Forum Discussion

brittannic's avatar
10 months ago

Sims 4 crashing after upgrade to Windows 11

I recently updated my PC from Windows 10 to 11 and have basically been unable to play Sims 4 ever since.

What happens: game completely freezes entire PC, the music loops and it sounds pretty scary tbh. I cannot even click my windows button to get out of it, everything is completely frozen. I have to hold down power on my laptop to restart to get out of it.

When it usually happens: In CAS, Build Mode, Gallery 

What I did: Completely uninstalled/reinstalled EA app & Sims 4 - I was completely ok with a fresh start and yet it's still doing it with NO mods. 

Any help is appreciated. Thanks so much.

3 Replies

  • @brittannic  Your dxdiag is full of Windows system errors, some that suggest that perhaps there was a problem with the process of installing Windows 11.  So I'd suggest going right to a repair install, which will give you the cleanest version of Windows you can get without wiping your computer and reinstalling everything.  Here's how (option two):

    https://www.elevenforum.com/t/repair-install-windows-11-with-an-in-place-upgrade.418/

    This shouldn't delete any of your data, but if you get to step 14 and are NOT asked to keep personal files and apps, back out and start over.

    Once you've done this, please try again to play Sims 4, in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, if it launches, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you moved but temporarily not read by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just start a new save and play long enough to see whether the game is still locking up your system.

    If you do get another freeze, please post a new dxdiag.  Please also look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, 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-related freeze.  If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.  If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

  • brittannic's avatar
    brittannic
    10 months ago

    @puzzlezaddict Thanks for your response!

    I followed the steps & repair installed windows 11, moved my Sims 4 folder out from my documents, and then ran the game. All was well for a few minutes.. I was able to start a new game, used a pre-made Sim, and moved them into a lot. However, maybe a minute into playing in Live Mode it completely froze again and I had to restart my laptop. 

    Would you recommend going back to Windows 10, and if so what would be the best way to do so?

    I attached the most recent dxdiag report- after I re-installed Windows 11.

    And this was the error message from the reliability monitor, it doesn't seem Sims 4 related but it was at the same time it froze.

    Description
    A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.
    Faulting Application Path: C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchHost.exe

    Problem signature
    Problem Event Name: MoAppHang
    Package Full Name: MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_1000.22681.1000.0_x64__cw5n1h2txyewy
    Application Name: praid:CortanaUI
    Application Version: 623.27905.60.0
    Application Timestamp: 6536b7a6
    Hang Signature: 8596
    Hang Type: 4194312
    OS Version: 10.0.22631.2.0.0.768.101
    Locale ID: 1033
    Additional Hang Signature 1: 8596cd3030ba257ffe7568832dd95e07
    Additional Hang Signature 2: b211
    Additional Hang Signature 3: b211d7aa89d7a336ebae37995df2bbc7
    Additional Hang Signature 4: 548c
    Additional Hang Signature 5: 548cfac1177eb44b4e3fa987dcac1018
    Additional Hang Signature 6: a14c
    Additional Hang Signature 7: a14cbd487a61cc732daebcc6212304b4

    Extra information about the problem
    Bucket ID: a7f1392494031976659420280f720340 (1554903127779574592)

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    10 months ago

    @brittannic  This error isn't related to Sims 4 and shouldn't cause a crash either.  If you like, you can try disabling Cortana at startup.  The option should be under Windows Settings > Apps > Apps & Features > Cortana > Advanced > Run at login > off.  Then restart your computer.  You could still use Cortana when you wanted; the point is it wouldn't be running on its own.

    The fact that there's no corresponding Sims 4 error in your dxdiag, I mean if the one you found is truly unrelated, suggests this may be a hardware issue rather than software.  So I'd like to see the results of some hardware monitoring.  Please download hwinfo (it's free) from here:

    https://www.hwinfo.com/download/

    You don't need to install anything; just choose the Portable version, unzip it, and launch it from Downloads or wherever you like.  If you do want the full installer, be sure to click the button for hwinfo itself, not for lansweeper.

    Restart your computer, open hwinfo, choose Sensors Only, and click the button that's a sheet of paper with a + to start logging.  Save the log file to your desktop for easy access.  Wait five minutes, then open Sims 4 and play until the game freezes.  When you restart your computer, the log should be intact up until that point.

    Please upload the log to the third-party filesharing site of your choice (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and link it for me.  Either leave it in .csv format or, if you're going to use OneDrive, create a .zip file, and don't open the log before uploading it, or else my log reader might not be able to interpret it.

    I don't think you need to revert to Windows 10, nor would it necessarily help.  Your system supports 11 just fine, and 10 is going to lose support next year.  Besides, reverting to 10 would require a clean install, which you probably don't want to do if you have any other options at all.