My sims4 game won't start. [ Edited ]

[digitalchet]

Apparently, from what I've been reading this is a common issue.  First week installed, the game ran fine; no issues at all in game,  or during startup between gaming sessions.  No gaming for a week or so, then this week, I cannot get this game to start at all.  Tried reinstalling the game but no luck.  What gives?  The game ran fine, then a couple of updates and it's nuked.  Where was the QA department on this one?

Description
Faulting Application Path: D:\Games\The Sims 4\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\TS4.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: TS4.exe
Application Version: 1.3.18.1010
Application Timestamp: 548b7c45
Fault Module Name: KERNELBASE.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.3.9600.17278
Fault Module Timestamp: 53eeb460
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00014e5d
OS Version: 6.3.9600.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 5861
Additional Information 2: 5861822e1919d7c014bbb064c64908b2
Additional Information 3: 84a0
Additional Information 4: 84a09ea102a12ee665c500221db8c9d6

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: e4f20d8f5d076bd2449561a82795736b (73736440727)

System Information

Spoiler

Time of this report: 12/23/2014, 21:50:31
Machine name: DAEDALUS
Operating System: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit (6.3, Build 9600) (9600.winblue_r3.140827-1500)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: Z68X-UD3H-B3
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.7GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8110MB RAM
Page File: 8067MB used, 9257MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.03.9600.16384 64bit Unicode

Display Devices

Spoiler

Card name: AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series
Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Chip type: AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x6798)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Type: Full Device
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6798&SUBSYS_22611458&REV_00
Display Memory: 6891 MB
Dedicated Memory: 3051 MB
Shared Memory: 3840 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Dell E248WFP(Digital)
Monitor Model: DELL E248WFP
Monitor Id: DELA02E
Native Mode: 1920 x 1200(p) (59.950Hz)
Output Type: DVI

[crinrict · Accepted solution]

No. It's one of the standard suggestions (do I not have that on the list ??). Should not be a problem.

They did correct some issue with the ActivationUI.exe a few patches back so I'm glad to hear that it's not that for you.

I hope that fix continues to work for you.

[crinrict]

Did you try this: http://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2014/09/resetting-the-game-to-factory-settings-without-reinstalling/

[digitalchet]

Yup.  No luck there either, unfortunately.  Followed the steps as stated but nothing.

[crinrict]

Did you try everything listed in the FAQ

Game doesn't start

The game never worked

• Start Origin and the game as administrator
• Use ccleaner to clean your registry.
• Delete the Origin cache files.
• Check your hardware, esp. chkdsk, to make sure your hard drive doesn't have any issues
• Make sure your antivirus software/firewall are not blocking the connection. It's not always enough to create an exception especially if the program has already blicked the game. Check your firewall/antivirus software's manaul on how to proceed. Comodo Firewall seems to be notorious for blocking. Add the following programs to your exception list: authorizationUI, TS4.exe, Origin.exe
• Start the game in windowed mode. If the game runs, lower all settings and put it back to full-screen mode.
• Eliminate issues with Origin
• Deactivate Origin ingame
• Reinstall Origin and the game and make sure they are on the same drive, preferably c:
• Repair the game through Origin
• Clean Boot your PC
• Play in offline mode
• Make sure that you don't have programs that have a known conflict with Origin
• Update your graphics drivers.
• VPNs can lead to potential conflicts with the game
• Make sure your computer fulfills the requirements of the game.
• Make sure your Windows is updated
• Make sure the game is updated (Right-click on the Game in Origin and choose Search for Updates).
• Network Troubleshooting:
  • How can I reset the Hosts file back to the default?
  • How to flush DNS Cache for Windows

The game suddenly doesn't start anymore

On top of the things above you can also try this

• Reset your user files
• Deactivate newly installed programs

[digitalchet]

Ok, i've gone through and tried everything on that list and still the game will not launch.  Even went as far as uninstalling it and reinstalling on the C:\ drive, which is ludicrous.

I just find it incredible how the game functioned without issue one day, then simply stopped working without a hint of a reason as to why,  and yet have Origin and its associated games function normally.  I'm now convinced it is solely an issue with the game itself and am so deeply disappointed and yet a little unsurprised, it always seems to be something with EA games.

Any other suggestions?

[crinrict]

Do you have any lastcrash.txt files in documents\electronicarts\thesims4\ ? If so, could you zip them up and upload to mediafire or dropbox and put the link here.

[digitalchet]

As of the latest version which I just applied and tested, the game starts up with a white screen but crashes immediately with a "The Sims 4 has stopped working" dialog.  This shows some progress, as before there was not even the hint of the application starting at all, save for the change in opacity for the Play button in Origin.  Baby steps, I guess.

LastCrash.txt available here.

[digitalchet]

Still unable to get the game to run.  Does that crash log provide any answers?

[crinrict]

I can't read them myself and usually forward them so EA can look at them and find out what needs changing.

Since you have the KERNELBASE.dll showing as faulty module though, I wonder if it's some kind of conflict but you did try a clean boot and that didn't help, right ?

Did you try googling for KERNELBASE.dll ?

Another thing I meant to ask, can you check what process get started ? Do you see ActivationUI.exe as well ? Did you try the process monitor ?

[digitalchet]

Right, I wrongly assumed you possessed the tools to decipher the file.  I stand corrected.

Yes, I tried the clean boot but had no luck either. Tried googling for KERNELBASE.dll, and although it can become corrupted, the System File Checker tool found no issues with any system files, and I'm not about to go downloading another kernelbase replacement from the various DLL sites.  The other recourse here would be to try a Windows system file repair tool to completely replace them with their original/authorized versions.

ActivationUI.exe does seem to run without issue now, but it definitely seems to crash on TS4.exe and the event log clearly reflects that fact.  However, this was not the case when this first started; it definitely crashed on ActivationUI.exe until one of the recent TS4 updates.

But, here's something interesting!

Out of anything better to try (and not sure why I didn't try this earlier), I decided to attempt running the game in Compatibility Mode for Windows 7.  Lo and behold, it seems to work without issue!  Although I don't exactly accept this the ultimate answer, as it is a workaround, it does mean the game is functional and able to be played.

I suspect this process is using a kernelbase.dll from the older Windows 7 version to run the game, but are there any major drawbacks to playing in Windows 7 compat. mode that you may know of?