The Sims 4 lagging and freezing on PC no matter what I do

wmoon123  It's normal for the laptop to heat up, and its fans to run, while you're playing Sims 4.  The game is demanding enough that the hardware will produce plenty of heat running it.  Charging the battery also produces heat, although considerably less, relatively speaking, but the combination may be enough to make the hardware overheat.  And that's my next question.

I understand that you've found a workaround, but because overheating issues get worse over time, it would be best to find out for yourself whether that's the issue at hand.  Please download hwinfo (it's free, and the portable version is fine) from here:

https://www.hwinfo.com/download/

Restart your computer, open hwinfo (but nothing else yet), choose Sensors only, and wait five minutes.  Launch Sims 4 and play for at least ten minutes, then put the game in windowed mode but don't minimize it.  Look at the current and maximum temperatures for each CPU core, and let me know what you see.  Don't be alarmed by even very high temps—the hardware is going to throttle to protect itself when it has to, which will cause performance issues but will also prevent damage.

Please test with the laptop plugged in and charging, with it plugged in and fully charged, and with it running on battery, restarting after each test and waiting at least five minutes to make sure the laptop has cooled off again.  You can play as long as you like in this state; the ten minutes in game is a recommended minimum, not a max.  I would like the results from all tests, not necessarily every single number but a range, for example max temps were 81-84º C and current 78-80 when playing on battery.

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried out all three of your methods (with the laptop running on battery, charging, and charging at 100%). 

Before I started playing the game, the temperatures (all in Celsius) for the CPU [#0]: Intel Core i7-1260P: DTS were as follows:

Core Temperatures = 52 at current, 62 at maximum. Core Distance to TjMAX = 48 at current, 50 at max. CPU Package = 56 at current, 63 at max. Core Max = 55 at current, 62 at max. 

For the CPU [#0] Intel Core i7-1260P: Enhanced were as follows:

CPU Package = 58 at current, 62 at max. CPU IA Cores = 58 at current, 62 at max. CPU GT Cores (Graphics) = 51 at current, 54 at max. 

I know you asked for a range of numbers but there were too many numbers and headers titled "CPU core" or something of that nature for me to understand which numbers to include in the range (and the ranges were much wider than the ones you threw out) so I've just attached them all. 

First, I played in the battery (not charging). The temps for CPU [#0]: Intel Core i7-1260P: DTS were as follows:

Core Temperatures = 64 at current, 86 at maximum. Core Distance to TjMAX = 36 at current, 66 at max. CPU Package = 68 at current, 94 at max. Core Max = 66 at current, 86 at max. 

For the CPU [#0] Intel Core i7-1260P: Enhanced were as follows:

CPU Package = 68 at current, 93 at max. CPU IA Cores = 64 at current, 87 at max. CPU GT Cores (Graphics) = 68 at current, 93 at max. 

 Next, I played with the laptop charging but not yet at full charge. The temps for CPU [#0]: Intel Core i7-1260P: DTS were as follows:

Core Temperatures = 77 at current, 98 at maximum. Core Distance to TjMAX = 23 at current, 70 at max. CPU Package = 82 at current, 98 at max. Core Max = 82 at current, 98 at max. 

For the CPU [#0] Intel Core i7-1260P: Enhanced were as follows:

CPU Package = 90 at current, 104 at max. CPU IA Cores = 90 at current, 104 at max. CPU GT Cores (Graphics) = 82 at current, 93 at max. 

Lastly, I played it at full charge while remaining plugged in. The temps for CPU [#0]: Intel Core i7-1260P: DTS were as follows:

Core Temperatures = 69 at current, 96 at maximum. Core Distance to TjMAX = 31 at current, 58 at max. CPU Package = 70 at current, 97 at max. Core Max = 70 at current, 96 at max. 

For the CPU [#0] Intel Core i7-1260P: Enhanced were as follows:

CPU Package = 65 at current, 100 at max. CPU IA Cores = 65 at current, 100 at max. CPU GT Cores (Graphics) = 65 at current, 93 at max. 

That's all the information I have, I apologize if this isn't what you were looking for. I don't know if this means anything to you, but my method of letting the laptop charge, then sit, then play the game until the battery comes close to dying no longer works for more than 10-15 minutes of gameplay. However, today when I played the freezing was even worse (it actually crashed without saving earlier this morning before the tests). During the first test (on battery) it froze at exactly 10 minutes of gameplay. During the second test (charging) it froze within the first minute, unfroze within 30 seconds of that, then refroze almost immediately for remainder of the test (aside from a brief moment somewhere in the middle where it unfroze). During the third test (at full charge and plugged in) it froze as soon as I started the game and sometimes the screen would flash white - it did not crash but I had expected it to. 

So a few days a go I had the chance to take apart the back of my laptop and clean out the fans. There wasn't much dust but since cleaning them I haven't had anymore problems with The Sims 4, whether I'm playing on battery or full charge plugged in.

I did still check the temperature after playing The Sims for a bit (using the same tool from before) and the maximum temperature caps at 100 but it still reaches 100 consistently.  I am not sure if this means that the problem is solved or that cleaning the fans merely bought me some time before the problem remerges. 

wmoon123  Some laptops run hotter than others, so it's difficult to say.  The manufacturers get to decide, to some extent, at which temperatures the hardware will throttle, and how much.  And most laptops throttle at least a little.  There's a lot of power packed into a small chassis, after all.

The important question is whether you notice any problems while in the game.  If you're satisfied with the performance, then that's the answer.  If you want to try to help the laptop cool itself a bit better, consider getting a laptop tray or cooler, which wouldn't solve a major issue with overheating but can buy a few degrees and therefore help prevent thermal throttling.

Then, given that the game and all other programs have been running fine so far, that's the answer. Thank you for all of your help and suggestions!