Forum Discussion

Hero+

3 months ago

Lagging and stuttering game performance on Macs with M4 chips

This thread is specifically for players using a Mac with M4 chip who have noticed a significant drop in game performance since patching in September 2025 as there has been a small increase in users reporting this recently.

Please do not post here if you use any other Mac, look for an existing thread on your issue or start a new one.

If you are using a Mac with M4 chip post here if you are experiencing laggy gameplay, stuttering, freezing, low fps. This should be thoroughly tested in a clean game as described here to discount existing user data interference. This is testing specific hardware and operating system.

Please post your symptoms and your Mac hardware and operating system. Click on the Apple in the top left corner of your Desktop then About This Mac. Then, click on More Info... which will open System Settings. Scroll down to the bottom and click on System Report. We need the hardware overview and the Graphics/Display overview. All the info required is shown using a red arrow in the below screenshots.

are you using an external display? If so what is the size and resolution?
does this happen in windowed and fullscreen mode or just one?

Models posted so far:

M4 Mac mini
(waiting for more info)

M4 MacBook Air
16GB memory
(waiting for more info)

M4 MacBook Air
macOS Tahoe 26.0
16GB memory
10-core CPU
8-core GPU
Using in-built display
Windowed and fullscreen

updates

26 Replies

Bluebellflora
Hero+
4 months ago
Only1Rat

Yes, close all other apps. Some browsers generally use a ridiculous amount of memory and the web pages you have open can also have an affect on system performance. What about stuff running in the background? Anything significant will often have an icon in the top right corner of the menu bar.
Only1Rat
Seasoned Rookie
4 months ago
I have not checked the activity monitor however I only play with my browser open in the background, which only has a few tabs open. Should I try playing with absolutely nothing open in the background?
Bluebellflora
Hero+
4 months ago
Only1Rat

Maybe you have something running in the background using a lot of resources? Have you checked CPU and memory usage in Activity Monitor?
Only1Rat
Seasoned Rookie
4 months ago
I followed the steps and it did not noticeably improve performance. I still experience lag and slowness that shouldn't be there on such a new machine.
Bluebellflora
Hero+
4 months ago
Only1Rat

Can you try a whole new Sims 4 folder, not just removing some cache files, and see if that makes improves performance? Instructions - [INSTRUCTIONS] How to troubleshoot and test a broken game | EA Forums - 11864548 If it does how is performance affected when you add your saves back in?
Only1Rat
Seasoned Rookie
4 months ago
I play on the M4 mac mini, however since installing the tiny patch yesterday and disabling a few packs with the pack selector, my game has been feeling noticeably slower. I've tried repairing the game and deleting cache files, nothing seems to work.