Re: S4 -White screen on start; game fails to load

This is the only thing that came up error wise, everything else was successful

Description
Faulting application name: StartMenuExperienceHost.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4fe0bcb3
Faulting module name: amdihk64.dll_unloaded, version: 2.0.0.1788, time stamp: 0x5fca2253
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000000633f
Faulting process id: 0x19e0
Faulting application start time: 0x01d6d5b44af2739f
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\StartMenuExperienceHost.exe
Faulting module path: amdihk64.dll
Report Id: 55c98472-b049-4e84-a625-756dba69a13b
Faulting package full name: Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_10.0.19041.610_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Faulting package-relative application ID: App

EA help, which takes hours, had me create a new account and the game ran fine.

thoughts?

@EsuMiwa7  There are a few different reasons why a new user account might help.  One is that a new account means new user files; this should have been addressed by the new Sims 4 user folder, but it may not have been if you put back some of your existing content.  Or if OneDrive is syncing the contents of Documents with cloud storage, it could have redownloaded your old content even after removing it.

Having OneDrive set to auto-sync could also cause problems all by itself, so if you have it enabled in the old user account but not the new one, that's a good place to start.

Finally, the permissions on your Documents directory, or any folder within it, could be borked; again, a new user account means new user folders, and by extension newly applied default permissions on those folders.  If you're comfortable with the takeown /F command, you could try it, or you could go looking for anomalies either in the folders' permissions or in your antivirus settings.

Hmm So i did take down my antivirus and it didnt work.

I do not kknow takedown/f command..brief description maybe?

OneDrive is disabled.  fyi

I found this guide and followed it.  gonna try it out

https://appuals.com/takeown/

@EsuMiwa7  This is a good tutorial, although it covers a few different approaches to restoring rights to the admin:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3587-change-owner-file-folder-drive-registry-key-windows-10-a.html

The command only helps if borked permissions are in fact the issue though.  If using it doesn't help, try generating a crash dump:

• 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 let it crash
• After it crashes, wait for any crash dialogs to finish, or just wait a minute
• Then hit Windows key-R and paste "%LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps" without quotes into the box, and enter
• Upload the last .dmp file to a free 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

That did not work

+(

Might just transfer over to the new user account and move everything over to there..i guess..

@EsuMiwa7  You can try getting a crash dump, as described above.

Ahh sadly when it borks out, i cannot access any window or any kind.  The windows key will bring up the box to put cmd in, but i wont be able to access the cmd to put in any commands.

@EsuMiwa7  Can you alt-tab to a different app first, then try bring up the box?  Or you can crtl-alt-delete and sign out, then sign back in and look for the crash dump.

I'll try..You have been amazingly helpful and thanks for teaching me a lot about windows..i am a mainframe engineer, not a windows engineer.  Let you know in a few minutes

It did not crash to create a dump file!!!

I think I know what's impacting this issue: I changed my documents folder from the standard C:\ to D:\.  Its not even labeled documents any more.  I cant remember what guide i followed to do it.  I moved to for size and security reasons and i think that is somehow interfering with sims4 launching after updating it with new packs...

@EsuMiwa7  I didn't see your newest post before replying.  And yes, that would do it.  Try using this tutorial to move the Documents directory:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/74952-move-location-documents-folder-windows-10-a.html

The guide may also help you reverse whatever changes you made, although I don't know what you did either.

@EsuMiwa7  Okay, that's interesting information.  I'm running out of ideas though.  Do you happen to have Windows set to compress files to save disk space?  That could cause this kind of issue—the game can't properly use some of the compressed files.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else.  If you want me to keep looking, I'll do so, but you may want to play in the new user account in the meantime.

I will try your method. at worst i will switch to the new account and not mess around with stuff I dont know about..lol.  I will let you know

Question should I move the current D:\ to  c:\users\esumiwa\documents?

"documents" being a folder

Well. I received this error on the move: Failed to build the list of regular subdirectories under d:\system volume information:, access is denied

@puzzlezaddict  I think at this point I will switch to the new account and work from there, i obviously made a mess of things.  its easier with as much time as i have spent on resolving this issue, that switching over is the better option. I feel like we will be chasing bugs for far too long.

@EsuMiwa7  That's an understandable decision.  The problem can be fixed if you want, but I think the only good way at this point would be to edit your computer's registry, and I'd have to look up and double-check the edits before posting anything, because one typo with a registry edit could brick your computer completely.  If you're interested, let me know, and I'll be super careful and ask someone to check my work, just to be extra safe.

@puzzlezaddict No, I will transfer over to the other account.  I may have messed around too much and when it comes to registry stuff, I dont have the knowledge or the skills and, as you said, one mistake and *poof* bricked system.  not worth the risk when i can simply move over to the other account.  Which i am currently doing and everything is running smoothly so far. One more game to check and i am set.  Having the otehr account available to export settings from etc is making things easier

100% over the top thank you for helping me through all of this. Hey, at least i learned a few things along the way!