[Sims4] SOLUTIONS to Game Crashes as of 3/26+

[pilrat]

Hello friends. I've been having SO many issues with CC / Mods in my Sims 4 game, to the point where it will crash right at the Sims 4 screen upon boot up on all 3 of my computers. I've deleted my mods and that seems to fix the issue, but probably like most of you, I want to obviously play with my CC - I mean, that's why I downloaded it, right? After backing up my CC folders, I relaunched the game and, after much hesitation, it finally booted up as normal; I could play my recent saves, everything was jolly good. BUT! and I've heard others have had this problem, too: You load your family, excited the game actually works for once after a week or two, and bam, you repeatedly get sent back to the new addition of the World Overviews, no matter if you are loading into your family, traveling, building, it just keeps going back to those 2 or 3 annoying circles of Worlds.

Maybe for some of you, you don't even get this far. Let's say you've removed ALL of your mods and cc you know that was in your game (or you had none in the first place), yet it still crashes upon boot up. Luckily, I have a simple solution that worked for all of my computers. New and old.

First, take a deep breath. I spent days and days being frustrated, it even got to the point where I just broke down crying. (I'm not a very computer-savvy person, so after doing all I knew to do and it didn't even work, I was so frustrated, I couldn't help but cry.) There is a solution for everything! (A little note of hope: I thought it was all of my custom content at first that broke my game, but after searching around for hours, it became obvious that it was probably only a few stray files that, in the end, probably wouldn't make a difference within my game until the files became compatible with the previous patch. But, I haven't figured out what cc file is broken yet, OTL).

Second, address the problem: do you have CC or Mods that may be repeatedly crashing your game? (the cc problem is caused by faulty content that is not compatible with the recent patch as of 3/26).. Or maybe the recent patch happened to mess with your game files? Both of these happened to me.

On to the actual problems,

To start off, I'm going to focus on Problem #1: CC and Mods crashing your game. >> (If you don't/never have had custom content and or mods within your game, please see: Problem #2.) Moving on....

• Access your Documents > Electronic Arts > Sims 4 > Mods folder and (if you'd like to save your cc) copy the files, place them in a folder that you will remember the name to, and place the folder in your Documents (not anywhere within or near your EA > TS4 folders). Or, on your desktop / anywhere you will remember to look.
• Next, check to make sure the ONLY file you have in your Mods folder is the "Resource.cfg"
• Now, try to boot up Sims 4. If you happen to finally pass the EA / Maxis / Sims 4 screen with 0 crashes, then multiple files in your custom content may have been the issue. No worries though, it most likely doesn't mean ALL of your cc is the problem. If you're a cc addict like me, this is great news, haha. It doesn't depend on whether you have 1 GB of cc, or 5 GB of cc, there is virtually no limit to how much cc you can have in game, so don't believe it's because you have too much cc.
• If your game still crashed as usual, whether your custom content was in the EA files or not, see Problem #2's solution below. If your game passed this test with flying colors, please proceed.
• To partially solve my issue, I have organized all of my cc into folders (I suggest doing it with NO subfolders, as I heard this can interfere with cc performance), organized under CAS and Build&Buy. After spending about 3 or 4 hours doing this, I placed several folders in my Mods file, attempted to boot up the game, and it crashed again. Frustrated, I removed multiple folders and only added in 2 of the existing folders. This allowed my game to boot up completely fine - it even showed the custom content in build and buy mode! Hooray! I was ecstatic, only to figure out my only option now was to go through each folder 1 by 1 and see what cc file crashed my game so many times.
• I want you to do the same: 1. Organize all of your cc into folders. If you don't feel like it (but I recommend this, as it will be easier to figure out what the problem is), then, proceed with 2. Add in 2 or 3 folders that haven't been jam packed with files (or add in 15 to 30 cc files). Now for the moment of truth: 3. Boot up your game. Does it crash at all? If so, 4. Remove a folder and restart the game. Did it work this time? (if not, repeat step 4 until you find a folder that allows your game to start correctly). If it did, yay! 5. Move on to this step if your game did not crash (or stopped crashing). On your desktop or somewhere safe outside of EA folders, make yourself a note that those following folders WORKED! and save the working cc folders in a safe place. Now, start over again: 6. Remove those folders from your Mods file, then add in your next group of folders that are filled with cc. Restart the game as you did last time. If it crashed, see step 4. 7. Continue adding the working cc folders together. **If you find folders that CRASH your game, save them in a folder that reminds you that those DID NOT work in your game.** 8. If you've figured out the folders of cc that work and don't work, add together the ones that do work within your Mods file. Your game should run fine, all of your cc should show up, and ultimately you should be issue free. Now, you might be like me and want absolutely all of your cc in your game, thus, this is the frustrating part and requires lots of game-restarting. >>
• 9. Go to the folder of mods that crashed your game. One at a time, place each folder into your Mods file. To start off, I want you to restart Sims 4 and after it crashes, dissect the faulty folder and **categorize it by Date Modified**. Taking the oldest cc in your folder, place 5 - 10 files alone in your Mods folder and restart the game. If it crashes, remove the oldest piece(s) of cc and restart (if it crashes, remove > restart > remove > restart). Continuously do this, weeding out all of your old cc that DOES CRASH your game. It may take hours and days, but you will eventually have the cc that will not crash your game left over. **NOTE**: If you remove cc that you think WON'T CRASH your game, try adding it back in alone, restart > see if the cc shows up in game > save within your SAFE CC folders.
  
• I've decided to make a separate bulletin for step 9. This is because, to clarify, if restarting > crashing > removing old faulty cc > repeat within groups of 5 - 10 cc files begins to confuse you or overwhelm you, you can take longer to thoroughly do it in groups of 1 or 2, which would be: place oldest cc file in Mods folder > restart game > crash > remove > repeat (or, if it doesn't crash, place it with your safe cc folders.) And eventually, you'll want to work your way up from oldest to newest cc within your faulty folders. (I kept saying only test old cc, sorry about that; test the new ones, too!)
• For now, this is all I recall thinking of that can help you retrieve your CC files that DO NOT CRASH your game!! Hopefully this solution for problem #1 helped. (Another **note**: it is known that files for Sims 3 / Sims 2 lost within Sims 4 CC can crash your game. Search carefully.)

Finally, we move on to Problem #2: Newest patch crashing and/or messing with your game. >>

• If you've never had (or currently don't have) custom content within your Mods folder and your game still crashes, or brings up the World Interface after a loading screen, this solution surely will help.
• Like before, this solution will not take forever! it also won't include uninstalling and reinstalling the game. Caution: If you want to save your families / save files, I recommend googling how to back those up, because I carelessly trashed my save files.
• Step 1. Open Origin and go to My Games so you can be face-to-face with Sims 4, ready to open up a fresh case of simming.
• Step 2. Locate your Electronic Arts files by going through Documents > Electronic Arts. Inside of EA is the Sims 4 folder, as well as the entire game's files. **If you'd like to save your ingame-saved households, google how to back these files up... Take caution that these save files may be the issue here; possible but not proven.**
• Step 3. Right click your Electronic Arts folders and hit Delete. I know, tragic, but it's okay -- it doesn't uninstall your game. Now on to,
• Step 4. I hope you haven't closed out of Origin . Start up Sims 4, give it a moment to fully load, and you will be presented with a tutorial. I highly recommend starting over with your saved games, but if you're attached, I understand. Simply place your backed up saves into the regenerated Electronic Arts folders (to see these, close The Sims 4, restart your File Explorer, and go into Electronic Arts from Documents.)
• Step 5. Celebrate! You can (hopefully) play your game that you spent a fortune on and couldn't play for a stupid reason! (still angry about that, EA!!)

I hope these solutions helped you. Please consult me if there are any issues. I will state again that I am not computer savvy, so please be patient with me and do not get crazy with the questions!! Love you all, simmies! xoxo

[Sheralyn_Moore32]

Thank you so much for the solution.

[AndraCristiana]

Does the second solution work 100% ? (the one with deleting the electronic arts from your folder)

[mewthan]

I did the erase the EA folder trick and things worked again...so then I went back into CAS and could get in so then I went to my options menu and started to change stuff, the CTD didn't happen until I changed the graphics...that's the problem

[ForestNinja0]

Your contribution is appreciated but all of those issues have been addressed in The Sims 4 Bug Reports forum.

[Roisin7007]

Thanks for this, turns out if I have any script mods {food delivery, work improvements, etc} my game just crashes completely *sigh*  

[gabilewis8]

My game crashes with cc and opens without. This really didnt help at all i have at one point loaded the game with cc and it worked sooo i dont know whats happening...

[crinrict]

You probably have a custom content that is making the game crash.

There are tools at modthesims that can help you determine what it is,

If it doesn't find the culprit, try this method: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Finding_Problem_Custom_Content

[JaffaOurCat]

What if I don't have any CC and my game has just crashed, is there any way to recover my saved work?

P.S. If I go to Documents>> Electronic Arts>> The Sims 4 >> saves there is a file of made at the time my game crashed??

[crinrict]

Did you try all the suggestions here: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4/Info-Sims-4-Crashes/td-p/3586547/

If so, could you provide all the info asked there. 

It's best if you made your own thread.