Error: Access Is Denied
So I was trying to play The Sims today, and I got this message, and then it closed it entirely. I redownloaded the game, and it's giving me the same problem. I don't know what is going on; it was working just fine yesterday, but now I can't even get into the loading screen of the game. It doesn't work when I go through Steam, the EA app, or even just clicking it on the desktop. Like literally all i do is click it, this appears, and then it closes itself. Also, before you ask, yes, I did click on other games in Steam, and they're working more than fine. The Sims is the only one with this problem. Like this is my computer and im the only one using it, what do you mean "Access is denied."[CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 Unable to Start, Initialization Error
Overview This error is almost always related to permissions: the game cannot access or create the Sims 4 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts. This, in turn, is typically due to an overprotective antivirus. This guide is only for this specific error in Windows. Workarounds jump to: Change antivirus settings jump to: New Windows account jump to: Other suggestions Change antivirus settings The first step to try is to set exceptions/exclusions for Sims 4 and the EA App in your antivirus. Do so for all of these executables, or for the Bin folder that contains the Sims 4 .exe files: TS4_x64.exe TS4_DX9_x64.exe [only necessary if you want to use the DirectX 9 version] TS4_x64_fpb.exe [for the Memory Boost version] TS4_Launcher_x64.exe EADesktop.exe This guide covers setting exceptions for Windows Defender, Avast/AVG, and Sophos: https://crinrict.com/blog/2020/10/add-exceptions-to-anti-virus-programs.html Other antivirus programs may work similarly, but if you're not sure how to set the exceptions, consult the online documentation from the publisher. Most offer instructions for this subject. Once you've set the exceptions, clear the EA App's cache and repair the game (EA App > Sims 4 > Manage > Repair OR Steam > Sims 4 > Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of the game files). Then try again to play. If this doesn't help, disable your antivirus, temporarily of course; as long as you don't do anything else while it's disabled, your computer should be safe. Repair the game again, and try to play. If this works, you've confirmed that the AV is the issue, and you'll need to dig further into its settings to find what's blocking the game. If you can't play even with the AV disabled, please see below. Either way, be sure to reenable your antivirus when you're done testing. ↑ 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. 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 to fix your old account, please try the suggestions in this thread after the "new Windows account" section: [CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 Unable to Start, Already Running | EA Forums - 11818313 ↑ Other suggestions If the above suggestions didn't help, please try everything else in this thread, which is for a distinct but related error: [CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 Unable to Start, Already Running | EA Forums - 11818313 If those don't help either, please post in this thread asking for further help. Let me know whether you can play in the new admin Windows account or not: this is important diagnostic information. ↑[Solved] Sims 4 stuck on title screen during start-up
Hi, I am currenty having an issue with The Sims 4 that seemingly just happened. It was not caused by and update nor by my mods, because I've removed all of them and it happened a couple of weeks after and update (Not the most recent update). The issue is that my game just seems to kind of freeze at the title screen, the music is playing but it seems to kind of stutter so I am assuming that is also happening to the game. I have tried almost all the stuff I could find on the Internet, including: - Repairing the game -Uninstalling and reinstalling the game - Updating the EA lancher - Remove/clear the cache - Remove/rename the Sims 4 file in my documents - Starting the game in Offline mode - Disabling Overlays in the EA App and my graphics card I have even disabled/changed some audio device settings but nothing has seemed to work. Is this another bug in the Sims 4 or is it something caused by my PC (Windows 10/11, AMD Radeon RX 6600/6600 XT) Any help/suggestions would be appriciated! Thanks in advance.
Loading Time
When I first load into my game by either pressing Resume or by clicking on a world, the loading time is ALWAYS over 5 minutes. It is so excessive, I have to leave and do something to pass the time until my game loads. It is not my fault and all my mods are up to date. This has been an issue for months.[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. ↑
Fail to launch the game after the update
Yesterday's update broke my game, I can't even play my game now. I play with mods in my game, I know the whole thing what to do before updating with mods and after. I removed all my mods from my folder and deleted the old MC expection. and update my mods after the update. without the mod, I did the test run without any mods, everything looked fine then I exited the game without saving. I add back my mods in the game when I want to move my sims to a new house. I get a warning that says " can't load needed to relaunch the game". so I did but when I did the same thing I got the same warning so I removed my mods and repaired them without my mods. I checked the second time it was giving the same warning. I didn't know what to do I repaired my game and even restarted my computer and nothing is working. My game was fine before the update now I can't even play the game.Stuck in CAS
So I have uninstalled and reinstalled sims 4, probably 10 times in the past two weeks. I have deleted all mods, there is not even a mods folder and it still gets stuck in CAS. I can do the scenarios and load into the world fine and it runs, but if I try to CAS and click the check mark it grey's out and will not load. The sim still moves and makes noises but the game does not go anywhere. I turned off my antivirus as well and that did not fix it.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Listen! I am SICK AND TIRED OF DEALING WITH THIS APP AND GAME. A couple days ago I load into the game but it said I was missing packs I own. I restarted 3 times and still showing up and no I didn’t disable anything. I stopped playing for a few days and go to play today AND THIS POPS UP. What do you people actually do? I have to deal with this every other month even though I delete and reinstall the game. Now it won’t even let me do that. This company is going downhill🤦🏼♀️
expansion packs not loading / gallery freeze
Hey, so i have a problem with the game, since 6 month or so but i cant find a solution, my game is freezing when i open the gallery and sroll down, and i even removed everything from my pc, old folders everything, i even installed the ea launcher again, i installed the game with all the expansion packs but when i launch the game only the star wars pack gets there, ( i downloaded it today). I really have no clue what to do next, i tried forums i tried chatpgt, i tried yt tutorials, nothing really works, i hope someone here can help me
