Sims 4 will not launch on EA app

[cutiefulsims]

I'm having the same issue. I've tried every troubleshooting technique mentioned above and my game still won't launch. I click it in the EA app, the game thinks, and the EA app reappears again. This is really annoying but I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[puzzlezaddict]

@alienhusband  That error is related to OneDrive.  Try pausing syncing: right-click the cloud icon in the lower-right corner of the screen.

@xdiscodelightx and @cutiefulsims  If you've tried the clean user folder, described in post 2, and it didn't help, please provide a dxdiag.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

[xdiscodelightx]

The clean user folder did not work for me It is so confusing, I do not understand why it worked one night and the next NOTHING. So weird! 

[puzzlezaddict]

@xdiscodelightx  Is Sims 4 installed on your internal drive or the external one?  I ask because your dxdiag lists a couple of crashes of the USB-C driver, and a couple of errors that could be due to a problem with the RAM or a drive.  I can see neither drive has a lot of space, but it's worth trying to install Sims 4 on the other drive if your download speeds are fast enough to make this a reasonable task.  Perhaps there are other files you can clean up to make more space for the game, at least temporarily.

[stardustkid]

Hi, I've been having this same issue as of just a couple days ago (June 26th.) Had no issues prior to that day, usually playing daily.

Game Version: 1.107.151.1020

Windows 10

When I attempt to launch The Sims 4, my EA app tries to load for a bit, then, there is either a pop-up that says, "An update is required to launch this game," despite no update actually being available, or there's nothing at all and it just redirects me back to the EA app game page.

I've tried a bunch of other different solutions and none of them have worked yet.

So far, I have:

• cleared EA app cache
• cleared localthumbcache
• repaired game in app
• restarted PC (Dell laptop)
• ended all EA tasks w task manager (including background activity)
• tried toggling offline mode in EA app and launching w/o internet
• removed mods
• turned off VPN
• tried running both EA app and Sims game as administrator
• checked my storage (more than 40GB free space left)
• made sure OneDrive was uninstalled
• disabled the Windows Defender's Controlled Folder Access to allow TS4.exe (after doing this and attempting to launch, I got the first and last error message I received: "Unable to start: initialization error at startup. [135dec40:29f00e76:00000084:18a1dd51]")

Only when I tried...

• playing with a "clean folder" (moving the Sims game folder to my desktop) 
• moving the Electronic Arts folder to my desktop
• playing on a new local admin Windows account

...did the game ever actually launch and load to the main menu, albeit without any of my saves or gallery library.

(When I moved the EA folder to my desktop, it did not duplicate, and I did not get an error message. A new EA folder with a Sims 4 folder inside was created in Documents.)

((When the game launched successfully the first time, I used that opportunity to disable mods as well.))

Any help at all would be so, so appreciated! I've been at this for two days pulling my hair out trying to get this sorted. Dxdiag included below.

[puzzlezaddict]

@stardustkid  Can you continue to play in the same clean Sims 4 folder?  It's normal for the game to create a new folder when you remove your current one, in fact that will happen pretty much the instant Sims 4 starts to load.  The question is whether you can keep playing using that same clean folder, or you have to keep creating new ones.

If the game is fine while you're using the new folder, and you don't have to keep making fresh ones, then the problem is something in your old folder.  In that case, test your mods and custom content first; you can use the 50/50 method if you have a lot of content to sort through:

https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content#The_50.25_Method

Once you've done that, you can copy over the contents of saves and Tray, plus UserSettings.ini if you care about the login rewards, plus Screenshots and Recorded Videos if you'd like to preserve those.  The rest will be regenerated as needed, so it's best to discard the old files.

By the way, the executable for the default DirectX 9 version of Sims 4 is TS4_DX9_x64.exe, and the DX11 version uses TS4_x64.exe.  TS4.exe is from the old 32-bit version of the game and is no longer used at all.

[stardustkid]

Thank you for your quick response!

I do have a couple of clarifying questions if you don't mind:

1. So this is something that could've been caused by mods, even though I already removed all my CC and mods from my game folder, and it still wouldn't launch even without them? (Admittedly, I did download a bunch of new CC and mods the night before it stopped working, but I thought if I removed them and it still didn't work, then that couldn't be it, y'know?)
2. You're saying I need to load up and play a new game for a while without my saves or anything, to see if it'll continue to work, right? And should I try that with the EA folder OR the TS4 folder moved to my desktop, or does it even matter, as long as it will launch and run successfully?
3. And what exactly do you mean by "keep creating new / fresh ones (folders)"? How would one do this, just continue to move the newly generated folders from the Documents onto the Desktop over and over?

"The executable for the default DirectX 9 version of Sims 4 is TS4_DX9_x64.exe, and the DX11 version uses TS4_x64.exe. TS4.exe is from the old 32-bit version of the game and is no longer used at all."

Oh, yes thank you, you're right! Fortunately I do remember doing the correct one (TS4_x64.exe), I just couldn't remember the exact name to type out since I followed a guide and just did whatever it said.

Sorry for all the questions, thanks so much for your help!

[puzzlezaddict]

@stardustkid  You said that the only way to make the game work was to play with a fresh user folder.  That's what you get when you move the Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts, or the Electronic Arts folder out of Documents.  (You can do either; they accomplish exactly the same thing.)

My question was, if you do one of these one time, and you don't put any new content into the new Sims 4 folder the game creates, can you keep playing with that new folder in place?  Or do you have to move the Sims 4 or Electronic Arts folder each time you want to play?  As in, is the new folder getting corrupted too, or is it fine as long as you don't add anything to it?

For the mods and custom content, when you're rebuilding the user folder, it's important to test everything you'd like to keep.  In principle, if a mod or cc item broke the game, removing it should also remove its effects, but that sounds like it wasn't the case for you.  Whatever the reason, when the clean folder works, the next step is to test your old content.  And honestly, I'm not sure why simply removing the bad content doesn't always fix this kind of issue, partly because I don't spend any time troubleshooting problems caused by individual mods.  But I've seen the results.

If you're playing the default DirectX 9 version of Sims 4, you do need to use TS4_DX9_x64.exe, not simply TS4_x64.  Only one is active at a time.

[stardustkid]

I actually just checked, and my dxdiag is saying I actually have DirectX 12...? Is that the problem? Is there even a version for that one? Should I still just add the other file to my Controlled Folder Access?

The game fortunately does play and run just fine in the new clean folder! I was able to create a Sim, move them into a lot, and play for several hours, and turn the game off and back on with no issues so far.

I'll be checking my newest downloaded CC + mods tomorrow to see if they could be the culprit, then if that doesn't turn anything up, I'll try the 50-50 method.

[puzzlezaddict]

@stardustkid  DirectX 12 is the current version of DirectX, and it's backwards-compatible with DX11.  DX9 is a standalone runtime that needs to be installed separately, which would have happened when you installed Sims 4, and it works fine in Windows 10 and 11.  So no, the fact that your dxdiag lists DX12 doesn't have anything to do with the issue.

Let me know if you need further help.