[HR] Chestnut Ridge FPS drop and simulation lag

Nitrozem​  In the new save, did you use existing sims or an existing build from your library or the Gallery?  If so, please test with fresh sims and either a new build you make right now or a default EA build.

If that doesn't help, let me know whether it makes a difference how zoomed in you are, or where the camera is focused, or anything else more specific than just this lot.  The horse or sim approaching is interesting but shouldn't be a problem by itself... but maybe there's a routing issue the game is trying to resolve, or something else similarly difficult to find.

It was completely fresh sims on the default build for that lot, yes. I was zoomed into my lot and zoomed out a couple times but nothing changed. The fps returned to normal while the time was paused but when I resumed time it would drop back down. It only ever resolved itself when I saw that sim and horse despawn

Something else I forgot to mention; One time while it was happening, I tried to go to manage worlds (without saving) to see if that did anything but I was stuck in an infinite load screen.

I've never had this problem anywhere else, it only happens on that lot or in that neighborhood but I haven't tried to trigger it on one of the smaller lots there. I assumed it was something with mods/cc the last few times it happened. So when I did decide to play there recently and the issue started up again, I decided to test it without mods with new sims on a new save just to see if it was my mods/cc. It wasn't so I figured I'd post about it here.

I figured it was specific routing or a bug with the simulation (which is why I initially posted this in bug reports) I'm not sure why the FPS drops though. Usually when the simulation locks up for me, the sims just don't move but the FPS is unaffected and a simple reboot fixes the problem. No FPS issues in the game besides that.

Thank you for the reply, let me know if you want me to try something else in game.

Nitrozem​  If you get another infinite loading, or you can trigger it deliberately, the game might generate a lastexception file to go with it in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4.  I'd like to see the contents of that file; you can copy the text and paste it into a reply if it's not too long.  LEs often point to a specific trigger that can be fixed or that's a known bug.

I believe the game's graphics processing is a separate pipeline from everything else and uses its own CPU core/thread, so I wouldn't be surprised if fps stayed steady when the game overall locked up.  But if something about graphics processing locks up, or more likely is caught in some kind of loop trying to resolve a particular issue, that would definitely cause an fps drop.  Or the graphics processing is depending on some data that's lagging, or... I don't know, I don't work on the game and couldn't tell you other than to say I can see how this would happen only some of the time.

The other easy test would be to see if this happens on minimum graphics settings.  Of course you'd never play like that, but if you can find one setting that's causing the problem, that at least narrows down the source.

Next time I play, I'll see if It happens again and I'll go to manage worlds to see if it gives me an infinite loading screen and a last exception. I'll also mess with the settings to, thanks.

Either way, if I find a solution or anymore clues/errors I will report back. Again, thanks for the help.

EDIT: Went to my tumblr where I remember posting about it when it first happened and it was on July 13th 2024. I was still on DX9 and I also had a different GPU back then. I don't know it that information would be useful, just taking note it also happened on DX9 and my old gpu.