Sims 4 won't launch - says it is already running [ Edited ]

[laurenbrim]

Not sure if anyone else is having this problem, but since downloading the Eco Lifestyle expansion a week ago I cannot get the game to launch, it always says it is already running when it isn't. I've spoken to someone on the help chat 4 times now and they have suggested a bunch of things that haven't worked:

Reinstall Origin

Change password

Clear chaches

Clear temp files

Repair game

Permissions/Sharing

Is anyone else having this issue or have any suggestions please? I'm not that tech savvy so simple steps if you can please!!

TIA

[kreatora]

@laurenbrim

This information is misleading and only means that something is blocking the game's access to the Documents folder however, you can check that the game isn't running in the background.
Open windows task manager and see if there are any sims 4 processes running in the background (check the process tab), and finish them. then start the game again.
But in 99% of the cases, Windows Defender is the culprit
Add the game and Origin to Windows Defender exceptions
You have to add it in two places - in Exclusions and in Control Folder Acces. Adding in one place sometimes will not unlock the game
You need to add four files from different folders.
Add the following files to the exceptions
1, Origin.exe
2. OriginClient.Service.exe
3. TS4.exe or it will be just TS4
4. TS4_x64.exe
All these files are located in the Program Files (x86) folder
However, while Origin is easy to find, you need to know the path to the game files
Origin games> The Sims4> game (search for g)> Bin and Bin_LE
In each Bin folder, there is one file with the initial TS4 name and each one must be added to the exceptions
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028485/windows-10-add-an-exclusion-to-windows-security
You can also look here
https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/03/windows-10-defender-controlled-folder-access.html

I don't work for EA