Re: Sims 4 Freezing & Causing Critical Errors After July 2019 Update
by jpkarlsenOriginal Post
Product: The Sims 4
Platform: PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time. After about 5 minutes in game.
What is your current game version number? 1.53.115.1020
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed?
--Expansions: Cats & Dogs, Get Famous, Get to Work, Get Together
--Game Packs: Outdoor Retreat, Parenthood
--Stuff Packs: Laundry Day, Luxury Party, Movie Hangout, Romantic Garden, Vintage Glamour
Steps: See below.
What happens when the bug occurs? My computer becomes unresponsive, emits a loud buzzing noise and I have to shut down the machine.
What do you expect to see? Before the update I was able to play Sims 4 and additional packs with a large Mods folder and no lag whatsoever. I would just love to be able to play this game without fear that I would cause further damage to my machine.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Yes, when the issue originally appeared. At this point all my data was lost, a fresh install of OS and fresh install of Sims 4 later with no mods whatsoever and the issue continues to occur.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes, after the most recent update.
Please describe the patch or change you made. July 2019 update.
Here's the story: After I installed the update I attempted to play the "new" Sims 4 right away as I was super excited about it. Within the first 5 minutes, the game froze, saw a BSOD on my PC stating "MEMORY MANAGEMENT" as the issue - attempted playing again, thinking it was a fluke as this has literally never happened before. I've never had any issues playing the Sims on my machine before this incident. I've never had the BSOD on this machine before. After the next attempt, within 5 minutes had the same BSOD but this time error "CRITICAL PROCESS DIED". This time my PC got stuck in a loop. Every time I tried to turn off/on the machine I was getting the "CRITICAL PROCESS DIED" error, a "Dell Automatic Repair" startup screen, back into the BSOD over and over.
After about a hour of working with Dell Support, we determined there was absolutely nothing wrong with the hardware. It was software related and the only solution was a clean OS install, meaning I lost everything on the machine.
At this point I'm thinking I messed up because I had so many mods/cc installed and chalk it up to user error. OS is freshly installed. Next I install Origin client and Sims 4 along with all the packs. Attempt to play. Sims tells me it doesn't recognize Graphics Card - close out and update all drivers. Restart game and it looks like everything's fine now, I breath a sigh of relief. 5 minutes into a brand new game it freezes, and I have to shut down my machine just like before. I'm starting to think this isn't just my fault and I'm seeing other users with this same issue.
I'm scared to damage my computer any further at this point. I don't know where to go from here.
DxDiag attached for reference.
I didn't have any Mods in game but went ahead and deleted the Mods folder anyway just in case. Also deleted localthumbcache.package and repaired the game through Origin as I saw that advice being given to others on here.
It let me play for a bit longer I think? Maybe 10 minutes. I was able to make it through CAS and was in the middle of having my Sim purchase a lot when my screen went black and static/color bars appeared at the top of my screen. After about a minute it returned to a frozen Sims 4 screen and I had to shut down my machine once again.
This doesn't happen for any other website/app that I'm using on this computer but it's guaranteed to happen every time I open the Sims 4.
Anything else I can try? 
