The Sims 4 Errors, Crashes, Freezes, Launch, Graphics Bugs and Fixes

List of The Sims 4 errors, crashes, launch problems, installation issues, blackscreen, freezes, graphics bugs with tweaks and workarounds to fix them.

the Sims 4
EA has learned a lot from Sim City disaster but is it enough considering The Sims 4 is experiencing similar launch problems if not all of them. Following workarounds for now should get you playing The Sims 4 on launch day.

Hopefully, EA/Maxis will resolve the more annoying issues with another patch.

#1 – The Sims 4 Mouse Cursor Not Working Properly
Having MouseTrails on can sometimes lead to the mouse cursor not working properly in The Sims 4. If your mouse cursor isn’t working correctly, you should first turn off the mouse trails in Mouse Settings.

Alternatively, switch to Windowed mode to resolve the issue.

#2 – Can’t Download? The Sims 4 Download Button Still Greyed Out
Make sure your payment has gone through. If you still have issues, EA support suggests contacting a game adviser. Alternatively, you can try the following workarounds:

  • Log out and log back in
  • Check whether your order has been processed. If it hasn’t, make sure your credit card information is up to date
  • Restart Origin
  • Re-Install Orgin
  • Make sure Origin is Online

#3 – Downloading or Installation Issue?
If your game is not downloading, it may as well be due to server overload. In that case, you can wait. It can also happen due to conflict with your firewall and anti-virus. In that case, you will have to add Origin.com as an exception.

If your proxies are turned on, turn them off in your Internet settings.

How To Run The Sims 4 on Mac
The Sims 4 isn’t available on Mac yet but if you can’t wait to play it, you will have to run Windows on your Mac. Read the full guide on how to install Windows on your Mac.

#4 – Can’t Start The Sims 4? Launch Error
To get rid of launch error, try starting the game as administrator or in compatibility mode. If that doesn’t work, you can try running it in Windowed Mode.

How to Start The Sims 4 in Windowed Mode

  • Start Origin and login
  • Find the game in My Games
  • Right-click on the game/CAS Demo and choose Game Properties
  • Under Command Line Arguments add the following text: -w und and click Apply
  • Start the game.

#5 – Can’t See The Sims 4 CAS Demo Creations, How to Recover
There are two ways you can recover CAS Demo Creations.

If you uploaded your Sims to the Gallery, you can just search and download them. If you didn’t upload Sims to the gallery, go to your Documents folder > Electronic Arts, and you should see ‘The Sims 4’ and ‘The Sims 4 Create a Sim Demo’ folders.

Open ‘The Sims 4 Create a Sim Demo’ folder and copy all the content from a folder named ‘Tray’ to the same folder in ‘The Sims 4’. Once you have done that, your Create a Sim creations will show up in the library of the full game.

If you still don’t see your creations, try restarting Origin. Login out and log back in.

#6 – Failed to Launch The Sims 4, Freezes and Forcing Computer to Restart
If your computer freezes and you are forced to restart whenever you launch The Sims 4, you should try running the game in Windowed Mode.

#7 – The Sims 4 Launch Problem: Missing DLL: [msvcp120.dll] Error: 0x7E
To fix the error, open the folder Origin/The Sims 4/__Installer/vc/vc2013/redist and install vcredist_x64 and vcredist_x86.

#8 – Missing DLL: [msvcp120.dll] Error: 0xC1
If launching The Sims 4 results in this error, you should repair your installation as this error occurs when some files are missing.

#9 – Unable to Start: Can’t run The Sims 4 with the Video Card in this System
To resolve the issue, upgrade your graphics drivers.

#10 – The Sims 4 Loads Slowly: Cannot Connect to Gallery
You may experience this quite frequently on launch day. Current load time for some users is as much as 5-minutes while starting it offline reduces the load time to be 2-minutes.

#11 – Installation Complete ‘The Sims 4’ But Nothing Happens After
Login back after logging out of Origin and repair the installation. It should help resolve the issue.

#12 – The Sims 4 Blurred Graphics and Other Graphics Bugs
Turning off ‘Post Processing Effects’ seem to be a good solution at the moment. Doing so will at least get the game running smoothly without any graphics glitches.

#13 – The Sims 4 VC++ Error Code 1603
Make sure you are logged in as an Administrator to install the game.

#14 – The Sims 4 Crashes to Desktop After Launching
Does your game crashes to desktop with an error ‘The Sims 4 has stopped working’? If that’s the case, you should make sure you meet minimum requirements for the game and updated graphics card drivers.

#15 – The Sims 4 General Help, Origin Bug Fixes
You can go through this Master Thread for all the tutorials and answers to general issues you may come across.

#16 – The Sims 4 Camera Tilt and Rotate Fix
Changing the mouse wheel type in The Sims 4 can help you restore the Old School way of rotating and tilting the camera provided you switch to The Sims 3 Camera Controls.

#17 – The Sims 4 Crashes When You Enter Build Mode
No workaround found yet.

#18 – Game Crashes, Saves are Gone?
Haven’t found anyway to recover save files or avoid the issue and most annoying part is, it’s random.

#19 – The Sims 4 Has Stopped Working
This particular error is the result of a conflict with a program installed on your Machine. It is recommended that stop/cancel all the extra programs running in your computer before starting the game. Furthermore, make sure your internet connection is not running through a proxy.

Go to Internet Options in Control Panel > check the connections tab and make sure the proxy server is not checked. Check the internet settings again and you should be fine.

#20 – The Sims 4 Crashes After Launch / Random Crashes During Game
Make sure you have 4GB of RAM in order to run The Sims 4 properly. If you have say 3GB of RAM, make sure you close all the extra applications in Windows before you start the game. It should help minimize these crashes and may resolve the issue completely.

#21 – How to Fix The Sims 4 Baby to Child Glitch

  • Step 1 – Press Ctrl+Shift+C
  • Step 2 – Type testingcheats true and hit enter.
  • Step 3. Press Shift+left and click on any other Sim in the household. Click on CAS option.
  • Step 4. After entering CAS mode, click on the botton screen to select your child.
  • Step 5. After selecting child, change clothing, hair and finally, select check mark at the bottom right to return to the game.
  • Step 6. Click on child’s portrait and make them walk to any area in the house. You will now be able to see The Sim normally moving forward.

Thanks AshShii for recommending the fix.

#22 – The Sims 4 Keyboard Freezes / Crashes the Game
For those of you experience Keyboard Freezing leading to the game crashing to desktop, kindly disable Origin in-Game. You can do so by right clicking on The Sims 4 to go into the properties and checking Disable Origin box.

#22 – Low FPS in Build and Live Mode
No workaround found yet!

#23 – The Sims 4 Crashes at Loading Screen, Can’t Access Gallery, Stopped Working
Try loading it in Offline Mode. Or delete all your files in Tray Folder and restart the game. Make sure you keep the back up. |

If you come across any other issues, comment and we will help you out!

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Zawad Iftikhar is the founder of SegmentNext.com, an FPS enthusiast and a Call of Duty veteran, having participated multiple eSports competition.