This thread is to collect information about Simulation and Autonomy lag in the game and give you some tips/tricks how to handle it. Please share any information you have and I will also merge any threads concerning this issue into this one. This is to collect all information in one place and not have multiple threads on the same issue.

Information about your computer is very useful but it's not to blame your computer, it's to determine common factors.

I will archive this thread with every Expansion Pack and create a new one to reflect the current situation. Any new information will be added to the first post

Introduction

Simulation/Autonomy lag has many causes and will usually manifest itself in the following symptoms

\n
• Sims standing around doing nothing
\n
• Sims not doing anything on their own (with free will set to max)
\n
• Sims take forever to do a given command
\n
• Time jumping backwards after fast forwarding to Ultra Speed. The Sims will usually freeze while fast forwarded.
\n
• Sims come home late from school
\n
• FPS Drops
\n

Things you can try

\n
• Empty out your Sims inventories (all households you have ever played)
\n
• Reduce the amount of objects in your house
\n
• Play in a smaller house with less art pieces and stuff lying around
\n
• If you over-clocked your computer, check how it goes if you revert that.
\n
• Once the freezing occurs, try saving your game (save as), go to your options and back or press M or to go to the world map and back
\n
• Lower Graphics settings
\n
• If you play with higher resolution than 1920x1080, try lowing to 1920x1080
\n
• Go to the Audio settings and remove the check next to Enable Mood Sting
\n
• Make sure you fulfill the minimum requirements of the game
\n
• Reduce the amount of mods and cc you use
\n
• Start a new game (completely shut down the game, then restart it and start a new save game)
\n
• Move your Sims to a new game
\n

Information Needed

\n
• Basic Information about your computer (CPU, Operating System, Amount of RAM, Graphics Card, Hard Drive Space). This is not to blame your computer for the issue but to see what kinds of systems this issue is occurring on)
\n
• How big is your save game ?
\n
• Does the issue also occur on a new save for testing purposes
\n
• Video of the issue happening. Just upload to youtube and post the link in this thread. You don't need to list it
\n
• Please add the following files to a .rar or .zip archive and share with QA
  These files can all be found in the following folder: Documents\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 4\\ 
  
\n
\n
• lastException.txt (if it exists. If there is more than one, please include all of them.)
\n
• lastUIException.txt (if it exists. If there is more than one, please include all of them.)
\n
• Config.log
\n
• the entire saves folder
\n
\n

Similar issues/ Specific Issues with their own threads

There's a few similar issues that can be pinpointed to a certain interaction/place. If you have those, please post in the according thread.

\n
• [NEEDS INPUT] [Memory leak] Playing in the lower left neighborhood of Newcrest (Rorolina)
\n
• Time Jumps in apartments (Hroun_88)
\n

There's also an issue where the game completely freezes (on normal speed) and the environment still moves. This can usually be pinpointed to a certain interaction locking up the entire game. To solve this issue, go through all your Sims and cancel their entire queue. If it's an NPC locking up the game, try going traveling. If you have this, please try find out what locked up the game and create a NEW thread or post in the ones listed below if your cause is already listed.

\n
• Freezing during homework (alanmichael1)
\n

Archived Threads with more info

\n
• Autonomy issues
\n
• Issues with time/Clock
\n
• Time freezing & Resetting
\n
• Sims take a long while to do interactions
\n
• Game Lockups
\n

This thread is to collect information about Simulation and Autonomy lag in the game and give you some tips/tricks how to handle it. Please share any information you have and I will also merge any threads concerning this issue into this one. This is to collect all information in one place and not have multiple threads on the same issue.

Information about your computer is very useful but it's not to blame your computer, it's to determine common factors.

I will archive this thread with every Expansion Pack and create a new one to reflect the current situation. Any new information will be added to the first post

Introduction

Simulation/Autonomy lag has many causes and will usually manifest itself in the following symptoms

\n
• Sims standing around doing nothing
\n
• Sims not doing anything on their own (with free will set to max)
\n
• Sims take forever to do a given command
\n
• Time jumping backwards after fast forwarding to Ultra Speed. The Sims will usually freeze while fast forwarded.
\n
• Sims come home late from school
\n
• FPS Drops
\n

Things you can try

\n
• Empty out your Sims inventories (all households you have ever played)
\n
• Reduce the amount of objects in your house
\n
• Play in a smaller house with less art pieces and stuff lying around
\n
• If you over-clocked your computer, check how it goes if you revert that.
\n
• Once the freezing occurs, try saving your game (save as), go to your options and back or press M or to go to the world map and back
\n
• Lower Graphics settings
\n
• If you play with higher resolution than 1920x1080, try lowing to 1920x1080
\n
• Go to the Audio settings and remove the check next to Enable Mood Sting
\n
• Make sure you fulfill the minimum requirements of the game
\n
• Reduce the amount of mods and cc you use
\n
• Start a new game (completely shut down the game, then restart it and start a new save game)
\n
• Move your Sims to a new game
\n

Information Needed

\n
• Basic Information about your computer (CPU, Operating System, Amount of RAM, Graphics Card, Hard Drive Space). This is not to blame your computer for the issue but to see what kinds of systems this issue is occurring on)
\n
• How big is your save game ?
\n
• Does the issue also occur on a new save for testing purposes
\n
• Video of the issue happening. Just upload to youtube and post the link in this thread. You don't need to list it
\n
• Please add the following files to a .rar or .zip archive and share with QA
  These files can all be found in the following folder: Documents\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 4\\ 
  
\n
\n
• lastException.txt (if it exists. If there is more than one, please include all of them.)
\n
• lastUIException.txt (if it exists. If there is more than one, please include all of them.)
\n
• Config.log
\n
• the entire saves folder
\n
\n

Similar issues/ Specific Issues with their own threads

There's a few similar issues that can be pinpointed to a certain interaction/place. If you have those, please post in the according thread.

\n
• [NEEDS INPUT] [Memory leak] Playing in the lower left neighborhood of Newcrest (Rorolina)
\n
• Time Jumps in apartments (Hroun_88)
\n

There's also an issue where the game completely freezes (on normal speed) and the environment still moves. This can usually be pinpointed to a certain interaction locking up the entire game. To solve this issue, go through all your Sims and cancel their entire queue. If it's an NPC locking up the game, try going traveling. If you have this, please try find out what locked up the game and create a NEW thread or post in the ones listed below if your cause is already listed.

\n
• Freezing during homework (alanmichael1)
\n

Archived Threads with more info

\n
• Autonomy issues
\n
• Issues with time/Clock
\n
• Time freezing & Resetting
\n
• Sims take a long while to do interactions
\n
• Game Lockups
\n

Any time my sim sleeps or goes to work ultra speed does not work forcing me to sit through speed 2. It either looks like it goes forward and when I press play it goes back to the original time or it freezes on a certain time. Example:time stays at 8:00 but the minutes move until I press play. This happens in houses or apartments. Please help me this bug has made playing not enjoyable and I really want to play with seasons.

Thank you for the reply, yes two cats but I went back to an old save with no pets and the same thing happened. I've deleted all my CC to try to fix this and nothing happened.

 Try resetting your user files as described in the factory reset described in this post: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4/FAQ-Troubleshooting-Steps-amp-Known-Issues/m-p/3621199

You won't loose anything. Just make sure to not delete any files  and make a backup.

After renaming, repair your game by right clicking on the game in Origin.

Try on a new game with nothing added back first (start new game). If it works, put back your save game and try again. If it still works, you can start putting stuff back.

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• Options.ini (or just re-set all your settings manually)
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• Tray Folder
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• Screenshots/Videos/Custom music
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• Rest of the save games (leave out slot_00000001.save which is the autosave and no longer needed - if you still have it)
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• Custom content like clothing, hair, skins, make up ....
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• Mods (one by one, making sure they all still work)
\n

The rest does not need putting back, cause they are mostly cache files that recreate or log files that are not needed for the game.

I've tried everything that was suggested in that link and more and nothing has changed or helped. Thank you for trying, I guess this is just the end of my Sims 4 playing.

I really appreciate that but yes I did. I tried a new save on my game now and when I deleted it all together and started fresh. My last resort is saving everything to an external drive and resetting my computer back to factory settings and hoping for the best. 🤞

Hi @pronouncederinn

could you maybe post a video of what you're seeing ? 

If you haven't already started with resetting your computer, you can also try creating a new windows user first and try if it works there.

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Seasons, Cats and Dogs, City Living, Get to Work, Get Together, Dine Out, Jungle Adventure, Outdoor Retreat, Parenthood, Spa Day, Vampires, Backyard Stuff, Bowling Night Stuff, Cool Kitchen Stuff, Fitness Stuff, Kids Room Stuff, Laundry Day Stuff, Luxury Party Stuff, Movie Hangout Stuff, Perfect Patio Stuff, Romantic Garden Stuff, Spooky Stuff, Toddler Stuff, Vintage Glamour Stuff.
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Playing the game.
What happens when the bug occurs? Within 5-20min of gameplay
What do you expect to see? Even with Autonomy enabled Sims will from time to time stop doing anything without direct input. On occasion specific needs become frozen. For example one of my Sims was fine, until I told her to have a water balloon fight, after she finished she stood there doing nothing unless I gave direct input. Later she froze on the toilet with her need meter not increasing, after cancelling Use Toilet the need remained at nill. Then other household members began having the same issue with their AI not doing anything.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Not now. I've removed them.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes
Please describe the patch or change you made. Sims 4 Seasons installed.

‌

Since installing Sims 4 Seasons and it's pre-launch patch my sims will occasionally loose their Autonomy, even with it being toggled on and off and back on again via the options menu. They simply just stand around idle not willing to do anything.

 Examples being my sim's son finished having a shower then stood in the bathroom from 4am to 8am (In-game time) until the game sent him to school

His mother stood idle in the backyard after a water balloon fight until she was starving and I had to tell her to get food.

And the father finished a jog with the dog and stayed at the other side of the local area by a stream until I realized he didn't return (6 hours in game time)

After this all began I noticed from time to time some needs will become frozen. The mother's toilet need is frozen at nill, the Father's hygiene meter isn't dropping and the son has lost the need to sleep. None of them have any perks.

Same for me. I have lessened it by removing all mods but it is still happening, my time also stops when my Sims are stuck in interactions. It is not a game crash, I can eneter build mode and build I can click on things too but my Sim and time is just stuck. My PC exceeds the recommended requirements.

This started after installing the latest patch and Seasons