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puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
5 years ago

Re: lag since downloading cats and dogs expansion pack.

@chellogs2016  Your dxdiag shows a number of issues that could be causing the lag you're seeing.  You're correct in guessing that your laptop is not powerful enough to run Cats & Dogs properly: its processor and graphics chip are both below the recommended specs, and 4 GB RAM is technically enough for the base game but usually not for the base game plus a number of packs.  Aside from possibly adding more RAM (I'd have to check whether this is doable), the components are not upgradable.

A more immediate issue is that your hard drive has only 6 GB free storage.  That's not nearly enough room for Windows to maneuver properly.  Under normal circumstances, 20 GB free would be ideal, and 15 would be enough to make sure the free space wasn't causing any problems.  However, given how small your hard drive is, it might not be possible to clear enough space.  Deleting Cats & Dogs couldn't hurt though.

Additionally, the dxdiag lists a few system errors having to do with an unspecified driver.  It's not clear whether this has anything to do with Sims 4, and clearing more space on your hard drive could help regardless.  But it's worth looking into if more free storage doesn't help.

Ultimately though, there may not be a good approach to playing on this computer, especially with C&D installed.  Even with the other issues addressed, the hardware still won't be able to keep up.

2 Replies

  • chellogs2016's avatar
    chellogs2016
    5 years ago

    Thankyou for the reply!

    I did delete things such as Netflix, Skype and other things I downloaded. I think aside from a few word documents and a couple of PowerPoints the rest of the stuff on the laptop came with it. (I think!) I’m completely useless with computers really so I wouldn’t have a clue about reliable sources for updates (if doable ) or how to figure out what the unspecified driver is.

    I might just delete the pack and keep with the base game. Do you know if I do get a better laptop in the future if I sign in to my ea account will I have the pack or will I have to pay again?

    sorry for all the questions 🙈

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    5 years ago

    @chellogs2016  There's no reason to apologize for asking questions; that's exactly what this site is for.

    Your Origin account owns your games, not your computer.  So if and when you get a new computer, you'll be able to sign into the same Origin account and download everything.  You can only play on one computer at a time, but you can install on as many as you want.

    For the rest, if you'd like to try to improve performance on your current laptop, we can go one step at a time and see what happens.  I'd be able to describe how to find the relevant information, so don't worry about that.  The reason I mentioned the other errors without offering suggestions was to say that addressing the first couple issues might not be enough to make the game run smoothly.  But there's no way to tell other than to address the more obvious issues and see how things are after that.

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