April 2022
Hello!! I hope everyone is doing well. My game has been absolutely unplayable ever since March 14th. ((or around that date)) Every single time I tried to load into a household or go into build mode, ((or even try to play the game longer than five minutes)) my game would crash. Sometimes these crashes would contain breakpoint errors, ((all different)) while other times there were crashes without any errors. This started when I first downloaded the Wedding Stories pack, but at first, I ignored it thinking that it would resolve by the next day. Unfortunately, it just got worse.
I play with a hefty amount of mods and cc, and even a reshade. However, I promptly deleted all of this thinking that the downloadable content I had installed was the problem. However, the problem continued. I've tried numerous things to try to fix this error, ((uninstalling sims 4, repairing the game, (etc). I'm at a loss on what to do next, and I was hoping someone would be able to help me play the game again. Thank you for your time.
Down below is my Dx Diag info. Let me know if you need anything else.
Solved! Go to Solution.
April 2022
@storybookwhims Okay, it may be time for a more serious intervention here. First though, try doing a clean uninstall and reinstall of your graphics driver. Download a fresh copy of the driver listed for Picasso/Dali (your laptop's processor is in the Dali family) from the HP product page you linked me before. Then use this guide to clean uninstall and reinstall the driver:
Restart after installing and before trying to play.
If that doesn't help, I think it's best to do a repair install of Windows, given the types of errors that keep showing up. Here's how:
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/repair-install-windows-11-with-an-in-place-upgrade.418/
However, your laptop's SSD is low enough on storage that I wouldn't recommend running the process using an ISO, at least not as-is. Either clear at least another 12-15 GB space, or use the tool to create a USB install medium as linked in the guide below. For the latter, all you'll need is a USB device with at least 4 GB storage and that you don't mind erasing. Even with the USB, I'd recommend clearing as much space as you reasonably can—while it's possible to repair-install Windows 10 from USB with so little free storage, Windows 11 might be more finicky. But the process will check your free storage anyway, so you'll just get an error if you don't have enough.
This process allows you to keep all your personal files and programs, but if you get to step 14 and do NOT see the option to keep your personal data, back out and start over.
April 2022
@storybookwhims One common cause of breakpoint errors is a problem with the graphics driver. Your laptop's driver is a year old, and while that's not always a problem, the place to start is by finding out if there's a newer driver available from HP. Go here:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/laptops
Enter your laptop's serial number, choose your operating system if prompted, and you'll land on the download page for your model. If you see an AMD graphics driver that's significantly newer than March 2021, I mean not just a couple weeks but multiple months, go ahead and download and install it. If you get an error, or you'd just like me to check before you do anything, please link the download page here. That page doesn't contain any information about your own laptop, just the overall model.
It's also a good idea to clear at least another 10 GB or so of storage. While 13 GB free is enough for Windows to maneuver, it's not enough for feature updates, and it can also cause problems if you're running a program that generates a lot of temp data. The Downloads folder is a good place to look for extraneous files.
April 2022
Unfortunately, it says access to the link you sent was denied. I appreciate your help regardless though.
April 2022
@storybookwhims When you click the HP driver link? It works for me and always has; I tested again just now. Try using a different browser, or just google "HP drivers" and see where you land.
April 2022
I realized my error as I sent the message. After I completed the process of downloading updated drives, I came across a new error. Origin isn't launching my Sims game. I opened up Task Manager to see if it was running in the background, and it claimed that Origin 32 bit was already running. This was a problem because I have the 64 bit installed. When I looked in my Game Properties, it said that I have the 64 bit installed. ((Which is correct)) Every time I press "launch game" on Origin, it acts as if it's loading, and then goes back to normal, forcing me to reattempt to open the game. Never once does it open the actual Sims 4 game.
I'm sure this is just something I'm overlooking, but I'm struggling to find a solution. Please let me know if it's something you can help with. I appreciate all your help and support.
April 2022
@storybookwhims Origin itself is 32-bit in Windows, and that has nothing to do with which version of Sims 4 launches.
Please move your entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop; even if you've done so before, please let the game create another clean folder now, that is if it launches at all. Let me know whether that makes a difference. If it doesn't, please list your antivirus, if you use one, and if you don't think one is running, check the Task Manager anyway: many laptops come with something pre-installed.
As a test, please also try playing in a new admin Windows account. Make it a local account, as in, don't sign into Microsoft, and don't sync with any other services you normally use. The username should contain only letters and numbers, no special characters. You'll be able to sign into your existing Origin account and shouldn't need to download anything.
April 2022
Alright, I moved the Electronics Arts folder to my desktop as requested. Unfortunately, it's still not loading. I use Windows Security. Let me know if I need to provide any other information. Once again, thank you for taking the time to help me.
April 2022
@storybookwhims Please either disable Controlled Folder Access or set an exception for Sims 4, as described here:
https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/03/windows-10-defender-controlled-folder-access.html
If that doesn't help, please try playing in a new admin Windows account, as mentioned before. This helps distinguish between issues with your user settings or account permissions and other system issues.
April 2022
Unfortunately neither step worked. I'm sorry I'm having so much trouble.
April 2022
@storybookwhims You don't need to apologize for anything. Is the game still not launching, or has it gone back to launching and crashing? Either way, please try running both Origin and Sims 4 as an admin: click on each one's desktop shortcut and select "Run as administrator." If you don't have a Sims 4 shortcut, just find TS4_x64.exe within the game's program files and use that.
If that doesn't help, please look for any new errors in the Reliability Monitor. Hit Windows key-R, enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day. I'm interested in any errors from after you updated your drivers using the HP website that either mention Origin or Sims 4 or happened at the same time as you tried to launch the game (or when it crashed, if it's running). For any you see, right-click on the error name and select "View technical details," then copy the info and paste it here. You don't need to list duplicate errors; just let me know that you saw a given one multiple times.
Please also link the driver download page from HP and post a new dxdiag so I can compare the two.