Sims 4 "not responding"

@BustyWench  Try installing a slightly older graphics driver.  I've seen a few people running the current Nvidia driver with dxdiag errors that are probably related to the driver, and the next-newest versions should still be perfectly fine.  You'll need to do a clean uninstall:

https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/02/clean-re-install-of-graphics-drivers-with-display-driver-uninstaller-ddu.html

You can get older drivers here; I'd go with 496.76, from November 16:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/drivers/

Restart after installing the driver and before trying to play.  And please use a(nother) clean Sims 4 folder, to keep things simple.

OK, completely uninstalled Nvidia driver with the DDU program. Reinstalled the one you suggested and tried running with a clean Sims folder. Still having the same issue ☹️

@BustyWench  Try playing while your computer is completely offline.  You can sign into Origin and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or disconnect the ethernet cable before pressing Play.

If that doesn't help, try playing in a clean boot, again while offline:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10

When you reboot, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down everything that doesn't absolutely need to be running.  If you accidentally kill a critical process and it doesn't restart itself (they often do), just reboot your computer.

I believe I managed this. Quite a few processes restarted and I don't think I missed one. The game is still freezing within an hour of play though.

(sorry for the delay in replies, covid booster had some nasty side-effects)

I also tried testing the game n both windowed and fullscreen mode as I don't think I'd checked that yet (still freezes).

I guess at this point i'm probably looking at a windows reinstall ☹️

@BustyWench  A fresh install of Windows does fix a lot of issues, but if you want to try an intermediate step first, a repair install will allow you to preserve your user files:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

If you're interested in doing some hardware monitoring, I'd be happy to look at a log.  Download hwinfo from here:

https://www.hwinfo.com/download/

You don't need to install anything if you don't want to; just choose the Portable version, unzip it, and launch it from Downloads or wherever you want.  (If you would like to install, be sure to click the button for hwinfo itself, not for lansweeper.)  Restart your computer, again offline and in a clean boot, and don't open any other apps.  Launch hwinfo, choose "sensors only," and click the icon that's a sheet of paper with a + sign to start logging.  Save the file to your desktop for easy access later.

Wait five minutes, then launch Sims 4 and play until it freezes.  Click the same button to end logging.  Then upload the log to a third-party free filehosting site and link it here.  Please leave it in .csv format, or if you use OneDrive to share, please compress it in .zip format instead.

And don't worry about the late reply.  Some things are much more important than troubleshooting a game issue.

Hello,

Repair install didn't help, which is now making me worry that even a full format and reinstall might not help, but still not ruling it out.

On the offchance that the hardware monitoring has more success, I did give it a try and am including the log for you. It's all gibberish to me but hopefully, it tells you something nice and obvious for me to fix!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f5p9ua21l9wv1rb/simstest.CSV?dl=0

Thank you for your continued patience.