Before starting to troubleshoot the issue for various local machine causes, you should see if the problem is not caused by an Origin server issue. You can investigate this scenario by checking DownDetector, Outage Report and the official Twitter account for news on any technical issues with the Origin store. If there is no evidence of a server problem, you should proceed by forcing the Origin executable to run with administrative access in order to ensure that the store has enough permissions to download override game files during the update. However, if the issue is being caused by some temporary files, try clearing Origin’s cache manually and enable safe mode downloading before attempting to install the game once again. In case that doesn’t work, force the Origin program to initiate a repair installation on the game folder directly from the My Game Library menu. If the update still fails to install, you can also try a ‘super repair’ procedure – uninstalling Origin manually and then re-downloading the game and changing the Game library and Legacy game installer folders to start completely fresh.
Investigating for Server Issues
Before trying any of the potential fixes below, you should begin by investigating if the issue is not beyond your control. It’s possible that the reason you are unable to update your Sims 4 game is because of an underlying Origin server issue. You should begin your troubleshooting guide by visiting DownDetector and Outage.Report and see if others are experiencing similar issues with Origin. If you see evidence of a server issue, you should check EA’s Twitter account or the Reddit hub for any announcements regarding the problem. In case you have discovered no issues with Origin, start following the potential fixes below.
Running Origin with Admin Access
As it turns out, this particular issue can occur due to a permission issue – The Origin Store needs administrative access in order to download and override existing game files (particularly if they are located on your OS drive). This problem can be facilitated by a strict UAC (User Account Control) settings. If this scenario is applicable to your current situation, the Sims 4 game cannot update due to the fact that Origin doesn’t receive enough permissions to function normally (unless you force your computer do to so). Some users that we’re encountering the same problem have confirmed that the issue was resolved after they modified the main Origin executable in order to ensure that it always launched with admin access. You can test if this method is effective before actually enforcing it by right-clicking the Origin executable and choosing Run as Administrator from the newly appeared context menu. If the error doesn’t occur anymore when you’re trying to update Sims 4, follow the instructions below to ensure that the same problem doesn’t happen in the future: If the issue is still not resolved even after you’ve ensured that Origin is running with admin access, move down to the next potential fix below.
Repairing Sims 4 via Origin
If the previous attempt at installing Sims 4 was stopped by some type of unexpected machine interruption, you might be seeing this issue due to some corrupted files located in your game folder. If his scenario is applicable, you should be able to fix the issue by using origin to repair the Sims 4 game folder. Here’s a quick step by step guide that will help you repair the game folder of Sims 4: In case the same problem is still occurring, move down to the next potential fix below.
Enabling Safe Mode Downloading
As it turns out, this issue can also occur due to the way Origin is forced to retrieve the files needed for the Sims 4 update to happen. One procedure that might ensure that the download completes in full is to enable Safe Mode Downloading mode from the Origin client. Several affected users have confirmed that this operation finally allowed them to update Sims 4 to the latest version available. Here’s a quick guide on setting your Origin client to Safe Mode downloading: In case the same ‘Download Error – Origin is not able to download The Sims 4‘ error is still persisting, move down to the next potential fix below.
Clearing Origin’s Cache
If you’re seeing this issue due to some type of corruption caused by temporary files stored by your Origin launcher, you should be able to fix the issue by accessing the Origin data folder and deleting the cache folders manually. This operation was confirmed to work by several affected users that were previously unable to update Sims 4 to the latest version. Here’s a quick guide on deleting the Origin cache folder: if the same problem is still occurring, move down to the next potential fix below.
Reinstalling Origin and Re-downloading the game
If none of the potential fixes above have worked for you, it’s likely that you’re dealing with some time of corruption that will not be resolved until you reset each of the involved components: the launcher (Origin) and the game that you’re encountering the issue with (The Sims 4). Several affected users have confirmed that the ‘Download Error – Origin is not able to download The Sims 4‘ error was resolved after they deleted the entire game folder, reinstalled the Origin client and redownloaded the game. Here’s a quick step by step guide on how to do this:
