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CAS and camera settings super glitchy
I have been limiting my use of the sims 4 on my mac because CAS is unusable with how glitchy it is. I can't edit any of my sims features, it glitches to the extreme and I can't get it back to normal. I can't even rotate around them in CAS. The same thing happens when my sims try to take a picture, I have no control over the camera and it glitches to the extreme when I try to move it. I saw previous posts on the forum with responses claiming the issue was fixed in an August 2022 patch, but this device was purchased in December 2023 and has had the issue since it's purchase, playing with no mods and after repairing and redownloading the game. Does anyone have any solutions? CAS is one of the best and most advanced parts of the sims 4 and it definitely makes it less playable when it doesn't work. I have the 2023 MacBook Air with an M2 chip and macOS Sonoma 14.6.1
Re: Game crashing or not loading especially after updating? Post here.
i have an issue which only started today where any time i try and load in full screen, my game is laggy, but it works perfectly fine in windowed screen. Can anyone please help me with this? I could play on ultra perfectly in full screen until today. I've repaired, deleted and reinstalled, cleared cache, removed mods yet it still loads laggy. i'm on the m5 mac air!
[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 freezing a few minutes after loading
I’m having a serious issue where my game freezes a few minutes after loading a save. What happens is The game loads normally and I can play for a short time but after a few minutes, time stops progressing and interactions stops working and I cant click on anything Ive already tried to remove my mods and add them back one by one to see what the problem was and I cleared my cache and tested a new save and i've reinstalled and repaired the game through the EA app please help me because I can't think of anything else to doGame 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"game freezing still an issue cant fix it
This has been happening for nearly a year. However, since the update and only a few days ago, it's become a nightmare. My game will be fine, and then after 1 min of gameplay, it freezes, can't click on anything, can't change sim, can't rest, the environment moves still even in the "pause button". can't do anything. I've cleaned out my custom content upadated and fixed broken CC, done repairs, and everything, yet my game after 1 min of playing it freezes. I have no choice but to force quit my game. It's getting so frustrating... I've repaired the game, googled how to fix issues, spent hours cleaning my CC, making sure that none of them is broken, and yet the same issue has gotten so much worse. I have no broken CC I've cleaned my game files and made sure that the game isn't lagging/corrupted by CC or anything else. All my saves are the same. I've moved my mods in and out, and yet the same issue applies. If there is a way/solution as to how I can fix this issue, it would be greatly appreciated.
game packs not showing in game anymore
Hi, i brought/downloaded a couple packs and went to restart the game once downloading finished but for some reason all my downloaded packs have gone. its says on game that they are downloaded just needs to restart. I've tried restarting, uninstall/reinstall both sims4 and EA app, clearing cache, restarting and repairing but nothing is bringing my packs back. any ideas of how to fix this?
horrendous black squares appearing beneath Sim
Hello, Whenever I want to put the Lighting on 'Medium/High/Very High', a black square flickers underneath my Sims when I have my cursor over them. (photo included), it is jarring and makes the game feel buggy. I bought my iMac in 2026, this should not be a problem with the computer being unable to do something, although it might be a MacOS and Sims compatibility problem. I have tried removing all of my mods, nothing, repairing the Sims 4, nothing, changing the SSAO in the .sgr, nothing. I have tried asking AI and it just tells me to do what I have already tried. I don't use a CC overlay, mostly just the base game and a few packs here and there.. The only thing that seems to work is using 'Laptop Mode ON', but I do not want to use Laptop Mode ON, the entire point of having a good computer is that I don't have to have the game look terrible. I figure either EA doesn't know about this problem, or Mac users are just giving in to the Laptop Mode. I don't know what to make of this.
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 😊
Lagging and stuttering game performance when using screens in-game
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. Edit 13.01.2026 - This appears to be the lagging caused by using in-game screens, merged and edited title and description. Relevant to all Macs, not just M4. If you are experiencing laggy gameplay, stuttering, freezing, low fps when using any type of screen in-game test a clean game first before posting here to discount existing user data interference. 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?
saved household won't show up
I logged into sims yesterday, and it wasn't letting me click on any object or sim. I did some research and someone on an ea forum said to fix this glitch, I should move my electronic arts folder from finder to desktop. I did so, and when I started up sims again, everything was gone as if I had just started the game. My mods were gone as well, but what I really care about is my household. Both of my households are gone. I tried copying them into a new sims file, renaming it, and placing it back into finder, but my old saves are nowhere to be found.
Update Won't Load My Save Files
I've not opened my game since last week. Upon hearing the noise surrounding the marketplace release, I open my game to find NONE of my sims where accessible in the gallery. All my Save files have been located on my desktop, so why aren't I able to play my sims as normal?
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