July 2021 - last edited July 2021
Hello!
So my game won't load. It hangs at the plumbob loading screen.
Removed mods. Uninstalled, reinstalled Origin. Uninstalled, reinstalled the game. It worked a bit after I sorted it was a certain folder of CC--one of 3 options--so I try agian without those 3 folders. Joke's on me the game won't load. So what I'm doing is moving my Mods out bit by bit, deleting the local cache thumbnail, repairing, starting the game. Each. Time. I completely removed my Script Mods, so all I have is custom content.
I updated my drivers for my GPU (Radeon RX 550).
Nothing is working despite all my reading about troubleshooting.
Dxdiag is attached if needed as I'm seeing that requested. Dxdiag done BEFORE drivers updated but I do not think it is a problem with this. (Updated drivers. Game won't load regardless of what I do re: my mods.)
I had this problem last patch but all I had to do was uninstall and reinstall Origin and it worked.
Please help! I've spent a lot of money on this stupid game. The new expansion comes out tomorrow, which I bought, but I can't play what I bought. I also re-subscribed to EA Play thinking that maybe was an issue as sometimes it has been when I go from EA Play membership to none so I wasted another $15. I'm pretty upset. Been trying to sort out what CC is doing this from about 3am today on and off and it is 4:30pm now.
Thanks.
July 2021
So instead of it not loading it now takes a good 10 minutes to get past the loading screen that just hangs there, then it will load and be fine--but slow. I have an SSD, so this is crazy! I wonder if anyone else is having other problems with speed here after the patch.
July 2021
@elainebduncan The only obvious issue in your dxdiag is that Skype is erroring out, a lot. If it's running and crashing while you're playing, it could be taking resources away from Sims 4. So before you play, please check the Task Manager, including the background processes list, for Skype, and kill it if you find it.
If that doesn't help, please move your entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop. When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content. Don't add anything to it yet; just start a new save and see whether the game works normallly. Let me know either way.
Please also let me know whether you use OneDrive, and if so, whether it's set to automatically sync the contents of Documents with cloud storage.
July 2021 - last edited July 2021
I don't use OneDrive because it actually ended up deleting all of my files! I cried. Now I make sure it's all on the HD and not shared on OneDrive.
I don't know why Skype is doing that considering it is never actually running, which is strange.
So, the game works; it just takes about 6 to 10 minutes, on my SSD with my gaming PC, to load. It's very weird and only has been an issue from the patch. It isn't any mods at this point, just the patch messed *something* up. Other people I know are having similar issues too.
Thanks @puzzlezaddict
July 2021
@elainebduncan It's still worth comparing load times in a clean user folder, as I described. It's possible that something in your current folder is corrupted.
July 2021
I think I figured out my solution which could be one for others.
Windowed mode.
Bizarre, isn't it? It loads normally when I have the game in windowed mode.
July 2021
@elainebduncan It's definitely bizarre and frankly shouldn't happen. Do you have any other programs open at the same time, and does closing them help? Even if you're fine with this workaround, I'd still like to know why fullscreen is an issue for the next person.
July 2021 - last edited July 2021
No, I had nothing else going on. If I *did* I couldn't alt-tab to go to Chrome, or whatever, either so it makes me think there was really a problem with windowed vs fullscreen. I couldn't close the game so had to manually shut the computer down or sign out, sign back in to Windows. It is so weird.
July 2021
@elainebduncan If you still want to troubleshoot, try playing in a clean boot:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10
When you reboot, go through the Task Manager's background processes list and shut down any services that doesn't absolutely need to be running. A variety of programs, everything from MSI Afterburner to RGB software, can still be active in a clean boot.