Sims lagging? A bug? Or is it me? 😅

alyssablngr​  For the lag, please provide a dxdiag.  Click 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.

The issues with the nanny may also be lag-related.

For the water issue, is this lot partially in the water?  Is there a pool on the lot, and if so, does deleting it help?  You don't need to save your progress.

I would also like to know how much of the lag goes away if you age up the infant to a toddler.  You don't need to save your progress here either; it's just a test.

puzzlezaddict​ Thanks so much for the assist! Here's the requested dxdiag. The lot is partially in water with a small pond, and there is a small pool on the lot as well. I will try the troubleshooting now with the water & infants and keep you posted/update this reply. 

Update on aging up infants to toddlers- it took me a while to age him up, and my Sim was unable to help him blow out the candles. She glitched out and froze everytime I tried. The butler, however, was able to age him up. Once the infant aged up to a toddler, everything was a bit better! Still a bit of a lag, but nowhere near as bad as the infants. The sims at the very least don’t freeze/glitch out anymore, but just take a bit longer to register/complete tasks. The lag now is more with switching sims than anything else. Aging up the toddlers also seemed to help with the lag when pausing/playing. Checking on water now!

Update on water- deleting the water from the lot did seem to solve the issue of the option for Tummy Time and other infant activities being greyed out. I did also want to mention that the water glitch was not consistently happening, so in many cases I was able to make them fly somewhere instantly, travel back, and try again and it generally worked. But, it’s nice to know deleting all water from the lot helps!

alyssablngr​  Your computer is more than powerful enough for Sims 4, as I'm sure you know, and I don't see anything in your dxdiag that would point to a system issue.  I do see a few errors of a type I don't think I've ever encountered, and one that would likely point to the game itself rather than your computer, or at least to something about how the game is running.

On that note, do you use ReShade/GShade, or an overlay from Nvidia, or anything else that changes how the game looks?  Do you use third-party tools that affect how the game runs?  Anything that could interfere would be interesting.

I'm not saying that this is definitely only on your end, only that I'd like to know if it could be on your end at least in part.  The issues with infants are pretty widespread and commonly reported—it seems like the game has trouble dealing with them in some way.

For the water issue, I don't know what to make of it beyond idly speculating that the game is getting confused as to where the water is, or what's solid land.  It seems like that's the case given that removing the water fixes the issue.

If you run into other errors, or significant lag, I'd like to see any Windows error reports on them.  One place you can find the data is 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.  The chart doesn't always update right away, but it shouldn't take more than an hour or two.

Point is, if you see something in-game that's not working, and you find an associated RM entry, please post it here so I can take a look.

Thanks so much! I don’t use Reshade or GShade, but after checking my Nvidia settings, I did notice I had an overlay on. I’ve since turned that off for now, and have permanently aged up the infants to toddlers, and that has seemed to fix the issue for the most part. My fairy sims do still seem to be lagging when assigning them tasks, and I’ll have to click on a Sim multiple times to change which I’m playing with before it switches over. I have noticed, however, that if I make them instantly fly somewhere, they’ll reset and complete tasks for a bit before it happens again. Not sure if that’s coincidental or not though, so I’d be more comfortable saying that I’m speculating there. Ultimately there’s still some lag there, but it’s significantly more bearable now, so thank you for that 😂

With that said, I really am wondering if the overlay was causing the additional lag, but I was unaware it was on in the first place and it seemed to work before. However, I did just update my drivers right around the time the second patch was released. Is it possible it’s an issue resulting from the driver update?

The last game error I had listed in my Reliability Monitor was on 7/13, I’ll go ahead and post some photos here with the specifics if it helps! All other events were all related to other apps or updates (I believe I had a Spotify update and some Microsoft updates), so I wasn’t finding much there. Last other error was on July 1st, but also unrelated to the game (settings stopped responding and closed). I’m not sure if there’s anything that I’m missing, but there wasn’t any additional info in the Security and Maintenance tab that I was seeing. If there is something I’m overlooking, I’m happy to look further into it! 

appreciate the assistance :)

alyssablngr​  The reason I was asking about overlays is that your dxdiag listed a few GDI (graphics device interface) Object Leaks, which shouldn't happen with a properly-programmed application.  And I haven't seen other examples in Sims 4, at least not in a very long time.  So I was wondering whether some other software was conflicting.

I would still suggest testing that, since your game isn't as responsive as it should be, especially on your hardware.  The way to test is with a clean boot:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

The one service to leave enabled is the EABackgroundService, which the EA App needs in order to run.  Disable the rest as described.

When you reboot your computer, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down any service that doesn't absolutely need to be running, for example anything from MSI Afterburner to RGB software might still be enabled.  If you accidentally kill a critical process and it doesn't restart on its own, just reboot your computer again.

Don't open anything other than Sims 4 and the EA App while testing, not even a browser window.

If this helps, you can selectively reenable services until you find the culprit, then either leave that disabled or (if it belongs to an app you want to keep using) let me know what it is so we can try to fix the underlying issue.

I did see one other report of water-related interactions showing on land, at least that's what I think the user was saying, after I responded to you.  So I'd like to know which lot(s) you were playing when you saw it.

Good afternoon! 

I performed a clean boot and followed the instructions above! I'm definitely still experiencing lag, so I'm still kinda stuck on what to do here. I did run and save another dxdiag in the hopes that it may help. I'll attach that here. I also reinstalled the most recent Nvidia driver update just in case that was causing any issues. Mods and CC are still off so nothing interfering there. 

I am playing on the Fern & Frond Wading Pond lot from the new pack when having issues with the water. I have turned off any overlays except the EA one, and I'm still having trouble with only the lag most recently mentioned. Is there anything else I could be missing? I'm at a loss here but am hopeful I can find something causing the issue!

alyssablngr​  I would definitely try another lot, maybe one in the same world (but not the treehouse lot) and one in a different world.  I have two new reports of the game crashing on the pond lot, so it seems that something about that lot might be at least a little broken.

There's nothing in your dxdiag that I would consider an obvious issue.  There are a few Windows update errors, but those sometimes mean nothing, and even if they were a problem in general, they wouldn't come into play with your computer offline.  The rest could easily just be noise.

Sounds good! I'll keep messing around with it. :)

I did find some error reports from yesterday/today from troubleshooting that I'll also attach here. It seems like it may be something to do with vacuuming and the changing table? Changing table one is from yesterday, and I think it may have had something to do with mods, because I have not received it since turning off mods while troubleshooting. So that one I'm pretty sure resolved itself, but I aged the children up anyway so I can't be certain. That was just from a quick Google search though, so I don't trust that I'm correct in saying that, lol.

UPDATE: I was unable to attach the files successfully, but here are the errors: 

First one: 

 <?xml version="1.0" ?><root>
<report><version>2</version><sessionid>858306564683c071687bee43</sessionid><type>desync</type><sku>ea.maxis.sims4_64.15.pc</sku><createtime>2025-07-19 15:21:56</createtime><buildsignature>Local.Unknown.Unknown.1.116.232.1030-1.200.000.666.Release</buildsignature><categoryid>animation_element.py:198</categoryid><desyncid>858306564683c071687bee43</desyncid><systemconfig/><screenshot/><desyncdata>Exception in Sim Timeline: Exception running Element (RuntimeError: ASM :: VacuumCleaner_VacuumStanding (HANDLE :: 886)&gt;: Attempt to traverse between two states (entry -&gt; Overflow) where no valid path exists! Actors {'x': (&lt;weakref at 0x00007FF4C2BA2310; to 'object_sim' at 0x00007FF4C2B9E450&gt;, None, &lt;AnimationParticipant.ACTOR = 101&gt;)} (debug context:  running new_VacuumCleaner_Loop_OnObject_Standing:46 on object_fire_ash:0x0e2e14faec690777))&#13;&#10;Traceback (most recent call last):&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\scheduling.py", line 231, in simulate&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\elements.py", line 376, in _run&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\animation\animation_element.py", line 198, in do_begin&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\animation\asm.py", line 1160, in requestRuntimeError: ASM :: VacuumCleaner_VacuumStanding (HANDLE :: 886)&gt;: Attempt to traverse between two states (entry -&gt; Overflow) where no valid path exists! Actors {'x': (&lt;weakref at 0x00007FF4C2BA2310; to 'object_sim' at 0x00007FF4C2B9E450&gt;, None, &lt;AnimationParticipant.ACTOR = 101&gt;)} (debug context:  running new_VacuumCleaner_Loop_OnObject_Standing:46 on object_fire_ash:0x0e2e14faec690777)rtim=0&#13;&#10;Client Session Time: 17.72&#13; &#10;Num Save Errors: 0&#13; &#10;Num Load Errors: 0&#13; &#10;Current Game State: 0x96d01090&#13; &#10;LoadingScreenActiveFlag: 1&#13; &#10;Origin Version: 13,511,0,6024&#13; &#10;Modded: False&#13; &#10;SystemInfo: Windows 11 10.0.26100 GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU  32.0.15.7688, GUID: 9BA7796C-CC8F-11EF-8025-F7966836EE0E&#13; &#10;</desyncdata></report>
</root>

2.

<?xml version="1.0" ?><root>
<report><version>2</version><sessionid>7dd0cc1672049680687be7e5</sessionid><type>desync</type><sku>ea.maxis.sims4_64.15.pc</sku><createtime>2025-07-19 14:48:08</createtime><buildsignature>Local.Unknown.Unknown.1.116.232.1030-1.200.000.666.Release</buildsignature><categoryid>animation_element.py:198</categoryid><desyncid>7dd0cc1672049680687be7e5</desyncid><systemconfig/><screenshot/><desyncdata>Exception in Sim Timeline: Exception running Element (RuntimeError: ASM :: VacuumCleaner_VacuumStanding (HANDLE :: 888)&gt;: Attempt to traverse between two states (entry -&gt; Overflow) where no valid path exists! Actors {'x': (&lt;weakref at 0x00007FF4C41218E8; to 'object_sim' at 0x00007FF4C4127CD0&gt;, None, &lt;AnimationParticipant.ACTOR = 101&gt;)} (debug context:  running new_VacuumCleaner_Loop_OnObject_Standing:46 on object_fire_ash:0x0e2e14faec690777))&#13;&#10;Traceback (most recent call last):&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\scheduling.py", line 231, in simulate&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\elements.py", line 376, in _run&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\animation\animation_element.py", line 198, in do_begin&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\animation\asm.py", line 1160, in requestRuntimeError: ASM :: VacuumCleaner_VacuumStanding (HANDLE :: 888)&gt;: Attempt to traverse between two states (entry -&gt; Overflow) where no valid path exists! Actors {'x': (&lt;weakref at 0x00007FF4C41218E8; to 'object_sim' at 0x00007FF4C4127CD0&gt;, None, &lt;AnimationParticipant.ACTOR = 101&gt;)} (debug context:  running new_VacuumCleaner_Loop_OnObject_Standing:46 on object_fire_ash:0x0e2e14faec690777)rtim=0&#13;&#10;Client Session Time: 17.95&#13; &#10;Num Save Errors: 0&#13; &#10;Num Load Errors: 0&#13; &#10;Current Game State: 0x96d01090&#13; &#10;LoadingScreenActiveFlag: 1&#13; &#10;Origin Version: 13,511,0,6024&#13; &#10;Modded: True&#13; &#10;SystemInfo: Windows 11 10.0.26100 GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU  32.0.15.7688, GUID: 9BA7796C-CC8F-11EF-8025-F7966836EE0E&#13; &#10;</desyncdata></report>
</root>

3.

<?xml version="1.0" ?><root>
<report><version>2</version><sessionid>ad56eab44f4093d3687aeeee</sessionid><type>desync</type><sku>ea.maxis.sims4_64.15.pc</sku><createtime>2025-07-18 22:43:29</createtime><buildsignature>Local.Unknown.Unknown.1.116.232.1030-1.200.000.666.Release</buildsignature><categoryid>proxy.py:124</categoryid><desyncid>ad56eab44f4093d3687aeeee</desyncid><systemconfig/><screenshot/><desyncdata>Exception in Sim Timeline: Exception running Element (AttributeError: 'object_TableChangeDiaper' object has no attribute 'has_buff')&#13;&#10;Traceback (most recent call last):&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Core\caches.py", line 294, in wrapper&#13;&#10;KeyError: (BuffTest(apply_whitelist_on_individual_basis=True, blacklist=frozenset(), blacklist_tags=frozenset(), categories_to_ignore=(), disallow_categories=(), require_categories=(), subject=ParticipantType.TargetSim, tooltip=None, whitelist=frozenset({buff_Role_Butler_NPC}), whitelist_tags=None), frozenset({('test_targets', (&lt;part 0 on object_TableChangeDiaper:0x058614f83ad13553&gt;,))}))&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Traceback (most recent call last):&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\scheduling.py", line 231, in simulate&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\elements.py", line 376, in _run&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\postures\transition_sequence.py", line 4543, in do_transition_multi_exit&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\postures\posture_validators.py", line 50, in __call__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\event_testing\tests.py", line 910, in __new__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\event_testing\tests.py", line 609, in run_tests&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\event_testing\resolver.py", line 147, in __call__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Core\caches.py", line 296, in wrapper&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\sims\sim_info_tests.py", line 943, in __call__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\sims\sim_info_tests.py", line 943, in &lt;genexpr&gt;&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\objects\proxy.py", line 124, in __getattr__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\objects\components\__init__.py", line 202, in __getattr__AttributeError: 'object_TableChangeDiaper' object has no attribute 'has_buff'rtim=0&#13;&#10;Client Session Time: 28.19&#13; &#10;Num Save Errors: 0&#13; &#10;Num Load Errors: 0&#13; &#10;Current Game State: 0x96d01090&#13; &#10;LoadingScreenActiveFlag: 1&#13; &#10;Origin Version: 13,511,0,6024&#13; &#10;Modded: True&#13; &#10;SystemInfo: Windows 11 10.0.26100 GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU  32.0.15.7688, GUID: 9BA7796C-CC8F-11EF-8025-F7966836EE0E&#13; &#10;</desyncdata></report>
<report><version>2</version><sessionid>ad56eab44f4093d3687aeeee</sessionid><type>desync</type><sku>ea.maxis.sims4_64.15.pc</sku><createtime>2025-07-18 23:00:22</createtime><buildsignature>Local.Unknown.Unknown.1.116.232.1030-1.200.000.666.Release</buildsignature><categoryid>proxy.py:124</categoryid><desyncid>ad56eab44f4093d3687aeeee</desyncid><systemconfig/><screenshot/><desyncdata>Exception in Sim Timeline: Exception running Element (AttributeError: 'object_TableChangeDiaper' object has no attribute 'has_buff')&#13;&#10;Traceback (most recent call last):&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Core\caches.py", line 294, in wrapper&#13;&#10;KeyError: (BuffTest(apply_whitelist_on_individual_basis=True, blacklist=frozenset(), blacklist_tags=frozenset(), categories_to_ignore=(), disallow_categories=(), require_categories=(), subject=ParticipantType.TargetSim, tooltip=None, whitelist=frozenset({buff_Role_Butler_NPC}), whitelist_tags=None), frozenset({('test_targets', (&lt;part 0 on object_TableChangeDiaper:0x058614f83ad835e5&gt;,))}))&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Traceback (most recent call last):&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\scheduling.py", line 231, in simulate&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\elements.py", line 376, in _run&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\postures\transition_sequence.py", line 4543, in do_transition_multi_exit&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\postures\posture_validators.py", line 50, in __call__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\event_testing\tests.py", line 910, in __new__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\event_testing\tests.py", line 609, in run_tests&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\event_testing\resolver.py", line 147, in __call__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Core\caches.py", line 296, in wrapper&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\sims\sim_info_tests.py", line 943, in __call__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\sims\sim_info_tests.py", line 943, in &lt;genexpr&gt;&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\objects\proxy.py", line 124, in __getattr__&#13;&#10;  File "T:\InGame\Gameplay\Scripts\Server\objects\components\__init__.py", line 202, in __getattr__AttributeError: 'object_TableChangeDiaper' object has no attribute 'has_buff'rtim=0&#13;&#10;Client Session Time: 28.19&#13; &#10;Num Save Errors: 0&#13; &#10;Num Load Errors: 0&#13; &#10;Current Game State: 0x96d01090&#13; &#10;LoadingScreenActiveFlag: 1&#13; &#10;Origin Version: 13,511,0,6024&#13; &#10;Modded: True&#13; &#10;SystemInfo: Windows 11 10.0.26100 GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU  32.0.15.7688, GUID: 9BA7796C-CC8F-11EF-8025-F7966836EE0E&#13; &#10;</desyncdata></report>
</root>

alyssablngr​  Your analysis is as good as I could offer; I'm not at all confident in my ability to read these files outside of certain known issues.  But the thing about lastexceptions is that they're not always game-breaking.  Sometimes the game fixes the issue and moves on, so we don't typically ask for them until there's evidence of an issue on-screen, for example infinite loading when trying to play a certain household.  Still, if you see something like this, it's worth deleting whatever object is mentioned.

I do know I haven't seen these particular errors recently, so if they're associated with any bugs, those bugs are either relatively rare or operating in stealth.

At any rate, I would still like to hear the results of any further testing you do, or any observations while playing normally.  And I need to test those two lots myself as well.