@ITurner_Anzac Your dxdiag does list the new driver, and it looks like the driver is installed correctly as well. However, there are a number of new errors in your dxdiag, all of which are system issues, not necessarily anything to do with Sims 4. So it's a good idea to run a couple of basic checks on your Windows system files. Here's how:
Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the button to check for updates.
Did you manage to disable Origin in-game? It does need to be eliminated as a potential cause of your issue, especially since it's such a common problem.
If disabling Origin in-game doesn't help, please check the Reliability Monitor for any new related entries. Since your new dxdiag has so many Windows errors, I can't see whether the game is throwing errors as well or not. 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 after you run DISM and sfc, or any errors that happened while you were trying to play, 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.
Hi @puzzlezaddict thanks so much for taking the time with this. I have done the restore health and scan commands in the shell (screen shots attached). Both seemed to say the PC was fine. I restarted it and checked for updates, it seems to think it doesn't need any more updates at present.
Origin in game is definitely disabled so this shouldn't be causing any problems.
Have looked at the reliability monitor and this only says there is an error when I have forced the sims to close with task manager. It is not showing any errors while it is "running" i.e. stuck on the load screen. So PC seems to think all is well by the looks of things although clearly this is not the case... gaah.
PS attached is the reliability info when I have to kill the game with task manager
@ITurner_Anzac Please try disabling McAfee, if you haven't already. Even though it's not on the list of current offenders, an overzealous antivirus can always cause this kind of issue.
If that doesn't help, try playing while your computer is offline. Restart first, sign into Origin, put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or unplug the ethernet cable before launching the game.
If that doesn't help either, please try a clean boot:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10
You'll also need to go through the Task Manager's background tasks list and end any task that doesn't need to be running, for example MSI Afterburner or similar software. Some of these programs don't respond to a clean boot, so they need to be shut down manually.
Hi @puzzlezaddict I tried disabling the wifi, this didn't work. Whilst offline I disabled McAfee and this also had no effect, but perhaps I need to be connected for this to have an effect?
I have done a Windows clean boot as well, really hoping it was going to work but alas, still no success.
Perhaps I will need to just keep the game permanently on and let it load for 8 hours or whatever it took before? Seems daft though for a modern system!
Not sure if I mentioned before, the screen doesn't freeze, rather the green diamond just spins and the annoying music plays. So it's doing something but won't go past this point. Sorry this is being completely bizarre!!
@ITurner_Anzac You certainly don't need to apologize for having such a strange issue. And you definitely shouldn't have to let the game load for hours and leave it running indefinitely; that would also not be great for the health of either your saves or your system overall, although in the short-term it would probably be fine.
Try playing in a new user account on your computer. Make it an admin account, and be sure to use only letters and numbers in the username, no special symbols, accents, etc. You shouldn't have to redownload Origin or your game, although your saves and other content won't be accessible. (You can move them over later if this helps, but leave that for now.) If you get the same delays in the new user account—you really only need to wait a few minutes, not hours, to see whether this helps—please go the clean boot/no internet route again, just to see whether it helps.
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