@phoebezeng Please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
Please also let me know whether you're using any kind of fps limiter in-game. If you're not sure how high your framerates are, you can see with the cheat "fps on"; the number will appear in the lower left corner of the screen, over the UI.
Thank you!
I have attached the dxdiag file.
I don't use fps limiter - at least not that I know of. I just run the fps cheat in game, it goes as high as 150 fps in game.
@phoebezeng Your dxdiag doesn't list any Sims 4 errors. In fact, all ten Windows errors are for Logitech software, it looks like part of the driver for a webcam. (Those errors might be nothing, but tell me if you don't know why this is on your computer.) Please instead look for relevant entries in the Reliability Monitor. Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes. You'll see a list of errors and updates, with a column for each day. (Today is all the way on the right.)
For any errors that mention Origin or Sims 4 from the last two days or so, click "View technical details," then copy the information and paste it into a text document. (Notepad is fine.) You can attach the file to a post as you did with your dxdiag. Sometimes the Reliability Monitor doesn't update right away, so if you don't see any related errors, be sure to check back an hour or two. The timestamp on the initial chart can also be off by up to an hour, so that's not an entirely reliable metric, but the one within the technical details should be accurate.
Please also let me know what power supply you have—manufacturer, wattage, and rating, e.g. Corsair 750W 80+ Gold; if you don't know the specs, you can find this info on the PSU itself, or in the owner's manual or order sheet if you originally bought the computer already assembled. Let me know what upgrades you did as well.
In the interim, try enabling vertical sync in the graphics setttings. (You need to be in fullscreen mode for it to work.) This is not a proper solution, but it is a useful test.
I run perfmon/rel and didn't find any origin/sims 4 related errors, but every time I experience one of this blackouts when playing the sims, the " Desktop Window Manager" stop working, following by a windows hardware error, then me restarting the PC. Like today. I took a screenshot and copied the report here.
The power supply is Evaga 1000W, gold rated. The upgrade was from a laptop to a desktop PC. The PC belonged to a gamer friend before and was running perfectly fine. The only part that I changed was the graphics card.
Also, I have no idea why there are so many Logitech errors. I have two webcams that I use for work almost daily, and they run fine. I never experienced any performance issues running the webcams and software for the webcams.
@phoebezeng The hardware error is a graphics driver timeout, so reinstalling the driver is the next move. (It may well help with the dwm errors as well.) Since you already have the newest driver, you'll need to do a clean uninstall first. Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:
https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3430
Get a fresh copy of the graphics driver here:
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/170801/en-us
Next, take your computer completely offline—disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord—and double-click the DDU.exe. Take note of where the file will land, and click Extract. If it's easier, you can copy the path and then paste it into the address bar in a File Explorer window. Open the folder and then launch Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you'll get a message that you're not in Safe Mode. Click OK, then go to Options and enable Safe Mode dialog. Here's a screenshot of what your options should look like; make sure the box in red is checked:
Close options, and the DDU, and then open the DDU.exe again. For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting). Once you login, you'll see this:
In the blue box, choose GPU, then Nvidia if it's not already showing. Then click Clean and Restart (red box).
Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the driver install .exe in custom mode. Select "perform a clean installation" and install ONLY the GPU driver and the PHYSX software.
Reboot again, go back online, and see whether the game works normally. If not, let me know.
Thanks for that detailed instruction. I followed the steps to uninstall and reinstall my driver. However, upon opening Sims and loaded up a saved file, screen blackout happened almost immediately again. Here are the errors and details from the reliability monitor.
Source
Windows
Summary
Hardware error
Date
20/02/2021 1:54 PM
Status
Not reported
Description
A problem with your hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.
Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
Code: 141
Parameter 1: ffffbe876547b010
Parameter 2: fffff80676e271c0
Parameter 3: 0
Parameter 4: 930
OS version: 10_0_19042
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1
OS Version: 10.0.19042.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID: 3081
@phoebezeng That's yet another video driver timeout, but the clean uninstall and reinstall should have taken care of any issues with the driver itself. Try playing in a clean boot:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10
When you reboot, open the Task Manager and disable any background tasks that don't absolutely need to be running. (Some third-party programs still run even in a clean boot, for whatever reason.) Even if you have, for example, a GPU monitoring app that you always use, shut it down for this test.
If this doesn't help, try using only one of your monitors at a time. Unplug one monitor while the computer is shut down, or restart after disconnecting it.
If this doesn't help either, there are a couple of experiments you can try. One is to do another clean uninstall and reinstall of the driver, but this time use a slightly older driver, e.g. this one from December:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/results/167753/
Another is to use a different graphics card, if you can borrow one from a friend or family member. If it doesn't use the same graphics driver, you'd want to download the appropriate driver, clean uninstall the Nvidia driver, shut down, remove the 980 and add the new card, and install the appropriate driver, so basically the same clean uninstall process except with a shutdown to swap the GPU in between.
An alternative to this is to try playing on the integrated Intel graphics chip. Performance would be bad, but the point would be to see whether you get the same black screen. The integrated chip is currently disabled; you'd need to boot into BIOS to enable it before plugging a monitor into the motherboard. Instructions for how to do this should be in the board's user manual, but if you're not sure how to do it, let me know and I'll look up the specifics for your board.
Which option you try first is up to you, since they're both more about gathering data than directly fixing an issue. And if you're not comfortable with one of these steps, we can try hardware monitoring instead.
I've reinstalled and installed the previous driver you linked, and have been testing the game for a few days. I think it worked, no black screen so far with the game. So I think it's safe to say it has fixed the issue for now. Strange that the latest driver caused this problem, but lucky it's a easy fix.
Thank you puzzlexaddict!
@phoebezeng It's definitely strange that the older driver works and the newer one doesn't, but it happens sometimes. I think I read something about the newest driver not getting along with fps counters in certain situations, but I don't remember all the details.
Thanks for confirming it worked.
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