My game was working fine until the latest update on January 14, 2025. Now when I click play from the EA app, it tries to load and shows me as "in game" but the game never loads. I have repaired the game, uninstalled and reinstalled the game, and I do not have any mods. I have tried restarting my computer, ending any EA tasks in task manager, and it still will not load. What can I do?
Same! It shows as running on Steam, but it just returns to my computers home screen. I've uninstalled/reinstalled, reset my EA app, I have no mods/CC, and I've tried just reseting my computer. Nothing works. I've spent hundreds on a game I'm no longer able to play. I just wanted to make a silly family with my husband and I while he's deployed ;w;
I completely understand. The weird thing is that the EA app says the game is running, my task manager says the game is running, but the game never pops up.
I've been having the exact same issue since yesterday, trying to install the game on a brand new PC using every method I can think of. It shows as a background process in task manager but the game itself never actually opens, despite the EA app saying i'm in game.
I think this might just be a case of waiting for them to push out a fix for it :/
@PiscesPlaysSims and @Sniobell 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, if it launches, a clean folder will spawn with no content. (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you moved but temporarily not read by the game.) Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just let me know whether you can get far enough to start a new save and play in live mode for a bit.
If that doesn't help, please run a dxdiag and attach it to your reply.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
@beksdraws I don't know whether you even have a Sims 4 user folder yet, but if you do, try moving it to the desktop. If that doesn't work, please provide a dxdiag, as above.
I managed to get the game to actually launch! There seemed to be some issues with where it was installing. Moving the install location from Documents -> Electronic Arts to Documents -> EA Games, then making sure the other game files (like saves, mods, etc) to go to Documents -> Electronic Arts -> The Sims 4 seems to have done... something to fix it. It's all a little convoluted imo, just put everything in one folder and call it a day 😢
The fresh install with no mods/old saves works just fine, now I'm going to try to move over my old saves/mods. If it doesn't work, I'll let you know 🙌
@beksdraws Yes, having the game's program files (what the EA App installs) combined with user data (saves, mods, etc., all saved to Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4) can cause all kinds of problems. That includes the game failing to launch and the disappearance of saves and other user data. So it's good that you've separated the two.
