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JrMalungo's avatar
JrMalungo
Seasoned Traveler
3 years ago

Massive FPS drops for long periods of time on Sims 4 Mac

I do know macs aren't ideal for gaming but I'm pretty sure this is really an issue with the game itself cuz this doesn't happen often on other games I play.

I'm running the game on an M2 MacBook Air with 8GB RAM, but when I play sims, I close all other programs.

On average I'll usually get like 40-60fps but then out of nowhere it just drops to like 15 for a very long time, sometimes the framerate will boost back up just by pressing the ESC key but on most occasions it just stays low for a long time.

mac

4 Replies

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    @JrMalungo

    Is your Mac backing up to Time Machine periodically? Do you have Google Drive or another 3rd party file sharing open in the background? It could well be a process running in the background causing the drop and then when it's finished the OS can allocate the power back to the game.

    Or does it happen at specific times in the game? Such as visiting a heavily populated lot or at a certain time of day in the game?
  • JrMalungo's avatar
    JrMalungo
    Seasoned Traveler
    3 years ago

    I just checked Time Machine and it appears I do not have it set up. 

    And no, I close all of my programs when I'm running the Sims and usually only have Origin open. The only thing that I think could possibly interfere is maybe the Finder being the only program that cannot be fully suspended (that's just a mac thing). But I really doubt it has anything to do with that.

    Also, the FPS drops really happen at random times, I do understand that big populated lots can cause an FPS drop but it really just happens randomly, even on lots with just 2 sims and a small amount of objects. It's completely random.

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    3 years ago
    @JrMalungo

    Next time you play have Activity Monitor open on the CPU tab in highest % CPU order. When you get the FPS drop quickly click on the Activity Monitor window and see if another process is at the top of the list, above the game. Have the game playing in windowed mode so you can quickly flick between the two.

    Do you have antivirus running? Some apps open at start up and quietly run all the time, you may not realise as they aren’t “open” but still have processes running.

    What surface do you have your Mac on when you play? It doesn’t have a fan so needs lots of air circulation to help keep it cool. If it gets too warm it will throttle power which could also be causing the FPS drop. The Silicon Macs are amazing, far better performance and optimisation than the Intel Macs, but they can still get hot. Using a USB laptop pad with a fan wouldn’t be a bad idea.
  • JrMalungo's avatar
    JrMalungo
    Seasoned Traveler
    3 years ago

    Thank you for the suggestion, I will do so next time the drops occur.

    As for the antivirus, no I do not have one running. Although I will make more of an effort to completely terminating the programs that are really not needed, I've noticed sometimes the driver for my drawing tablet is still running even when the app is closed.

    Most of the time I'm playing on a hard surface like my desk. I've stopped playing on soft surfaces like my lap after hearing that it's bad for the laptop's temperature.

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