Re: error loading the sims4 "problem with game setup"

After doing this my sims now finally works again! you are a lifesaver, thank you so much 🙂

Hello,
If I do a clean uninstall of the Sims 4, will this affect my add-ons? Because when I initially tried to uninstall the Sims four after seeing the error message through EA, it told me that my add-ons would be deleted. I’m not sure what that means entirely, but if it means  I won’t have access to the add-ons, I bought anymore, I’m not sure how to fix the problem of reinstalling the Sims.

@voo101voo202  The message means your add-ons will be uninstalled along with the base game.  They'll still be owned by your account and will be available to reinstall whenever you're ready.

@puzzlezaddict Hey. How do I know what should I delete and what now. I do not want to delete something important and end up messing up my computer lol.

@noahnaveda  What exact issue are you having, and what, if anything, have you done so far to try to fix it?  The "problem with game setup" error probably requires a clean uninstall and reinstall, as described earlier in the thread, but that's not usually necessary for most other types of errors.  However, if you do need to uninstall, let Revo handle the process, and just let it remove everything with Sims 4 in the name, aside from the user folder that you should have renamed anyway as the first step of the process.

I feel very silly. I really tried solving the issue by myself, but I believe I made it worse. I was trying to follow your tutorial using REVO, but I did not deleted some of the content because I am unsure about how it actually works and I am scared it will delete something necessary to the proper function of my computer. I did deleted some files but I do not know which ones. Sorry that it took me a while to reply back. I have been too busy to actually sit down and attempt to fix this problem, but I really need help ☹️

@noahnaveda  Just save and rename the Sims 4 folder that is or was in Documents > Electronic Arts, and let Revo clear out everything else.  Then reinstall the game and let me know whether it works.  Revo will do a better job of removing the files than I could on my own computer, let alone what I could explain to anyone else in a post.

What do I do from here?

@noahnaveda  Select All, and Delete.

And here?

@noahnaveda  Scroll through the list making sure there's nothing you want to save.  Everything in the screenshot should go—removing the files in C:\ProgramData or C:\AppData is one great reason to use Revo.

What would be something that I want to keep?, sorry if it is a dumb questions, I just don't know if there is any file that I should not delete.

@noahnaveda  You'd probably want to keep the Sims 4 folder that is or was inside Documents > Electronic Arts, or any backup you've made of that folder.  You can also look at the file path for anything you're not sure about and open it yourself in a separate File Explorer window to see the contents.  If you have no idea what the files are, you don't need them and in fact should remove them.

Okay! I deleted everything that I needed to delete. What would be the next step?. I really appreciate your patience, you can tell that I am not familiar with these issues.

@noahnaveda  Uninstall the EA App with Revo, for good measure, and let Revo wipe everything with "EA App" in its name.  (No need to check with me; you can nuke it all.)  Then restart your computer and reinstall the EA App.

Next, create a new folder on the root level of the drive where you want Sims 4 to be installed.  For example, C:\Games would work because the Games folder would be on the root level of C.  C:\Program Files\Games would not be.  When installing Sims 4, you'll be asked where you want it to go, and choose the new folder you made.

While installing Sims 4, be sure to disable any antivirus you normally have running, and don't reenable it until you've tried to play at least once.  As long as you're not doing anything else on your computer at the same time, you should be safe.

Okay. What if I use Steam to download the sims? would I follow the same steps?

@noahnaveda  If you use Steam this time around, but you didn't before, then you don't need to create a new folder.  Steam installs games into a different location than the EA App does, so that should be fine.

If you previously installed via Steam, please create a new Steam library folder, also on the root level of the drive of your choice, and install Sims 4 into that.  Here's how to create the folder:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4BD4-4528-6B2E-8327

Either way, the point here is to install the game into a different folder than you used the last time around.

The tutorial looks a little different from what my computer shows, and I am wondering if it is just a different update, or my Steam is missing something.

I also tried following youtube tutorials, but it seems that I missing something.

Nevermind! I figured out that I needed to create an actual drive on the computer first. Right now I am downloading The Sims into that new drive. 

Thank you so much! After a while of researching more about the whole issues I managed to fi it.

Hello. I did everything in this thread except instead of Origin I uninstalled and reinstalled the EA app. I'm still getting the error unfortunately. Any ideas for me?

I am unsure why I got the error to begin with. I was playing just fine and then exited the game to connect to the internet to claim rewards from the reaper event and it gave the error. I had somewhat recently downloaded steam on my other laptop (which also has the EA app) and linked the two. I have never successfully gotten sims 4 to launch on that laptop but have logged in to the EA app on it in order to try. I unlinked the steam account from EA but still get this error. I have uninstalled and reinstalled roughly 5 times within the last few days, using Revo the last 2 times and running as admin.

At a total loss now as there is nothing helpful from EA, they just send you to the forums.

@lrepp  Please post a screenshot of the error, for reference.  Please also let me know what antivirus you use, and run a dxdiag and attach it to your reply.

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

Hey, thanks for getting back to me. I actually tried one more thing last night and it worked, it was one of your solutions on a different forum I believe. Typing in the -dx9 worked for me! I don't understand it at all but I'm just happy it worked. Thank you so much!!