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CurtisHonts's avatar
CurtisHonts
New Novice
2 months ago

EA Launcher won't launch Sims 4

I installed the launcher
I installed the game
I hit play and the game doesn't launch it closes EA launcher, and opens it back up... it never reaches the Sims 4 'launcher'
I have read for days at this point about removing mods (no mods)
Moving the Sims 4 folder (did that) so it can make a new one
Repairing the game
Reinstalling the game
Trying it through Steam
Running it as administrator
Getting rid of background EA programs via Task Manager, and other programs that would for whatever reason mess with the launcher

I'm trying to enjoy the game I paid for, and the game I'd like to keep supporting, but your launcher won't let me

  • CurtisHonts  The Legacy Edition was sunset almost two years ago, along with the ability to run it even if it's installed, so it shouldn't have any effect on current players.

    Please try playing in a new admin Windows account.  Make it local, as in, don't link it to your Microsoft account.  You'll be able to (try to) launch Sims 4 without reinstalling anything.  Please specifically launch the game through the EA App, not a desktop shortcut, and let me know if you see an error.

  • CurtisHonts  Please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  When you launch the game, if it launches, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you've moved but temporarily unread by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just start a new save and see how it runs.

    If you still can't play, please provide a dxdiag.  Hit Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop.  From there, you can attach it to a reply using the camera (Insert Media) icon included with the other formatting buttons.

  • I had already done the Move the entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, as I have seen it a few places online and on this board, it did nothing to improve my problem, and there is no starting a new save because the game does not launch from the EA launcher

    I should add, when I did that it simply brought up the EA Launcher and a prompt that said that Sims was not installed, as it was looking for a folder that no longer existed, or was filled

    After which I installed, and the same issue persisted 

  • CurtisHonts  Your dxdiag lists a few generic Windows errors, 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.

    For the game itself, please clean-uninstall and reinstall it as described here:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-DLC-shows-as-installed-won-t-load-in-game/m-p/12942151#uninstall

    In particular, make sure you're creating a new folder on the root level of the drive of your choice when reinstalling the game.

  • PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

    Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
    Version: 10.0.19041.3636

    Image Version: 10.0.19045.4894

    Doesn't seem to 100% anything

    As for sfc /scannow
     PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> sfc /scannow

    Used the program suggested to remove Sims 4+EA APP and reinstalled, the problem did not change, I hit play on the App and the window disappears briefly, before simply popping back up

  • tiggyw's avatar
    tiggyw
    Rising Novice

    I had roughly same problem, sims wasnt loading, it was coming up with permissions error, i read that i should, right click on EA logo on desktop and click on "run as administrator\2 do the same with the Sims logo then restart your computer.  I did this and after all the faffing about uninstalling and reinstalling, clearing caches and the likes it worked,.  Now im not sure it will work for your problem, but worth a try.

  • CurtisHonts  DISM and sfc should both run to completion, which takes a few minutes but typically not much more than that.  DISM would say "the restore operation completed successfully" if it worked; sfc would have one of a few responses.  If they're not running at all, please restart your computer and try again, with nothing else running in the background and with no pending Windows updates (you can check under Windows Settings > Update & Security).  If they still don't work, that's a separate issue.

    • CurtisHonts's avatar
      CurtisHonts
      New Novice

      So I ran them again, and let them have the time they needed (I didn't let them run long enough before because I didn't see the % even pop up)

      sfc /scannow gave back
      Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

      So everything seems to come up clean, it's just the fact I'm on Windows 10 instead of 11

      Restart, and the game still won't launch, same issue, launcher closes, and reopens each time I hit Launch

      Just a thought, could it be Sims 4 base game suddenly having an issue with Sims 4 Legacy Edition? 

  • CurtisHonts  The Legacy Edition was sunset almost two years ago, along with the ability to run it even if it's installed, so it shouldn't have any effect on current players.

    Please try playing in a new admin Windows account.  Make it local, as in, don't link it to your Microsoft account.  You'll be able to (try to) launch Sims 4 without reinstalling anything.  Please specifically launch the game through the EA App, not a desktop shortcut, and let me know if you see an error.

    • CurtisHonts's avatar
      CurtisHonts
      New Novice

      Just to be clear, you want me to make a second account of my computer with admin power, and simply try to play Sims 4 via the EA App?

  • CurtisHonts  Yes, and that secound account should be "local": NOT be linked to your Microsoft account.  You'll need to choose something like "I don't have this person's info" and then answer some security questions.

    • CurtisHonts's avatar
      CurtisHonts
      New Novice

      So I made a new account on local which still required I use a different email for set up, and it launched fine

      So the problem comes from a issue with my Microsoft and EA accounts communicating? something I didn't even assume was happening?

      I rather not have a second account on my computer just for playing Sims is there a way to fix this issue?

  • CurtisHonts  A local account specifically doesn't require an email (you should be able to choose "I don't have this person's info," as mentioned), so it sounds like you didn't make one.  But that's okay since the game worked.  What that means is that your main account is the issue.

    In the main account, please pause OneDrive syncing, if OneDrive is active at all.  Look for the cloud icon in the lower-right corner of the screen; if you don't see it, click the ^ (Tray) icon and look there.  You'll see options to pause syncing for various lengths of time.

    If that doesn't help, please try the suggestions in the first post of this thread:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-already-running/td-p/13276380

    specifically the ones listed after creating a new Windows account.