Help please!! Sims 4 Not responding on startup

@meg9h  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 a post.

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

Hey, yeah that didn't work. It wouldnt even make it to the first EA screen. I checked the My Documents Sims 4 folder and it also didn't even spawn all of the usual folders.

Please find attached the DxDiag!

Thank you for replying!

@meg9h  Try forcing the game to open in windowed mode.  Inside the Sims 4 user folder, open Options.ini, search for fullscreen , and set it to 0 (zero).  It's not important that the user folder is missing some files—they only get regenerated when the game needs them, which it doesn't because it's not loading far enough.

If that doesn't help, 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 launch Sims 4 without reinstalling anything, but your user data won't be available.  That's fine for the purpose of this test, which is to see whether the problem is contained to your main user account or is more global.

Hi there! Forcing the game to enter windowed mode didn’t not work. 

However, creating a new user and launching the game that way did actually work! 

So, the game is no longer working in the new User as well. Just for reference, this is what I see on my screen when trying to laucnh the game.

I'm really frustrated and upset about this and I'd really just like to play the game somehow :D. Is there anything else at all I might be able to try? 🙂

Thank you!

@meg9h  My previous comment about an antivirus blocking the game, or a virus corrupting your user accounts, applies here too.  It's not uncommon for either problem to be absent in a new account at first, then appear after you've run the game once or twice.

However, before you pursue that, the minimized game you show in your screenshot used to be caused by an overlay that interfered with Sims 4.  So try disabling any apps that come with overlays: Discord, Steam, etc.  Disable the EA App in-game overlay as well; the option is under Settings > Application.

Additionally, you can try forcing the game to open in windowed mode.  Go into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4, open Options.ini, search for fullscreen , and set it to 0 (zero).

If these steps don't help, we're back to antivirus/malware, and please read the relevant sections of the post I linked previously.

I do want to mention that someone else with this same issue solved it earlier today by reinstalling Sims 4.  But I don't know when their game last worked, and they never tested in a new Windows account, so I can't tell you whether their issue is the same as yours.

so im having the same issue. I removed the sims 4 folder and it loads and I am able to play so what should I do now put the sims 4 folder back ?

@Jenai22  That means that the problem is one or more files in the Sims 4 folder you moved.  So no, you don't put the old folder back—that would simply reintroduce the original issue.  The next step is to test the data from the old folder, at least the content worth keeping.  Start with your Mods folder; you can see a list of mods and cc currently known to be broken here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mods-CC-Issues/Broken-Obsolete-and-Updated-Sims-4-Mods-1-108-July-23-2024-Game/td-p/13891143

For anything not on that list, you'll need to test it yourself.  The 50/50 method can make going through a long list of files much more efficient.

https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content#The_50.25_Method

Once you've done that, you can copy over the contents of saves, Tray (saved households and builds), Screenshots and Recorded Videos if you care about those, plus the UserSetting.ini file (login rewards).  The rest can be discarded.