I had this exact same problem. I loaded the game while Origin was offline and it didn't include any of my stuff or expansion pack content. My internet is severely throttled right now so it was timing out when trying to connect and Origin wanted to update again-- it usually takes over an hour for Origin to update but this time it took about 6 hours to update. Once it updated, all I got was gray boxes and it's icon shows it is still trying to load-- which it has been doing for over an hour now. I even tried to see if I could launch the game via Steam but that didn't work.
I tried the troubleshooting methods of clearing the cache by deleting the files (both in %AppData% and %ProgramData%- excluding the LocalContent folder) and rebooting several times to no avail. Origin just refuses to load.
I really miss being able to play my Sims games offline and wish they would restore that ability. I shouldn't have to login to play a game I paid for to play offline- especially when the main point was because my internet sucks and I wanted something I could use when it goes out.
I'm hoping they fix whatever this is soon or allow some sort of bypass so the game works without Origin & without connecting to the internet.
As an update, the green bar on the icon finally loaded all the way and I got a popup saying "Sims 4 is ready to play" but it is not anywhere in my task bar or screen and then the loading on Origin reset. As of now, Sims4 will not launch at all no matter what I do.
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