SIMS 4 crashing/ unplayable

ancko  Are you getting BlueScreens when playing Sims 4, or is it only that the game crashes or the computer freezes?  I ask because your dxdiag lists three BSODs but doesn't provide any context (which is normal).  Even if these aren't directly Sims 4-related, they could be contributing to the problem.

Your dxdiag also lists one crash of a graphics driver, so it's worth doing a clean uninstall of the Nvidia driver, and perhaps installing a slightly older version in case something about this one is a problem.  Here's how to do a clean uninstall:

https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/02/clean-re-install-of-graphics-drivers-with-display-driver-uninstaller-ddu.html

You can find older drivers here:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/drivers/

Make sure to select Game Ready Driver under Download Type so your results go back farther.  I'd try the driver from December 5, and if that doesn't help, the one from January 30.  You can simply install the newer driver as normal, no need to DDU—that's only required when you remove a newer driver to install an older one, or when a standard update doesn't resolve a driver-related issue.

If this doesn't help, I'd suggest running the game on the Intel iGPU as a test.  This is obviously not a good solution, but it would narrow down the source of the issue.  You can select the iGPU for TS4_x64 under Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics as well as in the Nvidia Control Panel, under Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > ts4_x64.  Let me know what you find.

Thanks for such a thorough reply.  I did have a bluescreen yesterday, but usually it's been just a return to desktop with no error message. 

I'll give all of these a try and get back to you, thank you very much! 

Game crashed on load before even reaching the main menu on both game drivers after a reinstall. Running it on Intel iGPU got as far as in game- but it crashed within a few minutes of playing. All three showed python37_x64.dll as the crash error on the reliability monitor. 

I've attached a second dxdiag in case that shows any other clues, but appreciate the effort and suggestions regardless. I may just have to wait and see if a future update can change things. 

ancko  The python37_x64 errors are unfortunately very common on newer high-end Intel processors these days.  On desktops at least, the culprit is typically CPU Turbo Boost, a BIOS setting that allows the motherboard to overclock the CPU by default and to a point that it's unstable, at least when running Sims 4.  I don't know what settings would be user-accessible on your laptop, but you could boot into BIOS and have a look.  CPU Turbo Boost is sometimes called something slightly different, but it's always under Advanced and (I believe) always has Turbo in the name.

Before doing that though, check the manufacturer website for any BIOS updates—sometimes that fixes the issue as well.  If not though, see whether you can find a CPU turbo setting and disable it.

Thanks for that. Unfortunately I've already tried changing the CPU turbo setting and it has made no difference.  Hopefully this will be addressed in a patch as EA have already said they intend to continue expanding Sims 4 instead of moving onto a Sims 5, meaning the game is going to have to be playable on newer processors as they come out.  

ancko​  I apologize for the late reply; I've been away from the forums for a while and am only now catching up with old threads.

If you'd still like to troubleshoot this issue, I would suggest doing a clean uninstall and reinstall of Sims 4, and playing in a clean boot, in that order.  Clean-uninstalling is covered in the accepted solution of this thread about a different issue:

[CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 DLC shows as installed, won't load in-game | EA Forums - 11831673

Anchors don't work on this site at the moment, so search for revo to jump to the relevant section.

Here's how to play 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.

If this helps, you can selectively reenable services until you find the culprit, then either leave that disabled or (if it belongs to an app you want to keep using) let me know what it is so we can try to fix the underlying issue.

No worries at all, I've been away too :) 

Appreciate the suggestion. I'll have a read of the other threads and give it a try.