Forum Discussion

Re: crashing on startup

@gotsalty  If you haven't already—I'm not sure from your description exactly what you deleted—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, if it launches, 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/

17 Replies

  • gotsalty's avatar
    gotsalty
    2 years ago

    I've done that already, I even uninstalled the game completely but it still crashes as soon as it starts running. and theres my dxdiag file.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @gotsalty  Your dxdiag shows that Sims 4 is crashing with a breakpoint error, which has a few different causes.  One is a corrupt or incompatible graphics driver, and yours is from early 2020, so the first step is to update it.  Go here:

    https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/laptops

    Enter your laptop's serial number, choose your OS (just Windows 11 is fine) if prompted, and you'll land on the driver download page for your system.  Rather than let HP look for updates (you can do that later if you want), click All Drivers, then Driver-Graphics, and look for the newest Intel graphics driver by release date.  Download and install that, and restart your computer.

    The other common cause of breakpoint errors is Sims 4 running out of memory.  While your laptop has enough RAM to run the game, it's possible other services are using too much of it before you even try to play.  So when you've restarted your computer, please wait five minutes without opening any apps at all, then open the Task Manager (but nothing else yet).  Let me know how much memory is in use: it'll show as a percent value in the Memory header.  If it's close to or over 50%, click the Startup icon, take a screenshot of the list of startup apps, and post it here.

  • gotsalty's avatar
    gotsalty
    2 years ago

    Yeah, installing the new graphic driver didn't work. It changes from 62 to 73%. also it's saying I have like 106 background processes and I don't know what to do about that..

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @gotsalty  I would disable Edge, Teams, BlueStacks, SteelSeries GG, and Wondershare from starting with Windows.  Personally, I'd disable the EA App too, which you can do inside the App itself, but that's not going to impact how Sims 4 runs since you'd have to open the App anyway.  The point here is that with everything currently running, your computer is somewhat low on memory before you even open Sims 4.

    One other useful step you can take to help with memory management is to increase the size of the page file, which is where your processor stores data that would normally be in RAM but doesn't fit and isn't immediately needed.  Here's how (option three):

    https://www.elevenforum.com/t/manage-virtual-memory-paging-file-in-windows-11.8618/#Three

    Set the minimum to 16000 and the maximum to 20000, then restart your computer.

    One thing to note is that this will use extra storage—the page file space is allocated from your C drive—and your current free storage is already on the low side.  So it would be best to see what you can delete, for example .zips or installers in Downloads where you've already extracted or installed the relevant content.  This isn't critical yet, just something to manage carefully.

    You can see your free and total storage by opening a File Explorer window and clicking This PC in the left panel.  Your C drive currently has 25 GB free, which is about the minimum you want to see long-term, and it'll drop as you increase the page file size.

    If you get another crash after all this, please post a new dxdiag.  Please also link the HP driver download page for your laptop.  That page doesn't contain any information about you or your computer, just the overall model.

  • parismoore's avatar
    parismoore
    12 months ago

    Hey, I was wondering if you might be able to help me fix my game. I am not sure why it is not allowing me to get past the resume game or new game screen. A pop up about download any of the game packs will appear when I open the EA app to play the sims. When I click the “x” to get out of the pop up, the mouse turns into a loading icon and the game no longer responds. 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    12 months ago

    @parismoore  What OS does your computer run, and what kind of install is this (EA App, Steam, etc.)?  Please also post a screenshot of the pop-up you're seeing.

  • zorafero's avatar
    zorafero
    8 months ago

    i have the same problem ☹️ hope somebody can helppp i want to play ☹️

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    8 months ago

    @zorafero  Please try the clean folder described in post 2, and if that doesn't help, provide a dxdiag, as mentioned there.

  • SylveraJade's avatar
    SylveraJade
    8 months ago

    Hi, @puzzlezaddict 

    I'm having the same issue and was wondering if you could help me out. I've followed all of the tips and tricks and nothing worked. When I open the game now, it doesn't open, but it shows in my task manager in the Background Processes section. I also have no clue what a dxdiag is. Should change my name to virtually clueless.🥲

  • @puzzlezaddict Nevermind. I paused syncing on OneDrive and just now turned it back on. It seems to have fixed everything so far. I guess I'm just stupid.
  • PianoMan565's avatar
    PianoMan565
    7 months ago

    Hey, I know you made this post over a year ago and it honestly did help. I was able to launch the game when before It would close shortly after the initial intro. What would the next steps be?

  • EllieBee242's avatar
    EllieBee242
    7 months ago

    I've been having the same problem on start up and I did the clean folder method here. I checked the rest of the thread but you didn't finish the fix for it. Could you please go on? A new folder did launch the game clean and clear no issue after the folder was moved to my desktop. I had removed all my mods on the other broken one.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    7 months ago

    @EllieBee242  The next step is transferring your saves and other content to the new Sims 4 folder.  Start with your mods and custom content, and if the game stops working, test those files to find the problem.  The 50/50 method can make the process much more efficient:

    https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content#The_50.25_Method

    Once you've done that, and the game is working with whatever mods and cc you want to use, add back your saves and Tray files, plus Screenshots and Recorded Videos if you care about those.  The rest can be discarded.

    @PianoMan565  Did you try the clean folder, and are you able to play without a crash?  If so, please see the above.  If not, please post a dxdiag.

    https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

  • CANDYSAMMIE's avatar
    CANDYSAMMIE
    7 months ago

     Ive done all the steps from post 2 and have followed up until this point but my sims game isnt loading the mods i put into the folder. ive don't it from the normal pathway but it seems like its in a completely different folder altogether because even when i remove the mods they still pop up in the mods list. 

  • sophsty16's avatar
    sophsty16
    Newcomer
    2 months ago

    This was my exact issue!! Thank you for this comment, I spent over an hour trying all the tips and tricks only for this to be the problem and it was fixed in less than a minute 🤣