Sims freezing in place
I am having a similar issue. My Sims are also freezing in place during tasks; it was worse before yesterday's update. Sometimes, they would stay frozen for anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes (actual time, not the Sims clock, which continues to move; time doesn't stop). If I click build/buy, pause or go to manage worlds, they will usually unfreeze when I go back to the game.
It may have something to do with child Sims, as I didn't have an issue when the two children in the household were newborns (or before there were children in the household). It started when they aged up to infants (they are now toddlers). All the adults in the household vying to care for the children often caused an issue, as they can't all do the same task at once. But x-ing out the overlapping actions would sometimes set things back in motion (disabling caregiver autonomy has helped with that, too). I will mention that this happens every time I play, but to varying degrees. Sometimes it really affects gameplay to the point of frustration, sometimes it just happens a little bit and isn't a big deal.
I tried what puzzlezaddict suggested and played another household. I chose one with 5 Sims, one of whom is a toddler (my household has 8 Sims total, 6 adults, 2 toddlers). Everything seemed fine at first, no freezing. I went to visit the household I am having the issue with, and it was happening when I was there. I went back home, and the only time the game froze was when I was associating with the toddler. Not as bad as my regular household, but still, they would both stop moving for a few seconds or just nod at each other, not engaging in the current task.
I do have some cc in my game.
I did as you suggested and removed Wolfgang's inventory. I noticed something strange when doing so. I was able to sell everything in the inventory, except The Slablet, so I gifted it to another Sim. When I did this, I noticed a bunch of papercraft projects that were not in the inventory and could only be seen when 'friendly gifting'. Wolfgang had about 36 of these hidden items, one of which read debug. I had to gift these to random Sims to get rid of them all. Then I exiled Wolfgang and waited a couple of Sim days before inviting him back home.
I'm happy to report that after playing several times and for several hours, it seems my freezing issue has gone. I'm not sure if it was the collection of strange hidden inventory being removed or the exile (or both), but things are looking positive.
I found that all my Sims, but one, had some of the hidden papercrafts on their person. I got rid of them all and removed the papercrafting kit from their home (just in case). I've attached a photo of the papercrafts in the friendly gift section (it shows the confusing origami mishap image, but says it is a card, a mask or a papier-mache item).
I really want to thank you for the time you've spent helping me with this. I very much appreciate it.
