Hi All

I am wondering if someone can help me please, I have downloaded and installed the Sims 4 Create a Sim demo, it installs fine, but won't play. EA checked my operating system and didn't seem to see a problem, I'm worried that this will create issues when I download Sims 4. I have never had any problems with Sims 3 so I am unsure as to why this won't work.

I have attached a copy of my Dxdiag to this post for help. My video card is the most up to date version I can have and talking to my computer programmer friend he has said that this doesn't seem to be the issue.

Can anyone else find any incompatibility with my game play as I'm really lost and EA don't seem to have a clue. I've done all the updates they've asked and uninstalled, re-installed and repaired the demo several times.

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System Information
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Time of this report: 8/18/2014, 22:37:31
Machine name: USER-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.140303-2144)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Acer
System Model: Aspire X5400
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X3 445 Processor (3 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3072MB RAM
Page File: 2234MB used, 3906MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

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DxDiag Notes
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Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
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Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

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Display Devices
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Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 315
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 315
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A22&SUBSYS_1141174B&REV_A2
Display Memory: 1746 MB
Dedicated Memory: 466 MB
Shared Memory: 1279 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: H550
Monitor Id: HSL6022
Native Mode: unknown
Output Type: HD15
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver File Version: 9.18.0013.4052 (English)
Driver Version: 9.18.13.4052
DDI Version: 10.1
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 7/2/2014 21:48:32, 17555104 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes

I had the game load one time, but after that, it would not work at all. It would only load the loading screen and the movie and then it went to a black screen with a cursor and would not progress further. It seems quite a few people are having problems with this working, and it would be nice if someone actually knew what the problem is. I work full time and have a new grand-baby, so I don't have a ton of time to research this stuff, and it's really disappointing, as this might be the deal breaker for me concerning as to whether I even consider buying the game.

@OP Are you getting any error when starting the game? What exactly happens? Can't help much without knowing what happens but lets see:

When you installed the demo did the vcredist_x86.exe or x64 install? Did EA ask you install those if they are missing? If you don't remember doing that or EA didn't ask go to the microsoft link bellow and download the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013 for ur system (x64 in ur case). No idea if x86 is needed for the game but you can try installing them both.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/down...s.aspx?id=40784

If that doesn't solve ur problem then you might want to try installing the directx package found also on the microsoft website.

@Tontrin please post ur system specs to see if your computer meets the requirements. Did you try a driver update for ur video card?

OP- Your RAM is maxed out for the demo, so if you have stuff running in the background, this could cause it not to work as there isn't enough resources.

If you cannot run the demo, you're going to have serious issues with the game as that requires 9 gigs of space and that's just for the base game. The stats you posted say that you have 3 gigs of RAM.

Just because the game takes 9 GB on ur Hard drive does not mean 3GB of ram is not enough.

OP can either spend money on a game that will not run, or OP can follow the guidelines that come with the game.



Source

This isn't your decision to make.

I don't understand whether you're being condescending or sarcastic or whatever. You just posted the requirements... game needs 2GB RAM. OP has 3GB RAM... If you can't read that then i can't help you...

My computer specs (way above average):
Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1
AMD Athlon (tm) II X 4 645 Processor 3.10 GHz
10 GB RAM
64 bit operating system
ATI Radeon Sapphire HD 5770 1 GB GDDR5 graphic card

It is updated. I have no problems running different games on this machine with the high or highest settings, including Sims 3.

When I tried to play the demo, I got the sound but only a black screen. I couldn't find any help online that worked. I finally decided to look at my configure files. Under My Documents / Electronic Arts / The Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo .. look for "Options.ini". Open it with notepad and check to be sure the settings for your resolution is set correctly. Look for " resolutionheight = xxxx " and " resolutionwidth = xxxx ". I was able to play after correcting my settings. Hope it helps, if it doesn't .. sorry.

This has happened to me as well I managed to make it load once, I highly doubt the ram has anything to do with it as the EA Customer Service agent would surely have noticed this, I'm glad I'm not the only one having this problem. Origin have just updated their program so I tried installing the update and still no game,

I closed down all my running programs in the background including my anti virus software. This shouldn't be doing this

@steveb I'm not getting anything at all it's literally just not loading. My mouse pointer is spinning like it's doing something, then nothing happens, but if I look on Origin it's telling me last time I played the game was that day.

So quick update: Spoke to EA and they are now saying my graphics card is way below the minimum spec? That it's a miracle I was even able to play Sims 3? WTF!!

It's definitely below minimum spec, even for Sims 3. That video card measures 266 on Passmark. http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/g...gpu=GeForce+315 It's worse than integrated video.
Don't know if that's the problem though.

Odd. I play the demo with an intel video card, a nvidia should have a better chance at working being a dedicated graphic card.

It's not that unusual. ATI and Nvidia have always made really low-end video cards for systems that didn't have integrated video. They were more common 5-years ago when integrated video wasn't built into the CPU. A 5-year old very low-end card doesn't even hold a candle to modern integrated graphics these days. Intel HD graphics ranks anywhere from 371 to 713 on Passmark 3D. Much better than OP's video card.

Did you do a clean re-install of both Origin and demo? If you did that and you also checked that distributions (dependencies) are installed and you still have the same result then I really have no idea...

It is possible that your video card is simply unsupported by the demo even though it meets Minimum Requirements... Can't see another reason tbh. Sorry i can't be of more help.