How can you make your game run faster?

Every time we add something to the game it gets more boated, whether that’s packs or other content. More game requires more resources. If you have a lot of mods and cc, they can also slow down the game. So can numerous large saves, demanding graphics settings and a large screenshot folder. Basically, everything the game has to keep track of. Also, if you have a lot on your hard drive, it can make it harder for the computer to access game files quickly. Sometimes a little game and computer housekeeping can improve performance. This is why I don’t buy every pack that comes out and only use CC and mods sparingly. I can’t spend a fortune on a high end computer to play games.

So basically, I routinely strip down mods and cc to only what I need, pull my old screenshots off my computer to a thumb drive, delete unplayed saves, and clean out my hard drive if needed.

For me it helped to have my huge Tray folders on the side. I save a lot of sims and lots and if those folders are in the game it runs slower. So I put the huge tray folders in a separate folder on the side and have a smaller one that I just use for current work and families.

It also helps to keep lots not too cluttered, even lots you’re not playing on. I’ve heard that the game has to load every item in a build even if you’re not actively playing on it, so removing excessive clutter can help too.

You could check what your maximum RAM memory your computer can take and add more memory to it if possible. It's a lot less expensive than buying a whole new computer and since they upgraded the game to 64 bit it can use all the RAM you have on your computer. I upgraded my laptop from 4 RAM to 16 RAM a few years ago and it's made a real difference to time needed for launching the game. Granted, I play vanilla and my lots aren't overly decorated but even the largest lots fully built and decorated load quickly for me. Also, if you have CC, you need to check and remove items that are high poly or have large file size. Also, you can check Task Manger and close any background tasks that may be running and using up memory.

Having the game installed on an SSD helps immensely. Even more so if it's one of the newer M.2 drives. They are blazingly fast.

The trick is that you also want whatever drive you use for your My Documents (on PC) to also be as fast as possible. This usually isn't a concern, but it's not uncommon to have the Sims installed on one drive and your Documents on a different device. All your mods and savegames go in to the My Documents folder so that's why you want it running nice and snappy.

I can think of many things to do, each will help a little, but the total impact being quite strong.

Game settings is the obvious, in my case I lower the view distance if playing the largest lots that I know will be laggy. Bad mods might slow down a game, as can the EA App that occasionally lose connection but still operates in the background.

With TS3 running old saves with many sims/graves etc caused lag. This seems to work much better in TS4 (probably because not being an open world), but I think there is still more details for the game to handle if the save is big/old.

CC is not as bad as in previous series, it seems like the game is more selective in what is loaded. Still, if you got many CC items, there might be some lag to reduce by getting rid of CC with high polygon - I checked most of mine and was shocked to find I had a few items with poly around 70,000 when 1-4000 seems to be the norm! For CC I also delete swatches that I know I will never need - say an object coming in 10 shades of grey, it's plenty to keep 2 or 3. Also, check CC filenames - and special characters like []()%&. and "space" etc will cause longer loading (not significant unless you have many of them).

When building, it might help using a basic wall/floor per house. Also for objects it might be smart re-using some items all over the house. The number of items is not as much lagging if many of those items are the same. With the new ceiling paint I think using one or maybe two versions per house is smart. Normally it can be seen in larger rooms only. Also, if you play a huge house you don't need to fill each little room with clutter. In my recent builds most bedrooms don't even have curtains, especially if sims only sleep there anyway.

Staying within one hood at the time seems to help. When playing larger lots it often helps a little to zoom closer to the ground and avoid looking "horizontally", but rather downwards more or less.

Full inventories are known to cause lag. Both household and personal inventories should be kept to a minimum. Sell those 450 berries right away... :)

Like other mentioned, the albums (not gallery) will slow down the game when growing out of hand. Also the number of saves, aaand the Screenshot folder.

Also, delete the localthumbcache file frequently, and definitely if you make changes to he Mods folder.

There's more, but I gotta do some simming :)

Closing Chrome always does it for me.

I’m noticing so much lag now in my game sending sims to school and work will lag by about 5-6 hours. I have to save and go into the neighbourhood and reload in and it resets the time only for it to happen again. This has occurred since the last 2 patches and I play vanilla. However I do have a low end laptop so I expect performance issues but this is new for me on my laptop over the past 5 years ?

These are all great suggestions. If you're a rotational player, try lowering the number of played households. Also delete any households you don’t want in the unplayed households.

I noticed that fountains were a bit of a strain for me so I avoid those as much as possible.

Edit to clarify: I don't use more that one or 2 fountains on any lots that I feel need them.

You can also disable packs that you don't use. James Turner has a way to do that on his website. If you're interested, you can check it here: https://jamesturner.yt/disablepacks

And as others have said, remove mods/cc that you don't use. I recently took out all of my Build/Buy and CAS CC, and removed several mods that I felt didn't make much of a difference in gameplay, but made a huge difference in loading times.

Also, moving your household to a new save, especially if you've played in that save for several sim generations, also helps. It's a chore to get everything back to where you last left off, but I recently had to do that. My game left me no choice, and my game runs smoothly now.

And last, someone mentioned deleting the localthumbcache file. You should do that anytime you add/remove mods. But I also recommend deleting the files in the cachestr (Do not delete the spotlight file). Those are generated everytime you load the Gallery. And I also delete the contents of the onlinethumbnailcache folder.

Apart from upgrading your computer, those are the ones I can think of for now. Some of these may have been mentioned above and I just missed them.

Edit 2: I just thought of something else. I recently bought an external hard drive and moved everything that isn't required for Sims (2,3 & 4) to run over to it. My screenshots for Sims is on there and other personal non-Sims related stuff. My computer as a whole runs better and feels lighter ?

"FlamingoKicker1;d-1010574" wrote:
I have noticed this happens to me at the end of every generation of the Sims (1, 2, 3 and now 4). When I have bought and installed almost all the packs, expansions, stuff and game packs my game becomes almost unplayable. It is just sooooo slow loading new screens. Once in a neighborhood it plays fairly smoothly but sending a sim to another lot or anyplace else just makes the game a nightmare. Better go brew some coffee or get a snack or take a break cause you will be waiting. Short of buying a new upgraded more powerful PC are there any tips that can make the game run faster?

1. If the game is running or loading slowly, the first thing to try is make sure all mods are updated. Old mods can really slow down a game.
2. Rename your whole mods folder to "Mods Old" and start with a brand new empty mods folder. And a new save, if you had a lot of custom content. Playing the game "vanilla" with NO custom content or mods can speed up a game if it was overloaded with custom content.
3. Check your PC specs. How much free hard drive space do you have on your C drive? If you are low on space, it will slow down your whole computer. If you need to you can offload some files onto an external drive or USB stick, or burn a file DVD for items you only need for backup instead of on your computer. Sometimes replacing some of the hardware can be less expensive than replacing the whole thing. (see below)