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runicbinary's avatar
runicbinary
Rising Novice
5 years ago
Solved

[PC laptop] Game crashing even after reinstall

The game starts up fine, but when I attempt to play it freezes and shuts down. This happens with existing save files and when I hit play after creating a new save/character. Sometimes I can get as fa...
pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    5 years ago

    @runicbinary  I'm not sure what's going on with Steam, but it's worth trying to open it in a new admin user account on your computer.  While in that account, try running Sims 4 as well, in case that helps.

    The next step would be reinstalling the driver for your graphics chip.  You already have the newest one offered for your laptop, so you'll need to cleanly remove it before reinstalling.  Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

    https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3282

    You can get a new copy of the Intel VGA driver here:

    https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/ideapad-l-series-laptop/l340-15iwl/81lg/downloads/driver-list/component?name=Display%20and%20Video%20Graphics

    Next, take your computer completely offline—disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord—and double-click the DDU.exe.  Take note of where the file will land, and click Extract.  If it's easier, you can copy the path and then paste it into the address bar in a File Explorer window.  Open the folder and then launch Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you'll get a message that you're not in Safe Mode.  Click OK, then go to Options and enable Safe Mode dialog.  Here's a screenshot of what your options should look like; make sure the box in red is checked:


    Close options, and the DDU, and then open the DDU.exe again.  For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).  Once you login, you'll see this:



    In the blue box, choose GPU, then Intel if it's not already showing.  Then click Clean and Restart (red box).

    Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the driver install .exe as an admin: right-click on the download and select "Run as administrator."

    Reboot again, go back online, and see whether the game works normally.  If not, let me know.

runicbinary's avatar
runicbinary
Rising Novice
5 years ago

Okay, thanks for getting back to me! I followed all the steps. The message I got was "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations." I restarted and I'm still having the same problem.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
5 years ago

@runicbinary  Alright, try reinstalling the VC++ runtimes that Sims 4 uses, specifically the x86 and x64 versions from both 2010 and 2013.  It's best to uninstall your current copies, and download new ones from Microsoft.

Hit Windows key-i, select Apps, and scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributables.  (Leave the copies from the other years alone.)  Click on each 2010 version and select Uninstall.  You can download new ones here:

x86:  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8328

x64:  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13523

Even if you have a 64-bit OS, you still need both copies.  Repeat for the 2013 runtimes:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40784

You can skip the _arm version, which is for a different class of device.

Restart your computer and try to play.  If the game crashes again, it would be helpful to get a crash log.  Here's how to generate one:

  • Hit the Windows key, type "command prompt" in the box, right-click on Command Prompt in the search results, and select Run as Administrator
  • In the window, paste "reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\devenv.exe" /v DumpType /d 2 /t REG_DWORD" without the outside quotes into the box, and enter
  • Launch Sims 4 and wait for it to crash (whether you can play at all or not)
  • After it crashes, wait for any crash dialogs to finish
  • Then hit Windows key-R and paste "%LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps" without quotes into the box, and enter
  • Upload the last .dmp file to a filesharing site and link it here
  • When you want to undo the auto crash log dumps, open Command Prompt as before, paste "reg delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps" /f" without the outside quotes, and enter.
  • runicbinary's avatar
    runicbinary
    Rising Novice
    5 years ago

    Okay, I uninstalled the old ones and replaced them and it's still happening. I'm sorry, I don't know what pastebin is or how it works, but I came up with this: https://paste.c-net.org/SinkingFlawed

    I hope that's what you needed.

    • runicbinary's avatar
      runicbinary
      Rising Novice
      5 years ago

      Now I can't get into the steam client. When I can get it to open at all, I type in my login information and hit enter and it grays out everything but the cancel button. This is really something. I've only had this laptop since July and I use virus and malware protection. All I want to do is play my video game.

    • puzzlezaddict's avatar
      puzzlezaddict
      Hero+
      5 years ago

      @runicbinary  I'm not sure what's going on with Steam, but it's worth trying to open it in a new admin user account on your computer.  While in that account, try running Sims 4 as well, in case that helps.

      The next step would be reinstalling the driver for your graphics chip.  You already have the newest one offered for your laptop, so you'll need to cleanly remove it before reinstalling.  Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

      https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3282

      You can get a new copy of the Intel VGA driver here:

      https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/ideapad-l-series-laptop/l340-15iwl/81lg/downloads/driver-list/component?name=Display%20and%20Video%20Graphics

      Next, take your computer completely offline—disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord—and double-click the DDU.exe.  Take note of where the file will land, and click Extract.  If it's easier, you can copy the path and then paste it into the address bar in a File Explorer window.  Open the folder and then launch Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you'll get a message that you're not in Safe Mode.  Click OK, then go to Options and enable Safe Mode dialog.  Here's a screenshot of what your options should look like; make sure the box in red is checked:


      Close options, and the DDU, and then open the DDU.exe again.  For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).  Once you login, you'll see this:



      In the blue box, choose GPU, then Intel if it's not already showing.  Then click Clean and Restart (red box).

      Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the driver install .exe as an admin: right-click on the download and select "Run as administrator."

      Reboot again, go back online, and see whether the game works normally.  If not, let me know.

      • runicbinary's avatar
        runicbinary
        Rising Novice
        5 years ago

        It works! Oh my God, thank you so much. You didn't have to walk me through all that, but you did, and I really appreciate it. Now I know why it says "hero" under your name!

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