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Hemfuda's avatar
Hemfuda
9 months ago
Solved

Sims 4 does not start via steam

I have a license The Sims 4 in Steam and I can't launch it since June 10th. A window pops up with the eternal "game preparation" and sometimes the error "the game is already running" is displayed, bu...
pc
  • Hemfuda's avatar
    Hemfuda
    8 months ago

    @puzzlezaddictI do really appreciate that you tried to help me and offered various options. To be honest, I did not reinstall steam, because it is a problem for me to log in to all my accounts again.

    Today I decided to once again try to launch the game via steam and it finally started! So the problem was far from my PC =)

Hemfuda's avatar
Hemfuda
9 months ago

@puzzlezaddictI deleted EA-App and AppData folders, reset my pc and install EA-App once again - game doesn't starts but the message "game already running" is gone. I created new local admin - still game doesn't start.

I changed clock back - get EA App error message about internet. I turned on Offline mode with changed clock - get EA App error message about internet. I turned off my Internet and tried to launch game on offline mode with changed clock - error message is gone but game still doesn't launch.

I noticed, if delete folder "The sims 4" in Documents and try to run game, it creates only folders "The Sims 4 - Saves" with file "steamcloud" in it. Ok, i reset permissions for Documents - nothing changed at all.

The other things in "workaround" page I did before creating this theme. Also my firewall is also turned off (years ago). I even turned off Steam family sharing because i saw topic with this solution. Still nothing.

P.S. I get "non-steam and EA-App" version of game for test and its works absolute fine.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
9 months ago

@Hemfuda  Do you have access to another EA account that owns Sims 4?  If the problem is your account and not your computer, the new account should run the game fine.  Since the base game is free, a friend or family member could add it and let you borrow the account.  (Technically, one person having duplicate accounts are against EA's rules, but....)  Point is, this is a simple test for an issue that might not be on your end at all.

  • Hemfuda's avatar
    Hemfuda
    9 months ago

    @puzzlezaddictMy games from ONLY EA-App (Sims 2, Dragon age) works fine. But I bought only Sims 4 via steam so I can't check on other EA games that require their launcher.
    I get Sims 4 base on my another Steam account and bound it with my second EA-App account game don't want to launch.

    I created 3th EA-app account and get base Sims 4 only from Ea-App (no steam or epic) and GAME LAUCNHED! So the problem in Steam+Ea-app games. And I haven't seen any official statements about that. That's ridiculous that i cant play my licensed game FROM STEAM

    P.S. All my other games om Steam works fine (that don't require ea-app). Even games from Ubisoft via Steam works absolute fine.

    • puzzlezaddict's avatar
      puzzlezaddict
      Hero+
      9 months ago

      @Hemfuda  Try uninstalling the EA App with Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine), and restart your computer before reinstalling the App.  Run both Steam and the App as an admin: right-click each desktop shortcut and select "Run as administrator."

      If this alone doesn't help, I'd suggest uninstalling Steam with Revo as well; even though other Steam non-EA games work fine, the problem could be something Steam uses specifically to link to EA servers.  The problem here is that by default, uninstalling Steam also removes any Steam-installed games, as the game library is within Steam's program files.  So if you don't want this to happen, create a new game library and move your Steam games there first.

      If that would be too much of a hassle, you can try uninstalling Sims 4 with Revo instead, and reinstalling into a different folder just to be thorough.  If you do this, and you still have saves or other user data you want to preserve, rename the Sims 4 folder that data is in (it was previously in Documents > Electronic Arts before you moved/deleted it) so that Revo doesn't flag it for deletion.

      • Hemfuda's avatar
        Hemfuda
        8 months ago

        @puzzlezaddictI do really appreciate that you tried to help me and offered various options. To be honest, I did not reinstall steam, because it is a problem for me to log in to all my accounts again.

        Today I decided to once again try to launch the game via steam and it finally started! So the problem was far from my PC =)

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