Serious lag/loading issues

jgall19  Does this happen if you choose to start a new save?  Please test, for comparison's sake, and let me know either way.

If the new save is fine, try loading a different household within your main save.

If the new save is affected, 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.

Thanks for your help! Tried the new save and it doesn't seem to be working either. I'll attach the dxdiag file below. Appreciate it

jgall19  Your dxdiag lists a handful of generic Windows errors, so please run a couple of basic checks of your Windows system files:

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Windows Terminal (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the box to check for updates.  If any install, restart again afterwards.

Please also disable Game Mode and Game Bar, both under Windows Settings > Gaming.

Finally, please update the driver for your Nvidia graphics card.  The newest-available driver is still somewhat old, but it's newer than your current one, so it may help.  Go here:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/

Select GeForce, GeForce 700M Series (Notebooks), GT 720M [make sure GT is showing], Windows 10, and download the Game Ready Driver from 2019.  Run the installer as an admin: right-click the download and select "Run as administrator."  Restart your computer afterwards and before trying to play.

Thank you! The message I received after the scan was  "There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete.  Restart Windows and run sfc again." I updated and restarted and went to install the graphics driver, but it says it "could not find compatible graphics hardware". Any idea what to do here? I appreciate the help

jgall19  To be clear, you ran the Nvidia installer and got that message?  This isn't uncommon with laptops, but I haven't seen it much with Dell models.  At any rate, you can force-install the driver, which is in fact compatible despite the error message.

Please download 7-Zip and use it to extract the Nvidia graphics driver.  (Once 7-Zip is installed, you can right-click the driver and select Extract.)  Click Windows key-X, open the Device Manager, expand Display Adapters, and right-click the Nvidia GPU.  Choose Update Driver > Browse my computer > Let me pick > Have disk, choose the extracted driver, and select the Display.Driver folder.  The Device Manager should be able to select the correct file from inside.

Great - thank you so much! I was able to get the driver installed, but the game is still not working - it is still very slow, won't load, and ends up with "Not Responding". Any more steps I can take? I really appreciate your help so much

Going offline seems to be working great! Are there any elements of the game am I missing out on with this? I never really play interactively with others so as long as my game is saving and still working, I'm fine with it.

jgall19  Offline mode blocks Gallery access, and it will also block you from starting the limited-time events or redeeming your progress.  However, you can occasionally go online to get what you want and then go back offline afterwards.  For example, the next event starts tomorrow, so you could go online once, start the event, go back offline, and only go online again (briefly) when you've completed all the tasks in-game and you want that progress credited to your account.  You only need to be online once (per set of tasks) to show EA servers you've finished the tasks, and then the rewards are yours permanently going forward.

A less drastic alternative you can try is keeping your computer online but placing the EA App in offline mode, or even leaving the App online but disabling Online Social Features within Sims 4, under Options > Game Options > Other.  It's not always clear which setting is the issue.  Either of these alternatives would still block Gallery access and the special events, but the above method of occasionally restoring the connection would work equally well.