank you for your response. I tried all these and still yielding the same result ☹️

@LadyLucinaTwitch Please try playing in a new admin Windows account. Make it local, as in, don't link it with your Microsoft account. You'll be able to open the EA App and (try to) launch Sims 4 without reinstalling anything, but your saves and other user content won't be available. That can be addressed later; for now, just let me know whether this works.

Sorry for the delayed response on this. I attempted your suggestion and switching profiles seemed to fix the issue. Is there anyway I can have this working on my main profile on the device?

@LadyLucinaTwitch It's sometimes difficult to fix this kind of issue, but one thing you can try is running the takeown command on your Documents folder. You're going to use this command: takeown /F "C:\Users\username\Documents" Write your actual username for this Windows account (your main one) instead of username. Since the syntax needs to be exactly right, please copy this command to a Notepad file, substitute in your username, and then copy that string when you're ready to use it. Hit Windows key-X and choose either "PowerShell (Administrator)" or "Windows Terminal (Administrator)," whichever option is offered, paste the command into the window, and enter. Then restart your computer and try again to play. If OneDrive is syncing the contents of Documents on this computer, please let me know. To find out, right-click the cloud icon in the lower-right corner of your screen, if it's present, and select Settings > Backup > Manage Backup. Don't change any settings; just let me know whether OneDrive is backing up Documents or not.

EA App states game is already running when it's not

14 Replies

puzzlezaddict
Hero+
3 years ago
@LadyLucinaTwitch Okay, let's see what Windows thinks is the full file path to the Documents folder. Search in Windows for "command prompt," open it, and enter this:

reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"

Please post the results here.
LadyLucinaTwitc
3 years ago
@puzzlezaddict
Sorry for the delayed response. I followed your instructions and it shows C:\Users\LadyLucinaTwitch\OneDrive\Documents as the full file path for Documents. I'm a bit confused since I had disabled OneDrive on my PC.
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
3 years ago
@LadyLucinaTwitch It sounds like OneDrive decided to reenable itself at some point. This might have happened after a Windows update, with the screen showing you some prompt about backing up your files. The error you mentioned when trying to move the location of Documents is common when OneDrive is involved. At any rate, please follow these instructions for disabling OneDrive, or at least its control of Documents:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-saves-user-content-disappearing-PC/m-p/12475370#Remove

You'll also see a registry-related method. This is safe to use in that Microsoft says it won't break anything, but it would be best to try to change OneDrive's settings first. And once you've moved the locations of Documents, Pictures, and Desktop, if that's what you want to do, signing out of OneDrive will disable it. You can double-check your work by running the same command.

Once you've done that, it's worth trying to play Sims 4 before moving the location of Documents a second time, as in, try it when the location is Users > your username > Documents. That might well work, and in that case, it would be unnecessary to move the folder again.
CamowzZ
2 years ago
Hello,
I had the same issue, for every of my EA's games I had the message saying that my game is already running and below that this it a good game.
I succeed to resolve this issue :
-Download an old Origin setup and install (the only old origin setup i found that was still working for the installation is on Uptodown)
-Launch Origin (it will must you to update to EA, continue)

Reinstall your games and you shoud be able to play on EA's games 🙂

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EA App states game is already running when it's not

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