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xolauv's avatar
xolauv
Rising Rookie
5 months ago

Sims 4 not launching

Greetings! I hope everyone is doing great. I just wanted to notify that I haven't been able to play since the Lovestruck EP was released. I have tried everything from restarting my computer, clearing cache, researching on forums and videos, even uninstalling the game completely and reinstalling it with no positive results. I was able to communicate with members of the EA team and I'll be waiting for a solution for everyone who's been going through the same issue.

  • Same here...error...game failed to load...relaunch game...when will the cycle END?!?! 

    • xolauv's avatar
      xolauv
      Rising Rookie

      I know, it is so frustrating specially since this is the first time that this happens to me this bad, I truly hope we can find a solution for this. :(

  • xolauv  As a test, 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, 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 see whether you can get far enough to load a new save and play in live mode for a bit.

    If that doesn't help, please describe what happens when you try to play.  Please also run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

    https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

  • xolauv  Try manually reinstalling DirectX 9, which Sims 4 still uses by default.  You don't need to uninstall anything; just run the installer over the top and restart your computer.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=8109

    More detailed instructions are here if it helps:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-launcher-won-t-open/m-p/10711778#M247861

    If that doesn't make a difference, try switching to DirectX 11 mode:

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/PC/Enabling-DirectX-11-For-Sims-4-on-EA-app-and-Steam/td-p/13711976

    If that doesn't help either, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter perfmon /rel in the run box, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.  Today is on the right.

    Look for an error that happened at exactly the time you tried to launch Sims 4, specifically after reinstalling DirectX 9.  If you find one, right-click its name and select "View technical details," then copy the information there and paste it into a reply.  If you don't see an error, check back in an hour or so—the RM doesn't always update right away.

    If you happen to see errors corresponding to your trying to launch the game in both DX9 and DX11 modes, I'd like both of them; just let me know which is which.

    If you find no errors at all, even after an hour or two, that means the game is likely being blocked from loading.  In that case, please check your antivirus for any Sims 4-related actions.

  • xolauv  DirectX 9 and 11 are separate runtimes, so the fact that the game doesn't work in either mode and is throwing some kind of DX error in either case points to a more general system issue.  So please run a repair install of Windows, as described here (option two):

    https://www.elevenforum.com/t/repair-install-windows-11-with-an-in-place-upgrade.418/

    This should not delete your data, but if you get to step 14 and are NOT asked to keep personal files and apps, back out and start over.

    Once you've finished the repair install, please try to play in both DX9 and 11 modes.  If neither one works, please post the new Reliability Monitor error(s) you find.

    • xolauv's avatar
      xolauv
      Rising Rookie

      Hello again and sorry for the late reply, I did the repair install and tried with both DX9 and 11 and still nothing pops up after I run the game. Even the reliability monitor doesn't show any problems regarding DX nor the update (attached below). Thank you once again for your help and patience.

       

  • xolauv  Don't worry about the late reply.  People show up when they have time to troubleshoot, and I answer when I can.

    The fact that there's no new Sims 4 error means the game is being blocked from starting.  It's not crashing, and apparently nothing else is crashing that would be taking the game down with it.

    Did you check your antivirus for anything Sims 4-related?  If you're not sure how to do that, try disabling it, temporarily of course, and repairing the game.  As long as you don't do anything else at the same time, your computer should be safe, and you can reenable the antivirus as soon as you try to launch Sims 4 once.

    If that doesn't help, create a new admin Windows account and try playing there.  Make it local, as in, don't link it to your Microsoft account; you'll be asked to answer some security questions instead.  Here again, disable the antivirus before creating the new account, and don't reenable it until you've tried to launch Sims 4.

    If the antivirus is the problem, you can set exceptions for TS4_x64, TS4_DX9_x64, and TS4_Launcher_x64; or the Bin folder they're in.  Add EADesktop.exe as an exception too.

    If none of this helps, do you know someone with an EA account who would let you borrow theirs to test?  The Sims 4 base game is free, so they wouldn't have to buy anything.  The point is to see whether this is an account issue rather than anything on your computer.

    • xolauv's avatar
      xolauv
      Rising Rookie

      Hi once again, I followed through the steps and still nothing shows up, only preparing game and still shows as a background process. Unfortunately I don't know anyone with an EA account for me to borrow either. 

      • xolauv  Then I guess it would be reasonable to create another EA account to test with.  I normally wouldn't suggest this, but I also don't want to keep you going in circles if this is in fact some kind of account issue.

  • xolauv's avatar
    xolauv
    Rising Rookie

    Thank you for your response, I have already tried it and still nothing shows up. It only says preparing the game and then it runs as a background process.  Nothing shows up after that. Here's the DxDiag attached.

  • xolauv's avatar
    xolauv
    Rising Rookie

    Okay so I followed through the steps in the same order and nothing has changed, however, the Reliability Monitor found an error with DirectX as expected. I'll paste the details below. Thank you once again for your response.