Forum Discussion

5 years ago

Solved

Sims 4 Crashing

I've been experiencing some issues playing Sims 4 - I can't get more than 5-10 minutes into gameplay without the entire thing freezing up. It freezes the entire laptop to the point where I can't even...

DxDiag.txt87 KB

puzzlezaddict
5 years ago
@SavannahBanana21 I can't tell you how your laptop is holding up in general, but it should in theory be able to run Sims 4 on a mix of high and ultra settings. And you definitely don't need the Legacy Edition, nor does it sound like it's helping. Start by switching back to the standard version in Origin: open your game library, right-click on the Sims 4 icon, select Game Properties > Advanced Launch Options, and choose 64-bit from the dropdown menu.

Before you play, run any pending Windows updates—your dxdiag lists a number of update failures. Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of your screen, select Settings > Update & Security, and click the button to check for updates. If there are a number pending, it make take a few tries to run them all.

Do you have any external devices plugged in while you play? If so, please disconnect them and test the game (again, standard version). While troubleshooting, use a clean Sims 4 game folder, as in, remove the TS4 folder in Documents\Electronic Arts and let the game spawn a new one. If you have saves you want to keep, then keep the folder on your desktop or somewhere else out of the way; if you've already backed up your saves or don't care to, just trash the folder. Let me know how it goes.

puzzlezaddict

Hero+

5 years ago

@SavannahBanana21 I can't tell you how your laptop is holding up in general, but it should in theory be able to run Sims 4 on a mix of high and ultra settings. And you definitely don't need the Legacy Edition, nor does it sound like it's helping. Start by switching back to the standard version in Origin: open your game library, right-click on the Sims 4 icon, select Game Properties > Advanced Launch Options, and choose 64-bit from the dropdown menu.

Before you play, run any pending Windows updates—your dxdiag lists a number of update failures. Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of your screen, select Settings > Update & Security, and click the button to check for updates. If there are a number pending, it make take a few tries to run them all.

Do you have any external devices plugged in while you play? If so, please disconnect them and test the game (again, standard version). While troubleshooting, use a clean Sims 4 game folder, as in, remove the TS4 folder in Documents\Electronic Arts and let the game spawn a new one. If you have saves you want to keep, then keep the folder on your desktop or somewhere else out of the way; if you've already backed up your saves or don't care to, just trash the folder. Let me know how it goes.

SavannahBanana2
5 years ago
You. Are. Awesome. Thanks so much for your help! I never would have thought to look into any of those things, so I really appreciate it lol. I ran through all the steps you gave me, but the kicker was the last part about unplugging any other devices. I wasn't sure if a charger counted, so I unplugged it anyway, and that seems to have been the problem. I'm thinking the computer was overheating being constantly plugged into the charger while playing, because after I unplugged it I went for an hour+ without any game freezes/issues. Unfortunately the computer can't hold a charge for longer than an hour so sort of a win/lose situation but, either way I'm grateful to have found the problem xD
Thank you again so much.
- puzzlezaddict
  Hero+
  5 years ago
  @SavannahBanana21 Oh no, please don't play on battery—it will significantly lower performance on any laptop. If you can play on battery but not while the computer's plugged in, that's an issue that needs to be addressed. And it's easy enough to take a look at internal temperatures if you want. But at least test with the laptop charging but nothing else plugged in.
  - SavannahBanana2
    5 years ago
    Oh, I had no idea that was a no-go! Before the laptop lost its ability to hold a charge I played without the charger plugged in, now however as stated it’s pretty much constantly in need of a charge so I just played with it plugged in. Today after addressing the issues you mentioned previously I tried playing it with the charger plugged in (crashed after about 10-15 minutes), then tried without and was able to play for about an hour until the low battery warning came on, I imagine I could have gone longer. Nothing else was plugged in which was what gave me the idea it was the charging that was causing the problem. My initial thought was to purchase a new battery and charger, to hopefully address the issue of it not holding power (plus the charger has to be held in the port at the right position for it to work). But in the future I should be playing *with* it plugged in, if I’m reading you correctly?