@smilelikemiles Please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
Please also let the game load, switch it to windowed mode (but don't minimize it), bring up the Task Manager, and make sure it's showing in Detail mode (click More Details if not). Take a screenshot of the Task Manager window and post it here.
Here is my dxdiag:
@smilelikemiles Just in case it helps, please try playing 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, 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 this folder yet; just see whether you can get far enough to start a new save and play in live mode for a bit.
Your dxdiag lists a couple of system errors that might be significant if they're happening while you play, but I have no way of knowing from the info in the dxdiag. So please take a look: open a File Explorer window and enter C:\Windows\Minidump in the address bar. You should see at least a few files; check their timestamps to see if any of them happened while you were playing or trying to play, or within a few minutes either way. If you do find one, right-click it and select Copy, then right-click your desktop and select Paste. From there, you can upload the file to the free filehosting site of your choice (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and link it here.
Please also look for Sims 4 crash dumps: click Windows key-R and copy and paste this:
%LocalAppData%\CrashDumps
Here again, if you find any recent ones, say from the last two days or so, upload them to a third-party site and link them here.
Just a note: Due to circumstances outside my control, I won't be able to look at crash dumps until at least 24 hours from now, so if you don't get a reply soon, please be patient.
Community Manager
