Sims 4 crashes CPU driver/makes PC restart

[Nathipha]

@holger1405 

"In simple terms, the graphic driver is not reacting" - I know, that's why the screen goes black for a second or two.

"You got at least one BSOD" - The screen just turned black, then the PC restarted, so I can't be sure if it actually displayed a bluescreen.

"The old driver you run." - Like I said, everything was fine until I installed the new EPs and only Sims 4 is affected. I'll try to install a newer driver but if it messes with the control panel again, I'm going to reinstall the old one.

"Overclocked hardware components. (Everything, from the GPU over the CPU to motherboard and RAM, even your 240Hz monitor could be the problem.)" - Nothing is overclocked, even the 240Hz of my monitor are a standard setting. I got the new monitor last year, so not sure if I ever played the old Sims 4 version with it but my old monitor clocked up to 144Hz. You'd think that if 144Hz is fine, 240Hz would be too. But no, I haven't tested it with 60Hz yet.

"Failing system cooling.

A failing PSU or failing components on the Motherboard and the GPU that are power related.

RAM configuration and timings.

Wrong BIOS settings.

A real hardware error." -

Wouldn't other games be affected then too? Everything else I'm regularly playing is more demanding on my hardware/power consumption. According to MSI Afterburner the temperature and hardware usage seem to stay pretty constant:

- GPU: 30-35%, 60°C, < 1000mb

- CPU: 25-35%, < 60°C

- RAM: ~ 11gb

Other games that are installed on the same HDD max out the RAM almost completely and the CPU usage is then often at 50% or more (can't remember GPU stats).

"To get further info about the real reason for this crash I would need the Memory dump (MEMORY.DMP) from under "C:\Windows" - The file is 1.3gb. I already tried to open it when I saw the error in the reliability monitor but no text editor would open it, not even Visual Studio, which seems to be the default app for some reason.

[holger1405]

@Nathipha 

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Nathipha wrote:

"You got at least one BSOD" - The screen just turned black, then the PC restarted, so I can't be sure if it actually displayed a bluescreen.

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You did, trust me.

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Nathipha wrote:

"The old driver you run." - Like I said, everything was fine until I installed the new EPs and only Sims 4 is affected. I'll try to install a newer driver but if it messes with the control panel again, I'm going to reinstall the old one.

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That you have problems with the control panel under different driver points already to some problems on your system.
And because other games run fine it is very well possible that there is a incompatibility between the Sims and this driver.

Windows 7 loses all support in January 2020. Did you consider to upgrade to Windows 10?

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Nathipha wrote:

"Overclocked hardware components. (Everything, from the GPU over the CPU to motherboard and RAM, even your 240Hz monitor could be the problem.)" - Nothing is overclocked, even the 240Hz of my monitor are a standard setting.

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I know, for the Monitor, but such high Hz Monitors are still far from standard for the driver or Windows, and certainly for a game that was programmed at a time nobody dreamed about such Monitors.

That does not mean that the problem is there, but you should have a system that is as much "standard" as possible if you troubleshot.

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Nathipha wrote:

Wouldn't other games be affected then too? Everything else I'm regularly playing is more demanding on my hardware/power consumption.

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 Probably yes, but as long as I did not see the Dump, I can't say for sure.

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Nathipha wrote:

The file is 1.3gb. I already tried to open it when I saw the error in the reliability monitor but no text editor would open it, not even Visual Studio, which seems to be the default app for some reason.

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Yeah, that it is so big is normal. You need a debugger to open that file, no application that was standardly installed whit Windows will open a dump. 

[Nathipha]

@holger1405 

"That you have problems with the control panel under different driver points already to some problems on your system. " -

As I said, I'm (was) not the only one with this problem. I tried different drivers and this one's the first one that actually lets me open the control panel, so Sims 4 is currently the only app that's causing problems.

"Windows 7 loses all support in January 2020. Did you consider to upgrade to Windows 10?" -

No, I'm going to get a new PC in November or December - with Win 10 (unfortunately). Going to enjoy Win 7 on this PC until then.

"but you should have a system that is as much "standard" as possible if you troubleshot" -

So basically turn it down to 144Hz or worse, 60Hz and run the game a couple of times to see if the driver crashes?

"You need a debugger to open that file, no application that was standardly installed whit Windows will open a dump. " -

There's no way I can upload that file. Can you recommend an app that is able to read it?

[holger1405]

@Nathipha 

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Nathipha wrote:

As I said, I'm (was) not the only one with this problem. I tried different drivers and this one's the first one that actually lets me open the control panel, so Sims 4 is currently the only app that's causing problems.

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I know, but there is a reason that the CP is not working, and we don`t know what that reason is.

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Nathipha wrote:

"Windows 7 loses all support in January 2020. Did you consider to upgrade to Windows 10?" -

No, I'm going to get a new PC in November or December - with Win 10 (unfortunately). Going to enjoy Win 7 on this PC until then.

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Good plan.

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Nathipha wrote:

"but you should have a system that is as much "standard" as possible if you troubleshot" -

So basically turn it down to 144Hz or worse, 60Hz and run the game a couple of times to see if the driver crashes?

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Yes.
Please also preform clean boot and test the Game in clean boot mode.

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Nathipha wrote:

"You need a debugger to open that file, no application that was standardly installed whit Windows will open a dump. " -

There's no way I can upload that file. Can you recommend an app that is able to read it?

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BlueScreenView is a automated program that will give you some information.

It is not a real debbuger, but it is much easier to use.