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SheBiscuit27's avatar
SheBiscuit27
Seasoned Newcomer
3 months ago

Game crashing when loading lots

For about a month my game has been crashing whenever I try to load into a household or even an empty lot. I get the loading screen and then it just completely exits out of the entire game. I can use CAS and navigate between worlds normally, except when hitting resume instead of loading a game. I have tried repairing the game, uninstalling/reinstalling, creating another save (same problem), clearing the cache on the EA app, and using DirectX 11. My computer is old but meets the requirements for the game. I'm not the most tech savvy, but I truly don't know what to do. I did notice it started happening after I downloaded a kit expansion (can't recall which precisely).  I do not use CC so it's not that.

Any help would be super appreciated!

  • SheBiscuit27's avatar
    SheBiscuit27
    Seasoned Newcomer

    I did the Windows Search thing and loading was smoother but still crashed. I'm attempting to uninstall/install the redistributables but have run into another snafu and I'm getting error codes so I'm trying to problem solve that. Thanks again though! I'll see if I can get it all to work, just wanted to give you an update since you've been nice!

  • SheBiscuit27  As a test, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be in the folder you've moved but temporarily not read by the game.)  Don't add anything to this new folder yet; just start a new save and see whether you get another crash when loading a lot.

    If the game does crash again, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

    https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

  • SheBiscuit27  Please open the Task Manager and see whether Microsoft Windows Search Indexer (or a similar name) is using a significant amount of CPU and RAM.  I ask because your dxdiag shows that this service is crashing quite a lot.  If it is eating resources, there might not be enough left over for Sims 4.

    The workaround would be to disable the service.  Hit Windows key-R, enter msconfig in the run box, click Services, find Windows Search on the list, and uncheck the box to disable it, then restart your computer.  Please remember that you've done this for any possible future issues releated to Windows searches.  And I'm not suggesting you do this at all if Windows Search isn't using excess resources, at least not yet; this is only to free up CPU and RAM.

    If that doesn't help, or the service isn't a problem, please manually uninstall and reinstall the 2022 VC++ runtimes, which Sims 4 uses and which are listed in the one game crash in your dxdiag.  Open Windows Settings > Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables, and for any entries labeled 2015 or newer, click and select Uninstall.  (Don't touch the older versions.)  You can download fresh copies here:

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

    You'll need both the x86 and x64 versions, but you can skip the ARM version, which is for a different class of device.  Restart after installing and before trying to play.

    If this doesn't help either, let me know.