Constant loading screen to eventually white screen
Tried to load into the game, would make it to the home screen and click resume game only to get the never ending loading screen, deleted localthumbnailcache, repaired game twice, no mods installed in folder, all the usual suspects, and still never-ending loading screen. I did get the intro music once, but still never-ending loading screen.
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."Unable to load households - Mac OS 15.7.5
Hello everyone, I can't load any households into my game. The last time I played was in June 2025. I tried restarting the game in March 2026 (after installing the latest update) and encountered this problem. I gave up, thinking I'd try again after a future update. So I started trying again a few days ago, and the problem persists. I can access the world, but I can't load any household. I've tried: launching without my mods -> same problem launching with a "new" Sims 4 file (after moving the previous one), then restoring Saves and Tray -> same problem launching the game without Saves and Tray -> the newly created household loads correctly. I therefore conclude that the problem stems from my save file, but why? Everything was working fine the last time I played, in June 2025. Is there any way to fix this? I tried using the few older save files the game offered, but it didn't change anything. If necessary, I should also be able to find older save files on an external hard drive. Thanks in advance for your help. NB : During my multiple attempts, I ended up once with a "lastexception" file, which you will find attached.[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. If you're using ReShade or GShade, please remove the associated files and repair the game (EA App > Sims 4 > Manage > Repair OR Steam > Sims 4 > Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files). If that doesn't help, close the EA App and kill the EABackgroundService in the Task Manager's background processes list. Delete the Bin folder in [install location]\The Sims 4\Game, then repair as described above. This will redownload the default, unaltered files in Bin, without anything extra. It's possible that the installation of Sims 4 is in fact corrupt or missing some critical files. So you can also try doing a clean uninstall and reinstall, as described here: [PC] How to Clean-uninstall Sims 4 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. ↑Years of Gameplay Just Gone
I have played sims for years, since it was on disc for Xbox One. After the updates for mods on console (in which I have not bought, and probably will not buy either), my entire gameplay saves are gone. I played last night and the game refused to save on ANY of the files, saying something about Error Code 34. It has happened before, and eventually just saved when I tried to save and manage worlds. However when I tried to play the game just now, it continuously tells me to start a whole new world no matter what I try, and none of my sims are even in my gallery. When I say years, I do mean YEARS of gameplay deleted. Everything is just gone. Now I know this is far fetched, but is there anyway I can get that back? I love the sims but this is ridiculous now..[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.
