July 21 Base Game Update Now Available (Patch Notes Posted)

"We tested reports of corrupted lots appearing in saves with many Residential Rentals. With Memory Boost now available and enabled for all players, we can no longer reproduce this issue in any of the affected saves we collected."

I think many of us have experienced this and I truly hop this works. But having it going in my game NOW hasn't helped. I wonder what has changed with this fix. 

Note : Autosave ("save on travel") was removed in 2017 ( Slot_00000001.save ) .
So it took 9 years to figure out how to do it properly and bring Autosave back.

"Quick Save" keyboard shortcut (usually F5 key) isn't available yet.

We tested reports of corrupted lots appearing in saves with many Residential Rentals. With Memory Boost now available and enabled for all players, we can no longer reproduce this issue in any of the affected saves we collected.

And yet the Houses/Lots Disappear thread is still "marked" as being under investigation. 😒 (I don't own the For Rent expansion pack, by the way.)

I am literally petrified that us players do not have any 'agency' to turn on/off memory boost. There is mixed feedback circulating on the web that memory boost actually has the opposite effect for 'high end' machines and can cause severe lag. The memory boost feature seems to be designed more specifically to cater 'low-spec' machines cause the game engine is so old and isn't well optimized to run on 'high-end' hardware.

I'm terrified too.  Been playing for many years and last year, not knowing memory boost was even going to be a thing, I put out $,$$$.00 for a  new system that is well above the PC:64-bit windows 10, Intel Core i5/AMD Ryzen 5, 8-16 GB RAM, and a GTX 650/Radeon HD 7750, with 100 GB+ free storage, to allow my game to play without memory issues of any kind.

My system alone has to have DX12.  That may be an issue which may cause a conflict.  I am unable to find clear cut answers to my questions so I guess we will wait and see.  But I do know this, if it conflicts with my PC Gaming system, then it I guess I won't be playing sims 4 anymore. 

Please please please let us turn off memory boost. I tried it and my game was worse. Many sims didn't respond to my commands with memory boost. I fear my game will be unplayable due to lag and unresponsive sims. I can understand if it is on by default but there should be an opt-out. 

I think the main issue with the memory boost feature is the bottleneck with high-end systems with excess memory e.g 32GB or 64GB of RAM and because the game runs on a 'legacy game engine' it cannot fully utilize the modern hardware properly.

I have updated my gaming PC iteratively over the years so I can play 'other' modern gaming titles at max settings, my specs now are; CPU is an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, have 64GB system RAM (OC in Bios set to profile), and a Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB graphics card (recently I had to manually 'force' the sims 4 game to recognize my card).

The consequences of a 'forced'  memory boost feature could be potentially crippling for sim players who have a high spec gaming PC. If this forced memory boost feature is permanently implemented there is the potential of an exodus of these sims players leaving the community for good.

Really, it is a real shame, bottom-line the game engine is quite outdated and is now simply a mismatch with modern hardware. It's too bad the sims 4 cannot utilize better options like ' Smart Access Memory (SAM)'.

If memory boost is no longer optional, I will not be updating my game. 

From the July 14 developer Q&A: Memory Boost

I'm excited about the memory boost... I'm wondering what improvements we'll see once that is in play!

Dmitrii: Memory Boost improves how The Sims 4 manages memory while you play, helping deliver a smoother experience with reduced lag, improved frame rates and responsiveness, shorter loading times, and a lower risk of memory-related crashes.

Will there be options added later for players who can’t play DX11 to use Memory boost due to hardware limitations. I don’t want to buy a new computer just to reduce my chance of save corruption.

Dmitrii: DX9 will get Memory Boost too!

Would you recommend people to have the memory boost feature on then?

Dmitrii: It will be on everywhere in the next release. There will be no option to disable it.

So does memory boost have the potential to actually allow people to open previously corrupted saves that they can’t currently load, or just prevent it in future from saving into a state it can’t open? Sounded like the first?

Mike: Yes, we've seen some cases where memory boost allows opening a save that was previously not working. It's not a magic bullet though: It depends on the cause of the particular issue you are encountering.

Hey Simmers! With the July 21, 2026 update dropping this Tuesday, I wanted to start a discussion about how everyone feels about the new features — especially AutoSave, Save Reminders, and Memory Boost.

For players like me who run big households, long legacies, and heavily decorated lots, this update feels massive. AutoSave is going to protect so many storylines from crashes, and Memory Boost sounds like it will finally help reduce lag, improve frame rates, and make older saves feel smoother and more stable.

I’m really excited to see how this affects long gameplay sessions, large families, and detailed builds. I also love that Save Reminders are customizable — the little gnome popping up to tell you to save is hilarious.

EA mentioned that the September update will focus on improving Sim autonomy, which makes me even more curious about how these changes will shape everyday gameplay.

So I want to hear from everyone: How do you feel about the July 21 update? Are you excited, nervous, or somewhere in between? Do you think AutoSave and Memory Boost will change how you play? And if you use mods, are you preparing for potential breakage?

Let’s talk about it — I want to hear everyone’s thoughts before the update goes live.