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Simmerville's avatar
Simmerville
Legend
2 years ago

Maintaining my game to reduce lag

I'm aware that paying attention to certain things will reduce lag. Tons of heavy CC is one (a tough battle, but I've at least moved out files with very high poly). Lots of screenshots and videos in respective folders is a bad thing to, so I regularly move those out of my game. Deleting cache files is easy to do, too.

All those mentioned are easy, because files feel almost physical and not interfering a lot with game techs. Like CC, if I regret something taken out, I can just add it back in. But for my LIBRARY and SAVED GAMES it feels a bit more risky to remove old stuff.

I can of course delete Saves and Library content within game, and they will be forever gone. But what is a safe procedure if say I want to take out a save, but will need to add it back in later on? Can I move the content from the Saved games folder to say my desktop, and put them back in later - just like I do with CC? And the Library content, where can I find the files?

My SAVES folder is currently 11 GB, I guess removing half would affect my game lag positively - but how can it be safely done?

Some saves are quite old. I want to keep them for future story telling, but I don't really need them in my day-to-day simming. Same with Library, there are families that died long ago, but I want to keep them in case I need pictures/stories in the future. Don't need them in my regular gaming though. So keeping all this in a safe back-up would probably be better than keeping the files in Saves/Library. PS I'm playing off-line so adding old stuff to a USB-stick would be better for me than adding to the online Gallery.
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  • Simmingal's avatar
    Simmingal
    Hero
    2 years ago
    its okay to put your saves you are not currently playing on usb
    you can move them back in your save folder when you want to play them again (granted do not mess with the files while game is running that can corrupt things)

    its also okay to take out your tray folder (aka library) to usb if it has billion things you don't need access to often but would like to keep just in case you'll miss them (say some builds or something)

    just never combine folders cause you can easily end up with duplicate files breaking things (easier to avoid with saves since you do see when theres more than one of the same title but the tray is whole another monster)

    also do not attempt to delete files off your tray folder if you want to delete things in your library do it in game

    idk about mods and cc though as I do not use those I imagine you'll have to have those installed when you add the saves back that you use those mods with and not having those installed would cause things to break so something to be wary of
  • Ellupelluellu's avatar
    Ellupelluellu
    Hero
    2 years ago
    "Simmingal;c-18323140" wrote:

    also do not attempt to delete files off your tray folder if you want to delete things in your library do it in game

    I assume this is only if you want to remove only certain files?


    In case your purpose is to totally empty your tray, then just move the whole tray folder to somewhere else, game will create new one :)

    I often delete my tray , it comes cluttered fast here.
    But I have one separate build-save. Where I have no sims, but all my lots I have build, and some I have downloaded and I can easily get a lot I need from there too, instead of checking from my many old tray-folder backups.
  • Simmerville's avatar
    Simmerville
    Legend
    2 years ago
    Thanks both of you! So, I would either move the entire tray folder, or nothing? I'd like to keep some of the library content but then if I first move a copy of the entire tray, and next delete what I only want to have in that copy, it would be trouble returning that copied folder into the game? Hm... if I get this right it's easier to take out the whole thing?
  • FreddyFox1234's avatar
    FreddyFox1234
    Seasoned Ace
    2 years ago
    I have quite a few save games (one per household for my rotation, plus a few extra ones). For my rotation saves, I’ve given each one its own number so I can identify it, and I only keep the one I’m currently playing in my actual game folder. The rest are stored in another folder elsewhere on my hard drive. So when I’ve finished my week with a particular household, I move that save game out, and move the save game for the next family in. I’ve had no problems doing this. I don’t know whether it reduces lag in Sims 4, but I think it does in Sims 3 (where I do the same thing), and I prefer not having so many save games in the Load menu.
  • Ellupelluellu's avatar
    Ellupelluellu
    Hero
    2 years ago
    "Simmerville;c-18323163" wrote:
    I'd like to keep some of the library content

    Then I would do what @Simmingal said and delete files in game :)

  • luthienrising's avatar
    luthienrising
    Hero+
    2 years ago
    For Tray, you can absolutely move files to somewhere else. I do this. If you want to retrieve files from your Library, copy them back into your current Tray folder, restart the game, get what you need, and when you're done, copy files back (this will update any changes you made in your backup).

    Other lag tips:
    - check for duplicate mod and CC files
    - let the game set the defaults for sim and relationship culling rather than overriding them
    - play smaller lots, smaller houses, lots not overstuffed with objects that can be interacted with
  • Simmingal's avatar
    Simmingal
    Hero
    2 years ago
    yeah I meant that if you want to delete any tray content in specific do it in the game because if you delete files in folder you can either delete wrong ones or corrupt your library items

    if you want to completely empty your library you can either transfer the whole tray folder out or delete it depending on if you want to keep things for later use or not

    you can indeed also make a save placing down library items you want to keep which might be easier if there is lots of unneeded tray items you want to purge
  • SimplyJen's avatar
    SimplyJen
    Seasoned Ace
    2 years ago
    If you only want to backup certain tray & save files, you can do that.

    To find out which tray files you're looking for, go into game and select Gallery > My Library. Click on the sim(s), lot, or room you want to backup. You'll see a date created. Now go into into your Tray folder and find all of the files for that date.
    This thread might be helpful to read through: https://modthesims.info/t/532723

    To find out which save file you're looking for, go into game and select Load Game. You'll see the time and date for each save file. Now go into your Saves folder and find the one you want saved at that time/date.
    This thread might be helpful to read through: https://modthesims.info/t/562134

    The file system is strict. Makes it hard to know what things are. You can also save something and find it as most recent on top if you're not sure. Clearing some space in your Tray folder should help with lag supposedly. There's players who pull out the folder and only put it back in when needed. The game will generate a new empty folder when you do that so keep that in mind.
  • GalacticGal's avatar
    GalacticGal
    Legend
    2 years ago
    I recently made a backup copy of my current save folder. Then I placed it on my desktop. I may pull it onto a Flash drive. I took only the files I needed to continue my game, placing them into a brand new empty saves file. That way I didn't have to spend time rebuilding the town of choice.

    If lag is my Sims standing idle for a bit before they do stuff, then I still have it. If lag is the game taking longer than it used to load, I still have that. I am very much hoping to get the new gaming rig with more power, speed and space. This little laptop wasn't designed for gaming, but I'm so grateful to be able to play my game, regardless.
  • LiELF's avatar
    LiELF
    Legend
    2 years ago
    Another way to help with lag is to check your Sim inventories. If your Sims have too much stuff, that can weigh things down. Household inventory, as well.

    As far as keeping extra files elsewhere, I do that myself. I have my original saved games and tray folders from the first couple of years of playing, back when I was using a lot of CC. I had replaced all of the builds in that game with awesome ones from the Gallery, and wanted to be able to access those lots again, so sometimes I'll switch the folder out to access the old tray files, grab those lots, and then before I play the next time, switch them back. I also always keep backup files of my Sims 4 folder, so I definitely recommend doing that first, before fiddling with anything, in case something goes wonky.

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