Multiple EA Games Fail When Entering Matches on University Network
Hello EA, I am the Network Specialist for a University, and we are investigating a connectivity issue affecting multiple students across more than one EA title. EA SPORTS College Football 27 is one confirmed affected game, but it is not the only EA game showing this behavior. Symptoms Players can successfully: Sign into Xbox Live Sign into their EA accounts Join friends or squads Remain in the pre-game lobby Complete matchmaking However, when the game transitions from the lobby into the actual match, the affected player is returned to the lobby while the rest of the squad enters the match. No error code is displayed. Network Environment Organization: <removed> University Firewall: Sophos XGS4500 Firmware: SFOS 22.0.1 MR-1 Build 490 Outbound Internet uses source NAT/PAT All student traffic generally exits through one public IPv4 address: <removed> Troubleshooting Completed Xbox NAT Type reports Open No Double NAT is reported Xbox Live functions normally Players can authenticate successfully with EA Other non-EA online multiplayer games work normally The issue appears to affect multiple EA games Multiple students have reported the same behavior Critical Comparison Test Using the same Xbox, same EA account, same game, and same squad: Campus network Sign-in succeeds Squad and lobby functions succeed Player is returned to the lobby when the match begins Cellular hotspot The player successfully enters and plays the match The only meaningful change is the Internet connection, NAT path, and public IP address. Timeline The issue began approximately in late 2025 or early 2026. Confirmed Affected Games EA SPORTS College Football 27 [Add other affected EA games here] Request Can EA investigate whether there are any known issues involving: Multiple legitimate EA players sharing one public IP address Large shared-NAT environments such as universities, hotels, or military installations Matchmaking or game-server session limits based on public IP Anti-abuse, rate-limiting, or reputation controls applied to public IP <removed> Changes introduced in late 2025 or early 2026 that could affect shared-NAT networks We are happy to provide timestamps, affected account details, packet captures through our firewall administrator, and other diagnostics if needed. Thank you. [CM edit - removed identifying information]
[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. Please ONLY use this thread if your game actually fails to launch. If the game does open, no matter how briefly, and then crashes, and only then do you see the "failed to launch game" error, please create your own thread. Provide a dxdiag and a lastexception with your post. How to do so is covered in this reply: [START HERE] Crashing/Back to Map/Endless loading (Patch 117.221) | EA Forums - 12512130 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: Perform a clean boot 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. ↑ Clean Boot A clean boot is the process of temporarily disabling all nonessential services on your computer, including some that may start with Windows and perpetually run silently in the background. (It is NOT a clean install of Windows; I am not suggesting you erase your data.) The idea is to see whether any background process is interfering with Sims 4. Here's how to perform a clean boot: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd The one service to leave enabled is the EABackgroundService, which the EA App needs in order to run. Disable the rest as described. When you reboot your computer, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down any service that doesn't absolutely need to be running, for example anything from MSI Afterburner to RGB software might still be enabled. If you accidentally kill a critical process and it doesn't restart on its own, just reboot your computer again. Don't open anything other than Sims 4 and the EA App while testing, not even a browser window. If this helps, you can selectively reenable services until you find the culprit, then either leave that disabled or (if it belongs to an app you want to keep using) let me know what it is so we can try to fix the underlying issue. If the game freezes or crashes in a clean boot, please try again, except with your computer offline. You can sign into the EA App and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or disconnect the ethernet cable before pressing Play. 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. ↑BF 6 crashes my entire PC on launch
BF 6 crashes my entire PC on launch – PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (eaanticheat.sys) System Platform: Steam OS: Windows 11 Pro CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060 Motherboard: Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 Problem Battlefield 6 used to work perfectly. After one of the recent Battlefield updates, the game can no longer start. When I launch Battlefield 6 through Steam: Steam starts the game normally. A black Battlefield window appears for a few seconds. Windows immediately crashes with: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (0x50) Faulting driver: eaanticheat.sys The PC automatically restarts. The crash happens every single time before reaching the main menu. No other games cause this issue. WinDbg Analysis BugCheck: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (0x50) IMAGE_NAME: eaanticheat.sys PROCESS_NAME: bf6.exe FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: AV_eaanticheat!unknown_function The crash dump clearly points to eaanticheat.sys. Things I already tried: Reinstalled Battlefield 6 Verified game files in Steam Completely removed and reinstalled EA Javelin AntiCheat Updated NVIDIA drivers Updated Windows Removed Gigabyte EasyTuneEngineService Removed Gigabyte App Center No overclocking The problem remains exactly the same."The Requested Operation Requires Elevation"....
The game updated im assuming, everything was fine when i went to play yesterday but today when i click to play it immediately says "The requested operation requires elevation" and i have nooooo idea what that means lmfaooo someone please help im begging.Team Builder Import process failed Error
Im the only one in my league getting this issue When I tried to join the league I always got the error "Team Builder Import Process Failed - you have been returned to the main menu" I had a friend log in on my account and join for me, so I am in the league now Now, when I try to load the league I get the same error message 95% of the time. It will fully load the league the odd time, but rarely
Game stuck and wont move past loading screen
Ever since the update I can’t actually play anymore, it’s stuck on the loading screen and I can’t even get to the main menu. I have tried removing mods, clearing cache, uninstalling, repairing, using the clean user folder approach…absolutely nothing is working. Anyone else having the same issue and know a workaround this is incredibly frustrating?
[CURRENT ISSUE] Anti-Virus blocking User Folder (Screenshots/Gallery/Mods..)
There's currently an issue where some virus programs (namely AVG and AVAST) are blocking the user folder. There are several symptoms currently for this issue Taking Screenshots and Videos doesn't work as the game is unable to write them to the screenshot/recorded video folder Mods/CC and other changes in the options stay how they currently are cause the game is unable to write the changes to the file Gallery has red X showing instead of pictures. I assume that's the same problem as the game is unable to download the thumbnail pictures to the cache folder GameVersion.txt shows the wrong game version To solve this you need to add the following files as an exception to your Antivirus Program (see instructions for your particular program on how to do this). C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\EA Desktop\EA Desktop\EADesktop.exe C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\TS4_x64.exe For DX9: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\TS4_DX9_x64.exe Paths may vary depending on your installation. Both Avast/AVG have sections for Ransomware. You need to add it there. Please see instructions here: Add Exceptions to Anti Virus Programs If you are using Windows Defender, the Ransomware settings have similar effects. Details on how to solve this here: Windows 10 Defender – Controlled Folder Access If this doesn't help, try deleting your cache files: Delete Cache Files and move options.ini to the desktop. If you have further issues, please state which program your using in your post. Further suggestions https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Anti-Virus-blocking-User-Folder-Screenshots/m-p/9587339#M191200 https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Can-t-activate-my-mods-after-new-update/m-p/9560797#M190495FC26 will not launch
Hi, I purchased FC26 and had several issues launching, I found it was likely because my motherboard did not support secure boot / tpm, so I've brought a new board, and enabled both. I've tried clean boot, I've closed all programs, overlays etc, checked my drivers, I've ran app recovery, cleared cache etc.. The furthest I have got is fc26 has opened, it gets to "Compiling Shaders", about 10 seconds later it closes itself and re opens the EA software.
