Actual Maximum Sim Count in a game?

Question 2: I know the game culls townies if you exceed your specified limit (mine's usually 200). It's likely that the same thing happens if you exceed your unofficial limit when you set it to unlimited. 

I can't answer question 1, but it's possible that there isn't one limit that applies to all saves for all players. Other factors affecting the save might cause the unofficial limit to be higher or lower.

For Question 2, i am not sure what is my sim count under Other Households. There is no way to verify them.

That said, if you are right about the limit 200 then I think it's time for Devs to update the max sim count as Sims 4 is expected to have more contents and expansion packs. It is ridiculous to stick to old limits while the game have ~20 worlds (or somewhere there)

**Btw I have been playing Sims 4 since 2014 and the sims limit frustrates me.

My sim count is about 750, it probably includes horses and pets. I never had a played house culled, but I would not know if NPCs are no longer around. I have enough not-played own sims to cover up for them.

I'm pretty sure that device specs will have a word in this. My computer is low-end but I think it helps that my driver has 2-300 GB free space. Best advice, back up regularly :)

I have allways 150 sims, not maximum 200, but normally I only have, parents, maybe grandparents, if I can bother, and about three children, but now with Grim-event I will get five or more children. Does anyone know if social-services can take your children away?

And I

Interesting question.

There is an hidden actual sim limit that counts all sims. It increases after each DLC release, so last I heard of it during Cats and Dogs time, it was somewhere over 800 Now it's definitely over 2,000...

The sim limit you see on Manage Households only counts sims you have in My Households section. These sims will not be culled if the actual limit is full. The game culls sims in Other Households section, housed or not. In addition, if a friend is about to be culled, they'll call your sim and tell them they're going off-the-grid and will be thinking about your sim as they're foraging through the forest. More about culling here.

Unlimited should really be unlimited. But the way you are telling that new townies generated immediately get culled the next day is... interesting... 385 should be far from the limit (and even I at about 1,000 sims have Other Households)... How many households do you have in Other Households section?

Aramezrasocial services can take away preteens, but not teens. They take the child away if their hunger drops dangerously low, or if they get bad grades. Social services will also take children away if all of the adults in the house die. 

Hi. Thanks for the reply. From the looks of it, you have wayyyy more sims that me but yet you don't seem to have any culling issue?

I have 2 suspects (no real known cause) because there is no way to count sims in Other Households:

1. A mod to add more sims in a venue could be the culprit.
2. Somehow I have accidentally removed No Culling Mod from my mods folder.

I have tested 2-3 sim day and the culling seems to stop for now. I still need to observe for few more times.

With that many sims, does your PC lag? Just wondering.

I play at the recommended 200, but that's for played and unplayed sims. The most total sims, townies included, I've had were 396.