"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077]

by **The_gh0stm4n** Sun 23 Nov 2014, 17:30

*Guide last updated on 27-12-2018*

Hello all,

Are you encountering an error in The Sims 4 that looks like this ?

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Captur11

Or this?

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Untitl10

Or: it can also come up as "Origin must be running". In the following I will attempt to show you some more (possible) fixes to issues like that, but keep in mind that our "research" on this is far from done. Over the course of time we might modify & update this guide to include more stuff in it.

1.) Old 3DM games.

Please, do not "mix" the old Skidrow/3DM game with Games4TheWorld's "Ultimate fix" from here. That's not going to work. The Ultimate fix from G4TW is ONLY meant to work with G4TW's release of The Sims 4, and nothing else. If you still have a 3DM game installed, please un-install that one and re-download the game from G4TW, here. That's the first thing for you all to keep in mind.

2.) Make sure to close Origin.

If you get the error while having Origin open, make sure to close everything that is Origin-related, before playing Games4TheWorld's "The Sims 4" release. You MUST NOT even have the window open, that asks you to enter your Origin ID and password. So this one must be closed too.

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Origin10

This is the window that I mean. If you have this one open, and you try to start the game, you will end up with the error message "Unable to start".

You may even open the task manager by pressing CTRL + ALT + DELETE. Then, under the "Processes"-tab, look for processes related to Origin (the processes should have "Origin" in their name). Then right-click on the process(es) and select "end process". Confirm with "OK."

It doesn't happen in all cases though. In my case, I can open Origin before starting the game, but in someone else's case, it didn't work.

In any case, you do not need Origin at all to play the game.

3.) Microsoft Security Essentials:

The following is only relevant for those of you who are running Windows XP, Vista or 7. If you have a newer Windows (8 or 10), then ignore this part, and move on to the next. And if you do decide to apply the following, you should make sure to do it BEFORE you download The Sims 4 !

Some of you might now have heard about Microsoft's "Security Essentials", available from this site. It can serve as a standalone "security"-program, or you *could* use it in addition to another program. While it's generally not recommended to have more than one anti-virus program on your system (because they "could cause conflicts"), I'd see this rather as an exception than the rule. But since many people (also) have the program, I will now illustrate how to configure it too. Note that the following settings are only a suggestion from my part. And I still have avast anti-virus as my "main program".

After downloading and installing "Microsoft Security Essentials", you can either find the program in your start menu (where it will be highlighted as "newly installed") or in your taskbar:

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo14

After double-clicking that, this is the main menu:

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo15

Note that I have turned it off completely because I already have another anti-virus program (the aforementioned avast Internet Security). However, if you use this as your sole "security" program, you might want to have it turned on instead. But first things first: you should now navigate to the "Settings"-tab on the right, and choose the settings as I did, in the following screenshots.

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo16

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo17

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo18

Again, if you use this program as your sole security software, CHECK the box (and focus instead on the exclusions). In contrasts, if you - like me - have something else, then uncheck the box, as shown.

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo19

Note that the "M" drive shown here is basically the drive letter of my USB flashdrive, which I sometimes use to install programs. I have also added the M: drive to the exclusions in avast (see above part of the guide).

The directory "C:\Users" is basically the parent directory of where my internet browser downloads are saved. As in avast (above) I have also added this crucial location to "MS Security Essentials" here.

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo20

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo21

In addition to that, make sure that no file of The Sims 4 is in the "quarantine" of these built-in Windows security programs. In particular, the files you need to watch out for are the TS4.exe, RldOrigin.dll & rld.dll. If these are in the quarantine, restore them. Here in MSE, if I recall correctly, you can find the quarantine under "History". Then mark the files you want to restore, and click on the "Restore"-button, in the bottom right.

The same mechanism also applies to Windows Defender (see the following part of the guide) ! Whenever you find that any of these Sims 4 files (again: TS4.exe, RldOrigin.dll & rld.dll) are in the quarantine, please restore them.

4.) Windows Defender:

The built-in "Windows Defender" is meant to protect from malware, adware, virusses and other unwanted stuff, and it can also interfere with the pirated TS4 games. The interface of the program looks (slightly) different in the various Windows versions, but here I will dwell on Windows 7 and later systems only (Windows 8 & 10).

If you want to do the following, make sure to do this BEFORE you download The Sims 4.

In Windows 7, you can easily navigate to the program by opening the start menu and typing the name of the program into the search mask at the bottom of the start menu window. After which Windows Defender will show up - and you need to click on it, at the top of the start menu.

Click on "tools" at the top, and then in the next window click on "Options". Now you should see this here:

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo11

Click on "Administrator" on the left-hand side. And then, make sure the "Use this program"-box is UNMARKED. Then click on Save. After which, you'll get this:

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo12

Just click on close. Very Happy

And that's it.

In Windows 8, the Windows Defender looks very similar to "Microsoft Security Essentials", which I described above. Note again that Microsoft Security Essentials was/is only available for Windows XP, Vista & 7. It is not present, nor installable, on Windows 8 and 10. In these newer Windows versions, there is only Windows Defender.

The difference here is though that you can turn off Windows Defender completely. Look again for an option named "Use this program" and uncheck the box to turn it off. It should not be hard to find, but if necessary, we will try and provide screenshots for that too, in the next update.

In Windows 10, see the guide here for turning off the "Defender" completely:

https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t32067-two-ways-of-disabling-windows-defender-under-windows-10

I would recommend using that method because experience has shown that simply adding exclusions under Windows 10 is only asking for more problems down the road. A.k.a. the exclusions that you set up are not being accepted by the Defender.

Now that you've configured the firewall and Windows Defender too, the next obstacle is your anti-virus software. There are countless different programs out there, and they all work differently. It would be far beyond the scope of this guide here to go into detail of every possible anti-virus or anti-malware program, but I will show you two examples of anti-virus programs, and try giving you some very general guidelines on what to do. AGAIN: these are only examples of anti-virus programs. To make the guide more readable, I put the next two parts in "spoilers". Please click on the spoilers to unfold them.

5.) Avast Internet Security:

Avast:

6.) Kaspersky Internet Security:

Kaspersky:

7.) Windows Firewall:

As I hinted above, with the Spa Day-update of TS4, firewall configurations seem to be less important than they used to be in the past. I'll only add these parts here for the sake of completeness. Let's start with some basics, and the Windows firewall:

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Xeyl3x10

Open up your System Control Panel and navigate to System and Security -> Windows Firewall. Click on "Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall".

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] Clipbo10

Click on "change settings above" first (note: if you are running an Administrator account on Windows, then most likely this option is greyed out, like in my screenshot). And then click on "Allow another program at the bottom".

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] 8q14fw10

In the following window, navigate to the location of your TS4.exe file (click on "Browse"). If you got your base game from Games4TheWorld (which, again, I strongly recommend) you must go to C:\Program files(x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Game\Bin and select the TS4.exe there. Or, if you have already the latest "Spa Day-"update, navigate to wherever you moved the install folder to. After you selected the file (in the screen below), then you must click on "Add", as shown in the picture.

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] HSGqE16

"Unable to start: initialization error at startup". [135dec40:984c6a38:00000077] HSGqE16

My screenshot is inaccurate in this sense (since I got a legit game, and the TS4.exe is hence under Origin Games/The Sims 4/Game/Bin) but then this is only supposed to serve as an illustration.

8.) 4GB patch

Next, please avoid using the so-called "4GB patch", available here:
http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php

Quite a few users have reported all kinds of problems after applying this patch to the TS4.exe of Games4TheWorld's Sims 4 game, so please refrain from it - for the time being at least. Over time, we will come up with workarounds to that issue too, so stay tuned.

Note that the DLC from "City Living" onwards offer a TS4_x64.exe as well now, which is a 64-bit executable. Use that .exe, if you want to make use of your computer's RAM. For the latest procedure on installing the G4TW repacks of The Sims 4, please consult this thread here.

9.) Also note that as of the "Spa Day"-update in The Sims 4 (game version 1.10), it may be necessary to MOVE the game install folder. If you downloaded and installed the game from G4TW, the install location will typically be C:\Program files(x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4. Even after applying the Ultimate fix with the Spa Day-update, you may get an error saying "Origin must be running".

Make sure to MOVE the install folder of TS4 elsewhere. For example, directly under Program files(x86), so that the new location is C:\Program files(x86)\The Sims 4. Delete ALL of your old TS4.exe shortcuts on the desktop, about TS4, and create new shortcuts, from the new location. Start the game then.

10.) Again, I can only repeat that you must familiarize yourselves with your anti-virus software. Find out how to "add files to the exclusion list" (or something with a similar wording), and how to configure your anti-virus firewall too. In general, it is YOUR responsibility to learn how your anti-virus program works. We can try giving you general guidelines, like this "tutorial" here, or we can try helping you individually. But again: the final responsibility how to handle your "security"-software is solely up to you, and nobody else.

The alternative is that you un-install your anti-virus completely, or have it permanently disabled, which is dubious, yes, but still a final possibility, if all else fails. You could then even switch to another anti-virus program.

That said, I do hope that this guide will help at least some of you. Have fun, and good luck !

Also make sure to check back regularly, as I might add stuff to this guide, or edit things from time to time. You can always check the date when the guide was last updated, from my topic title in the square brackets. Smile

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Note that any and all questions posted under this thread, will be deleted without any explanation or advance warning. We have the Forum sections dedicated to Support purposes, for a reason.