Re: Serious lag after last game update

@LadyDarkSorrow  Please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

@Half-rose  The Sims 4 errors in your dxdiag are likely related to the driver for your graphics card.  Since you already have the newest driver, please do a clean uninstall and reinstall.  Download Display Driver Uninstaller from here:

https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3067

You can get the newest driver for your Nvidia card here:

https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/159887/en-us

Next, take your computer completely offline—disable wifi and/or pull the ethernet cord—and double-click the DDU.exe.  Take note of where the file will land, and click Extract.  If it's easier, you can copy the path and then paste it into the address bar in a File Explorer window.  Open the folder and then launch Display Driver Uninstaller.exe, and you'll get a message that you're not in Safe Mode.  Click OK, then go to Options and enable Safe Mode dialog.  Here's a screenshot of what your options should look like; make sure the box in red is checked:

Close options, and the DDU, and then open the DDU.exe again.  For launch options, choose "Safe Mode (Recommended)," and then click Reboot to Safe Mode (you'll need your password, so find it before rebooting).  Once you login, you'll see this:

In the blue box, choose GPU, then Nvidia if it's not already showing.  Then click Clean and Restart (red box).

Once your computer has rebooted, now back in normal mode, run the driver install .exe in custom mode.  Select "perform a clean installation" and install ONLY the GPU driver and the PHYSX software.

Reboot again, go back online, and see whether the game works normally.  If not, let me know.

@puzzlezaddict  Done

quick question before doing it. I never put any password on my windows. does that mean the safemode also doesn't have one or it comes with a pre-made password?

@LadyDarkSorrow  Try disabling your iCUE software while you play.  It's crashing pretty often and could be interfering with the game.

Your dxdiag also lists a couple of update failures, although those could have installed later.  Please run any pending updates manually: hit Windows key-i, choose Update & Security, and click the button to check for updates.

@Half-rose  What kind of Windows account are you using: admin or something else?  Do you input a PIN or just automatically login to your account at boot?  I've always thought you needed a password on at least one account on the computer, at least with Windows 10.

Since I'm not sure what's going on with your account, before you boot into safe mode, please try setting a password; you can remove it later.  Otherwise, you might lock yourself out and lose your data.  Hit Windows key-i, then Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options, and you can set or change a password from there.

I'm the admin of it. I actually managed to do it without requiring a password so I suppose my safemode didn't have any.

I done all the steps, unfortunately, it is still stuttering itself to oblivion. I did a quick record of what it is doing, sometimes it gets worse than that, making full stops.

https://gyazo.com/7bce06b081197520c421496d3dfcde91

 this confuses me even more because I run games with a lot more graphical and polygon requirement than sims 4, in fact i've played said games yesterday with no issue. It is just doing it for Sims 4

@Half-rose  I can see how that stutter would be annoying.  It's not really lag though, which is when the game clock seems to pause for a few seconds and then catch up, with the sims' animations also freezing and catching up all at once.  I'm not sure if this is just an issue with the game and the latest Nvidia drivers, since you're not the only person to describe this with the newest driver installed.  I'll keep an eye out for more posts like this and see if there's a good way to address it.

In the interim, you can try playing with the graphics settings to see if a lower setting in one category or another helps.  I'm not saying you need to play like this, but trying on low settings and then increasing one or two at a time might flag a particular setting as problematic.

You could also theoretically revert back to a slightly older driver for your card.  Your current one is version 446.14, so you'd want to go back a few versions (441 or 442 perhaps; I'd have to look up the numbers).  I'm not really recommending this, I'm just saying you could experiment if you wanted.  If you do, please make sure you use a reputable site like Guru3D.com and get a WHQL driver rather than a hotfix.

I played with the graphics settings in the game and didn't change anything unfortunatelly. I'll probably try some other things, and maybe try the reverting driver to see if it maybe it does it.

By the way thanks for taking time to give me a hand, I really appreciate it.

@Half-rose It's probably linked to your email account from Microsoft. 

It was for mine.

@JeanVW  what you mean? can you explain it to me cause, I haven't seen this solution yet

@Half-rose  I was referring to the password/pin protection for the DDU. But Idk if that was meant for you haha.

@JeanVW  oh pff, i thought it was about the stuttering. I got the pin thing resolved since it didn't even had one.

@Sean_Theriault  Thanks for the info, that's really helpful.

@Half-rose @LadyDarkSorrow and @JeanVW Does adjusting the mentioned settings make a difference?

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@Sean_Theriault wrote:
@puzzlezaddict Thanks for your reply! I have been playing around with the graphics settings today to see what was causing it. It seems me that the reflection quality (especially when there are a lot of mirrors in a build), post-processing effects (makes the fps go down depending on the direction the camera is facing. Worlds like Windenburgh and Brindleton Bay suffers a lot from this) and uncompressed sims textures causing issues with inconsistent frames rate.

---

Please let me know either way,  Even if you don't want to play on lower settings, it's useful information.

@puzzlezaddict 

No changes from me even removing reflections and post processing. Which i was not surprised because mine stutters like that even without loading into any world, by just staring the world it does it.

@puzzlezaddict 

 I have discovered my issue but i am puzzled on how to 'fully' resolve it

 The frame rate goes to absolute smooth normal when i unplug my internet, it goes imediately to stuttering the second i plug my internet cable back.

note: it continues to stutter if i disable internet features ingame, it only goes to good framerate if I disconnect my entire pc from the internet.

@Half-rose  Yeah, that's a known issue.  I guess I should have asked, but I was thrown off by the mention of lag, which is usually a system issue separate from the low fps when connected to the internet.

Unfortunately, there's no reliable fix for this issue.  You could try a different connection, e.g. your phone (using data) as a hotspot rather than your ethernet cable.  That's not a permanent solution, but at least you'd know whether it was a router or ISP issue rather than something with your computer.

Other than that, people sometimes fix it by reinstalling Windows.  That seems like a huge hassle though, and it's not guaranteed to work.

Thanks for the update.

@puzzlezaddict 

 I started checking for simialr issues with the internet and i saw around about reinstalling windows which is, indeed a huge thing to do. Unfortunately my internet situation is not the best, my room doesn't get wifi well it is really unstable hence the use of ethernet. So I suppose I'm sorta stuck on this now until, some other solution gets found.

 but thanks for the assistance, I'll keep looking to see if I can find another solution.

@puzzlezaddict   sorry for late reply, sleepiness took over me. I read the first post to me and did what you ask , updated ICue, ect, even windows 10 jumped in on the fun,  went to play Sims after. game went back lagging like before, nothing changed. I then read your next Post about turning off post-processing effects as @Sean_Theriault  mentioned . now something did changed. seems I can move about in build mode then back without lagging me to death for 30 sec or more. infect I been playing for 2 plus hour and still no lag.

I never touched the post-processing button

but confuse on what it does ?

@LadyDarkSorrow  Post processing adds a distance blur to faraway objects, to give the effect of our eyes not being able to focus that far away.  When done right, it's a nice effect, although I personally don't like how Sims 4 does it.  (I think the blur is too much and starts too close to the camera, but that's an entirely different conversation.)

But what's clear is that in almost all games where it exists, having the setting enabled puts more demands on the graphics card.  From what I've seen, the effect is negligible in the majority of cases, often has a very small effect (a drop of less than 10 fps), and occasionally a much larger drop of around 15-20 fps.  I only tested a few places though, and not with all packs installed, or more than one sim in the vicinity, or inclement weather, or... point is, even with a very fast GPU, the game engine can reach its limit, and post processing only adds to that.  So if you don't miss the effect, you'll only help your game run better by disabling it.

@puzzlezaddict  thank you, that clears up a huge gap in my understanding. I keep hearing Simmers and other people talking about it in post and threads and never understood it. big help today. AND I got my GAME BACK!  4-h play, no lag. 

Putting post processing off doesnt help in my case.