Product: The Sims 4Platform:PCWhich language are you playing the game in? EnglishHow often does the bug occur? Rarely (0% - 9%)What is your current game version number? 1.86.166.1030What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? All packs except for: Bust the dust, country kitchen, courtyard oasis, decor to the max, fashion street, incheon arrivals, modern menswearSteps: How can we find the bug ourselves? I am not sure if there are any steps per-say, but it happens rarely when I try do something that'd open a menu, IE ordering food, etc.What happens when the bug occurs? The game keeps running and pauses but has the blue filter over everything, like you would when a selectable menu opens.What do you expect to see? I expect a menu to open, but they don't.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? Neutral/Not Sure Basically what I see when this issue happens. I can do nothing to fix it. Edit By Crinrict: Added Tag to Title

This has happened a couple of times to me too, however there doesn't seem to be any way to reliably reproduce it, other than it seems to be linked to opening full screen UI menus and dialogue boxes. Opening lots of menus in a short time span seems to increase the chance of it happening. The workaround I've found when it happens has been to do "Alt+F4" or press the x button on the top right corner if in windowed mode (not sure of the equivalent on Mac) and it should give you the option to "save and quit". Then before reloading the game, clear the cache files. Not ideal but it prevents you from losing progress when it happens.

This issue has been in the game for years and was never investigated properly - the menu or window instead of showing off leaves the player with an unresponsive screen, forcing them to close the game and lose progress.Fixing such an issue should be number one priority. To this day, we haven't received any official statement about it.

I got the same too.. sometime while saving, sometime when I tried to open the fridge even. Basically anything that requires the menu options for anything to pop up, paused game and blue overlay at the back things would have random chance to make this happen.

Omg I LOVE YOU. You are amazing. Would have lost so much progress. Didn't mind restarting the game just wanted a way to save before I closed. God bless you.

Often, if I open one of the popups, eg change outfit, mc command center, cooking (the menu for what I can cook), anything that requires a popup in the game can cause my game to glitch. You know the blue overlay that comes in the background when you save your game or open a popup that keeps you from playing the game while you're saving or anything. Sometimes, when I open any popup, the blue overlay shows up & gets stuck, but the actual popup that I try to open doesn't. When this happens, I cannot get out of the overlay, I have to force the game to close with task manager. I can't save, go into world or build mode with the key hotspots, I cant screenshot the game, literally can't do anything but force the game shut with task manager and reopen, losing however much progress I made in the game. I've started making sure to save my game every time before I open a popup just incase, but since the popups are literally required to play the game, I have to save my game once every like 4 minutes when playing which gets really bothersome. Does anyone have an idea of what the problem is and how I can fix it?

[OPEN] Game 'freezes' occasionally when opening in-game menus

65 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

shealinmurphy
4 years ago
Product: The Sims 4
Platform:Mac
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? 1.83.24.1230
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? cats and dogs, city living, discover university, get famous, get together, island living, seasons, snowy escape, dine out, outdoor retreat, parenthood, realm of magic, laundry day stuff
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? opening any option that requires the sim to invite/choose someone from the pickable menu (e.g inviting people to a party, choosing someone to call)
What happens when the bug occurs? the entire screen goes blue, the menu doesn't come up, I can't get rid of the screen so I have to force quit the game
What do you expect to see? to be able to pull up the pickable menu and be able to invite a sim/call a sim without it being a blue screen
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? Neutral/Not Sure
‌
I'm not able to open any option that requires the sim to invite/choose someone from the pickable menu (e.g inviting people to a party, choosing someone to call) instead the screen just goes blue and no menu comes up. I can't get rid of this blue screen either so I have to force quit the game every time. Please help!
crinrict
Hero+
4 years ago
HI @shealinmurphy

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.

Options.ini (or just re-set all your settings manually)

Tray Folder

Screenshots/Videos/Custom music

Rest of the save games (leave out slot_00000001.save which is the autosave and no longer needed - if you still have it)

Custom content like clothing, hair, skins, make up ....

ConfigOverride, if you have your own configuration files.

Mods (one by one, making sure they all still work)

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.
A_Smol_Shark
4 years ago
@A_Smol_Shark a quick edit: My sim's plumbob is still moving, so the game isn't exactly 'frozen' which is why I wrote the title that way.
wowlovey
4 years ago
@A_Smol_Shark did you manage to fix it?
crinrict
Hero+
4 years ago
Hi @A_Smol_Shark

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.

Options.ini (or just re-set all your settings manually)

Tray Folder

Screenshots/Videos/Custom music

Rest of the save games (leave out slot_00000001.save which is the autosave and no longer needed - if you still have it)

Custom content like clothing, hair, skins, make up ....

ConfigOverride, if you have your own configuration files.

Mods (one by one, making sure they all still work)

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.

There's a thread for lags here: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/Lag-for-menu-to-show-up-when-clicking-on-objects/td-p/10553269 but that's usually just a delay.
thunder11433
4 years ago
This has happened a couple of times to me too, however there doesn't seem to be any way to reliably reproduce it, other than it seems to be linked to opening full screen UI menus and dialogue boxes. Opening lots of menus in a short time span seems to increase the chance of it happening. The workaround I've found when it happens has been to do "Alt+F4" or press the x button on the top right corner if in windowed mode (not sure of the equivalent on Mac) and it should give you the option to "save and quit". Then before reloading the game, clear the cache files. Not ideal but it prevents you from losing progress when it happens.
sharabeebee
Seasoned Adventurer
4 years ago
@thunder11433 Thanks for this, I'm going to try this the next time this happens to me and see if that helps - I've noticed that when I try to save it does bring up the box, but I only "see" it when I'm force-quitting. So I'm hoping this tip will help me avoid that and get the save in. Thanks!
terrynuriman
4 years ago
I got the same too.. sometime while saving, sometime when I tried to open the fridge even. Basically anything that requires the menu options for anything to pop up, paused game and blue overlay at the back things would have random chance to make this happen.
joannezeel76
4 years ago
My screen goes black when I click order groceries from the fridge in cottage living. This has happened twice on two separate plots. Any idea how to fix this?
ukbucket
Seasoned Novice
3 years ago
I also have this problem. It used to happen occasionally but only on the fridge when opening the ‘cook’ menu, now it’s happened on the phone menu when trying to invite over a group of people and the only option is to force quit