Re: [CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 already running

@tiffy_is_here  The safe mode option is under Options, as the guide says in steps 12-13.

The part of step 13 after the screenshot explains the why the safe mode warning exists.  Feel free to test it on your own (instructions here), but as noted, safe mode is only a problem in certain contexts.  If those contexts don't apply to you, you should be fine.

Ok I managed to uninstall my drivers and install an old one from May. I rebooted my computer after installing, and connected back to the internet, and I am still getting the same Sims 4 error. I know I followed all the steps correctly because my GeForce Experience says I currently have "Version 555.85 Release date: 05/21/2024" installed. what do I do now? I am losing hope, which is a shame when I have already inputted multiple hours and money to purchase all of the packs for this game. 

@tiffy_is_here  To be thorough, please triple-check that McAfee is gone and you have no other antivirus (aside from Windows Defender).  The simplest way is to go through the Task Manager's background processes list looking for anything that might belong to an AV.  For any name you don't recognize, google it and you should be able to figure out what it is.

If you don't find anything, please run a malware scan.  I'm not saying you definitely have a virus, only that it's a reasonable next step given everything else you've tried so far.  Download Malwarebytes (the free trial is fine) from here:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download

Open it, find the Custom Scan option (it keeps moving around), click Configure Scan, check all the boxes both for all scan types and for all your drives, and let it do its job.  (If you don't see this option, you're not doing the correct custom scan.)  This could take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the amount of data and whether the scan finds anything., so you may want to set it to run while you're doing something else.  Please attach its report so I can take a look.

I do want to mention that reinstalling Windows should absolutely take care of this problem.  I'm not saying you have to, and I will keep trying to solve this for as long as you're interested, but at some point, you might decide that the best option for you is to stop troubleshooting and blow away the OS and the problem with it.  If you want help or advice with this process, let me know.  And if you'd rather avoid it, we can keep taking intermediate steps.

Hi!

Could you please help me understand what i'm looking at? I've just looked through half of this thread troubleshooting my game with nothing working. I'm still getting the same message that the game is already running. I tried to read through this on my own, and google the error reports to try and understand and all i've gathered is that The Sims is using a lot of memory. Is there anything else that could be contributing to my game not running? Or is my laptop just not capable of running the game with the amount of memory it's using?

Thanks in advance!!!!

@keeganharley  Did you manage to try every suggestion in the first post on page one?  I don't want to skip over any of them because they're the best ways to fix this issue, and other interventions are more complicated.  But I also don't want to suggest something you've already tried.  OneDrive in particular may be a problem for you, so be sure to check those settings.

If you're having trouble with a specific step, let me know which one and what about it is difficult, and I can walk you through it in more detail.

I appreciate you so much for taking the time to help me throughout this frustrating process, I deleted all the remaining files of McAfee from my PC, and I am currently running a Malwarebytes scan, which will take a while for me to send the report (I will send it when done). While looking through my task manager, I found an app called "Antimalware Service Executable" but I was not able to end the task, because it says "Access denied?" But I looked through my settings and it shows I have the Microsoft Defender Antivirus disabled, but the program is still running in task manager, I send a screenshot of it below. Would I need to find another way to disable this? Or is it fine since my Microsoft Defender is disabled?

I am trying to avoid reinstalling Windows as I would have to reinstall 1.5TB worth of files, including every Sims 3 CD in which I would have to uninstall and reinstall each CD. Again, thank you for helping me with everything and I hope at least one of these alternatives will work before I absolutely have to reinstall Windows

The Malwarebytes scan finished and didn't detect any malware, but here is the report below.

@tiffy_is_here  Don't worry about the Antimalware service; it's part of Windows and shouldn't have any effect on Sims 4.  I don't know exactly what should or shouldn't still be running when Defender is disabled, but if this service were a problem in general, we'd see a lot more reports.

I totally understand not wanting to reinstall all that data.  I do want to mention that this is one reason some people partition a larger drive and install Windows onto a 100-150 GB partition—you could wipe just that part and keep everything else intact.  I promise this isn't a lecture or even a suggestion—I haven't this myself and don't think it's strictly necessary.  But it's worth keeping in mind, perhaps for your next computer, if you tend to run into issues that a clean Windows install should solve.

For this issue, right now, please let me know the current status of the game in a new admin Windows account: how far you can get in trying to play in a clean user folder, what error you see (if any), etc.; and whether this changes when your computer is offline.  Since you've seen a few different errors, I want to avoid any assumptions.

Please also look for a current Sims 4 crash dump.  There might not be any, depending on whether the game is currently crashing or simply being blocked from starting, but it's worth looking.  Click Windows key-R and copy and paste this:

%LocalAppData%\CrashDumps

When you enter, you'll see a list of .dmp files.  If one of them is from Sims 4 or the EA App, please upload it to a third-party filehosting site (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and link it here.  If you see a crash dump that was written at exactly the most recent time you tried to play, I'd like that too.  But you can ignore older files.

I made a new Windows admin account and tried playing the game in a fresh state, I tried three times and the game crashed every time I clicked on the main menu to create a new save

1.  First time with internet, the game launched but showed the sims delivery error, and crashed after I clicked "new game." this crash is labeled 13136.dmp 
2. Without internet in offline, there was no delivery error. It crashed after i pressed "new game." this crash is labeled 20280.dmp
3. I tried again in offline mode, and it still crashed. This crashed is labeled 22424.dmp

Here is the google doc folder full of the crashes. The first one listed as 5372.dmp is from my personal (and only) Windows account that occurred a few weeks ago when I had the SDX error back then (it is also the only dmp file in the folder). The remaining files are from the new Windows admin account

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZalbeT9CJkG_6mvPnGNPqIKTpheeHGP5?usp=sharing

Do I go back and try to fix the SDX error in the new windows account next?

@tiffy_is_here  Sure, try to fix the SDX error in the same way, but it shouldn't have caused the crashing while your computer was offline.  I'll take a look at the dump files soon; I'm away from my Windows install right now but shouldn't be for long.

I had put this off for almost a week due to midterms, but when I launched the new Windows admin profile today I didn't get the SDX error anymore, and I managed to finish the last week of the Reaper's Rewards event smoothly. So I then thought to myself if it works on the test profile let me try my main one again.... and my sims game launched. The only things that I noticed is the slower loading time (due to my mods) but other than that, I can actually play now?!

I'm a little confused because I didn't really do anything to fix it between my last post and this post, the only factor I could think of is that during the past week my PC needed to download and install 2 new Windows updates. Maybe that was the case? 

@tiffy_is_here  That could absolutely be the reason, but it's hard to say with the information available.  Still, the important point is that you can play now.