❗️ [CURRENT ISSUE] Sims 4 does not launch in macOS Sierra [ Edited ]

[puzzlezaddict]

After the November 12 update, I cannot get Sims 4 to launch on my Mac.  Specs:

        MacBook Pro 14,3 (15-inch, 2017)

        macOS Sierra (version 10.12.6)

        2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-7820HQ)

        16 GB RAM 2133 MHz LPDDR3

        Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB

        AMD Radeon Pro 560 4096 MB

        512 GB SSD; 67.5 GB available

With a clean game folder or otherwise fresh options.ini in place, the right half of my screen would go dark, and the left half would show an enlarged version of what the right half of the desktop would normally look like.  With options.ini set to open the game in windowed mode, the TS4 window hung on a white screen indefinitely.  In either case, the computer did not respond to cmd-optn-esc, and if I tried to tab or click on something else, it eventually restarted itself.  When I once left my laptop alone for 12 minutes, it was still frozen trying to load TS4, and I had to hold down the power button to shut down.

I tried these troubleshooting steps, none of which worked:

• Removing the Sims 4 game folder from Documents\Electronic Arts
• Running the Origin reset tool
• Doing a clean uninstall/reinstall of Origin
• Disabling Origin in-game both globally and for TS4
• Turning off every single accessible option in Origin (various notifications, web helper, etc.)
• Launching while the laptop was not connected to the internet
• Editing options.ini to match the settings from when TS4 worked last week
• Resetting NVRAM via key command during startup (not convinced it worked)
• Resetting NVRAM via Terminal command
• Forcing the laptop to only use the AMD card via energy settings (thanks to @Bluebellflora for this and the NVRAM suggestions)
• Installing into a new admin user account that had never seen the game
• I also booted into safe mode, which produced this fun error:

That was probably just because the Metal driver didn't load in safe mode, but still not what I wanted to see.

Every time I checked, the game did spawn a clean folder, but the Origin last played date never updated to reflect my attempts to load the game.

For what it's worth, my graphics card itself is likely not defective:  This Mac is Bootcamped, the game loaded normally in Windows, and GPU-Z says the card performed as expected.

[EA_Mai · Accepted solution]

- Marking this as solution for visibility, we are NOT considering this issue fixed -

Edited:

Thanks for the detailed reports and the information you have been sharing here so far, knowing what you have tried and what systems it's happening on is very helpful!

At the moment, if you are experiencing this issue, a solution would be upgrading your macOS version to High Sierra or newer:

• High Sierra - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208969
• Mojave - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210190
• Catalina - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211683
• Big Sur - through the App Store if compatible with your computer

Spoiler

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the detailed reports and the information you have been sharing here so far, knowing what you have tried so far and what systems it's happening on is very helpful! Thanks also for trying different troubleshooting steps, and for sharing that updating your macOS helps.

We are investigating this, if you are still experiencing this issue, would you share Origin logs with us to help with the investigation? If so, please, follow these steps to get them:

Spoiler

1. If you have been using Origin since you last experienced this freeze, please, open Origin and try to open the game (I know this is going to make you have to shut down your computer, sorry about that)
2. Turn on your computer again and open a Finder window
3. Hit Cmd+Shift+G in the Finder and enter ~/Library/
4. Navigate to Application Support/Origin/Logs to find the Origin logs
5. Right click on the Logs folder and select Compress
6. Upload the file to a file sharing website like Google Drive or OneDrive
7. Send me a direct message with the link to the file. Please, also let me know what issue the error logs are for (especially if you haven't posted in this thread!)

For anyone who hasn't already, if you are getting that exact error, the following information would also be helpful:

• Have you installed The Sims 4 Legacy Edition?: 
• Your Mac: 
• macOS: 
• Graphics card: 
• Processor: 

Thanks once again!

-Mai

[leebell37]

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:Mac
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? Can’t open game to check
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? All except for free guitar
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? It happens when I try to open the game from origin
What happens when the bug occurs? I click play in origin and half the screen turns black like the game is going to launch, but then everything freezes and I have to turn of my computer to escape. If I try to open it in a window then it just stays a blank white window and I can’t do anything but move the arrow until I turn my computer off and on again
What do you expect to see? My game starting
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Not now. I've removed them.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes
Please describe the patch or change you made. The November 12 2019 update

‌

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling origin, uninstalling and reinstalling the sims 4, restarting the computer, opening the game in a window, moving the sims 4 folder to the desktop, renaming the sims 4 folder sims4_backup, updating my laptop, repairing the game, checking the iCloud backup settings, and double checking that my computer is compatible with the latest version of the sims 4. 

[leebell37]

Forgot to mention that I also tried opening the sims 4 directly from applications 

[jesslikessims]

When I opened Origin today, the new patch was automatically installed. After that I tried to open my game. The screen turned black and I got the spinning rainbow wheel of death. It never made it past that black screen. Then all the sudden half the screen was black, and the other half was my desktop background. Force quit wasn't working so I had to manually restart. Tried opening it again and the same thing happened. I have an iMac, the desktop not laptop. It's in great condition. Never any issues. I don't have any mods or CC. Is there any way to fix this? 

[dzm06]

@jesslikessims What version of macOS? Which iMac? Can you provide information about the Graphics card?

[jesslikessims]

@dzm06 

According to "About this Mac"...

MacOS Sierra (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017)

Version 10.12.6

Graphics: Radeon Pro 555 2048 MB

Processor: 3 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory: 8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

[dzm06]

@jesslikessims That's very helpful. Thanks! You're on macOS Sierra (10.12). That release contains Metal 1. If you're willing to try things I'd love to know what happens if:

1 ) Try launching in full screen mode or, if you have been, in Windowed mode.
2 ) Have you tried moving the Electronic Arts folder in your Documents directory to the Desktop, then restarting?
3 ) Would you be willing/able to update to macOS High Sierra (10.13) which supports Metal 2 to see if the newer version of Metal makes any difference?

[jesslikessims]

@dzm06 

I'm about to go to sleep, but I will try these things tomorrow and get back to you. I really appreciate your suggestions.

[foxtrotunicorn]

I have tried launching the sims 4 after this patch update and I am unable to launch the game. I get stuck behind with a half black screen and the rainbow wheel or nothing at all sometiimes, just a black screen. 

My specs are:

OS: Mac OS Sierra Version 10.12.6 

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)

Memory: 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7

Graphics: Radeon Pro 555 2048 MB

Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB

I have re-downloaded origin

I have tried moving the Electronic Arts folder in the desktop folder from the documents folder. 

Any help is appreciated 

[dzm06]

@foxtrotunicorn Are you using the internal display or an external monitor?

This build works for me but is failing for you. We are using the exact same computer. The only difference I see is macOS version (and you didn't report on memory/RAM):

OS: macOS Catalina 10.15.2 Beta (19C32e)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
CPU: 2.9 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Graphics: Radeon Pro 560 4 GB
Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB

Is there any chance you would update to macOS 10.13? I believe that's when Apple shipped Metal 2. I'm wondering if the root of this could be something broken in Metal 1 and fixed in Metal 2.

Tomorrow, if I have some time, I'll install 10.12 (Sierra) onto an external drive and see if I can reproduce your behavior.