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karebare96's avatar
karebare96
3 years ago
Solved

I can not start my game Sim

I have not been able to play Sims 4 for a while now. When I start it gives me the error "Cannot start because game data is missing or damaged. If you have Mods installed please remove them and try ag...
pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    2 years ago

    @karebare96  The LiveKernelEvent 144 is a crash of the USB 3 driver.  It's not necessarily serious at all—I've seen two on my desktop, and they were fixed by unplugging my USB headphones and restarting the computer.  You could try the same, and it's a good idea to do so, but I doubt this is the reason Sims 4 isn't working.

    Please try a repair install of Windows:

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

    This shouldn't delete your data, but if you get to step 13 and are NOT asked to keep personal files and apps, back out and start over.

    When testing Sims 4, make sure you're using the new Windows account just to eliminate as many sources of interference as possible.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
3 years ago

@karebare96  Please uninstall Sims 4 with Revo Uninstaller:

  • Put aside your Sims 4 folder that was originally in Documents\Electronic Arts (the one with your saves in it) and rename it to something that doesn't include the words "Sims 4."
  • Download Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine) from here.
  • Launch Revo, select Sims 4 from the list, and click Uninstall.
  • Once the game is uninstalled, select "Moderate" under "scanning modes," and click Scan.
  • Review the list, in case there's something you want to save; otherwise, click Select All, and then Delete.
  • Close Revo, and restart your computer.

Uninstall the EA App with Revo as well.  I don't have instructions for that at the moment, but the process should be straightforward.  Restart again when you're done.

Install the EA App, then create a new folder into which you'll install Sims 4.  The folder should be on the root level of the drive of your choice, for example C:\Games is fine, but not C:\Program Files\Games.

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/

karebare96's avatar
karebare96
2 years ago

Hi, 

I tired the uninstall with revo and it did not work, I still got the same error message. I have attached my dxdiag, hopefully that helps.

Thank you!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @karebare96  Your dxdiag lists a number of crashes of a component of Windows's audio engine, but that component is unlikely to be corrupt itself.  It's more likely a problem of other software interacting with it.  So please unplug all your audio devices and restart your computer, then see whether the game works.  To be clear, I don't know whether these audio crashes are related to the Sims 4 issues, but the error is obvious and the test simple.

    The Sims 4 error you're getting is usually related to the game being blocked in some way.  So if you use a third-party antivirus, please disable it, then clear the EA App's cache:

    https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/

    and repair the game: open your EA App game library, click Sims 4, and select Manage > Repair.  Then try to play again, still with the antivirus disabled and with no audio devices plugged in.  As long as you're not doing anything else while testing, your computer should be safe despite the lack of virus protection.

    • karebare96's avatar
      karebare96
      2 years ago

      Oh man, that doesn't sound good. I unplugged all of my auto devices. I don't use a third party antivirus, just windows security, but I deactivated everything I could with windows. Cleared the cache, and repaired the game and it is still giving me the same error.

      • puzzlezaddict's avatar
        puzzlezaddict
        Hero+
        2 years ago

        @karebare96  This is not necessarily a serious problem.  It's possible a driver needs to be updated, for example the Logitech speakers' driver is from 2019; or that one of the drivers is corrupt and should be reinstalled.  But rather than troubleshoot that, not knowing whether it's related to Sims 4 or which device was involved, it was easier to just unplug everything and test.

        Since that didn't help, please run a few basic checks of your Windows system files.  Here's how:

        • 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.

        If that doesn't help either, please create another new admin Windows account, the idea being that maybe you'll get a different result now that you've uninstalled and reinstalled Sims 4.  Make it a local account again, and don't import or download any of your old content.

        If you still can't play, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.  Today is on the right.

        Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempt to launch Sims 4, specifically after creating the new Windows account.  If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.  If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

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