Forum Discussion

Iavendermoon's avatar
Iavendermoon
Rising Novice
5 months ago
Solved

Sims 4 won't launch

Whenever I press "play" button (in Steam or the EA app) the game starts launching, but then, suddenly, stops and the button changes back to "play".

I have already tried:

  • repairing the game
  • clearing cache
  • moving the mods, tray and saves folders onto the desktop
  • updating/repairing both Steam and the EA app
  • updating my PC
  • doing the EA app recovery
ea app
launching
steam
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    5 months ago

    Iavendermoon  Your dxdiag doesn't list any Sims 4 errors, which suggests the game is being blocked from starting rather than crashing.  So please let me know what antivirus you use, as well as whether OneDrive is running on this computer, even if you never use it.

    What your dxdiag does show is that your graphics drivers are outdated.  The Intel one is likely still fine, so leave that alone.  But install Nvidia's latest Game Ready Driver here:

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

    Run the installer as an admin: right-click the download and select "Run as administrator."  Restart your computer after installing and before trying to play.

5 Replies

  • rwillyums's avatar
    rwillyums
    Newcomer
    5 months ago

    I also have this issue from having installed the game yesterday so very keen to get a simple step by step answer on this - does seem to be a known problem and the fix explanations in the previous threads aren't that clear.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    5 months ago

    Iavendermoon  Please try moving the entire Sims 4 user folder to the desktop.  If that doesn't help, do you have some kind of family sharing feature enabled in Steam?  This doesn't work well with EA games.

    If that's not relevant either, 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.

    rwillyums  I'd like to see a dxdiag from you as well.  And let me know whether Sims 4 worked on this computer at any point.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    5 months ago

    Iavendermoon  Your dxdiag doesn't list any Sims 4 errors, which suggests the game is being blocked from starting rather than crashing.  So please let me know what antivirus you use, as well as whether OneDrive is running on this computer, even if you never use it.

    What your dxdiag does show is that your graphics drivers are outdated.  The Intel one is likely still fine, so leave that alone.  But install Nvidia's latest Game Ready Driver here:

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

    Run the installer as an admin: right-click the download and select "Run as administrator."  Restart your computer after installing and before trying to play.

  • Iavendermoon's avatar
    Iavendermoon
    Rising Novice
    5 months ago

    Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I installed the driver and the game actually launched!! Truly living up to your title as a hero!!

About The Sims 4 Technical Issues - PC

PC players get help with their technical issues in The Sims 4 here.52,486 PostsLatest Activity: 4 minutes ago