Screenshots Cause White Screen + System Freeze. Build/Buy Crashes to Desktop.

My Reliability Monitor shows 12 critical failures of TS4_x64.exe within 24 hours, all with “Stopped Responding” rather than a normal faulting module crash. One incident caused a full system hang requiring a hard reboot — the first on this machine in its entire lifespan.

This indicates the game is entering a non-recoverable hang at the GPU/rendering level rather than a standard crash. No other applications (including high-load games like Warframe) exhibit this behavior, and no system or driver faults are recorded — only TS4_x64.exe.

This is the full error code that came with each and every one of those failures:

Faulting application name: TS4_x64.exe, version: 1.119.109.1020, time stamp: 0x6902b3c2
Faulting module name: VCRUNTIME140.dll, version: 14.44.35211.0, time stamp: 0x0f259d81
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000000123d4
Faulting process id: 0x1A80
Faulting application start time: 0x1DC549C6A2434B3
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\TS4_x64.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\VCRUNTIME140.dll
Report Id: b2d8766d-1354-4968-b412-0c211e272a2e
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

Please escalate this to a Dev before this happens to anyone else.

I am facing a similar issue as as a Build/Buy crash, and I have some information I've dug up! This is for the most recent patch made on November 4.

Platform: PC (Windows 10/11)

After the most recent update, attempting to take screenshots or entering Build/Buy mode causes severe instability. Taking multiple screenshots in CAS results in a white-screen freeze that hard-locks the entire system, requiring a manual restart. Build/Buy mode typically crashes to desktop within seconds of loading. This issue persists even in a completely clean, unmodded game environment.

To rule out user-side issues, I have done the following:

• Removed all mods and CC.
• Cleared all caches (localthumbcache, spotlight, etc.).
• Repaired game files through the EA App.
• Deleted and regenerated my entire Documents/EA folder (fresh installation).
• Retrimmed my SSD to ensure the game’s files were not being read from degraded sectors
• Verified GPU drivers are up to date.
• Tested multiple other GPU-intensive games, all of which run without issue.
• Restarted my system multiple times to clear RAM and cached data.

Despite the above steps, the issue continues.

Additional Details:

• The file originally showing corruption was DeltaBuild00 (Build/Buy resources).
• I manually deleted that file and allowed the game to regenerate a fresh version.
• The regenerated file did not resolve the issue; the freeze and crashes still occur.
• To test reproducibility, I launched a completely clean game and spammed the C key in CAS — this immediately caused a white-screen freeze and a full system lock that required a hard reboot.

This behavior only began after the recent patch and does not occur in any other games on my system.

Expected Result:
Screenshots should save normally, and Build/Buy mode should load without crashing.

Actual Result:
White-screen freeze requiring full system reboot, and Build/Buy crashes to desktop.

Additional Diagnostic Information:

My Reliability Monitor shows 12 critical failures of TS4_x64.exe within 24 hours, all with “Stopped Responding” rather than a normal faulting module crash. One incident caused a full system hang requiring a hard reboot — the first on this machine in its entire lifespan.

This indicates the game is entering a non-recoverable hang at the GPU/rendering level rather than a standard crash. No other applications (including high-load games like Warframe) exhibit this behavior, and no system or driver faults are recorded — only TS4_x64.exe.

This is the full error code that came with each and every one of those failures:

Faulting application name: TS4_x64.exe, version: 1.119.109.1020, time stamp: 0x6902b3c2
Faulting module name: VCRUNTIME140.dll, version: 14.44.35211.0, time stamp: 0x0f259d81
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000000123d4
Faulting process id: 0x1A80
Faulting application start time: 0x1DC549C6A2434B3
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\TS4_x64.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\VCRUNTIME140.dll
Report Id: b2d8766d-1354-4968-b412-0c211e272a2e
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

Event Viewer shows repeated Application Error 1000 entries: TS4_x64.exe crashing in VCRUNTIME140.dll with exception 0xc0000005 on version 1.119.109.1020. This is a game-side access violation, not a hardware fault.

Please escalate this to a Dev before this happens to anyone else.

Follow-Up

I’m checking in again because I want to make sure this doesn’t slip through the cracks.

I’ve been waiting since Friday for any acknowledgment. In that time, I’ve watched newer posts receive help while this one has remained unanswered — despite the fact that I’ve already provided full diagnostic details, replicable steps, and system-level evidence of the failure.

I’m not frustrated about the fix taking time. I understand issues like this are complex.
What’s discouraging is the silence, especially when the problem involves hard system locks and a full reboot — something no game should ever cause.

I’m hoping someone can take a moment to confirm that this information has been forwarded to QA. That’s all I’m looking for: a simple acknowledgment so I know this was seen and isn’t being overlooked.

Thank you for your time.

Follow-Up

I’m checking in again because I want to make sure this doesn’t slip through the cracks.

I’ve been waiting since Friday for any acknowledgment. In that time, I’ve watched newer posts receive help while this one has remained unanswered — despite the fact that I’ve already provided full diagnostic details, replicable steps, and system-level evidence of the failure.

I’m not frustrated about the fix taking time. I understand issues like this are complex.
What’s discouraging is the silence, especially when the problem involves hard system locks and a full reboot — something no game should ever cause.

I’m hoping someone can take a moment to confirm that this information has been forwarded to QA. That’s all I’m looking for: a simple acknowledgment so I know this was seen and isn’t being overlooked.

Thank you for your time.

Hi, bumping this again because this is not a minor bug — it’s a potentially system-corrupting issue.

The game is repeatedly triggering EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xC0000005) in VCRUNTIME140.dll, which indicates that TS4_x64.exe is attempting to read or write invalid memory addresses. This is not a typical game crash; this is the type of failure that can hang the entire OS and cause data corruption if it occurs during a write operation.

This is a P0-level stability fault, not a cosmetic or gameplay issue.

The game is still causing full system hangs, white-screen freezes, and forced hard reboots. I have posted full diagnostics, reproducible steps, Reliability Monitor proof, and Event Viewer logs above. This behavior began immediately after the Nov. 4 patch and is 100% reproducible in a clean, unmodded environment.

Please escalate this to QA.
This kind of memory violation can damage user data if the system freezes during disk operations, and it needs urgent review.

Thank you.

Hi, bumping this again because this is not a minor bug — it’s a potentially system-corrupting issue.

The game is repeatedly triggering EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xC0000005) in VCRUNTIME140.dll, which indicates that TS4_x64.exe is attempting to read or write invalid memory addresses. This is not a typical game crash; this is the type of failure that can hang the entire OS and cause data corruption if it occurs during a write operation.

This is a P0-level stability fault, not a cosmetic or gameplay issue.

The game is still causing full system hangs, white-screen freezes, and forced hard reboots. I have posted full diagnostics, reproducible steps, Reliability Monitor proof, and Event Viewer logs above. This behavior began immediately after the Nov. 4 patch and is 100% reproducible in a clean, unmodded environment.

Please escalate this to QA.
This kind of memory violation can damage user data if the system freezes during disk operations, and it needs urgent review.

Thank you.

I think you should make a new thread and add this, its more likely to get a reply

Hi SynthesisAstra​ 

I split your post to the tech forum cause there's potentially something different going on for you.

Could you post your Computer's DxDiag?

- Press Windows-Key + R
- Type: DxDiag
- Click on Save all Information.
- Attach the Text File to your post

SynthesisAstra​  You not only removed the (very little amount of) personal information from your dxdiag; you removed pretty much everything useful.  For example, the WERs at the end would tell me what kind of Sims 4 crashes you were getting and what the faulting modules were, but they're not there.  (I realize you posted this information in a different way earlier in the thread, but that data is stale by now.)  And the graphics driver version is always relevant when a graphically-intensive program is crashing.

If you want help, please post the full dxdiag, redacting only the machine name and ID at the top.

DxDiag Removed. Thank you, but I’m not looking for input delivered in that tone. 
If you don’t have constructive help to offer, please step back from the thread.