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My Sims Side Action Bar isn't loading or showing up
Ive tried restarting and repairing the game it hasn't worked, and than tried deleting cache files like localthumbcache.package , cache folder , cachestr folder , onlinethumbnailcache folder but it still hasnt done anything. It started when I aged up my toddler sim to a child and than I happened and than I moved to my young adult sim so two of them are now glitched. But some of my other sims are fine and working. Ive also restarted my Mac but still doesn't work.Save File missing ( New game/ game reset??)
I was playing The Sims 4 today with my household, and everything was fine. I was able to save properly and go to Manage Worlds with no issues. I decided I wanted to build my household a new home outside their city, so I saved and went back to Manage Worlds again without any problems. While I was browsing the Gallery and placing a home on an empty residential lot, my game suddenly crashed and booted me out without warning. I thought everything would be fine since I had saved beforehand. However, when I reopened the game, my save file was completely gone. I checked my Saves folder and saw that all the files were still there. I don’t understand why this happened out of nowhere when the game appeared to save normally."Black Square Shadow" Glitch on Mac
Hi everyone, I am reaching out because I'm having a square shadow underneath my Sims. I play with Lighting set to High/Medium. The square disappears if I set Lighting to "Low" or turn Laptop mode on but I want to keep my graphics quality higher. I have tried editing the GraphicsRules.sgr file following several guides: SSAO: I changed SsaoEnabled to true in the $High (and $Medium) settings. Disabling CSM: I tried adding prop $ConfigGroup csmEnabled false to the $High block to disable the sun shadows while keeping SSAO. Transparency Fix: I tried setting HighRezTranslucency to true and RenderExternalDropShadows to true. ConfigOverride: I placed the modified file in the Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/ConfigOverride folder to force the game to read it. It didn't work. Right Now: I repaired the game via the EA App to start fresh. The black box still there. Mac Model: MacBook Pro M1 macOS Version: Tahoe 26.0.1 Thanks so much for your help.
Game crashing or not loading especially after updating? Post here.
If your game is crashing or not launching after recently updating it please try the two most basic and fundamental steps to resolve it before posting: Repair the game in EA App Test a new clean game. Don't just cherry pick a few files and folders you think you should remove, such as just the Mods folder, or a few random Mods, or any old cache file, or a couple of screenshots, test a completely new, clean, vanilla game. Full instructions here - [INSTRUCTIONS] How to troubleshoot and test a broken game | EA Forums - 11864548 If your game successfully launches with a new Sims 4 folder you then need to figure out what is causing the crashing/failure to load. Again, instructions are in this link - [INSTRUCTIONS] How to troubleshoot and test a broken game | EA Forums - 11864548 . Only you can do that and it can take some time. if the cause is Mods head over to the Mods forum for further help - The Sims 4 Mods & Custom Content | EA Forums if the cause is one or more particular save files, upload them to a file sharing site and post the link here (tag me) or PM me and I can test in my game If your game will not load after repairing it AND testing a completely clean Sims 4 folder please uninstall and reinstall the game through EA App then test, still using the clean Sims 4 folder the game created from the previous step. If you're still having an issue post here with the specs of your Mac. You can find these in Apple > About This Mac: model, e.g. M4 MacBook Pro year, e.g. 2024 macOS version, e.g. Sequoia 15.3.2 (yes, the FULL version is important, with all numbers) memory, e.g. 64GB storage available, e.g. 1.5 TB of 2TB. This info can be found in System Settings > General > About or More Info... in the About This Mac window. Please also post a screenshot showing the contents of the new Sims 4 folder in Finder: make sure the files are in list order in Finder with Dates and Size clearly visible. make sure all files and folders in the TS4 folder are showing, don't cut off the screenshot have the path bar clearly showing in the screenshot: with the Finder window open and selected click on View > Show Path Bar in the menu bar at the top of your desktop. The screenshot should look something like this: Make sure to add a full description of what exactly is happening and what you have tried to fix it in your post. Be constructive to help us help you 🙂 The following are a few examples of short replies that are not constructive: "my game won't work" "my game has broken and I hate EA" "my game only works without Mods and I'm refusing to remove my Mods" "fix it" "my sister's friend's brother's aunty has the same computer and her game works" "I've tried EVERYTHING and NOTHING works"Build mode crashing my game
Everytime I leave build mode all the options on the top and bottom of my screen break and disappear, i cant pause or play, i cant choose any of my sims, go back in build mode or save and exit. im forced to go to desktop and forcequit the sims 4 but when I do it doesn’t tell me the game is broken or give me a option to report it.Game fails to launch on Mac
Hey, so I just got a new computer, it runs on Sonoma 14.5. I installed the EA App and my Sims 4 as always, which is that the game itself is installed on an external drive due to limited space on Mac (I had it this way on my previous Mac and it worked without any issues on Origin). Now I did the same and everything is installed correctly but as soon as I try to play, I get the pop-up "game failed to launch, it's a problem on our end, please try again later". I've tried for 3 days now, repaired the game, repaired EA app, everything. I can't remove the folder from the documents because I don't have one - assuming the system didn't automatically create it since the game wasn't launched even once on this computer. I'm literally running out of ideasNo households show up even without mods/cc
After the most recent update (like two days ago), not a single household shows up in my game, I tried sorting my cc out, playing without mods/cc and it’s still the same, empty. I tried repairing the game, deleting the localthumbcache.package, even backing up my EA folder and creating a brand new one (only adding the files of trays and saves to the new one). Still, no households show up. Am I missing something? Is there a way to fix it? Is it just the update?[READ FIRST] Saves, CC/Mods or Library items disappeared? iCloud issues
ISSUE Saves One minute your game is working fine. The next you go to play and the Load Game button has disappeared, there seems to be no way to play an existing save. CC/Mods Newly added CC/Mods do not show up in your game despite being properly installed (for help with installing 3rd party content see here) or CC randomly starts disappearing from your game. Library items Saving Lots, Rooms and Households to your in-game Library doesn't work CAUSE Most likely the internal storage on your Mac is too full and iCloud is pushing any newly added files to your Documents folder in the cloud. This can happen at anytime. You can check the storage level by clicking on the Apple in the top left corner of the menu bar then About This Mac, then the Storage tab. By default, the game stores your Saves, Mods, Tray (where your Library items are saved) and all your user game data in a folder called The Sims 4 in Documents > Electronic Arts. If there is no Sims 4 folder in this location the game will recreate a new one each time it is launched. If you have iCloud Drive enabled and set to store your Desktop & Documents folder in the cloud it may be moving your existing Sims 4 folder to the cloud, hence the need to create a new Sims 4 folder every time you launch the game. You can check the status of various files and folders, and what the little cloud icons mean, here. FIX Firstly, you MUST free up some space on your Mac otherwise doing this is pointless. Empty the Downloads folder, go through your data and see what you no longer need, empty the Bin. If you have large Photos, Music and TV libraries consider storing them on an external drive. Instructions here on how to do this for your Photos library, the principle is the same for the Music and TV apps. Open System Preferences and then your iCloud settings. What you click on can vary by macOS, check Apple's help page here if you can't immediately find where to look. This is where you can choose what gets stored in the cloud. We are only interested in two settings, iCloud Drive and Optimise Mac Storage Click on Options... in the iCloud Drive setting and make sure Desktop & Documents Folders is unchecked. Scroll down to the bottom of this Apple help page to understand what happens to your data when you turn off the setting. Back at the iCloud settings window, Uncheck Optimise Mac Storage below the list of apps using iCloud. This means that your Mac will stop pushing files to the cloud when the internal storage is getting full. For more info on this setting read this help page. Once you have successfully stopped iCloud from moving the contents of your Documents folder to the cloud you need to move the Sims 4 folder back into the default location - Macintosh HD > Users > [User] > Documents > Electronic Arts Apple explain here what the status of the little cloud icons mean. If you're feeling brave you could consider creating a symlink and storing your Sims 4 folder on an external drive. Or maybe change your EA App Games Library location to an external Drive.
Sims 4 Crashing on MacBook Pro Monterey
Posting on behalf of my sister cause she doesn't want to create her own account: She has a 2016 MacBook Pro running Monterey OS (the highest she can update) and since the latest update the game crashes as soon as she tries to do anything in the game. We followed the instructions on How to Troubleshoot and Test a Broken Game. She repaired the game and it still crashed as soon as she opened her household. Then we tested a new game, with a new Sims 4 folder, and the game crashed again as soon as she had her new Sim try to cook. The next step said to create a new thread here if that happened, so here we are. Any help would be greatly appreciated!game not working
the game loads, however, once in a saved file it lags continuosly and whenever I press a key to move around it gets stuck and infinitely moves in that direction. it's impossible to click anything and even rotating the camera doesn't work and triggers that infinite shift from before. the game keeps getting stuck, making it impossible to play. this is also valid in build/buy mode. I already tried repairing the game but doesn't work.
Lagging and stuttering game performance on Macs with M4 chips
This thread is specifically for players using a Mac with M4 chip who have noticed a significant drop in game performance since patching in September 2025 as there has been a small increase in users reporting this recently. Please do not post here if you use any other Mac, look for an existing thread on your issue or start a new one. If you are using a Mac with M4 chip post here if you are experiencing laggy gameplay, stuttering, freezing, low fps. This should be thoroughly tested in a clean game as described here to discount existing user data interference. This is testing specific hardware and operating system. Please post your symptoms and your Mac hardware and operating system. Click on the Apple in the top left corner of your Desktop then About This Mac. Then, click on More Info... which will open System Settings. Scroll down to the bottom and click on System Report. We need the hardware overview and the Graphics/Display overview. All the info required is shown using a red arrow in the below screenshots. are you using an external display? If so what is the size and resolution? does this happen in windowed and fullscreen mode or just one? Models posted so far: M4 Mac mini (waiting for more info) M4 MacBook Air 16GB memory (waiting for more info) M4 MacBook Air macOS Tahoe 26.0 16GB memory 10-core CPU 8-core GPU Using in-built display Windowed and fullscreenHELP all games gone
I was installing a mod but then decided to take it off and when i did, i kid you not, EVERY game/world i had created in my sims was gone. I dont know how to get it back but all I know is that everything is gone, all my progress is gone and all my real life turned game is also gone. I had an attachment to the games aswell. If anyone knows how to help please do thanks
Game save files not on saves folder?
Had to wipe my Mac hard drive and now I can't find 5+ years' worth of progress saves. They should be in the saves folder in The Sims 4 folder which I have backed up on My Passport for Mac, and they are, but I tried importing the saves in there into the new folder and realized only one of the first ever families created when first getting the game were in there. It's as if the following saves ended up somewhere else, but I don't know where. I've been through every folder and copied all the files from the backup to the computer. Anyone have Amy ideas? Pls pls pls help!Unable to start: The Sims 4 is already running - Mac only
If you're experiencing this error message it doesn't mean your game is already running, the actual message itself is incorrect. It means The Sims 4 cannot access the Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 folder to load your user data when you attempt to launch the game. This is essentially a permissions issue which can be resolved based on your setup: - If you have just installed or reinstalled the game - If you have iCloud Drive enabled and it is syncing your Desktop & Documents folders - If you have recently updated your Mac or the game - If you have moved your Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 folder to an external drive and created a symlink in your Documents folder ______________________________________________________________ If you have just installed or reinstalled the game: You would have been prompted to allow The Sims 4 permission to access the Documents folder, this is security built into macOS. This is so it can access the Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 folder in your Documents folder, if one already exists, or create a new one if it doesn't exist. If you clicked Don't Allow when prompted the game cannot read and write to the Documents folder, resulting in the error message. Fix - Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Files and Folders (you will need to use an Mac Administrator account to access this) and enable access to the Documents folder by clicking the toggle on: If you do not see this option open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access (you will need to use a Mac Administrator account to access this). Click the + in the bottom left corner, below the list of apps. A Finder window will open to the Applications folder. Navigate to where your game is installed, by default this is Applications > EA Games, click on it and then click Open. It will now be added to the Full Disk Access list. Make sure it is toggled on. Whilst giving the game Full Disk Access isn't ideal, and shouldn't be necessary, it is a quick and easy solution to fixing the error message and the game is signed and notarised by Apple. ______________________________________________________________ If you have iCloud Drive enabled and it is syncing your Desktop & Documents folders: This is a really common cause of this error message and is as a result of your Mac storage being full resulting in iCloud pushing the entire Documents folder to the cloud. The game cannot see the Documents folder and its contents because it is not local on your machine, therefore it cannot access the Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 folder to load user data at launch. Fix - Open System Settings > Apple Account > iCloud > Drive and disable the Desktop & Documents folders syncing. Be aware of the effect this will have if you use multiple Apple devices to access these folders: ______________________________________________________________ If you have recently updated your Mac or the game: Sometimes permissions can go awry after updating the OS or you have been prompted to change settings after updating and inadvertently clicked the wrong thing. Fix - check all of the applicable settings in the instructions above ______________________________________________________________ If you have moved your Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 folder to an external drive and created a symlink in your Documents folder: There can be multiple reasons for the error message when a symlink has been set up but they are all caused by the game not being able to access the Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 folder: your external drive is not plugged in and properly mounted. Check the drive is plugged in and showing in Finder/on your Desktop. your symlink is broken. This can be checked by looking at the symlinked folder in your Documents folder. If the icon is a white file and not a folder it is broken. Trash it and recreate the symlink in Terminal. If you have further issues refer to the dedicated symlink thread opening post. the game does not have access to Removable Volumes (external drives) in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Files and Folders. You would have been prompted to give permission when launching the game for the first time after successfully creating the symlink and maybe denied it. Give the game access: you have iCloud Drive syncing your Desktop & Documents folders to the cloud which does not work well with the symlink. Disable it (see above for further instruction). your external drive has not been ejected properly multiple times resulting in the OS changing the mount point. Check Disk Utility and rectify, see the dedicated symlink thread opening post for further instruction. ______________________________________________________________ If you're still stuck a really quick and easy way to resolve this is to create a new Administrator account on your Mac and play the game in that account. When you first launch the game in that account you will be prompted to give all the necessary permissions for the game to access the Documents folder - make sure you allow it 😊
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