Persistent Crashes – 1+ Year, Exhaustive Troubleshooting, Same Crash Signature
I have been crashing in the Sims 4 for over a year. I have been troubleshooting with Claude, and it now feels this issue is increasingly looking like a base game bug specific to this hardware combination that EA needs to fix.
Please see below for the Claude summary on everything I have tried.
What I Need:
This crash signature is consistent enough that it should be identifiable on EA's end. I am requesting escalation to the development team to investigate whether there is a known engine bug affecting the i9-14900K + high-end NVIDIA GPU configuration, and what resolution is available.
My past two crash logs from today are attached. I also included a screenshot for when I tried to launch the game after crash one. I tried again and the game launched, followed soon by crash 2.
Thank you for the support. I have been a long-time Sims player and the game is virtually unplayable with how frequently it has been crashing.
System Specs:
- Corsair Vengeance i7500
- CPU: Intel Core i9-14900KF
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (previously RTX 4090)
- RAM: 64GB DDR5 6000MT/s
- Storage: 2TB NVMe SSD
- OS: Windows 11
- Game version: 1.125.59.1030 (crashes also occurred on 1.124.63.1020)
The Problem:
Sims 4 has been crashing consistently for over a year. The game closes to desktop without warning, typically within a 90-minute window. Every single crash produces the identical engine crash signature:
- Current Game State: 0xbe7da869
- Game Sub-state: 0x1020b807
This signature has never varied across dozens of crashes, multiple game versions, and every configuration change listed below.
Everything That Has Been Tried and Ruled Out:
Mods:
- Removed all mods and tested on a clean install with a new save
- Game crashed after ~99 minutes with Modded: False confirmed in the crash log
- Mods are not the cause
Save file:
- Tested on a brand new save with no mods
- Crashed with the same signature
- Save corruption ruled out
Game installation:
- Full clean uninstall including manual deletion of remaining game folders and the Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 folder
- Fresh reinstall from EA App
- Same crash signature on first session
Game repair:
- EA App repair function used repeatedly over many months
- No effect on crash behavior
GPU thermals and power draw:
- Monitored entire sessions using HWiNFO64 CSV logging
- GPU temperatures never exceeded 52°C core, 61°C hot spot, 60°C memory junction
- GPU power draw maxed at 18% TDP
- Hardware thermal/power issues ruled out
GPU drivers:
- Performed clean driver uninstall using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) in Safe Mode
- Reinstalled latest NVIDIA Game Ready Driver
- No change in crash behavior
DirectX version:
- Crashes occurred on both DX9 and DX11 builds
- DirectX version is not a factor
RAM:
- Windows Memory Diagnostic: no errors
- MemTest86 V11.7: 48/48 tests passed, zero errors across all test types
- RAM ruled out
GPU hardware (RTX 4090):
- Original 4090 had a known hardware defect (non-functional HDMI port) documented by Corsair support since March 2024
- Corsair approved RMA and upgraded to RTX 5090
- Crashes continue on the 5090 with identical signature
- GPU hardware ruled out
Additional Observations:
- The "Unrecognized Video Card" message appeared on first launch after clean reinstall — the game has been running on auto-configured GPU settings. This message also appeared the first time I launched the game after installing the 5090 GPU.
- Crash window with mods and save loaded is typically 5–99 minutes; clean no-mods new save crashed at ~99 minutes
- The same crash state 0xbe7da869 / 0x1020b807 appears regardless of mods, save, GPU, drivers, or DirectX version
- The consistent timing and identical crash signature across all configurations strongly suggests a memory leak or engine-level bug specific to this hardware combination
- Another EA Forums user reported identical symptoms with the same hardware (i9-14900KF + RTX 4090 + 64GB RAM): https://forums.ea.com/discussions/the-sims-4-technical-issues-pc-en/sims-4-constantly-crashing/12259212
- I also posted a month ago and no one responded or followed up. Really disappointed no one even tried to help then. Link to that post:
Crash log from most recent session (RTX 5090, game version 1.125.59.1030):
- Create time: 2026-07-07 20:46:58
- Category ID: 0x140096df5
- Current Game State: 0xbe7da869
- Game Sub-state: 0x1020b807
- Client Session Time: 327.99 seconds
- GPU confirmed: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
What I Need:
This crash signature is consistent enough that it should be identifiable on EA's end. I am requesting escalation to the development team to investigate whether there is a known engine bug affecting the i9-14900K + high-end NVIDIA GPU configuration, and what resolution is available.
CaptainBubbles00 The known issue with your hardware is with the instability of high-end Intel processors from the 13th and 14th generation. A BIOS update often solves the problem, so check your version and see whether your motherboard manufacturer has an update available.
And to be clear, this isn't strictly a game engine issue since a BIOS update can fix it, and of course since this instability was reported across a variety of games and other demanding tasks.
The "failed to launch game" error is just a generic error that doesn't mean anything in particular. One known cause is launching the game after it crashes and before restarting your computer, or at least closing the EA App and killing the EABackgroundService in the Task Manager. So, take your pick.
If the BIOS update doesn't help, or you don't have one available, please provide a dxdiag. Click Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can attach it to a reply using the paper clip (Attachment) icon included with the other formatting buttons.
P.S.: I'm not from the development team (I don't work for EA at all), but no one on the dev team is ever here doing individual troubleshooting.
