Sims 4 is a popular life simulation video game which was initially released in 2014. In this game, players control a Sim character and control several aspects of its life. Although this is a solid performing game there are instances when certain issues can occur. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the Sims 4 won’t open in windows 10 issue.
What to do when Sims 4 won’t launch in Windows 10
Before performing any of the recommended troubleshooting steps listed below it’s best to restart your computer first. This action refreshes the operating system and removes any corrupt temporary data that could be causing the problem.
There are several factors that can cause this particular problem ranging from a corrupt game file to an issue with the graphics driver. Listed below are the recommended troubleshooting steps you need to do to fix this problem.
Delete crash report files from Sims 4 folder
The first thing that you should do in this case is to delete two files namely the lastCrash.txt and lastException.txt files. The lastexception.txt files are created when the gameplay code has an error. When this error occurs, the game will not crash, it just means something unexpected has happened during gameplay. The lastcrash.txt files are generated when the game crashes and are used to diagnose crashes happening on the user’s computer.
- Go to the C:\Users\YOU\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 folder.
- Find lastCrash.txt and lastException.txt files and delete them.
Check if the Sims 4 will not run issue still occurs.
Update your graphics drivers
One of the most common reasons as to why the game will not launch is because you are using an outdated graphics driver. You will need to make sure that you are using the latest graphics driver in your computer.
If you have an NVIDIA graphics card then follow the steps listed below.
- Press Win+R (Windows logo key and R key) at the same time to invoke the Run box.
- Type msconfig and click OK. Then the System Configurations will open.
- When System Configuration opens, click the Boot tab. Under Boot options, check Safe boot then click OK.
- When you’re prompted to restart your computer to apply these changes, click Restart then you will boot into Safe Mode.
- Go to your local hard disk by clicking on This PC then Local Disk C. You should be able to see the NVIDIA folder right there. Right-click on it and choose Delete.
- Click Start and type Run. Select Run, the Run dialog box will appear.
- Type “devmgmt.msc” in the run box and click the OK button which should open the Device Manager Window.
- Expand the “Display Adapters” field. This will list all network adapters that the machine has installed. Right click on the Nvidia adapter you want to uninstall and select “Uninstall”.
- Click “OK” when prompted to uninstall the device. This will remove the adapter from the list and uninstall the driver.
- Press Win+R (Windows logo key and R key) at the same time to invoke the Run box.
- Type msconfig and click OK. Then the System Configurations will open.
- When System Configuration opens, click the Boot tab. Under Boot options, uncheck Safe boot then click OK.
- When you’re prompted to restart your computer to apply these changes, click Restart.
- Download the latest NVIDIA driver for your computer from here https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx.
- Run the setup file and follow the instructions which appear on screen. Choose the Custom installation option and check all the boxes in the custom install options windows. Also check the box which states “perform clean install”.
- Restart your computer
If you have an AMD graphics card then follow the steps listed below.
- Download the AMD Cleanup Utility from here https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-601.
- Locate the file where it was saved and double-click on the “AMDCleanupUtility.exe’ file.
- A dialogue box should appear stating AMD Cleanup Utility has detected the system is not in safe mode and provide an option to reboot the system to run the Utility in safe mode:
- Click “Yes” the system will be rebooted and AMD Cleanup Utility will run in safe mode.
- The next dialogue box provides a warning message stating that the AMD Cleanup Utility will remove all AMD driver and application components.
- Click “OK” to continue
- After clicking “OK” the Utility will be minimized to the notification area (system tray) and the progress will be displayed as a tool tip.
- The cleanup process will continue to run in the background. To check the progress, hover the mouse over the AMD icon in the notification area.
- Once the cleanup process is finished, a message is displayed stating it has successfully completed. Click “View Report” to see the list of components that were uninstalled, otherwise click “Finish” to exit the Utility.
- Reboot your computer.
Once the drivers have been uninstalled it’s time to install the latest driver update. You can do this with the help of the AMD Driver Auto-detect tool which you can download from https://www.amd.com/en/support.
- Visit the AMD Driver and Support page and see section Auto-Detect and Install Radeon Graphics Drivers for Windows.
- Click the DOWNLOAD NOW button to begin downloading the executable file for the tool.
- Once download is complete, run the file to launch the Installer.
- Click Install to extract the needed files.
- After file extraction is complete the tool should automatically launch.
- Review the End User License Agreement and information about the User Experience Improvement Program.
- Click Accept and Install to continue or close the window to exit the AMD Driver Auto-detect tool.
- After clicking Accept and Install, the tool will attempt to detect the installed AMD graphics product and operating system.
- Upon successful detection of your system configuration, the tool will display the latest Recommended and Optional driver packages that are compatible with your graphics product, as well as the currently installed driver version
- Select the desired version and choose Express installation.
- After the driver package has been downloaded, installation should begin automatically.
- Restart your computer
If you have an integrated graphics (Intel)
- Press the Windows Logo key + R to launch a Run
- Type devmgmt.msc into the Run dialog and press Enter to launch the Device Manager.
- In the Device Manager, expand the Display adapters
- Right-click on your graphics drivers, click on Uninstall and then go through the uninstallation wizard to uninstall the drivers.
- Restart your computer. Once your computer boots up, it should automatically reinstall the same version of the graphics drivers.
Check if Sims 4 won’t launch in Windows 10 issue still occurs.
Turn off proxy servers
- In the Search bar enter inetcpl.cpl. Select inetcpl.cpl from the list of results
- The Internet Options dialog should open, go to the Connections tab.
- Press the LAN Settings button in the Local Area Network (LAN) settings section.
- Uncheck Use a proxy server for your LAN (These settings will not apply to dial-up or VPN connections). Click Apply and OK to save the changes.
Check if the issue still occurs.
Add the game to the exclusion list of your antivirus
There are cases when the antivirus software can block certain elements of Sims 4 which is why you will need to exclude this game from your antivirus software.
Windows Defender
- Click Windows button and in the search bar type “Windows defender”. Open “Windows Defender Security Center”.
- You will find a list of options available in the new window. Select the option “Virus and threat protection”.
- Navigate to Virus and Threat Protection Settings. Windows may prompt you to allow an administrator access to use this feature. If so, press Yes.
- Look for the window which says “Add or remove exclusions”. Click it and you will be navigated to a menu where you can add exclusions. You can exclude folders, extensions, and even files. In this case, we will exclude the whole Steam folder which is located in the directory you downloaded it.
- Click on the option which says “Exclude a folder” and navigate to your Sims 4.
If you are using a different antivirus software then you should check its help file on how to exclude software from being checked.
Try checking if Sims 4 won’t launch in Windows 10 issue still occurs.
Clear the Origin Cache
There are instances when the problem can be caused by a corrupt data in the Origin client which is why you should try to clear this data.
- Open File Explorer.
- Click the View tab in File Explorer and check Hidden items.
- Go to C:\ProgramData\Origin and delete all files and directories except LocalContent.
- Go to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local directory, locate Origin folder and delete all files from it.
- Go to C:\Users \<username> \AppData\Roaming directory, locate Origin folder and remove all files and directories from it.
Check if the Sims 4 won’t launch issue still occurs.
Reinstall Sims 4 In Windows 10
In case the above steps fails to fix the problem then you should uninstall then install the game. To uninstall The Sims 4 just right click the game in the Origin Client and select “Uninstall”. This will also remove any additional add-ons and game packs you may have purchased for your game.
To install the game
- Open Origin and log in with the account in which you have your game.
- Go to Game Library
- Click on The Sims 4
- You will get information about the game, and you should see an orange button with the “Download” option. Click on it.
Check if the Sims 4 not launching in Windows 10 issue still occurs.