Workarounds for The Sims 4 start up issue: error code ending in 495f32a0 [ Edited ]

[EA_Arrenai]

Update: April 14, 2020 patch should fix this issue for everyone, without a need for use workadounds.

The workarounds we were using can be found inside the spoiler:

Spoiler

The patch release of The Sims 4 on April 7, 2020 has created an issue that prevents some players on Apple’s macOS from launching the game. This issue results in The Sims 4 presenting a warning dialog box with the following message:

Unable to start:

Initialization error at start up.

[135dec40:90f690cf:00000075:495f32a0]

This occurs when the Origin client language does not match the language selected in The Sims 4 client. 

There are three possible ways to address this error. Before doing any of them it is strongly recommended that you back up your game save data located in the Electronic Arts folder inside your Documents folder. While none of the methods described here are destructive to your own data, you should always make a back up to guard against the unexpected.

In order of difficulty (easiest to hardest) the workarounds are:

Reinstall The Sims 4 via the Origin client

Spoiler

In this approach you will reinstall The Sims 4 in Origin. This approach will take the longest and will download an entirely new copy of The Sims 4. While easiest this solution is not necessarily more reliable than the other options.

NOTE: The Czech and Simplified Chinese languages are not supported in the Origin client and not offered as an option. See below for other solutions. Note that French (Canada), Spanish (México) and Thai are languages offered by the Origin client and are not supported by The Sims 4. Do not select any of them.

1. Uninstall The Sims 4 from within the Origin client
2. Go to the Origin preferences (pull down the Origin menu and select Preferences or hold the Command⌘ key plus the comma, key)
3. Set the Origin language to preferred language (e.g. if you want The Sims 4 in German select German in the Origin preferences too). It is essential that the Origin client be set to exactly the same language as The Sims 4, so it may make sense to review the list of available languages from The Sims 4 first. Note that The Sims 4 does not support French Canadian. Do not select it here
4. Restart Origin to apply the language change
5. Install The Sims 4 again. Be sure to select the correct target language here (this selection must match the language you selected in step 3 above)
6. Wait while Origin downloads The Sims 4
7. Wait for macOS to verify The Sims 4 (this can take several minutes)
8. Launch The Sims 4

Repair The Sims 4 via the Origin client

Spoiler

In this approach you will attempt to force the Origin client to correctly set the Locale information for The Sims 4. This option is the preferable solution as it does not involve downloading another copy of The Sims 4 and can restore game play quickly.

NOTE: The Czech and Simplified Chinese languages are not supported in the Origin client and not offered as an option. See below for other solutions. Note that French (Canada), Spanish (México) and Thai are languages offered by the Origin client and are not supported by The Sims 4. Do not select any of them.

1. Launch the Origin client
2. Go to the Origin preferences (pull down the Origin menu and select Preferences or hold the Command⌘ key plus the comma, key)
3. Restart the Origin client to "apply" the language change
4. Right-click or hold the Control key and click on the cover art:
   
   
5. Select Game Properties
6. Select the Advanced Launch Options tab and select your preferred language (this must match the language you selected for the Origin client in step 2 above):
   
   
7. Right-click or hold the Control key and click on the cover art:
   
   
8. Select “Repair”
9. Launch The Sims 4

Repair The Sims 4 by modifying files via the Graphic User Interface

Spoiler

In this approach you will attempt to manually set the appropriate locale information using the graphical tools of the macOS environment. This solution will offer more control of the changes that are made but may be made more difficult by some macOS settings that will prevent you from seeing certain folders and files, or by localization that shows folder names in a language other than what is present on disk.

An excellent movie demonstrating this process is available here.

NOTE: If you are needing to use the Czech or Simplified Chinese languages then you must use this method or the Command Line method to make the appropriate changes.

1. In Finder pull down the Go menu. If you do not see an item called Library (or the appropriate word for your language, such as Biblioteca on a Spanish system) the press and hold the Option key on your keyboard to reveal the additional options). Select Library
   
   
2. Navigate to Application Support to Origin to Installer Data
   
   
3. Look for files that end in the extension "plist". The file names will be a format of seven numbers, a period, and the extension plist: e.g. 1011164.plist or 1070252.plist. The exact names will vary depending on what edition of The Sims 4 you have along with which Packs you have installed. Open all of these PLIST files. You can use the TextEdit.app from your Applications folder to open these files
   
   
4. Look for "<key>Locale</key>" followed by "<string>en_US</string>" (or some other locale)
5. Change the "en_US" (or whatever is listed there) to your preferred language. Refer to the list below. If you would like to use the Czech language enter “cs_CZ” here. If you use Simplified Chinese enter “zh_CN”. The form and case must match exactly
6. Save the changes to ALL the PLIST files you've changed
7. Launch the Origin client
8. Go to the Origin preferences (pull down the Origin menu and select Preferences or hold the Command⌘ key plus the comma, key)
9. Set the Origin language to preferred language (e.g. if you want The Sims 4 in German select German in the Origin preferences too). If you are a Czech or Simplified Chinese player you will not be able to do this step. Note that The Sims 4 does not support French Canadian. Do not select it here.
10. Restart Origin to apply the language change
11. Launch The Sims 4. You may also need to perform a Repair of The Sims 4 if you still get the error or if The Sims 4 launches but no text is visible

This list is the list of supported languages for The Sims 4:

English (US): "en_US"

German: "de_DE"

French (France): "fr_FR"

Russian: "ru_RU"

Polish: "pl_PL"

Swedish: "sv_SE"

Spanish (Spain): "es_ES"

Italian: "it_IT"

Dutch: "nl_NL"

Norwegian: "nb_NO"

Danish: "da_DK"

Finnish: "fi_FI"

Portuguese (Brazil): "pt_BR"

Czech: "cs_CZ"

Traditional Chinese: "zh_TW"

Simplified Chinese: "zh_CN"

Japanese: "ja_JP"

Korean: "ko_KR"

You must choose from this list for this change to work. Anything outside of this list will continue to have the problem.

Repair The Sims 4 by modifying files via the Command Line Interface

Spoiler

In this approach you will attempt to manually set the appropriate locale information using the command line interface (CLI) tools of the macOS environment. This solution will offer more control of the changes that are made but may be made more difficult by some macOS settings that will prevent you from seeing certain folders and files, or by localization that shows folder names in a language other than what is present on disk.

NOTE: If you are needing to use the Czech or Simplified Chinese languages then you must use this method or the Graphical User method above to make the appropriate changes.

1. Open the Terminal.app application in your Utilities folder (inside your Applications Folder)
   
   
2. Navigate to this directory:
   ~/Library/Application Support/Origin/Installer Data/
   
   
3. Look for files that end in the extension "plist". The file names will be a format of seven numbers, a period, and the extension plist: e.g. 1011164.plist or 1070252.plist. The exact names will vary depending on what edition of The Sims 4 you have along with which Packs you have installed.
   
   
4. Open all of these PLIST files. In this example nano is used
   
   
5. Look for "<key>Locale</key>" followed by "<string>en_US</string>" (or some other locale)
   
   
6. Change the "en_US" (or whatever is listed there) to your preferred language. Refer to the list below. If you would like to use the Czech language enter “cs_CZ” here. If you use Simplified Chinese enter “zh_CN”. The form and case must match exactly.
   
7. Hit Ctrl+X (noted at the bottom of the screen) to close this file. Follow the prompt to save the changes and move to the next PLIST file
   
   
8. Repeat the process of editing each file and saving the changes
9. Launch the Origin client
10. Go to the Origin preferences (pull down the Origin menu and select Preferences or hold the Command⌘ key plus the comma, key)
11. Set the Origin language to preferred language (e.g. if you want The Sims 4 in German select German in the Origin preferences too). If you are a Czech player you will not be able to do this step. Note that The Sims 4 does not support French Canadian. Do not select it here
12. Restart Origin to apply the language change
13. Launch The Sims 4. You may also need to perform a Repair of The Sims 4 if you still get the error or if The Sims 4 launches but no text is visible

This list is the list of supported languages for The Sims 4:

English (US): "en_US"

German: "de_DE"

French (France): "fr_FR"

Russian: "ru_RU"

Polish: "pl_PL"

Swedish: "sv_SE"

Spanish (Spain): "es_ES"

Italian: "it_IT"

Dutch: "nl_NL"

Norwegian: "nb_NO"

Danish: "da_DK"

Finnish: "fi_FI"

Portuguese (Brazil): "pt_BR"

Czech: "cs_CZ"

Traditional Chinese: "zh_TW"

Simplified Chinese: "zh_CN"

Japanese: "ja_JP"

Korean: "ko_KR"

You must choose from this list for this change to work. Anything outside of this list will continue to have the problem.

Please, post in this thread if you have issues to follow any of these steps.

Arrenai 

[EA_Mai · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

We have just released a patch to address this issue:

---

Update 04/14/2020 - Mac: 1.62.69.1220

Hello Simmers,

We have a small but important update to address some critical issues for macOS players. Thank you for your reports and assistance in tracking down, and drawing awareness to these important issues.

• Players can once again launch The Sims 4 in their language preference when their choice is different from the Origin language options.
• Downloaded Packs are now correctly moved to their new location. Origin will no longer insist on reinstalling the packs. This means players won’t end up with two copies.
• A few stability improvements were made.

Additional Information:
If one of the workarounds from AnswersHQ was applied to get the game going last week, players don’t have to undo it. No additional action is necessary.

[EA_Mai · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

We have just released a patch to address this issue:

---

Update 04/14/2020 - Mac: 1.62.69.1220

Hello Simmers,

We have a small but important update to address some critical issues for macOS players. Thank you for your reports and assistance in tracking down, and drawing awareness to these important issues.

• Players can once again launch The Sims 4 in their language preference when their choice is different from the Origin language options.
• Downloaded Packs are now correctly moved to their new location. Origin will no longer insist on reinstalling the packs. This means players won’t end up with two copies.
• A few stability improvements were made.

Additional Information:
If one of the workarounds from AnswersHQ was applied to get the game going last week, players don’t have to undo it. No additional action is necessary.