Forum Discussion

Seasoned Rookie

1 month ago

Solved

Game lagging

On my Series S, since the last update. I play with all dlcs on a 64 x 64 lot, but my game has always run smoothly. Now it keeps crashing before I can get into Live Mode, and on the slight chance I ca...

xbox

DreamDwe11er
1 month ago
Good idea, I was just thinking that maybe my save itself is the problem. The game might be having a hard time keeping up with a save over a year old, especially with so many recent updates/patches that aren't retroactive.
I'll give you an update once I test this out. Thank you! :]

simsplayer818

Hero

1 month ago

DreamDwe11er playing on Xbox needs a bit of storage management, even if you have plenty of spare memory.

I find it helps to clear the library as much as possible. Mine is mostly empty after Xbox Support gave me this tip, it was full of things I'm not going to use like all the premade lots and Sims. How many save games are you running? I never run more than 3 and I'm on Xbox Series X, on Xbox Series S I kept it at 2 max. You can try going into Other Households and clear some Townies too. If you have hundreds of them I've found it causes massive issues. I clear some daily as there are a lot being generated, especially after travelling to public lots. I'm clearing between 10 to 20 at the moment. Clear the personal and build inventories of previous Sims and households. Carrying a lot of full inventories does cause a massive lag. As does a full build inventory on your current house, so if they've moved and brought items with them. I usually sell their furnishings and start again. 64x64 lots can also cause crashing due to the size, so I'd save your game very often.

I'd also try powercycling the console. Switch it off with the Xbox button on the front for around 10 secs until it's shut down completely and the light stops flashing. Unplug the power cable to completely reset the power supply. Wait at least 10 secs then plug it back in. Switch the Xbox on with the power button. I always do that after a crash.

You can also clear your locally saved data and sync up with the cloud again by selecting Sims 4 on your console home screen using the menu button (3 lines) go to Manage Game and Add-ons>Saved Data. You'll see 2 sets of data, pick the set next to your gamertag/username and select delete from console only (this step should be carried out while the game is not running). Then immediately load up your game and it will sync up with the cloud and retrieve your data. That's another tip I got from Xbox Support and I do this daily.

These can help with lagging and crashing.

There's also a bug report open for crashing if this doesn't help and you continue crashing:

[XB/PS] Console crashing after update 2.13 | EA Forums - 12266037

DreamDwe11er
Seasoned Rookie
1 month ago
Thank you so much for the reply and thorough tips. Unfortunately, none of this has worked for me; Reddit recommended similar advice previously and I tried them to no avail. I didn't have any issues with this until the last update. Besides now, my game had always run great. I only play a single save at a time -- and I am a hard-core perfectionist, so I actively delete anything and everything I don't need. XD
But again, I appreciate your help! If you have any more ideas, please share.
- simsplayer818
  Hero
  1 month ago
  DreamDwe11er are you using a lot of landscaping items on the lot? Like plants, or items from debug? That can also cause lagging and the occasional crash I've found. I was building on the 64x64 lot in Windenburg recently and added loads of landscaping. I built a lake and a boathouse and added a little rowing boat and a bridge. I used a lot of plants and trees, water decorations and debug items and it froze up quite a lot and I crashed. So I made sure to save around every 10 minutes or after I'd made a big change. I did notice it was fine in live mode and was surprised that the lot played smoothly, it was just build mode. After that I was put off 64x64 lots and did a small Oasis Springs lot, Dusty Turf (30x20) with absolutely no problem at all.
  But I did have quite a bit of crashing on Series S, in fact I lost a few months playing time after the addition of My Wedding Stories. I've upgraded my WiFi since then to the second fastest, which is pretty fast. I did find that with the Series S the WiFi has to be spot on since it relies heavily on being online. I switched to Series X after a while for the increased power. I had some chats with Xbox support live chat too as they can be pretty helpful, especially if you get a Sims player.
  Edit: another thought. Playing older saves can cause problems too. I just made new saves of my game and deleted the original saves as they were 3 years old. I run 1 game save with another as a back up and just been saving over the same files all this time. So now I've made new ones.
  I've also found a bug report with players reporting a lag where they are trying everything to solve it but it's not helping and there are posts from Xbox players, you can add a reply here and upvote it on the first post:
  Severe lag after 1 hour of gameplay : requires restart | EA Forums - 12344705
  - DreamDwe11er
    Seasoned Rookie
    1 month ago
    Good idea, I was just thinking that maybe my save itself is the problem. The game might be having a hard time keeping up with a save over a year old, especially with so many recent updates/patches that aren't retroactive.
    I'll give you an update once I test this out. Thank you! :]