Sims 4 Desperately Needs An Overhaul
After 12 years of development, updates, and expansions, The Sims 4 is an incredible platform—but the underlying engine is showing its age. If the game is to remain viable for the next decade, a major engine overhaul is critical. Here’s why:
Single-core CPU bottleneck
The engine runs nearly all simulation logic on a single CPU core. Modern CPUs rely on multi-core processing, and high-population households, large lots with hundreds of objects, or active mods all saturate that one core, causing severe slowdowns and long load times. Multi-threaded simulation would dramatically improve performance.
Performance bottlenecks in build and live mode
The current scene graph and rendering pipeline cannot efficiently handle high object counts. Build mode lag scales exponentially with lots containing hundreds of items, which is common with all packs and kits installed.
Fragile mod support
Mods are a cornerstone of the community, but the engine wasn’t designed to handle thousands of user-created assets and scripts. The combination of high-content packs and mods increases the risk of crashes, corrupted saves, and broken interactions. Without architectural changes, mods will eventually become practically unusable.
Outdated rendering and physics limitations
The engine lacks modern rendering techniques like deferred lighting, optimized occlusion culling, and efficient shadow mapping. Particle effects, lighting, and high-poly builds strain the engine, limiting visual fidelity and preventing realistic animation improvements.
Memory management
Memory allocation is inefficient for modern hardware. Large households, extensive build lots, and high-mod usage can exceed the engine’s optimized memory structures, causing frequent crashes and asset unload failures.
Conclusion
A full engine overhaul—introducing multi-core support, upgraded rendering, memory management, and mod architecture—would allow The Sims 4 to support the community’s creativity without compromising stability or performance. This isn’t just about visuals; it’s a necessity to future-proof the game and maintain trust with the player base.
We love this game and the community we’ve built around it. Investing in a proper engine upgrade will ensure The Sims 4 remains a living, mod-friendly platform for years to come.
