@Midnight_Wayv I don't see anything immediately obvious in your dxdiag, so some experimentation is in order. Please first force Sims 4 to use your Nvidia graphics card. Open Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics settings, find TS4_DX9_x64.exe on the list, and choose the high-performance option. Then see if you get the same error.
Next, repeat the process, except this time, choose the power-saving option, so you're forcing the game to use the Intel integrated graphics chip instead. I'd like to know whether you get this error both times, only once, or neither.
@Midnight_Wayv Do you use a third-party antivirus? If so, please disable it, temporarily of course, and repair the game in the EA App: open your game library, click Sims 4, and select Manage > Manage add-ons. Then try again to play. As long as you don't do anything else at the same time, your computer should be safe.
If that doesn't help, or you only use Windows Defender, please try playing in a new admin Windows account. Make it local, as in, don't link it to your Microsoft account. When you're in the new account, open the EA App and clear its cache:
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/
then repair again, still with your antivirus disabled if you're using third-party software. Then try to play and let me know what happens.
@Midnight_Wayv Here's how to create a new local account:
As for the Geek Squad, that depends entirely on who you get. Some are very knowledgeable, some only know how to follow procedure, and most are somewhere in between. It also depends on the problem—if it turns out to be easily diagnosable, of course it's more likely that any given tech will diagnose it. It's also true that it's a lot easier to diagnose an issue when the system is right in front of you.
So I would say that if this computer is under warranty, or you have another service plan that means the Geek Squad would examine the system for free or cheap, it's worth asking. If you'd have to pay a lot, or wait a long time, probably not.
Regardless, the next suggestion I'd have would be to do a repair install of Windows 11. This is relatively quick and worth knowing how to do in general, as it's the best way to repair Windows short of wiping the drive and installing from scratch. Here's how (option two):
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/repair-install-windows-11-with-an-in-place-upgrade.418/#Two
This shouldn't delete any of your data, but if you get to step 14 and are NOT asked to keep personal files and apps, back out and start over.
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