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Re: The Sims 4 keeps crashing

@vw9ycxxz1bf4  I do always appreciate a dxdiag, and in this case it's somewhat illuminating: Sims 4 is crashing with breakpoint errors.  There are a few different causes of this error, one of which is the game running out of memory.  That should absolutely not happen on a computer with 16 GB RAM, but it's possible that enough other processes are running in the background to eat up most of the resources.

Point is, it's worth checking before moving on to other potential causes.  Please restart your computer, wait five minutes without opening anything, then open the Task Manager and see how much memory is in use.  It'll show as a percentage, which is fine.  If it's more than 25%, please open the Startup tab, take a screenshot of the list of apps, and post it here.

Then open Sims 4, load a save, run it for at least five minutes if you can, put the game in windowed mode (but don't minimize it), and check memory use in the Task Manager again.  Let me know what you find.

7 Replies

  • vw9ycxxz1bf4's avatar
    vw9ycxxz1bf4
    2 years ago

    Thank you for your response. So i followed your steps and turns out my memory is 26% 5 mins after startup and that shoots all the way up to 52% 5 mins into my gameplay. I have attached my the screenshots you asked for too btw bro. Are there any programmes I should disable btw?? Again I appreciate any help because the crashes are getting very frustrating

  • vw9ycxxz1bf4's avatar
    vw9ycxxz1bf4
    2 years ago

    Also so I have kept task manager up during a crash. This time it crashed when my sims went to work (both normal careers) and I checked my task manager and saw that my memory fluctuated between 82%-97%. The sims 4 then froze for approximately 3 minutes then crashed. Post crash, my memory went all the way down to a steady 21%. 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @vw9ycxxz1bf4  The only apps I see enabled at startup are and AMD utility and a component of the Realtek audio driver, and both should stay enabled.  26% memory use is a bit high but not concerning, and it shouldn't cause problems with Sims 4.  The 52% use once you're in-game is pretty much exactly what I'd expect: Sims 4 will normally use about that much RAM in a new or lightly-played save.

    A longer-term save might use something in the range of 6 GB RAM, but it shouldn't go above 10 GB and then run out of memory, which is what it sounds like is happening with you.  I'm guessing this only happens in a save you've previously played, but please do let me know if it happens in a new save as well.

    For the affected save, it's possible a mod did some damage before you removed it.  One possible cause of high RAM use is too many sims in the background, which is easy to check if you're willing to add another mod (temporarily).  Download Show Sim Info, the one by Frankk (not the MTS version, which is outdated), click a sim, choose "search all sims," and let me know how many you see.

    If the number is higher than 1,000, please load your oldest backup copy of this save and see how many sims are in it as well.  Here's how to load a backup:

    https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2014/09/recover-backup-save-game/

    Memory use returning to 21% after the crash is exactly what you'd want to see.  That means the problem is entirely contained to Sims 4.

  • vw9ycxxz1bf4's avatar
    vw9ycxxz1bf4
    2 years ago

    This happens in new saves too. I tested it with a new save and no mods in the game and the crash would still occur (mainly when i travel from my lot). I've downloaded the show sim info mod and I only have 404 sims. What should I do?

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @vw9ycxxz1bf4  In the new save, are you downloading any lots from the Gallery?  Is the game still spiking RAM use up near 100%?  That would be unusual, and please double-check that Sims 4 itself is eating most of the memory, not some other background process.

    If the problem is the game, not another app, try playing while your computer is offline.  You can sign into the EA App and put it in offline mode, then disconnect from the internet before pressing Play.

  • vw9ycxxz1bf4's avatar
    vw9ycxxz1bf4
    2 years ago

    No. I'm not downloading any lots from the gallery. I still encounter the same issues in the new save too (spikes up to 100% memory use and isn't some other background thing). Even  when I turn off my wifi and play in offline mode, the problem persists bro. 

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @vw9ycxxz1bf4  Just because it's been mentioned as a source of lag, please disable the Discovery Quests.  You'll need to restart after doing so, and the setting is on a per-save basis, so apply it to each save you test with.  Your original post predates the patch that introduced this feature, but it's worth doing anyway given the other reports.

    I wonder if some other background process is interfering.  Please try playing in a clean boot:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

    The one service to leave enabled is the EABackgroundService, which the EA App needs in order to run.  Disable the rest as described.

    When you reboot your computer, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down any service that doesn't absolutely need to be running, for example anything from MSI Afterburner to RGB software might still be enabled.  If you accidentally kill a critical process and it doesn't restart on its own, just reboot your computer again.

    Don't open anything other than Sims 4 and the EA App while testing, not even a browser window.  And please do keep testing offline.

    When you test, start in one of the base game worlds and stay there long enough to see whether RAM use is increasing or stable.  Then travel somewhere else and do the same.  The idea here is to try to find a trigger for the memory spikes: a certain world or neighborhood, a build with certain lot traits, etc.  You can let the game run while you do something else as long as you're around to check on it here and there.

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