Re: Sims 4 crashes after loading; tried every fix I can find

Thanks for the info on the dxdiag and game bar.

I found two minidump files: https://www.mediafire.com/file/qdn35dj2ukc1izs/Sims_minidump_files.zip/file

There wasn't a %LocalAppData%\CrashDumps folder.

In the meanwhile, I also tried the following, none of which worked:

- I tried to run as administrator.
- MS Store- updated Spotify, HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer, and Phone Link
- Windows Update again just for the hell of it
- Installed Visual C++ update
- DirectX install. Got error "This program might not have installed correctly. DirectX 9.0 Web setup. If this program didn't install correctly, you can try installing the program using compatibility settings". I chose "Installed correctly".
- Checked that .Net Framework 4.5 was updated
- Tried booting and logging in as Administrator.
- Repaired Win 11

Thanks again for any suggestions.

Update:

Out of desperation, I decided to reinstall Win 11. After that debacle, The Sims still lets me create a new character, but crashes a few minutes into the scenario. 

I also saw mention of someone having trouble with Razor software, so I uninstalled that as well. No luck.

I'll post if I try anything else, but I'm out of ideas.

Found something else to try: I couldn't uninstall the X-Box Game Bar normally, but I could by using Powershell. The errors about the Game Bar went away, but it still crashed.

Got a new DxDiag crash error involving FileZilla (!), uninstalled that. Files were "stuck" in D:\$Recycle.bin, deleted them.

The newest DxDiag mentions FileZilla.exe, but that's not on my system anywhere, so I have no idea what's going on with that. There are a few other things in DxDiag (attached).

As usual, any suggestions appreciated.

@DoctorSyzygy  I apologize for the late reply.  I wanted to get a second opinion on the crash dumps before posting, but that didn't happen before you reinstalled Windows.  The faulting module in both of the crash dumps was a component of the AMD graphics driver, which would have been replaced with a fresh copy along with everything else, so I was trying to figure out where else to go from there.

Your new dxdiag shows completely different BlueScreens, and the question again is whether they happen as you're playing Sims 4 or another time.  The FileZilla errors are actually crashes of the installer.  They're also the two oldest errors in your dxdiag, so I wouldn't worry about this unless you see more errors; it's very possible that these predate your uninstalling the program.

My other question is whether you deliberately installed the AMD Adrenalin software rather than the Pro driver available for your graphics card.  Your dxdiag does list one crash of Radeon software, along with some generic Windows update errors, so it may be worth trying the Pro driver instead:

https://www.amd.com/en/support/professional-graphics/radeon-pro/radeon-pro-wx-x100-series/radeon-pro-wx-7100

You'll also notice on the same page that there's a slightly newer Adrenalin driver available for your GPU, so if you have a specific reason to keep running that software, please try the newer version.

Let me know which driver you install and whether the BlueScreens are related to Sims 4, and we can go from there.  I'll reply sooner next time, I promise.

Sorry for not waiting for your reply. I got fed up and decided to nuke the site from orbit and start clean.

The crashes are only happening with the Sims. I'm able to run Libre Office, Thunderbird, Firefox, and Scrivener without any problems.

I don't remember why I had the AMD Adrenalin software installed rather than the Pro driver, but I installed the Pro version when I reinstalled Win 11. It's from the same download page you provided. The most recent DxDiag reflects the Pro driver installed.

I appreciate your help with this frustrating problem.

@DoctorSyzygy  You have no reason to be sorry; I should have replied sooner.  But we're here now.

The driver version in your dxdiag is 31.00.12029.7019, which corresponds to this very recent driver:

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-22-11-1

You can see the matching Driver Store Version under Package Contents.  If you click Release Notes for the Pro driver listed on the page I linked, the Store Version is listed as 31.0.12044.3, which is why I'm pretty sure you have the Adrenalin and not the Pro driver installed.  But you can try running the installer for the Pro driver anyway; if it is in fact already installed, you should get an error to that effect, and please let me know what it says.

It sounds like you saw an older version of the driver than the one I had installed. Just to be clear, I already installed the AMD-Software-PRO-Edition-22.Q4-Win10-Win11-Nov15 driver when I installed Win 11. Pro is also in Add/Remove Programs; Adrenaline isn't/wasn't there.

I reinstalled Pro using your link (on drive D which shouldn't matter). I attached a screenshot showing the install screen and the folder where I formerly installed it. No errors on reinstall. Rebooted, ran the Sims, same crash.

Ran a new DxDiag and attached it.

I don't know if this is related, but I went back and started working on a 150 page Libre Office doc (which includes images and text boxes) that I hadn't touched since February (when the Sims was working) and a related 50 slide presentation. Both freeze or crash a few minutes after I open them. They crash even if only one is running at a time. In the past, I would have them open together for several hours at a time along with email, a browser, and 3 PDFs. Coincidence? Maybe.

@DoctorSyzygy  I'd like to see the new crash dumps related to the current BlueScreens.  Please upload them like last time.

There were no files in minidump. The following three files were in c:\windows\crashdumps- presumably from LibreOffice crashing.

https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZemQsVZHTDmxYcDj27jObzpDg9Sn04DvLzV

@DoctorSyzygy  Yeah, those look like LibreOffice crash dumps.  Do you see a MEMORY.dmp in C:\Windows?  If so, please upload it as well.

There was no Memory.dmp, but I found some GameManagerService3exe dump files in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\CrashDumps from Dec 1 (when the Sims was crashing). Not sure if it will help, but it's at: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZuKYsVZxleljrorfrp5QodRcQzFU5Y51dx7

Talked to Dell. They had me run a bunch of hardware checks and said that since there aren't any hardware errors and that the computer actually runs, it must be a Sims or LibreOffice compatibility problem with Windows 11. I pointed out that presumably hundreds of thousands of people are running those programs with Windows 11; the tech didn't have a response to that. The tech suggested that I reinstall Windows back to Win 10 and see if the programs work there. I'm going to hold off on that for now.

@DoctorSyzygy  GameManagerService3.exe belongs to Razer's Game Manager Service, and Razer software has been intermittently causing issues with Sims 4 for a year.  Given that and the crashes, please uninstall all Razer applications and test without reinstalling them.  Use Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine) to remove all traces of the software from your computer, then restart.

If that doesn't help, please try playing in a clean boot, again, now with the Razer apps gone.  When you reboot, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down anything that doesn't absolutely need to be running, for example a program like MSI Afterburner might still be active even though it shouldn't be.  If you accidentally kill the wrong process and it doesn't restart on its own, just reboot your computer again.

It should be noted that if you want to use the EA App, now or later, you'd need to reenable the EABackgroundService.

The programs weren't listed in Revo Uninstaller to uninstall, so I went with Junk File Cleaner and got rid of a bunch of files there. CCleaner didn't find anything, so I went through and manually deleted the .dlls mentioned in the DxDiag. I got rid of some other stuff as well, but there was more that I wasn't sure about. I've attached a list of files named Gamemanager that are still on the PC. I don't think these need to be deleted, but maybe they should be.

I disabled everything in Startup. Did a clean boot, then End Tasked all the Background Processes that I could, but didn't touch the Windows Processes. I've attached a screenshot so you can see what I ended up keeping.

End result was the same. Game started, loaded family, 30 seconds in and it crashed the machine.

I've run LibreOffice Write with the large file a couple of times without it crashing, so I'm not sure that's related or not now.

Update: Since I didn't have any other ideas, I reinstalled Windows 10 and immediately loaded The Sims. It ran. I loaded the graphics drivers, it crashed. I tried to unload the graphics drivers, but there was a file in the AMD folder that I couldn't uninstall so it was never completely uninstalled. I gave up and got my computer back to normal. Decided to give up on The Sims and go back to Skryim. After the requisite 10 hours of initial installation, it crashed on startup. So, there's definitely a graphics problem. I'm going to call AMD and see if I can get any help there. I'm not confident about it, but who knows. Maybe I'll get a Festivus Miracle.

Thanks again for all your help.

Another update: AMD didn't help me, but Dell sort of did.

After all that, there's a problem with my GPU overheating which is causing the PC to crash when the program should just be crashing instead. They're going to replace the GPU, then they said I should go back to AMD since the problem is probably a conflict between the graphics driver and something else. It could be Razer (but I already uninstalled it, so that's not it; it might be something else).

The battle continues.

While I was running LibreOffice with a largish doc, it kept crashing until I turned off "Graphics Accelerator" in the program. Another graphics related issue?

The Dell guy just installed a new graphics card and The Sims ran for 15 minutes without crashing. I'm calling this a win. Thanks again for all your help.

@DoctorSyzygy  I don't know enough about how LibreOffice works to say for sure, but it does sound like another indication of a hardware issue.  Hopefully that was it and the new GPU works exactly as it should.