Sims 4 Will Not Launch

Never mind, I just realized I posted this in the wrong place, my bad.  Did TOO much forum reading today and lost the ability to read completely apparently.

nora_charles13​  Your thread is now in the PC tech forum, so you're fine.  Do you still need help?  If so, please create a new admin Windows account and try to play there.  Make it local, as in, don't link it to your Microsoft account or any email address.  (Keep saying you don't have that info until you get some security questions instead.)  You'll be able to at least try to launch the game without reinstalling it.

Separately, did you specifically check Windows Defender's Controlled Folder Access settings?  If not, please do so now.  You can search in Windows for "controlled folder access" to open the menu.

I am having the exact same issue since the update. i played fine all day yesterday before it updated

Similar problem for me too, launching from steam, it opens EA app, says “preparing game” then just closes.

I'm having the same problem. I've tried everything to fix it, including running the game as an administrator, repairing the game multiple times, clearing the cache, and even reinstalling it from scratch. I also removed all my mods and custom content, but nothing worked.

I played on Sunday and Monday, and everything was working perfectly until the July 21 update. Since then, the game won't launch at all.

Sloseth696​ Nasser94mojahid​  Are you seeing this issue?

Game failing to launch. Windows flagging TS4_Launcher_x64.exe as Trojan | EA Forums - 13577796

If you're not sure, please check Windows Defender's recent actions.  Use that thread if it applies.

If that's not your issue, please try playing in a clean user folder.  Move the entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop.  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've moved but temporarily unread by the game.)  Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just start a new save and see how it runs.

If you still can't play, please provide a dxdiag.  Click Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop.  From there, you can attach it to a reply using the paper clip (Attachment) icon included with the other formatting buttons.

esterpaivas​  It sounds like you're having the Windows Defender issue, so please stick to that thread.  If that's not the case though, as in, Defender isn't flagging Sims 4, or you use a different antivirus, please try the suggestions above.

puzzlezaddict​ Thank you!  I didn't realize it'd get moved over from where I'd initially put the post.  I appreciate that.

As suggested, I did create a new Admin and once I actually could get the EA app to launch (which was running strangely slow), I got the exact same pop up Error: Access is denied.  I didn't try running the same troubleshoots as last night since I'm assuming the problem will be the same as my original Admin account.

As for the Windows Defender Controlled Access, it isn't turned on.  I use a different antivirus software and try to ignore the Windows one as much as possible.  I might try to uninstall & reinstall the antivirus software I use, see if that helps.

Truly the part bugging me the most is that the Error pop up isn't specific enough (like giving me a code or something) and I can't think of anything I did in those 24-48 hours between play time and the update that would've caused an Access issue since I only ever had the one login with Admin access(or it was the only Admin until 30 minutes ago).

Just to be sure, last night I did also run through the possible troubleshoots cited in this Current Issue Forum but I had no success with any of the steps.  My graphics card didn't need updating and the clean boot didn't change anything.  I'm not connected to a OneDrive account and the computer itself was a brand new build in the last 1.5 years.  I would've expected an error like this on my old college laptops, not this one.  I am perplexed.  

puzzlezaddict​ Also, since I suspect you'll ask based on the forum I linked, here's my dxdiag file.

nora_charles13​  A dxdiag is almost always useful in some way, and in your case, I see a number of crashes of something inthe graphics pipeline.  So please do a clean uninstall and reinstall of the graphics driver, as described here:

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

If this doesn't help, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Click 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.

Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempt to open Sims 4.  If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.  If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

The two errors in your dxdiag are LiveKernelEvents 193 and 1cc, alternating with each other, which may mean they're both happening at the same time.  193 is the graphics pipeline issue; 1cc doesn't point to a particular driver, just certain behavior.  So let me know if you're still seeing these or anything else corresponding to when you try to open the game.

Same issue here. Launching from Steam, the EA window appears but then it immediately stops running after the attempt. Tried so many things but it seems to be the recent update.