Re: Sims 4 Won't Load when I Add Mods

Let us know if reinstalling does not help.

Hiya, I am back. My game finished reinstalling, I opened it up, then closed it and tried to add a mod to test and see. As soon as I added a mod, the same error message occurred. Here is the exact error im getting:

You mentioned reinstalling the game, have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling Origin itself?

Here's an article from Crinrict on the issue, that has more tips to try.

Unable to Start, Initialization error at startup
https://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2014/09/unable-to-start-initialization-error-at-startup/

Thanks for the reply! I have uninstalled and reinstalled Origin as well, to no avail :-( The game runs perfectly fine, so long as I have 0 mods in the Mods folder, which is such a shame as I love modding my games. I used ccleaner to uninstall Origin when I did, and I uninstalled Sims 4 and reinstalled as well. I only have one drive as well, which is my C: drive (if this is what they meant in the article). 

Any other suggestions? I'm at a loss here, any help is gladly appreciated though everyone!

Please try to repair the game. Rightclick it in Origin and select Repair.

I tried it, same error. Even with the simplest mods :-(

Let me see if I've got this correct, you're working with no mods or cc, a new game with a new Sim, as a test and still getting the Unable to Start message?

My game works when I do not have cc or mods installed. However, whenever I do add a mod or cc, no matter which mod it is (whether it is up to date or patches or just a simple mod, like the No Intro mod) it doesn't work and displays the error message.

I've tried many fixes that have not worked, such as:

1. Checking if the Mod or CC is bad/not up to date with patches (It displayed the error message regardless of which Mod or CC I used. Whether I had just one mod, or three, it did not matter. No mods have worked, even usable ones. I am sure to put it in the correct folder, with no subfolders (as I learned, having too many subfolders can be a problem, however this isn't the issue here), and to use WinRar to correctly extract the files.) 

2. Checking if my game works without Mods or CC. (My game works fine without any Mods or CC files in the Mods folder. It displays the error message only when I add any Mod or CC file content.)

3. Uninstalling and Reinstalling Origin. (I used CCleaner to do this, and I am left with the same issue.)

4. Uninstalling, and Reinstalling The Sims 4. (The same issue still is occurring.)

5. Running Origin in offline mode. (Still the same problem)

6. Running The Sims 4 as an administrator. (Even though I am an administrator and the only account on my laptop, I gave this a go anyway. Still, the problem remains.)

7. Generating a new Mods folder. (I tried this by moving the Mods folder to my desktop, and loading my Sims 4 game. It worked fine, however, the moment I added any mod into the Sims 4 Mods folder, the same error occurred, so it did not fix my problem.)

8. Making sure my OneDrive didn't have a copy of my Documents folder. (I do not have OneDrive enabled on my computer, so there were no files in it to begin with. Same error.)

9. Making sure The Sims 4 Mods tick boxes were enabled. (I'm not sure of the exact option names, but I basically started Sims 4, went to the options, and selected the option to ensure Mods and script mods were allowed in the game. Then, I saved changes, turned the game off, added a mod, and the same error occurred. No fix.)

10. Making sure The Sims 4 was up to date. (My Sims 4 is up to date on the latest patch, which is the one released March 20th, 2018.)

11. Making sure the Mods I was using were Sims 4 Mods. (All the mods I am trying to use are made for the Sims 4, so this is not the issue.)

12. Restarting my computer. (Didn't fix the problem.)

13. Making sure my mods weren't bugged. (I used a detector to find out if any of my mods were bad, and all of them passed the test. They are popular mods, and I haven't found any complaints like my own so far. They are also up to date with the patch.)

14. Running a Repair on my game on Origin. (I tried this method twice, and it hasn't fixed anything thus far.)

I am currently at a loss here :-/ I'm not sure what else to try. My laptop is a Windows 10 laptop, and works fine, except for this problem. 

Thank you for the clarification. You've tried everything and then some that I can think of suggesting. So I'm at a loss of what to try next. Have you tried asking one of the mod creators or at their site to see if anyone has any ideas?

Hmm.. a couple ideas came to mind. Not sure if they'll fix the issue, but it's something worth looking into.

Have you tried disabling the Game DVR and Game Bar? - These are known to cause issues with Sims 4 and other games.

How to Disable Windows 10’s Game DVR (and Game Bar)
https://www.howtogeek.com/273180/how-to-disable-windows-10s-game-dvr-and-game-bar/

Or maybe try running a Clean Boot as this will help with stopping any other programs from interfering. http://help.ea.com/en/article/how-to-clean-boot-your-pc/

@elliotxwalker

Notice that the Mod Conflict Detector finds conflicts between Mods and CC not between Mods/CC and the game itself.

It also list what version of the Game a Mod is for so if it says Sims 3 you would know that needed to be removed.

Have you tried with this Mod as the only installed Mod? moxiemason nomosaic Toddlerupdate

This is about the simplest Mod that exist.

Okay, that makes more sense. I went ahead and downloaded the mod you suggested, and followed the directions and extracted it to my Mods folder, making sure the only files in the folder were the Resource.cfg file, and the mod you suggested. Then, I tried to run the game. Same error message :-/

I appreciate the help either way, but it feels like it must be something with my computer, even though this is a new HP Pavilion laptop, and it runs Sims 4 fine, it just doesn't run at all with any mods.

@172e3cda00349872

Thank you for the tips. First I disabled Game DVR and Game Bar, and noticed no changes, and I also tried a Clean Boot. The Clean Boot seemed to cause more problems as it disabled most of my starting up processes, including my wifi, so I had to re-enable everything to open up the Sims 4, as my Origin did not want to open and it created an error when I tried to log into my EA account.

I'm sorry those didn't work for you. I tried a static needs mod and the no intro mod last night and they seemed to work for me. So you might be on to something that it's something with your system. ☹️

@elliotxwalker

Well I'm at a loss on this. Tagging @crinrict for possible solutions that you haven't tried yet.

@elliotxwalker

I'm really happy to hear you were able to fix the issue. I've heard of Windows accounts having issues, where something in the account glitches and messes things up sometimes to where it's hardly usable anymore. Forcing you to create a new account.

If I remember correctly, there's away to merge user files from your old user account to a new user account. If that's something you're interested in doing you'll want to search that out. 🙂

I thought is was just me, a week ago the game was loading and i had at least 100 mods. now i have done repairs, reinstalled, and even reset my laptop at least 8 times and nothing works, I've even moved all my mods and started searching for new updated ones thinking that's the problem but still nothing.

@VampKimora

Since removing the mods, have you deleted the game cache and the localthumbcache.package from the Sims 4 folder to help with troubleshooting?

How to Delete Cache Files - https://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2014/09/delete-cache-files/

Launch the game again and try a new save to test - without the mods folder to see if loads and plays okay.

Yes I have, same result.

@VampKimora

Have you tried to reset your user folder aka Sims 4 factory reset?

You can reset your user folder by renaming it or moving it to the desktop and playing the game so it makes a new Sims 4 folder. Here's a how-to:

Rename your Sims 4 folder to Sims 4_Backup. The game will create a new folder next time you play. - Renaming it or moving it to the desktop will help you have a backup and keep your Sims 4 files safe.

Try launching the game, play a new save. If it's not working, don't save. However, if everything is playing okay then start putting the files back. (list of files and folders below).

- Options.ini (User game settings)
- Tray Folder (Sims/Houses/Commercial lots and rooms)
- Screenshots/Videos/Custom music
- Rest of the save games, if any.
(leave out slot_00000001.save which is the autosave. It is not used anymore.)
- Custom content like clothing, hair, skins, and makeup
- Mods (Put these back one by one to make sure they all still work)

Custom content can become outdated with most new game patches. If the game works when the Mods folder is removed, then one or more of the mods and/or custom content has become outdated and will need to be removed or replaced. EA/Maxis aren't responsible for broken mods/cc. It's up to the creators to fix.

Try the 50/50 method:

1. Move all the mods and cc out into a temporary folder on the desktop.
2. Move a few files back at a time. Load the game to make sure it loads and everything is good.
3. Delete the localthumbcache.package from the Sims 4 folder.
4. Repeat steps 1 - 3 till there is no more files to check.

** While your testing, don't save the game. If you find any problems, delete the mod or custom content file.

How To Find Problem Mods and CC
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS4_Finding_Problem_Custom_Content
---

More information - Resetting the game to factory settings without reinstalling
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/READ-FIRST-Troubleshooting-your-Game/m-p/3621199#Resetting

If you move or rename the Sims 4 folder, the game will no longer be able to find it. When you go to play the game it will create a new folder.

I like to play the sims on others computers and not just my own, so I keep all of my mods/cc on a flash drive.