Re: [CURRENT ISSUE] Freezing, possible system lockup on Macs with AMD Vega GPUs

@Aldriona 

Please can you provide more information about your Mac. Instructions on how to do so and what to provide here - http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-4-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/4612396/highlight/true#M162

MacOS Catalina version 10.15.6

MacBook Pro (15-inch 2019)

Processor 2,3 Ghz 8-core Inte Core i9

Memory 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

Startup Disk Macintosh HD

Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

I'm on the normal version of the game, I have no antivirus installed. 

I wasn't aware of the "repair game" function in Origin. I will attempt that now and report back if it changes anything.

I ran the repair game function in Origin and started the game again. This time it took only a few minutes before it started to freeze for a moment before giving me back control. First when moving the camera, the second time when rezising an object to be placed. Right after that the graphic glitch happened again, but this time rather than being completely frozen it would be stuck for ten second or so, before giving me back control for a second, and then freezing again and repeating. Thanks to that, I managed to close down the game rather than have to reboot the entire computer.

Intel UHD Graphics 630:

  Chipset Model: Intel UHD Graphics 630

  Type: GPU

  Bus: Built-In

  VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1536 MB

  Vendor: Intel

  Device ID: 0x3e9b

  Revision ID: 0x0002

  Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported

  gMux Version: 5.0.0

  Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1

Radeon Pro Vega 20:

  Chipset Model: Radeon Pro Vega 20

  Type: GPU

  Bus: PCIe

  PCIe Lane Width: x8

  VRAM (Total): 4 GB

  Vendor: AMD (0x1002)

  Device ID: 0x69af

  Revision ID: 0x00c0

  ROM Revision: 113-D2060I-087

  VBIOS Version: 113-D20601MA0T-016

  Option ROM Version: 113-D20601MA0T-016

  EFI Driver Version: 01.01.087

  Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported

  gMux Version: 5.0.0

  Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1

  Displays:

Colour LCD:

  Display Type: Built-In Retina LCD

  Resolution: 2880x1800 Retina

  Framebuffer Depth: 24-Bit Colour (ARGB8888)

  Main Display: Yes

  Mirror: Off

  Online: Yes

  Automatically Adjust Brightness: No

  Connection Type: Internal

I tested deleting the entire folder, and the game seems to run normally then. I played for about twenty minutes and got no freezes. Is there a specific set of things I can attempt removing from the folder? I'd very much like to keep my settings and saves if possible. 

I tried deleting the cc the very first thing I did, and that seems to have done nothing.

I tried out deleting the localthumbcache and options.ini, but that changed nothing. 

I only have two saves, one for playing my various families and one for building. I might just cut my losses and start anew at this point, saving the ones I want to keep to my library and re-placing them in a new save.

I had this same problem appear a couple days after the September 3 update. It is almost always triggered by moving the camera, although I've also had it happen when selecting items in BB mode or randomly during live play. It seems to be exacerbated by having multiple windows share a tile (enabled by the Sep 3 update), as the game freezes within 2 minutes on lots where I've used this feature. Resizing the glass floor pieces from Island Living will do it, too. It doesn't freeze my entire computer; in fact, sometimes I am able to click through the exit menu by counting the changing shape of the game cursor, but not always. I can always tab out of the game and force quit. No crash report is ever generated.

If I am in windowed mode, it crashes to desktop with no crash report generated, and glitches Origin such that it tells me another user has Origin open, so I cannot open it again. I am the only user on my computer. Restarting my computer is the only way to fix this particular glitch.

DLC: All packs except Grim's Guitar and Journey to Batuu

System specs:

macOS Mojave 10.14.6

2.4 GHz Intel Core i9

32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 memory

Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB with dedicated Radeon Pro Vega 20 (4 GB) graphics

What I have tried:

–removing mods

–repairing the game

–clean game folder

–clean save

–uninstalling and reinstalling Origin

–repairing Origin

–trashing localthumbcache and Options files

–resetting the PRAM

Had to delete my earlier post. I spoke to soon. I did get a bit more than half an hour of play in after moving my saves to a fresh game folder, but eventually the freezing resurfaced. ☹️

I'm not entirely sure. I've been in build mode working on an uninhabited house. I feel like it happens most of the time when I'm moving the camera around, but I know at least once it happened while resizing and placing a piece of furniture. 

@Bluebellflora and @Aldriona 

I went through the 16" Macbook thread and agree that my problems looked similar, so I tried the proposed workarounds. None of them worked, and none even did so much as improve performance. Game now freezes within 5–10 minutes of gameplay.

By now, I can attest that moving the camera causes it. It doesn't happen the first time I move the camera, but around that 5–10 minute mark, even the slightest pan or rotation locks up the graphics and sometimes causes tearing. It still does not generate a LastCrash file, nor does it crash the rest of my computer. At this point, the game is completely unplayable.

@Bluebellflora 

It was happening consistently in any lot I opened, especially if I tried to build there. It was far worse on lots I had edited myself, especially when I tried to use the new feature of windows overlapping on tiles, but I had this happen throughout Willow Creek and Oasis Springs.

I say "was happening consistently" because as I was going through to test more lots, specifically San Myshuno since the 2016 Macbook thread indicated it might be a particular problem, I only had this happen once: on my edited version of the Goth family house in build mode. The only thing that was different between these loads/plays and previous ones is that I had turned off my f.lux filter (a third-party app which reduces the amount of blue light produced by my computer screen at night). Even during daytime, this filter is technically active unless you either disable it or quit f.lux. With the filter off, I was able to go into any lot I wanted in build mode, bog it down with as many items and swatches as I could think of, and wheel the camera around in all directions. The only time I had it lock up was when I tabbed out of the fullscreen game to check something else while I was working on the Goth house. I've had problems with tabbing out and back into the fullscreen game plenty in the past, so I don't think it's directly related to the issue at hand.

I don't think there's a fundamental problem with the f.lux app—when I closed the game, turned the filter back on, and reopened the game, I was able to be just as aggressive, even on lots that had frozen on me in under 2 minutes before—but it seems plausible that it was causing some issues since all but a few were strictly graphics-related. Might also explain why resetting the PRAM/NVRAM didn't work for me. Curious to know if anyone else experiencing problems is using this or even the built-in nighttime filters in macOS.

I haven't yet tested all the lots, just the ones that were giving me trouble + a couple of City Living default apartments, and I've done about half an hour of glitchless play in live mode at this point, which is more than I'd gotten before.

I have the same problem now after updating to the latest patch - never had any similar problems before.

I only get 2-3 minutes of gameplay of trying to build on an empty lot with no family. Seems like the most common trigger for these glitches is rotating the camera, which will occasionally freeze the game for a few seconds, with the default MacOS cursor showing instead of the in-game one. Music will continue to play, but everything else is unresponsive.

The longer I play, the more frequent, longer and severe the glitches get. Once the glitches are triggered once, the subsequent ones will happen automatically. Eventually even exiting the game becomes almost impossible. Got a whole screen of bright red for 10 seconds once. Weird square artefacts in the graphics, which will be even displayed in the world map preview of the lot I was editing, after restarting.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)

macOS Catalina 10.15.4 (19E287)

Processor 2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

Memory 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

Graphics Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

Storage 1 TB

Expansion Packs City Living, Discover University, Get Famous, Get to Work, Get Together, Island Living, Seasons

Game Packs Dine Out, Parenthood, Spa Day

Stuff Packs Bowling Night, Cool Kitchen, Fitness, Laundry Day, Moschino, Perfect Patio, Romantic Garden, Vintage Glamour

I've played my save with CC and mods, but I've tried playing with them disabled and it's no different.

Not running f.lux or any other software that would modify my graphics or display.

Hmm, you all have last generation 2019 15" MacBook Pros with AMD Vega GPUs. iMac Pros with similar GPUs are experiencing complete system lockup after the September patch with similar GPUs - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/CPU-max-usage-and-system-crashing-on-IMac-Pro/m-p/9468479#M37516 although they are getting complete system lockup which I don't think you guys are?

Could you see if disabling Origin in-game helps at  all? https://bluebellflora.com/2017/12/23/disable-origin-in-game/

And if any of you get any lastCrash reports please can you attach them to a post here 🙂 

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@Bluebellflora wrote:

Hmm, you all have last generation 2019 15" MacBook Pros with AMD Vega GPUs. iMac Pros with similar GPUs are experiencing complete system lockup after the September patch with similar GPUs - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/CPU-max-usage-and-system-crashing-on-IMac-Pro/m-p/9468479#M37516 although they are getting complete system lockup which I don't think you guys are?

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The mouse still moves normally during a freeze glitch for me, so I guess it's not a total system freeze. I occasionally get the beachball spinner as well. Never gotten any system alert like in their first screenshot, but the blocky artefacts from the second screenshot are exactly what I get when I let the spiral of glitches get bad enough.

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@Bluebellflora wrote:

And if any of you get any lastCrash reports please can you attach them to a post here 🙂 

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I haven't got any lastCrash reports, as the game doesn't technically crash - though maybe it might if I leave it for long enough?

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@Bluebellflora wrote:

Could you see if disabling Origin in-game helps at  all? https://bluebellflora.com/2017/12/23/disable-origin-in-game/

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I'll try that next, thanks!

@Bluebellflora 

It's definitely not a full system crash for me. The closest I got to that was the Origin glitch if it froze in windowed mode instead of fullscreen; the game would close itself and the client would claim that it was logged in on another computer (it was not). The only thing I could do to fix it was restart the computer, but there was no LastCrash file. It doesn't really seem to be a "crash." About half the time, I can actually mouse through the exit menu by watching the cursor change shape, and if I'm in build mode and click on a menu item, I can hear the sound effect for selecting an item, for example. The game is responding, according to macOS; but the graphics are wrong.

I did disable Origin in-game, especially because of that weird Origin glitch, and it didn't help the overall game freeze. So far, the only thing that seems to have made a serious improvement was disabling f.lux.

I tend to be able to move the mouse even when the screen goes completely frozen, and still with the ingame pointer rather than the system one.

Yesterday I managed to play for several hours on a new save. Regular gameplay, on one of the premade lots. Made some minor build changes to it and added new furniture with no issue. I then made a new save for building, created a tester family, exited to manage worlds and went into a lot to build. Within twenty minutes it started freezing again.

Tonight I tested the linked fixes. iCloud is disabled already, I disabled retina display ingame, toggled laptop mode, enabled vertical sync, and reset my NVRAM. No change. The build lot now starts acting up within less than five minutes of opening it, some times less than a minute. 

Have the same configuration and the same issue reported in the latest patch update.

I tested by running just Origin and the game with all other apps closed and still the same issue.

Tried everything listed in this thread and the Macbook 16" thread, nothing is working as of now. The game gets stuck every 15 minutes.

Even Big Sur update didn't help.

Disabling Origin had no effect.

Given that the issue seems to be triggered by rotating the camera, I tried playing with the Sims 3 camera. I had very occasional rainbow wheels and framerate drops (on a fairly simple lot) when zooming and changing stories, but overall I was able to play normally for 46 minutes.

Around the 30 minute mark I switched to the TS4 camera, and 15 minutes later while dragging to resize a room, the cascade of freezes began and I had to save the lot and quit the game one painfully slow click at a time.

I don't know if the TS3 camera was significant, but anecdotally I was able to play for a lot longer than before until needing to shut it down.

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@groenroos wrote:

Disabling Origin had no effect.

Given that the issue seems to be triggered by rotating the camera, I tried playing with the Sims 3 camera. I had very occasional rainbow wheels and framerate drops (on a fairly simple lot) when zooming and changing stories, but overall I was able to play normally for 46 minutes.

Around the 30 minute mark I switched to the TS4 camera, and 15 minutes later while dragging to resize a room, the cascade of freezes began and I had to save the lot and quit the game one painfully slow click at a time.

I don't know if the TS3 camera was significant, but anecdotally I was able to play for a lot longer than before until needing to shut it down.

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I play almost exclusively with the Sims 3 camera and tbh am not surprised the Sims 4 camera was worse. After trashing my Options file, the game defaulted me back to the Sims 4 camera and it was a catastrophe—almost instant freeze on loading a lot. I had to close and reopen my game before I could change the camera setting.

I now find that if I have all other apps on my computer closed, I can just barely manage to stream or record the game with OBS if I am gentle with my camera movements and don't try to place large/full rooms from my library onto a lot. For example, I placed a room full of harvestable plants on a lot while streaming and almost crashed my entire computer. I dropped 0.1% of my frames (I normally drop 0), my bitrate tanked, and of course I had to close the game to fix it.