Not getting past "Preparing game" window

What works for me when that happens is closing out the "EA background service" in task manager and then relaunching the EA app.

pgsmith88  That is quite a lot of troubleshooting, but I do see something in your dxdiag that you wouldn't have covered: crashes of a component of the VC++ 2015 and newer runtimes.  There's actually only one Sims 4 error; the others are crashes of various components of ArmouryCrate or whatever Asus is calling it these days.  Personally, I'd nuke it entirely since it's not critical software and is clearly causing problems at least some of the time.

For the VC++ runtimes, please uninstall your current versions and install fresh copies.  Hit Windows key-i, select Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables, click on any version from 2015 or later, and select Uninstall.  Don't touch the older versions.  You can download the newest runtimes directly from Microsoft:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-US/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

You'll need both the x86 and x64 versions of the 2015-2022 runtimes, but you can skip the ARM version, which is for a different class of device.  Restart your computer after installing and before trying to play.