4 Ways to Close The Sims 4 if it Freezes — SNOOTYSIMS (2024)

Have you ever been in the middle of playing the Sims 4 and your game suddenly froze up? This is a common problem every sims player has experienced at least once during their gameplay. With this article, you will find out why your sims 4 freezes and how to fix it!

The Sims 4 Freezes but doesn’t crash!

Imagine you happen to be loading up The Sims 4 game on your laptop, PC, or whatever device you use. You are very excited to relax for the rest of your night while playing this popular simulation game. Everything is going great until your screen seems to freeze up. You shake your mouse and click the screen, but to no avail. No matter what you do the sims game screen remains completely still.

When Sims 4 freezes, it is not a unique problem and can happen to a PC gamer no matter what they are playing. The worst part is losing all your progress, something no one wants to deal with. We will give you a few methods to try if you ever find yourself with this problem and why this happens.

Alt + F4

The Alt + F4 method is a good option if you use sims at full screen and cannot leave because the screen is frozen. By pressing Alt + F4, it will close the Sims 4 application if Sims 4 freezes. However, be warned that this option does not always work depending on the problem you are facing.

If The Sims 4 is having problems with the graphics rather than an issue with the application itself, this is the best choice for you. So, if you are playing sims full screen and it freezes, use this method. If it closes the game, then you know that the issue is with the graphics.

What happens if the Sims 4 application itself is frozen? Well, this is when you may have to take out the big guns so you can close your sims game once and for all.

Ctrl + Alt + Delete

This is what can be considered the mother of all methods. If the actual sims application froze, then this is one of the best ways to get out of it. Press CTRL + Alt + Delete together and you will get a list of a few options. These include lock, switch user, shutdown, and task manager.

The preferred method is to go to the task manager. Click on task manager and once that opens up, force close ts4.exe. You could also click shut down, but in order to save any other programs/windows on your computer you may have open on your computer, it is better to go with the task manager option.

Hopefully, pressing CTRL + Alt + Delete ends up working for you if Sims 4 should freeze. If not, there is another option, but it is usually one that is considered the last resort due to how invasive it is.

Forcing a Shutdown if Sims 4 Freezes

So, let’s emphasize that this should be the last option you should use when it comes to sims 4 freezing. Obviously, if the above one does not work, then you really do not have a choice in the matter. Despite that, this is the last resort, it is the easiest to do. All you have to do is keep holding the on and off button for a few seconds before letting go. Just keep doing this until it forces the laptop, PC, or whatever device you are playing The Sims 4 on.

Once it shuts down, you can turn it back on and login as usual. It is best to figure out why your sims game keeps freezing so you do not have to fall back on the force shutdown method.

In the next section, we will briefly cover why The Sims 4 can even freeze. It is always good to know the way so you can prevent the game from freezing at all.

Reasons Sims 4 freezes in the first place

So, you know the different ways to close sims if it suddenly freezes up on you, but you do not really know why it happens at all. Below is a list of the common reasons that could cause the Sims 4 to freeze on you amid gameplay.

1. Custom Content and Mods

One reason that can cause your Sims game to freeze is when cc and mods are no longer working with your game. What you can do to circumnavigate this is by going into your mods folder and seeing what is outdated or needs to be replaced.

2. Outdated Graphics Card

The simplest reason it might freeze is that your graphics card needs to be updated. If this is the issue, then update it and it will not freeze any longer!

Of course, you would need to know the model of the GPU you’re using. Very easily then, you could download the latest driver for it. It’s considerably easier if you use any of the NVIDIA graphics cards. You could navigate the respective software (GeForce Experience) where you would be notified automatically if any updates are required.

If you’re still unsure what to do, open up the Device Manager and look for your graphics cards in Display Adapters. Right-click it and select Update Driver.

Launch Origin and see for yourself if the problem still persists!

3. Game Graphics Settings

If your computer isn’t as powerful as you’d like it to be, you may need to lower your graphics settings in order to make the game playable. This can be frustrating, but it’s better than having it freeze up on you all the time.

4. Origin

The application itself could be the issue, which is where you usually launch The Sims 4. In order to get around this, you can just turn origin off while you are using the game so none of the little notifications will pop up during gameplay.

Finally, if you are not running the Origin application as an administrator and instead just on a standard account it could cause some problems. The way to fix this is to right-click on the origin icon and then select run as Administrator.

Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to clear your Origin data cache every now and then. But if none of the above methods work out, try out the method below:

1. Launch your Origin client.
2. Navigate your game library.
3. Right click on the Sims 4 and select “Repair”.
4. Follow the given screen instructions.
5. Restart your device.

There could obviously be other bugs causing the Sims to freeze, but these are some of the more common reasons you will encounter.

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