game crashing before even loading the menu

Question

So this is the first time I've ever had to post a discussion. I've had the Sims for a while now, maybe about two years max. I'm not to sure how this problem started but I would say it happened a month or two ago I I wanted to start playing the sims one day it was loading like normal before it just froze for a second and then immediately exited it out, I didn't think of it much at first so I just started it again but it kept on having the same results which was loading in smoothly for the first few seconds then it freezes before kicking me out before I even get to the main menu. I had been looking up what the problem could be, and I feel like I did everything that any type of discussion post could. I tried disabling mods, then deleting them entirely. I backed up my game before deleting it from Steam, then reinstalled it. I even restarted my computer, but the issue persisted. At one point, I decided to just delete everything, which meant my backup files, because right now it doesn't bother me if i just have to restart from scratch. I'm at a point where I just want to work again.
anytype of possible solution or info to help it run again is very much appreciated I'm not very good with this type of stuff with files or anything and i just want to play the sims again I'm pretty sure i checked if my computer was compatible which so far it is but i could be wrong. Please help me 😞

puzzlezaddict · Answer

miimo_JPG​&nbsp; To be clear, you've removed or deleted the Sims 4 folder in Documents &gt; Electronic Arts, the one that contains your saves?&nbsp; It wouldn't be necessary to delete it outright, just move or rename the folder, but if you have already deleted it, you've accomplished the same thing.
If that doesn't or didn't help, please provide a dxdiag. &nbsp;Click 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. &nbsp;From there, you can attach it to a reply using the paper clip (Attachment) icon included with the other formatting buttons.

miimo_jpg · Answer

yes at one point i decided to back up my things at first like I've been told to but that didn't work, I think I just got frustrated from trying so many things that I just ended up deleting everything because none of the advice I've read so far had worked but its fine if I don't get my original save files back since it had been a while since I've played

here is the dxdiag so far I double checked if the games loaded but so far I've gotten the same results hopefully this can help me find what is the actual problem

puzzlezaddict · Answer

miimo_JPG​&nbsp; Your dxdiag lists a number of errors related to certain VC++ runtimes, which Sims 4 uses.&nbsp; So please uninstall and reinstall them.&nbsp; Open Windows Settings &gt; Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables, and uninstall the 2010 versions (all you see), and anything from 2015 or newer.&nbsp; Don't touch anything else.&nbsp; You can get new 2010 runtimes here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999
and the 2022 runtimes, which are backwards-compatible with anything from 2015 or newer, here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170
For the first, you need both x86 and x64 but can skip IA64.&nbsp; For the second, you need x86 and x64 but not ARM64, and you don't need to install anything older on that page.
After reinstalling these runtimes, restart your computer before trying to play.&nbsp; And if you get an error when trying to reinstall any of these, please post a screenshot and let me know which runtime triggered the error.
Some bad custom content can cause VC++ errors too.&nbsp; I know you deleted everything, but if OneDrive is running on your computer, it could have redownloaded older synced files.&nbsp; So please make sure that there's no content in the Sims 4 user folder, at least nothing in Mods other than Resource.cfg.

miimo_jpg · Answer

alright so i was able to reinstalling the last 2022 runtimes but I cant seem to download the first two I'm not to sure if I may have missed a step but both x86 and x64 bring up the same pop up screen.

puzzlezaddict · Answer

miimo_JPG​&nbsp; That is strange, and it shouldn't happen since this resource is directly from Microsoft and is less than a year old.&nbsp; What you can try though is installing the runtimes from within the Sims 4 program files, if they're still present.&nbsp; They'd be here:
[install location]\The Sims 4\__Installer\vc
I'm not in front of a Windows PC right now, but if you look there and don't see anything from 2010, you can just run what you do find as long as it's older than 2015.&nbsp; It won't hurt to run an installer for something that's already installed, but the 2015-2019 versions are older than the 2022 version you just installed, so you'd probably get an error.