Forum Discussion

Elke87's avatar
Elke87
New Novice
23 days ago

Game lags badly for the first time ever since latest patch

My game lags badly, making it unplayable. Removing my sims 4 folder and starting clean makes no difference. It still keeps lagging. I've set it to lowest settings and windowed mode and no change. This is really bad as I've been able to play just fine until latest patch. 

And yes, I use mods and such but even when all are out and it's clean, does it keep lagging. Please help. I cannot upgrade my PC for this. 

Desktop windows computer.

 

  • Elke87  Please provide a dxdiag.  Hit Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop.  From there, you can attach it to a reply using the paper clip (Attachment) icon included with the other formatting buttons.

  • Elke87  Your dxdiag is full of crashes of a component of a Realtek audio driver.  The installed driver is from 2015, so it wouldn't be a surprise if it stopped working properly.

    Please try to update it and anything related.  Hit Windows key-X, choose the Device Manager, expand the Audio section, click on each entry in turn, and click the green and black Update button.  Repeat for everything in Sound.  Windows will probably not find updates for everything, which is fine; the point is to make it look.  Once you're done, restart your computer and try again to play.

    If this doesn't help, please unplug your speakers and test again.  Even if you wouldn't want to stop using them, it's a helpful test.

    If that doesn't help either, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.  Today is on the right.

    Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent Sims 4 crash.  If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.  If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

    • Elke87's avatar
      Elke87
      New Novice

      Nothing works unfortunately... tried to update drivers but windows tells me updated to the latest version. But like you said, it's good that it looks. 

      I unplugged my speakers and played, still made no difference. 

      Did the realibility monitor, only error it says its the Realtek Audio driver still. My game doesn't crash, just lags. I don't understand this at all. Yes, I know my desktop is old but it's been working fine until the latest update. I'd love to buy an upgraded computer if they weren't so crazy expensive. 

  • Elke87  What exact motherboard do you have?  I'd expect it to offer at least one audio driver newer than 2015, or for a compatible driver to be available from Realtek.  If you list the make and model, I can take a look around.

    You can also try other sound devices, as some may come with their own drivers.  The Realtek driver might still interfere, so consider this an experiment more than a guaranteed fix.

    • Elke87's avatar
      Elke87
      New Novice

      I appreciate your help a lot. I'm wondering, is it possible that the problem lies with EA? Seeing as this happened after the latest patch and I never had this before and everything else works normally. It's just The Sims. Also, I've noticed that the lag is consistent regardless of how many sims are on a lot etc. Just every few seconds it pauses. I'm kind of hoping that another patch could fix this.

  • Elke87  Asus offers a slightly newer audio driver here:

    https://www.asus.com/rs-en/supportonly/h170%20pro%20gaming/helpdesk_download/

    That would be the Audio_Realtek_Driver, dated August 2016.  It may or may not help, but it's worth trying.  Download the installer, run it, restart your computer, and see whether it helps.

    The problem isn't EA, not exactly.  Sims 4 keeps getting updates, Windows keeps getting updates, your other components' drivers may receive more updates; and these updates are not always going to be compatible with very old drivers, especially when a newer driver exists for the same hardware.  It's simpler to support only the newest drivers, not every version ever released.  Usually older drivers are still fine, up to a point, but compatibility can break for one reason or another, and it's possible that gets missed because no one is testing against that driver version, or ignored because users can update the driver.  This is just how technology works.

  • monjr8302's avatar
    monjr8302
    Seasoned Scout

    Are the sims lagging but the time is going on? Like they just stop doing what they are doing or need to do but the time proceeds on just fine?

    • Elke87's avatar
      Elke87
      New Novice

      No, that's a simulation lag which I have a fix for. It lags completely. Like for example, I click on a sim and it takes like 5 to 10 seconds for the menu to pop up and also just very frequent general pause. It's very obnoxious and makes it very hard to enjoy playing.

      • monjr8302's avatar
        monjr8302
        Seasoned Scout

        You have a simulation lag fix? Can you link me to it? The only time what you're experiencing happens to me is when they cook. It takes a few seconds for that menu to pop up or the computer one. Then I click it again and it backs it out because its literally taking a few seconds for the menu to pop up. But it's only those 2 things, right now.