Hello, so my game just loads at the start, and then it goes pitch black and does not go into the main menu.
@Vicilana One reason the game might not work in fullscreen mode is if the in-game resolution doesn't match your monitor. Is your laptop screen currently running at a 2560x1440 resolution? If so, please use that in Sims 4 as well.
@Vicilana 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 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/
did not work @puzzlezaddict cant even get into the menu, just black
@Vicilana Then I'd like to see a dxdiag.
dxdiag? what would that help with @puzzlezaddict
@Vicilana It would allow me to look for system issues that might be causing the black screen. Please run one and attach it (the entire thing, saved as a text file) to a reply here. Without that information, I can't help you further.
@puzzlezaddict here is the dxdiag
@Vicilana Is there a reason you're running your laptop screen at such a low resolution? It's currently set to 1760x990, which not only means everything is going to be blurrier, it's an unusual resolution that Sims 4 may not support. So please revert to 2560x1440. If the icons are too small for you, increase the DPI scaling instead (option one):
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/change-display-dpi-scaling-level-in-windows-11.934/
Restart your computer and try again to play Sims 4. If you still get a black screen, force the game to load in windowed mode. Go into Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4, open Options.ini, search for fullscreen , and set it to 0 (zero).
If that doesn't help either, 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 in windowed mode. 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.
@puzzlezaddict so I changed the resolution and it still was black, and I couldn't find the options,ini folder. this is what I got
@puzzlezaddict so I changed and followed everything you said, the game loaded up to the menu in window mode, and was able to press play, n but glitches or blacks out when touched. Then when I click the minimize mode, it goes back to the game. then goes off, then I repeat it, and does the same thing. It just needs to be stable in window mode or fullscreen mode without glitching or going black in different modes.
@Vicilana Please try playing in a clean boot:
The one service to leave enabled is the EABackgroundService, which the EA App needs in order to run. Disable the rest as described.
When you reboot your computer, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down any service that doesn't absolutely need to be running, for example anything from MSI Afterburner to RGB software might still be enabled. If you accidentally kill a critical process and it doesn't restart on its own, just reboot your computer again.
Don't open anything other than Sims 4 and the EA App while testing, not even a browser window.
If that doesn't help, repeat the test, except with your computer completely offline. You can sign into the EA App and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or disconnect the ethernet cable before pressing Play.
If that doesn't help either, please post a new dxdiag.
The "Windows was not properly shut down" errors are from your having to force the computer to shut down, not directly from Sims 4.
