[CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 Failed to Launch Game
Overview Failed to launch game An error on our end caused the launch to fail. Try again a little later. This is currently something of a catch-all error, caused by a variety of issues. And the game may in fact start but crash immediately after launch. Trying to relaunch the game immediately after it's crashed can cause the error as well. While troubleshooting this issue, each time the game fails to load, make sure the EA App is closed (exit out of it; don't just X out the window), and open the Task Manager and end the EABackgroundServices entry in the background processes list. Alternately, restart your computer. Workarounds jump to: Remove mods jump to: Clean user folder jump to: Set exceptions in antivirus jump to: Change OneDrive settings jump to: Update graphics driver jump to: Uncommon causes jump to: New admin Windows account These workarounds are listed in order of how frequently they cause this issue. So to avoid wasting time on steps that are unlikely to help you, it would be best to try the suggestions in order. Before proceeding, please repair the game. If you've installed through the EA App, open the App library and click Sims 4 > Manage > Repair. For a Steam install, open your Steam library, right-click the Sims 4 tile, and select Properties > Installed files > Verify integrity of the game files. Remove mods The most common cause of this error is a broken mod, and the most efficient way to find out if that's your issue is to remove the entire Mods folder, and delete localthumbcache.package, in the same Sims 4 folder. This doesn't mean playing without mods—if it helps, you can test your mods and cc until you find the broken file or files, then restore the rest. If it doesn't help, move on to the next steps. While testing, use the new Mods folder the game created when you launched it without mods. Transfer individual files or subfolders rather than the entire Mods folder, and use the fresh Resource.cfg file rather than your old one as well. ↑ Clean user folder If removing only the Mods folder doesn't help, remove or rename (these have the same effect) the entire Sims 4 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts. If it copies instead of moving, or you get an error when trying to move it, stop here and see the OneDrive section below. Otherwise, when you launch the game, if it launches, 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 see whether you can get far enough to start a new save and play in live mode for a bit. If this works, you can start moving your content from the old Sims 4 folder to the new one. Start by testing your mods and custom content, if you have any. Use the new Mods folder and Resource.cfg file the game creates rather than your old ones. Test your mods and cc in batches, or use the 50/50 method described here if you have a lot of files to sort through: https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content#The_50.25_Method Once you're done with your Mods folder, you can transfer the contents of saves, Tray (saved households and builds), Screenshots and Recorded Videos if you care about those, and Options.ini if you don't want to redo all your in-game options. The rest can be discarded; the game will regenerate the files and folders as necessary. ↑ Set exceptions in your antivirus Your antivirus blocking the game from starting can cause this issue as well. Look for any recent actions involving Sims 4 or the EA App, and set exceptions/exclusions as necessary. The exceptions should be for TS4_x64, TS4_DX9_x64, and TS4_Launcher_x64, or the Bin folder they're in; set one for EADesktop.exe as well while you're there. If you use Memory Boost (still in beta and opt-in only), set an exception for TS4_x64_fpb.exe. This article has instructions for Windows Defender and a couple of common third-party programs: https://crinrict.com/blog/2020/10/add-exceptions-to-anti-virus-programs.html If your antivirus isn't covered, consult the publisher's online documentation for instructions. A search for "[antivirus name] set exception" will probably find a user manual. ↑ Change OneDrive settings If OneDrive is running on your computer, whether you use it or not, it can block Sims 4's access to Documents and cause this error. First, try pausing syncing. Right-click the cloud icon in the lower-right corner of the screen, or sometimes hidden in the Tray (^ icon), to see the option: If this helps, the underlying issue is OneDrive, and you may want or need to adjust your settings accordingly. You can choose which folders to sync, stop OneDrive from syncing your Sims 4 folder or all of Documents automatically, or get rid of OneDrive entirely. Please see this guide, specifically the "I don't want OneDrive to sync my files" and "I want to get rid of OneDrive" sections, for further help: [CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 saves/user content disappearing (PC) | EA Forums - 11838402 ↑ Update your graphics driver Some users have fixed this issue by updating an old graphics driver. If you know how to do this on your own, go right ahead. To find the current driver version and date, click Windows key-X, select the Device Manager, expand Display adapters, right-click the name of your GPU (the dedicated card, usually Nvidia/AMD, if your computer has two), and select Properties > Driver. If you update through the Device Manager, which has an Update button in the menu, you will probably get a slightly older driver than the most current one. This is fine for testing purposes, and this driver may still fix the issue; just understand that you won't necessarily be up-to-date, and you may be told you already have the current version when you do not. To get the most current version, go to the driver downloads page hosted by the manufacturer of your GPU. If you don't know how to do this, or you'd like help or confirmation before proceeding, or trying to install the driver you've downloaded throws an error, please reply to this thread. Include 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. ↑ Uncommon causes These have been the underlying cause for a few uses but don't appear to be major contributors. Still, if any apply to you, try the suggestions. Disable Game Mode and Game Bar: Both of these settings are under Windows Settings > Gaming. DirectX 9 mode: Sims 4 now defaults to DirectX 11 mode on most computers. To force DX9 mode in the EA App, open the App game library, click Sims 4 > Manage > View properties, add -dx9 to the box, and save. If you play through Steam, open your library, right-click Sims 4, select Properties > General, and add -dx9 to the Launch Options box. Windows insider build: For certain other EA games, a couple of updates to the Windows beta build can trigger this error. I haven't seen this apply to Sims 4 yet, but if you're running the insider build, please see the accepted solution of this thread. Conflicting software: For other games (not Sims 4 as far as I've seen), MSI Afterburner or RivaTuner Statistics Server can trigger the error. You can close all unnecessary apps in the Task Manager; be sure to check the background processes list as well. ↑ New admin Windows account It's possible that the problem is caused by a setting or broken permissions in your main Windows account, and the fastest way to test this theory is to create a new account. It must have admin rights (not a standard user account), and it must be local, as in, not connected to your Microsoft account. The account name can only contain letters from the Roman alphabet and numbers, no special characters, accents, or anything else that isn't standard. To create a new account, open Windows Settings > Accounts > Family & other users, click "Add someone else to this PC" (under Other users, not Your family), click "I don't have this person's sign-in information," then "Add a user without a Microsoft account." Choose the username and password, answer some security questions, and you'll see the new account. Click it and select "Change account type" to make it an Administrator account if it's not already. It should say "Administrator - Local account" when you're done: Click ctrl-alt-delete, select Switch user, and sign into the new account. Then open the EA App (and Steam or the Epic launcher if applicable) and try to launch Sims 4. You shouldn't need to reinstall anything. Your saves and other user data won't be available, but that's fine for the purpose of this test. If Sims 4 works in the new account, it means the problem is contained to your old account. You can simply continue playing in the new account if you want. For any saves or other user data you'd like to transfer to the new account, sign into the old account again and copy the relevant files to C:\Users\Public. This folder is accessible from all user accounts; you can grab the files from there once you're in the new account. If you'd like help fixing your old account, please see below. ↑ If nothing else in this guide helps or applies to you, OR if Sims 4 only works the new admin Windows account but you'd like to play in your old account, try the other steps listed in this thread, which is for a distinct but sometimes related issue: [CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 Unable to Start, Already Running | EA Forums - 11818313 If those don't help either, please reply to this thread. Let me know whether the new Windows account worked. If it did not, 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. ↑Events breaks my game
Hello ! I have issues with my events : For starter the event doesn't show the steps when I create one, and I can't end an event before, it goes on until midnight sims time Second I have always a weird look even if im not playing an event. (see capture) Third, if I enter the CUS or construction mode while being on an event the game breaks. I can't see my sims needs, moodlet, change sims or make them do anything. It'slike if I was in camera view. My sims can move but because of their one desire. When it happens I always have to resort the game completely. This has been going for a while (3 months or more maybe). I tried in the French forum to get help but no one could give me advices. Thank you for the help !
Elimination help
Hello! Loving the new pack, although it definitely has a lot of moving parts to it...😅. I'm trying to have a romantic getaway contest where its less like the bachelor and more like survivor//love island where instead of the one bachelor/host is the the one to decide who gets eliminated its more like a group vote. Is it possible to have a group vote for eliminations? I've tried to make the "singles"s and hosts the same roles but then there were conflicts in the activities. And at first I didnt know the role of the Host. like i didnt know they would be the love interest... i thought theyd just be the host of the contest LOL. Anywho I'm rambling long story short is there a way to do group votes for eliminations instead of there being one sole sim who gets to decide who gets eliminated? Because I was also wondering how would that work for like survior type getaway? cause i think in the actual show i think its the group who decides who leaves.[CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 saves/user content disappearing (PC)
Overview jump to: Restoring missing saves jump to: I want OneDrive to keep syncing my files jump to: I don't want OneDrive to sync my files jump to: I want to get rid of OneDrive jump to: My saves aren't in OneDrive jump to: My saves still aren't appearing in-game In Windows, the most common cause of Sims 4 saves or other user files disappearing is OneDrive. User files are stored in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4, and if no Sims 4 folder is present there, the game will make a new one with no content. It won't look elsewhere for saves or other user content. OneDrive syncs the contents of Documents to cloud storage by default. This syncing may have worked fine for some time, but it can fail for one reason or another, and the result is that the user files are removed from local storage. Then when Sims 4 is loaded, saves, Tray files, and mods and custom content are missing, with the only option being to start a new save. If you have a Mac, please use this thread instead: [READ FIRST] Saves, CC/Mods or Library items disappeared? iCloud issues | EA Forums - 10979712 ↑ Restoring missing saves The first place to look for missing files is within OneDrive's cloud storage. Go to onedrive.com, click Sign in in the upper-right corner, and enter the email address and password associated with your Microsoft account. Please check both My files and the Recyle bin for your missing content. OneDrive does only preserve data in the Recycle bin for 30 days for a free basic account, or 93 days for some premium accounts. If that time has passed, the files may be permanently deleted. If you find your missing files, click them to select, then right-click and select Restore: Once you've downloaded the files from OneDrive, you may need to rename them or move them to the correct folder, as in, the one Sims 4 is reading. If you need more help with this process, please read this. To prevent this in the future, you can change OneDrive's settings. Or you can stop syncing or get rid of OneDrive entirely. If you've never used OneDrive, or it doesn't have your saves, please see this. ↑ I want OneDrive to keep syncing my files If your OneDrive has enough space for all your files, the simplest workaround is to tell OneDrive to keep the Sims 4 user folder on your computer. Right-click the folder and select "Always keep on this device." Please double-check that OneDrive has enough storage, or you may run into more trouble. Right-click the OneDrive icon in the lower-right corner of your screen and select Settings: Under Account, you'll see the current and total storage: If your OneDrive is full, or your "The Sims 4" folder is larger than the storage you have, you can choose to stop automatically syncing Documents overall, or the Sims 4 folder, or some subfolder, for example the Mods folder. (Please see the next section below.) You can still manually upload files to OneDrive as you choose. Or you can buy a subscription for more OneDrive storage. However, an external drive or USB stick is a one-time purchase and a cheaper long-term solution than a subscription, so consider your options before subscribing. ↑ I don't want OneDrive to sync my files The first step is to make a backup of your "The Sims 4" folder, the one in Documents > Electronic Arts. Right-click it and select Copy, then right-click the location where you want your backup to go and select Paste. If you don't have an external drive or USB stick handy, you can paste the folder into your computer's Downloads folder, which OneDrive doesn't sync. The simplest change is to tell OneDrive not to sync the contents of Documents at all. Right-click the OneDrive icon in the lower-right corner of the screen, select Settings > Backup, click Manage Backup, and under Documents, click Stop backup, then confirm the choice. Now you can restore the backup version of your Sims 4 folder to Documents > Electronic Arts, and the game should read your data. If you're not seeing your saves in-game, please read this. If you want to get more granular, you can choose to not sync the contents of the Electronic Arts folder, the Sims 4 folder, or any folder inside. First, make a backup of this folder; as above, you can store it on an external device, or in Downloads. Right-click the OneDrive icon in the lower-right corner of the screen, open Settings > Account, select Choose folders, deselect the folders you don't want OneDrive to sync, and click Okay. Once you deselect the given folder, it will be removed from your computer and stored only in the cloud. You can now restore the backup copy you made, and OneDrive won't sync it. If you forgot to back up this folder, you can still download it from onedrive.com. If you're not seeing your saves in-game, please read this. ↑ I want to get rid of OneDrive If you want to get rid of OneDrive entirely, first make a backup of any synced folders you want to keep. You can right-click the folders and select Copy, then right-click where you want the backups to be and select Paste. An external drive or USB stick is ideal, but if you don't have one handy, you can use your computer's Downloads folder, which OneDrive doesn't sync. You can also find your files later by signing into your Microsoft account at onedrive.com. Right-click the OneDrive icon in the lower-right corner of your screen, select Settings > Backup, click Manage Backup, and click Stop backup for all three categories, then confirm the choice. The reason to do this is to move the default locations of these folders out of the OneDrive folder on your computer, which might otherwise be a more complicated process. Next, right-click the OneDrive icon in the lower-right corner of your screen and select Settings > Account, then click Unlink this PC. It's unnecessary to uninstall OneDrive—without a link to a Microsoft account, it has nothing to do. After the above and before you do anything else, please double-check that your Documents folder is no longer in OneDrive. Type "command" in the Windows search box, open Command Prompt, and enter this command: reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal" This will spit out the location of the Documents directory for this Windows account. The file path should no longer include OneDrive, but if it does, as here: Then you'll need to change the location manually. The simple way is to right-click Documents in the left panel of a File Explorer window and choose Properties > Location, then Move, then click This PC, then choose this: C:\Users\[your username]\Documents Click Apply, then Yes. You may get an error that says "Can't move the folder because there is a folder in the same location that can't be redirected." The normal workaround is to stop OneDrive from backing up the location of Documents, as described above. If this hasn't helped, you can change the location of Documents by editing the relevant registry entry: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/operation-to-change-a-personal-folder-location-fails-in-windows-ffb95139-6dbb-821d-27ec-62c9aaccd720 Please be very careful when editing your computer's registry. One simple typo can have significant consequences. Make a backup before you do anything: click File > Export, and save a copy of the entire registry. If you mess up the edit, just restore the backup by double-clicking the saved file. You can check your work with the same Command Prompt command as above. This also applies to the Desktop and Pictures folders if they've previously been directed to OneDrive. ↑ My saves aren't in OneDrive If you don't use OneDrive, or you can't find your saves there, you can search your computer for the saves. Open a File Explorer window, click This PC in the left panel, and enter Slot_ in the search field in the upper-right corner. When the scan finishes, if it's found any saves, click one and select the "Open file location" menu button (or right-click the file and select "Open file location"), and you'll jump to wherever the save is, which will hopefully be where the rest of your user files are. Move the saves and any other files you'd like to keep to the relevant subfolders within the Sims 4 folder the game is reading, as it appears in-game: https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2018/07/how-to-find-your-user-folder/ If your saves still aren't appearing in-game, please read this. If your content has disappeared, and it's not hidden on your computer and not in OneDrive, it's worth doing a virus scan. This is not to say you definitely have a virus, only that it's a good idea to check. Download Malwarebytes (the free trial is fine) from here: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download Open it, click Scan > Custom Scan > Configure Scan, check all the boxes for all scans and for all your drives, and let it do its job. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, so you may want to set the scan to run while you're doing something else. If you'd like someone to take a look at the results, please start your own thread and attach the report. ↑ My saves still aren't appearing in-game The two common reasons your saves and other user files might not load in-game is that they're in the wrong folder or they're named improperly. To make sure the files are in the correct folder, load the game and find the full file path to that folder, as described here: https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2018/07/how-to-find-your-user-folder/ To see the full file path of a given file or folder, right-click it and select Properties > General, then look for the Location. If you're having trouble opening the correct folder, click This PC in a File Explorer window instead, then double-click the correct drive (probably C), and open the corresponding folders from there. OneDrive may also have renamed the saves to avoid duplicate files or folders. For example, after changing some settings back and forth, I wound up with this in my saves folder: Saves need to be named in a specific format: Slot_ followed by an eight-digit hexidecimal (base-16, so numbers 0 to 9, letters a to f) number followed by .save , with no extra characters. Each save needs to have a unique number as well. All of these are valid save names: Slot_00000006.save Slot_0000000c.save Slot_00000012.save In the above screenshot, for the affected saves (red arrows), I would delete the - Copy and the space and also renumber the saves, as other saves already have those same numbers. The order in which you number the saves doesn't matter. Choose whatever names are convenient for you, although Sims 4 has occasionally been unable to read saves that start with a digit other than 0. Saves with a .verx on the end are backups of your main saves: the game saves the data from the last five times you saved your progress before the current one. These can be renamed in the same way; once the .verx extension is deleted, the game will read these files as well. The same principles apply to Tray files: they need to be named properly and in the correct Tray folder. But because Tray file names can be more difficult to work with than saves, please start your own thread asking for help if you need it. In that case, include a screenshot or two of the contents of Tray so that the person helping you can identify the problem. Include the address bar, above the list of files, in the screenshot, as in my saves screenshot above. ↑
Memory Boost Technical Issues and Feedback Thread
Sul Sul Simmers! With today's base game update, we've announced a new feature called Memory Boost on an opt-in basis for PC/Windows players that will be available starting September 23rd. If you're interested in enabling this feature, please see the patch notes here for instructions. If you're reporting a bug or technical issue you believe is related to Memory Boost, please use the following template: Platform: Which language are you playing the game in? How often does the bug occur? What is your current game version number? What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? What happens when the bug occurs? What do you expect to see? Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? To help us better understand the technical aspects of the issues, we would also appreciate if you could provide additional information to us as well: Press the Windows key and type "Dxdiag" into the search bar. Click on "Dxdiag.exe" or press enter. When the DirectX Diagnostic Tool opens, click on "Save All Information". Save the .txt file to your desktop for easy access. Attach to your post here. And finally, any screenshots, video footage, or save files (please send the link to TheSimsDirect, additional instructions here: [INFORMATION] How to Send User Files to The Sims 4 Team) you can share of issues occurring are of great value to us as well. We look forward to your feedback and working together to enhance your Simming experience!
List of Traits in The Sims 4
Hello! Despite the discussion collecting these already existing, I've decided to make my own traits list due to how these forums work (it starts from the first post, not the last post, and it takes long to reach the last post). This list contains all the traits in-game, both visible and hidden, in these sections: Base Game Expansion Packs Game Packs Stuff Packs & Kits Non-Pack Filtered Visible Traits Non-Pack Filtered Hidden Traits Popular traits Update Log To add a trait, you'll need to use this cheat: traits.equip_trait [trait_codename] And to remove a trait, you'll need to use this cheat: traits.remove_trait [trait_codename] In both cheats, [trait_codename] needs to be replaced with trait's codename. For most of the personality traits, it's same as its name, but there are exceptions (Erratic for example). Find the trait codenames in the list below. These lists will be kept updated as patches and packs come out. Please do not post under these trait lists. If you'd like to suggest traits for the popular section or want to discuss some traits, please reply to either this post or someone else's.[CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 Problem With Your Game's Setup
Overview There is a problem with your game's setup. Please reinstall your game. This error has multiple known causes and, at the time of this writing, at least one unknown cause. So if you're not covered by the known triggers, some troubleshooting is in order. jump to: Windows 7 jump to: Windows 10 or 11 N jump to: Other Windows 7 If your computer runs Windows 7, you probably need to run Sims 4 in DirectX 9 mode. The game now defaults to DirectX 11 mode on most systems, but you can force DX9 mode in the EA App or Steam. For an EA App install, open the App, click Sims 4 > Manage > View properties, add -dx9 to the Advanced launch options box, and click Save. For a Steam install, open Steam, right-click Sims 4, select Properties > General, and add -dx9 to the Launch Options box. Windows 10 or 11 N The versions of Windows with N in their names are stripped-down installs, missing some resources that Sims 4 needs in order to run. To find out if this applies to you, click Windows key-R and enter dxdiag in the run box in the lower-left corner of the screen. The dxdiag window will list your version of Windows: If you see N in the name, please install the Media Feature Pack provided by Microsoft. Information and instructions are here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/media-feature-pack-for-windows-n-8622b390-4ce6-43c9-9b42-549e5328e407 Other So far, there have been a few reports of this issue without a definitive cause and where the above categories don't apply. If you're affected, please first confirm that you're running Windows 10 or 11 and not an N version, as described above. The first suggestion I have is to uninstall and reinstall the VC++ runtimes Sims 4 uses. Open Windows Settings > Apps, scroll down to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables, and uninstall all versions from 2015 and newer. Don't touch the others. You can get new versions here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170 You only need the 2022 x86 and x64 versions, not the older ones and not the ARM version. The 2022 runtimes replace everything from 2015 on, although the older runtimes are standalone. Restart after installing the runtimes and before trying to play. I will add any other known fixes or workarounds here as I find or hear about them. In the interim, if you're affected and nothing in this guide helps, please reply to this thread and 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. ↑
