February 2019 - last edited February 2019
Hi,
I'm trying to get online in The Sims 4, but no matter what I try, I can't. Whenever I try to go online, it prompts me as to whether or not I want to connect, and if I say "go online," it tells me it was unable to go online and to check my internet connection. The entire gallery is made up of red X's, if I click on anything it says "this object could not be located." Origin is online and I have an internet connection. I am not using a proxy. I do have Bitdefender antivirus/firewall.
I have tried:
None of it works. I still can't access the Gallery or any of the other online features. I don't understand why this is happening and I am really upset and frustrated by it. If anyone could help me, I would appreciate it.
February 2019
February 2019
I already tried a factory reset, but I had not fixed the game between renaming the old file and starting the game, so I attempted this. Unfortunately it did not fix the problem. Still, if I try to go online, the game tells me it was unable to connect to the internet. Is there anything else I could try?
February 2019
@billiegoats Among the many interventions you listed, I didn't see any mention of clearing Origin's cache, or of uninstalling it completely. (This wouldn't affect your TS4 install, although of course you couldn't play until you reinstalled.) When uninstalling, make sure to either follow the instructions for "the hard way" or to use a cleaner app to remove all traces of Origin before you reinstall.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/manually-uninstalling-origin/
It's also a good idea to disable Bitdefender while trying to get Origin running properly again, although of course you'll want to keep your internet activity to a minimum while it's off.
February 2019
Thank you so much for your help, but unfortunately neither suggestion has worked. I tried both clearing Origin's cache and uninstalling/reinstalling Origin, but neither fixed the game.
The odd thing is that, when I attempt to access the Gallery from the main menu of the game, I can see things such as people's usernames, but all images are red X's and when I try to click on one I get "could not locate this item." I looked up this problem and it said it was likely my antivirus, but I've tried disabling Bitdefender (both antivirus and firewall) and it still does this. And like I said, when I try toggling the Online Access Features off and then back on, I get prompted to connect and then told the game was unable to connect to the Internet, despite Origin being connected. I really don't know what's wrong with it.
February 2019 - last edited February 2019
Perhaps some running program in the background interferes with the connection. Could you use the Task Manager to check it and close all unnecessary programs running in the background?
https://www.howtogeek.com/108742/how-to-use-the-new-task-manager-in-windows-8/
February 2019
I don't think that's what's going on here, I've tried closing out some background processes and I get nothing. I've also now tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling the game, and that gives me nothing too.
Still, My Library works fine, but nothing in the Gallery loads. Just red Xs and the popup if I try to disconnect/reconnect to online services. All I can think of is that it's Bitdefender, but even if I completely disable Bitdefender it does this.
February 2019
Okay, update: I tried connecting through my cell phone (started a mobile hotspot and used that instead of my wifi) and was able to connect to the Gallery. I think something must just be wrong with my connection. Which is annoying, because I am a college student using my university's wifi and so I can't exactly just go fix my router. Guess I'll just have to deal with this. Thank you to everyone for trying to help, though!