@xxPickledxx 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 what antivirus program you use, and whether you have OneDrive running and set to sync the contents of Documents. Its settings may have changed, so if you use it at all, please check just in case.
OneDrive sync was on, I turned it off and moved all files to my local machine and that fixed the black screen problem. But now the game gets frozen after the first Ea logo with the plumbob that flies in front of it. I am now at least able to use programs "underneath" it and move the window though. But I still can't play the game.
Attached is my DxDiag. I don't know if this affects it but I was running Chrome and Wallpaper Engine at the time.
I'm new to fourms so I'm not sure if I replied to you or replied to me, so heres a reply to you @puzzlezaddict . Sorry if I just responded to you twice I don't know what I'm doing.
@xxPickledxx Don't worry about the double reply. I'd have seen your post regardless though—most of us who post here keep track in one way or another of the threads where we're trying to help.
Anyway, the obvious issue is that your C drive has only 3 GB free, which is not enough for Windows to maneuver properly. Windows creates temp files, and so do the apps you run (especially but not only games), so that 3 GB could easily get down to zero just with regular use. Try to clear about 20 GB in total, although 15 GB should be enough to either fix the issue for the moment or rule it out.
When you've cleared the space, it's a good idea to run a couple of basic checks on your Windows system files:
If you get another black screen, please look for related 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 after you run DISM and sfc, 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.
@puzzlezaddict I now have 15 GB of free space on my c drive, but the problem is still occurring (not the black screen problem, the freezing at the EA logo problem). Attached is the reliability problem details. also, this is the message I received from sfc /scannow:
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.
@xxPickledxx When you created a new Sims 4 user folder, did you add any of your existing content to it before testing? If you did, please try a completely clean folder now: let the game create another new folder, and don't add anything to it until you've seen whether you can get far enough to start a new save.
If that doesn't or didn't make a difference, please try completely disabling your antivirus, just as a test. As long as you don't do anything other than try to play Sims 4, your computer should be perfectly safe.
If that doesn't help either, please try playing while your computer is offline. You can sign into Origin and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or disconnect the ethernet cable before launching the game.
Finally, please disconnect your second and third monitors. Your setup shouldn't be an issue, but it's a simple enough test.
@puzzlezaddict I tried all of those and nothing worked, then I tried to uninstall both The Sims 4 and Origin, then reinstall them and it worked! I'm now able to play using my old folder and all my saves/mods. Thank you so much for your help! You're a lifesaver.
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