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XXArghorXX's avatar
XXArghorXX
1 year ago

My Sims 4 Crashes and returns to the EA App

So whenever I try to play Sims 4 the game launches and the logo animation plays, but when the animation stops and starts loading in the screen with that same logo it crashes and goes back to the EA App. I've tried everything I can think of and read about:
I've uninstalled and reinstalled the EA App and the Sims 4 game (4 times now), I've deleted all the mods, deleted my saves, deleted the localthumbcache.packge file and the Sims 4 folder. I've updated the graphics drivers and windows. Tried to launch with only the native screen of my laptop (I've got multiple monitors), launch in admin mode, turn off fulscreen optimizations, launch in windows 8 compatibility mode, close wallpaper engine before launching the game, tried to launch hthe steam version of the game, literally nothing has worked and I'm out of options.

If someone has had this problem I would appreciate your help very much, the game played fine when Origin was still a thing for windows, but I don't know if that's the cause because there has been a long time since I last played the game.

My system specs are Windows 11, RTX 2070, i7 10th gen, 32GB RAM (2x16).

pc

5 Replies

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    1 year ago

    @XXArghorXX  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/

  • XXArghorXX's avatar
    XXArghorXX
    1 year ago

    Hey @puzzlezaddict , thanks for your help. I had already tried this and it didn't work, however I tried it again after your response just to make sure and the game still crashes so I ran the dxdiag and I'll post it here for you to evaluate, I only removed the Machine name and ID from it.
    Tank you for your help!

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    1 year ago

    @XXArghorXX  Please force 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 that doesn't help, ttry playing in a clean boot:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

    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 either, let me know what drive Sims 4 is installed on, and if possible, uninstall it and reinstall on a different drive.  I'd suggest using Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine), to be thorough; rename the Sims 4 folder you moved out of Documents first so that Revo doesn't delete your user data too.  Drives E and F are exFAT, so ideally you'd reinstall the game on D, if it's not there already.  If it is currently on D, please clear some space on C and install it there.

    C currently has room for Sims 4, but space will be tight if you own most of the DLC.  It would be best to leave at least 25 GB free after Sims 4 installs.  The EA App will tell you the download size before you start, if you want to see how much space you'll need to clear.

  • XXArghorXX's avatar
    XXArghorXX
    1 year ago

    Hey @puzzlezaddict, thanks for all your help. I've been opening the game on windowed mode but still the same result. I also did the cleanboot but the EA app itself was unable to even start the game, it got stuck in the "preparing your game" bar and never even moved from there for like half an hour so I gave up on the clean boot.
    As for uninstalling and reinstalling the game I honestly don't feel like doing it for a 6th time. Previously I uninstalled and reinstalled the game in the C drive and the problem persisted so I don't think the problem is in the drive the game is installed in.

    If you have any more suggestions I would be happy to read them.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    1 year ago

    @XXArghorXX  When you tried the clean boot, did you leave the EABackgroundService enabled?  And did you in fact use the clean boot method rather than booting into safe mode?  Both are common mistakes to make, and both would explain why the App didn't launch the game.

    Just as a random test, you can also try launching Sims 4 while your computer is offline.  Sign into the EA App and put it in offline mode, then disconnect from the internet before pressing Play.

    I understand not wanting to reinstall, but you've already tried most of the usual troubleshooting steps.  Still, if this is too much of a hassle, and the above doesn't work, I can make some suggestions that aren't so intensive.  One would be to try playing in a new admin Windows account, a local one (not linked to your Microsoft account).  That should only take a couple of minutes to set up.

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