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clarawful's avatar
clarawful
Rising Novice
30 days ago

Screen goes black a couple seconds after I load into a lot

The game seems to work fine in CAS, but when i try to actually play on a lot/go into build mode, it crashes almost immediately, regardless of which lot I choose. The screen turns black and I have to hold down the power button to force it to shut down because I can’t click anything. I removed all of my mods, and it continued to happen, so I moved the entire Sims 4 folder onto my desktop and tried again with a fresh save file. It didn’t crash, so at least my game isn’t beyond repair. I tried just adding the save files back, and it crashed again when I tried to play on a lot, so I figured it had something to do with those, but then I removed the save files and tried with just tray files + mods and it crashed again… 

This wasn’t an issue for me a couple days ago. What is causing this, and will I be able to use my old save?

(BTW I play in windowed mode, and my graphics settings are set to high)

crashing
custom content (cc)
mods
no cc or mods
updates
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    26 days ago

    clarawful  This may not have anything to do with Sims 4, at least not directly.  This particular service is part of the Intel Computing Improvement Program, which is fine to have installed but doesn't need to be running while you play.  The same can be said for other services that might be active.  So 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.  And make sure this Intel service isn't showing, or shut it down.

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

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    26 days ago

    clarawful  This may not have anything to do with Sims 4, at least not directly.  This particular service is part of the Intel Computing Improvement Program, which is fine to have installed but doesn't need to be running while you play.  The same can be said for other services that might be active.  So 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.  And make sure this Intel service isn't showing, or shut it down.

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

    • clarawful's avatar
      clarawful
      Rising Novice
      24 days ago

      I LOVE YOU... I think this might be a computer/graphics card issue moreso than a Sims 4 issue now, but you just made the issue so much less annoying. I have an HP All-In-One and I guess they're not really meant for gaming, let alone something like Sims 4 with my giant mods folder attached, so I think I need to invest in an actual PC, but until then, my game is running pretty good!! :D I did the clean boot and disabled everything except the EA background thing, and now my game can stay on for super long period of time without crashing. I experienced one crash yesterday, after playing for about an hour, but then I played in build mode for several hours last night, and it didn't crash once. THANK YOU

      • puzzlezaddict's avatar
        puzzlezaddict
        Hero+
        23 days ago

        clarawful  I'm glad to hear it's working.  You may find that some other programs don't work because of the clean boot, just as the EA App wouldn't work without the EABackgroundService enabled, but you can always reenable the relevant service(s) when necessary.  And it's fine to leave other services disabled indefinitely.

        If and when you're ready for a new computer, feel free to ask for help here, for suggestions within your price range, or a list of hardware to look for, or a second opinion on something you've picked out already.

  • clarawful's avatar
    clarawful
    Rising Novice
    30 days ago

    IF ANYONE IS HAVING THIS PROBLEM, I MIGHT HAVE FOUND A FIX... i put my old Sims 4 folder back into the Electronic Arts folder and decided to play around with the graphics. It's only been working for a few minutes, so it might still crash eventually, but I loaded a huge lot with lots of cc and it seems to be running fine... Go into your graphics settings (mine are set to high still) and check the little box in the bottom right corner that says "Direct 9." The new Direct 11.1 thingy seems to be the issue for me, so I reverted to Direct 9!!! :D

    • clarawful's avatar
      clarawful
      Rising Novice
      30 days ago

      Nvm, crashed after about 30 minutes. Any help is appreciated

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    29 days ago

    clarawful  Your dxdiag is full of errors of a component of McAfee, so please uninstall McAfee for now.  You may be able to reinstall it later, but please test Sims 4 first.  As long as you don't do anything else at the same time (no browser windows, no other apps that access the internet), your computer should be safe.  Here's how to properly uninstall McAfee:

    https://www.mcafee.com/support/s/article/000001616?language=en_US

    If you get another crash, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter perfmon /rel in the run box, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.  Today is on the right.

    Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent Sims 4 crash, specifically after uninstalling McAfee.  If you find one, right-click its name and select "View technical details," copy the information, and paste it here.  If you don't find anything, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

    • clarawful's avatar
      clarawful
      Rising Novice
      29 days ago

      Okay, there were a couple:

      The previous system shutdown at 5:21:34 PM on ‎10/‎28/‎2024 was unexpected.

      (That one ^ was labeled a critical event, and these next two are labeled as warnings)

      Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80073D02: 9P4W8RFN9M2T-AD2F1837.HPSystemEventUtility.

      Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80073D02: 9MSSGKG348SP-MicrosoftWindows.Client.WebExperience.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    28 days ago

    clarawful  Failed Windows update errors shouldn't cause this problem.  Still, it's worth clearing them up with a couple of basic checks of your Windows system files:

    • Hit Windows key-X
    • Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
    • Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes, and enter
    • The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
    • After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
    • Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator)”
    • Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes, and enter
    • Post the message you receive here


    Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the box to check for updates.  If any install, restart again afterwards.

    Please let me know if you find errors that happen at exactly the time of a Sims 4 black screen or crash, or a couple of minutes beforehand.

    • clarawful's avatar
      clarawful
      Rising Novice
      27 days ago

      OKAY, instead of holding down the power button after the screen went black, I decided to let it stay in black-screen limbo for a couple hours to see if my computer would register it as a crash, and this is what I got when I checked later under critical errors:

      Source
      IntelSoftwareAssetManagerService.exe

      Summary
      Stopped working

      Date
      ‎10/‎29/‎2024 5:31 AM

      Status
      Report sent

      Description
      Faulting Application Path:    C:\Program Files\Intel\SUR\QUEENCREEK\Updater\bin\IntelSoftwareAssetManagerService.exe

      Problem signature
      Problem Event Name:    APPCRASH
      Application Name:    IntelSoftwareAssetManagerService.exe
      Application Version:    3.5.5085.0
      Application Timestamp:    66accf38
      Fault Module Name:    StackHash_b0c1
      Fault Module Version:    10.0.22621.4391
      Fault Module Timestamp:    aa58fd70
      Exception Code:    c0000374
      Exception Offset:    PCH_0F_FROM_ntdll+0x0007712C
      OS Version:    10.0.22631.2.0.0.768.101
      Locale ID:    1033
      Additional Information 1:    b0c1
      Additional Information 2:    b0c12fdde338a0363dc178560d956986
      Additional Information 3:    66f8
      Additional Information 4:    66f89517a581bfb8cb97a1d2afc52003

      Extra information about the problem
      Bucket ID:    7f4cdbd0500e4ce0fe5f3dd2d5b69bc4 (2188535919663291332)

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