March 2021
@azfar90my Someone else mentioned that the option to enable the Steam overlay was grayed out for Sims 4, although they didn't currently have the game installed. Is it grayed out for you too? Click on Sims 4 in your Steam library, click the gear icon on the right, choose Properties, and the option should be listed under General.
I checked my currently-not-installed Steam games, and the option to enable the overlay was clickable for all of them, so I don't know why Sims 4 would be different. But please do take a look.
March 2021
@puzzlezaddict No greyed out here. I can toggle on and off like normal. But tried unchecked and checked, both don't seem to able to bring the overlay still.
March 2021
@azfar90my Thanks for looking. Just in case it's really that simple, please try playing in a clean user folder. Move your entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and the game will create a new folder the next time you open it. Don't add anything to this folder yet; just see whether the overlay works.
If it doesn't, please let me know what antivirus you use.
March 2021
March 2021
@azfar90my Someone else reported the same issues you have a few hours ago, so I'd like to compare your information with theirs. Please let me know specifically which antivirus you use, even if it's never been an issue and all the settings should allow everything through. Please also run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
March 2021
March 2021
@azfar90my Your dxdiag lists a number of errors relate to EasyTune, which you may or may not be actively using, and a couple errors that reference a component of the Nvidia graphics driver. So normally I'd suggest you start there. However, the other person with this issue figured out what was causing it for them:
Even if that doesn't exactly apply to you, please try restarting your computer and launching Sims 4 from its desktop shortcut, or from TS4_x64.exe in the game's program files, without opening Origin or Steam first. If you have them set to open with Windows, please change the settings temporarily to test.
March 2021
March 2021
@azfar90my Thanks for trying, and I'm sorry it didn't help. I thought I'd already suggested a clean boot, but apparently not. It's possible you have some other conflicting software that neither of us has thought to address:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10
When you reboot, please shut down everything nonessential in the Task Manager, just to be thorough. And please also disconnect any peripheral devices you don't use while playing as well. Even though it's unlikely one would affect the Steam overlay only for Sims 4, it's possible: each game uses a slightly different configuration of resources.
Otherwise, I'm still hoping someone else will have an idea, but until then, maybe just check back whenever Origin or Steam updates? It's possible whatever element isn't playing nice with your system will be updated or replaced at some point in the future.
March 2021