I keep having episodes where The Sims 4 won't launch for an extended period of time. This doesn't happen every time, but at least a quarter of the time, when I try to launch TS4 in Steam or in Origin, nothing happens. Repairing it in Origin doesn't work. What do I do?
@aucqz16dqw4c The next time this happens, 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, if it launches, 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 the new folder yet; just let me know whether you can get far enough to start a new save and play in live mode for a bit.
If this doesn't help, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.
https://help.ea.com/en/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
And let me know whether OneDrive is running (even if you never use it) and how full it is.
@puzzlezaddict Sorry I took so long; I had other problems to deal with.
I tried your first solution and the game still would not snap out of its un-launching episode, so I ran dxdiag; the report is attached.
Also, OneDrive is running. I'm not sure if you were asking for size or size on disk, but those numbers are 20 GB and 17.7 GB, respectively.
@aucqz16dqw4c I was actually wondering how close to being full OneDrive is, for example 20 GB used out of 50 GB total. However, your dxdiag shows signs of an issue with Windows, so regardless of the answer, it's a good idea to run a couple of checks on your Windows system files:
Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the box to check for updates. If any install, restart again afterwards.
Please post a new dxdiag when you're done.
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Checkhealth:
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844
Image Version: 10.0.19044.2486
No component store corruption detected.
The operation completed successfully.
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth:
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844
Image Version: 10.0.19044.2486
[==========================100.0%==========================] The restore operation completed successfully.
The operation completed successfully.
sfc /scannow:
Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.
I also tried updating to Windows 11, but it didn't fix the problem so I reverted back to Windows 10.
@aucqz16dqw4c Please let me know how full OneDrive is.
@aucqz16dqw4c The next time this happens, please try playing while your computer is completely offline. Restart first, then open Origin or the EA App (whichever you're using at the moment), put it in offline mode, and disable wifi and/or disconnect the ethernet cable.
In case you're wondering, there are no errors in your dxdiag, I mean none at all, which could be due to your having reinstalled Windows 10. But please let me know how much time passed between when you reverted to 10 and when you ran the dxdiag, as well as whether you tried to play Sims 4 in between those steps.
@puzzlezaddict I just tried playing it offline during an episode of not being able to play it, and it didn't work.
I'm afraid it's been so long since I went to Windows 11 and back to Windows 10 that I've completely forgotten the exact dates when I ran the dxdiag and re-installed Windows 10.
@aucqz16dqw4c The dxdiag has a timestamp right at the top, and your second one was run the same day as you posted it.
Do you use a third-party antivirus, and if so, which one? When you can't play, does it show that Sims 4 has been blocked or quarantined; does it help to disable the antivirus completely?
Additionally, are there any associated errors in the Reliability Monitor? Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day. Today is on the right.
For any instance you can't play, please look for an error that happened at exactly the time you tried to launch the game. If you see one, double-click its name, copy the info you see, and paste it here. If you don't find an error, check back in an hour or so—the RM doesn't always update right away. If you still don't see an error, that's also useful info: it means the game was likely blocked from running, for example by an antivirus, as opposed to instantly crashing.
I have McAfee Antivirus and I've never gotten a notification that it blocked or quarantined TS4.
I looked at the Reliability Monitor, but it didn't show any errors occurring at the time this un-launching episode began.
