horrendous black squares appearing beneath Sim

Hello,
Whenever I want to put the Lighting on 'Medium/High/Very High', a black square flickers underneath my Sims when I have my cursor over them. (photo included), it is jarring and makes the game feel buggy.

I bought my iMac in 2026, this should not be a problem with the computer being unable to do something, although it might be a MacOS and Sims compatibility problem.

I have tried removing all of my mods, nothing, repairing the Sims 4, nothing, changing the SSAO in the .sgr, nothing. I have tried asking AI and it just tells me to do what I have already tried. I don't use a CC overlay, mostly just the base game and a few packs here and there..

The only thing that seems to work is using 'Laptop Mode ON', but I do not want to use Laptop Mode ON, the entire point of having a good computer is that I don't have to have the game look terrible.

I figure either EA doesn't know about this problem, or Mac users are just giving in to the Laptop Mode. I don't know what to make of this.