Re: [ARCHIVED] In-game clock not matching gameplay (1.68/1.33)

Hi!

I tested it with both old and brand-new saves, and it happens in both. Saves usually start out fine and then after playing them some time, the time issue starts happening. It particularly happens when I speed up the in-game time when my sims shower, cook etc., basically everything that's not work or sleep.

I've never changed the clock with any mod as far as I know. 

Do you think re-installing the game completely might fix the issue? 

Just to be sure, if I re-install the game but later add the save file I'm playing right now, would it bring the error back into the game?

I've had the same thing happen too, sort of. I haven't been paying attention to the clock except when I got a notification that the weekly bills had just arrived -- at midnight on a Friday night. 

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? 1.68.156
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? All
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? It will just happen in my game
What happens when the bug occurs? My in game clock and the simulation is not in sync. For example, the clock would display that its 8AM so my sims should go to work and school but on their work/school panel, it only says "Happening Now" at 8AM then after 8AM "Within 24 Hours" They would only get the option to go to school at a later time. For example 8:11AM if I'm lucky or a much later time if I'm really unlucky. Sims going home from work or school is affected too, they would go home on a later time. Not on the right time. I would notice that the bar would fill up too slow. I noticed that usually pausing for some time would let the game catch up and I would have the option to go to school/work. Not only in going to work/school but in events. My events do not end when the time bar is full. It continues to run even when it's already full and blinking. Also another example is when I leave the household at 9AM to go to manage worlds and go back to the same household or another household, the time will only be 7AM. This also affects cooking too like I can't cook lunch because apparently its not lunch yet. I would have to exit the household and go back for the time to display correctly then it will lag again. As a domino effect, sunrise and sunsets are not accurate too.
What do you expect to see? My in game clock running accurately and in sync with the simulation. If my sims has class or work at 8AM, they should go to work at exactly 8AM and go home at the exact time too.
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. I noticed this after the patch for Eco Living EP. It was a slight delay at first usually when there will be an open voting for NAPs and at the close of the voting period then my time would go back to normal but over time it became worse.

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My in game clock and the simulation is not in sync. For example, the clock would display that its 8AM so my sims should go to work and school but on their work/school panel, it only says "Happening Now" at 8AM then after 8AM "Within 24 Hours" They would only get the option to go to school at a later time. For example 8:11AM if I'm lucky or a much later time if I'm really unlucky. I noticed that usually pausing for some time would let the game catch up and I would have the option to go to school/work. Not only in going to work/school but in events. My events do not end when the time bar is full. It continues to run even when it's already full and blinking. Also another example is when I leave the household at 9AM to go to manage worlds and go back to the same household or another household, the time will only be 7AM. This also affects cooking too like I can't cook lunch because apparently its not lunch yet. I would have to exit the household and go back for the time to display correctly then it will lag again. As a domino effect, sunrise and sunsets are not accurate too cause my clock and the simulation is not in sync. 

Troubleshooting that I tried:

- Removed mods

- Played with and without mods. Still the same issue.

- Played on a new save, over time it caught up in my second save too. 

- Delete homeless sims that I do not like just to bring the sim count down

- Delete relationships. One time this worked cause my sim knows 70++ sims but now its not working anymore.

- Repaired the game

- Uninstalled the game

- Deleted the cache that is ok to delete

- Started a new save for testing. 

- Tried running the game on default options.ini (the only modification that I did anyway is set sims to medium, turn smooth edging on low, turn off laptop mode then the others are on low setting) but that doesn't work too.

- Reset my sims folder

- Deleted old saves

- Emptying my screenshots

- Running the game and EA folder on my Mac HD, tried it also on an external HD (cause my EA folder is in my microsd)

My specs:

Macbook Air 2017

OS Catalina 10.15.7

Processor: 1.8 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

Memory: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 6000 1536 MB

Available space on my HD: 20GB 

- I run the game in my Mac HD then my EA folder is in my microsd through symlink cause I have a big mods folder (mostly CC) but Bluebellflora told me its not related to that and it may be a bug. 

I really want to know if this a bug or its just my laptop/how I run the game. Please advice ☹️

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? 1.68.156.1220
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? All of them.
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Have a Sim either have a job or be enrolled in school. Wait until it is time for them to leave for their shift. Eventually when they leave, wait to see if they return when their shifts should be over.
What happens when the bug occurs? My notifications about work/school arrive late. My Sims do not head out to complete their tasks on time, and the do not return from the rabbit hole unless I manually cancel their actions.
What do you expect to see? My notifications arriving on time, and my Sims heading out to complete their tasks on time. I also expect to see my Sims returning from the rabbit hole autonomously without having to manually cancel their actions.
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. After the 11/17 update.

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So I wasn't sure how to title this, but basically the game clock is way off. My Sim lives in university housing and attends full-time (four classes). She also works part-time as a barista. Her shift at the coffee shop starts at 5:00 am, but she does not go to work. Even if I wake her up and get her out of bed, she will stand around. I don't get a notification until an hour (around 6:00 am) after she should have started saying that work starts in another hour (at 7:00 am). By that point her shift should have ended, and she should be getting ready for class. When her class time rolls around (at 9:30 am), again she stands around and does nothing. I get another late notification saying class starts soon, and then she leaves when her class should be completed.

Also, when she is working, she does not come back. The task bar (circle?) fills up after she's been at work long enough, but her job doesn't end. She ends up working until I cancel the task and send her home early which gets her in trouble. As I said, she lives in Britechester, on UBrite's campus, but I've also had this problem with another family living in Willow Creek. With that family, sometimes they go to work/school on time, and sometimes they don't. Regardless of what time they start, they never come home after their shift unless I manually cancel it. One Sim's job ends at 3:00 pm, but if I let the game run they won't finish work until after 10:00 pm. It's the same with any level of schooling. 

I've taken out my mods and tried to play without them, but that didn't work. I've also updated my game and repaired it, but so far nothing works.

@theangryuniverseSo I went ahead and deleted my Sims 4 file (after backing it up), and uninstalled the game. I reset Origin and cleared its cache before reinstalling the game and all of the expansion packs. I did NOT drop any old files into the folder (like my user settings) and instead played a completely default-style game.

After testing, this seems to have worked. I no longer have any problems with time, notifications, time sensitive options (like cooking), or sims leaving/returning, but I'm not sure if dropping old saves will bring the problem back. I will test it out though and see, but hopefully this trick works to repair your game.

Edit: So I've pulled my old save files back in, and they work fine. I've play tested a few sim days in different worlds with households of various sizes, and things seem to be back on track. As of yet, I haven't experienced any problems. My saves are the only thing I placed in the new Sims 4 file so far. I went in and manually changed all of my settings/preferences to match what I had before, and now I am slowly reintroducing mods.  I hope this helps; let me know if this worked for you. 

@nicoleee123Yeah, I'm starting to run into the problem again. At first it was fine, but now it's back to how it was. I even tried a super repair on my game and still no dice.

I really didn't want to give up on this save, but it's starting to look like I might have to start fresh. I'm going to keep this save file in case a fix comes along, but for now I'm going to transfer my all of my sims to a new save and see how it works.

Edit: So even completely wiping my game after reinstalling did nothing. I created all new saves (which took so so long), and the problem followed me. I did notice that the game clock is only 30 minutes behind instead of an hour now, but my sims still don't return from the rabbit hole. It seems like a major lag in the game. My clock will freeze for a moment and then try to catch up. The seconds also go by slower than they should. I'm honestly out of ideas on how to fix this, and it doesn't look like we're getting much help, so...

For now I'm just going to stop playing. I have other games that don't give me as many issues as The Sims. It's time for a hiatus! Hopefully you have more success than I do. Best of luck!

I'm so glad to see I'm not alone here!

I recently uninstalled and reinstalled my game, and things worked fine. Now the problem has started to happen again, and it is particularly bad in San Myshuno, where my current sim household lives. 

So... I guess it has something to do with the festivals. Once one of them starts lagging and doesn't finish/disappear, things go downhill. Badly. 

Maybe this is something the team should look into. But from my experience, this most likely won't happen. Sadly. 

I found a solution since I had this problem myself and it took me years to realize the problem. This is for people who use mods like myself. If you use Discord go to Deaderpool Discord. Evey patch day all mods break but I got the solution for you. Even Deaderppol announces there's a patch day remove all mods sadly and go to mods news and if the  Deadperool team says yo favourite mod is updated and compatible use that mod. It works for me. Example if Deaderpool says MCCC is updated/compatible use

Hello all,

If any of you are still encountering this on the latest game version (without mods), would you be willing to share your save file(s)?

If so, please send me a private message with a link to the file. Instructions can be found here: http://x.ea.com/74420

Thanks!

I wanted to add that I have this issue, but I think it's because of the way I play my game. It definitely seems to be worse on my home lot. My computer has 32 GB RAM with 1 TB SSD and 144Hz (full HD) graphics. The game was automatically set to ultra when I downloaded it and added my save from my other computer. The rest of my lots are fine, no matter how cluttered they are.