Sims 4 Crashing to Desktop Consistantly

Attached is my DxDiag 🙂

From tracking task manager I've discovered there's an issue with the GPU when the crash happens; it looks like it plummets to 0% and then spikes to 100%. Image is attached - I also downloaded MSI Afterburner in an attempt to lower clock speeds and see if that would correct the issue (it didn't)

@prctclwtch  Is there any pattern to what's happening in-game at the time of the crashes?  For example, maybe a werewolf is transforming, or you're playing on a particular lot.

As an experiment, please try running your monitor at a lower refresh rate, for example 120 Hz rather than 144.  And enable vertical sync either in-game or in the Nvidia Control Panel (for TS4_x64.exe), and play in either fullscreen or windowed fullscreen (i.e. borderless) while testing.

There's no pattern in the crashing - sometimes it crashes before I'm able to select Resume/Start a New Family, and other times I'm able to play through one sim day before it crashes. I've never made it further than one sim day and I usually play on 2x speed, so that's why I averaged it to 20 minutes max. It's also not on a particular lot; I've tried different one sim households on multiple lots in multiple worlds, and I've also had them travel to different lots in the same world and different worlds, vacation worlds included. It's completely random. I haven't even attempted making a family or placing them yet, just singular randomized Sims until I get this figured out.

I've tried changing both the graphics settings and the Hz. Originally after install it was automatically at 60 Hz, so I've tried each one and all crash. I usually play in full screen, but have tried all three options, all with the same problem. I will enable the vertical sync and get back to you; that's something I haven't tried yet.

I also turned on the FPS and the numbers are all over the place regardless of graphic settings and Hz. Sometimes they're at 90+ FPS, and at others they've been as low as 15 FPS on the same lot with one sim just walking around the house. They're most consistent around 45 FPS, often dipping down to 30 FPS and up to 50 FPS. My most recent crash happened at 60 FPS, so I don't believe there's a problem with the FPS rate dropping and causing the crash itself. For comparison, I test played Assassin's Creed Odyssey on Ultra High graphics and never went below 60 FPS - that game runs at around 70 consistently with no lagging, crashes, or errors.

I'm attaching another DxDiag file that I just ran - it should include the crash at 60 FPS (running on 120 Hz) just in case something different is popping up now 🙂

Just crashed again at 73 FPS with vertical syncing turned on in full screen mode at 120 Hz - it only lasted loading the household. I didn't get a chance to unpause or anything.

I also want to add that I am having a few other issues with this computer. Basically every error is a certificate error on windows updates/webpages/installations that I haven't been able to fix. I have found workarounds for the windows updates issue and the installation issues, and the webpages I've been living with. Could that be causing the issue? I have seen some posts that say certain crashes can be because the program is trying to access files it doesn't have permission to or that can't be verified, so it closes. The fixes I've tried for that issue haven't worked so far, though.

@prctclwtch  The system issues certainly could be related.  The fps drops may not be—Sims 4 produces framerate drops on even the most powerful gaming rigs, sometimes for bad reasons and sometimes for no reason at all.  But anyway, since you've already tried a few things that haven't solved the underlying issue, it may be worth doing a repair install of Windows.

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

This process should allow you to keep all your data, but if you get to step 14 and do NOT see the option to keep your personal files, back out and start over.

So I've actually done this about five times now because of the update issues I was having on the PC before I found the work around. I've tried reinstalling Windows 10 and Windows 11, and have tried Sims each time. Despite the wipes/reinstalls (I've removed all files in case something is corrupted), the same exact crash issue keeps happening after each reinstall. The update/webpage certificate verification/installing issues are also still occurring -  again, I just have now found work arounds for the update and installing issues for the most part, and live with the websites not working sometimes because of certificate errors. 

Last night I also tried to replace my crypt32.dll file in the SysWOW64 folder; it absolutely would not let me even with permissions updated for administrators. It was also late and I've been trying to work all of this out for a week straight now, so I'm going to try again after I've had some coffee and see if that fixes any issues 🙂

I also changed the port that the PCIE cable on the graphics card was plugged into last night - I'd seen some forums saying that corrected the issue for the 3060 Ti (apparently the crash issue isn't too uncommon...) Unfortunately, the issues with the Sims 4 crashing persist. If I can't replace the crypt32.dll file and/or it doesn't do anything, I'm going to roll back the video driver as far as I can, update from oldest to newest individually, and see if I can get sims to run on any of the older drivers. I'll let you know!

@prctclwtch Just out of curiosity - did you replace the cpu with the same generation that you originally had 0r did you upgrade or downgrade? I ask because a cpu failure is rare - usually a cpu works or it don't.  Thank you