Weird lag in build/buy mode and sometimes in Live Mode too

@MadPeachyTV  Thanks for letting me know.  It's interesting that the clean boot would help for a while but not permanently.  I need to get a second opinion on this; I'll get back to you when I have more ideas, or someone else who knows more than I do will get back to you.

@puzzlezaddict i thought it may have been my razer synapse software, but no, so im totally confused.

Thanks again for the help, I do have a video of the lag, and how it kind of re-sets but it wont let me attach it here in the forum.

Let me know if i can help with anything else. 🙂

Okay, after a consult, I have more suggestions.

First of all, @Gummingtons please reinstall DirectX 9, for the sake of being thorough.  (I know Reshade is acting up, but why not cover your bases?)  You don't need to uninstall anything; just download the installer from Microsoft and run it.  Restart your computer afterwards.  And please test with Reshade disabled or removed.  If everything is fine, you can add it back later.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=8109

@MadPeachyTV  Are the Sims 4 crashes recent, and is there any pattern to them?  They might be unrelated—there are plenty of issues with the game right now—but let me know if there's something in common among them or if they appear to be related to the fps issues.

To you two and @JeanVW as well, from now on, please test in a clean user data folder, again just to be thorough.  You can move or rename the existing Sims 4 folder in Documents\Electronic Arts, and a new one will spawn the next time you launch the game.  Don't add anything to it at this point.  When you're not testing, you can move or rename this folder and restore the old one, and your saves and content will once again be usable in-game.

(Also, it's easy to transfer any content you make in the new folder into the old folder, in case you want to save something from one of these tests.  If you're not sure how to do this, just ask.)

Please try a clean boot again, but this time, when you reboot, disable any other tasks that might be running.  Some apps don't get disabled in a clean boot, and this can be anything from MSI Afterburner or RivaTuner Statistics Server to an RGB lighting service.  To make sure nothing else is running, open the Task Manager and scroll through the list of processes looking for anything that doesn't belong to Windows.  If you're not sure what something is, feel free to ask.  Here are the clean boot instructions again:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-boot-windows-10

If this doesn't help, please try again, except disable all peripheral devices other than the minimum necessary to use your computer.

If this doesn't help either, the next step would be hardware monitoring, to see exactly what happens when fps drops.  I'll post instructions later if the above doesn't make a difference.

I've re-installed dx9 and i'm giving it a go now (with a clean sims 4 install, no reshade or anything), i'll report in if it bugs out again.

I couldn't actually get the Sims 4 to work on a clean/diagnostic boot, it seems the origin DRM is a bit too restrictive (see attached screenshot), the internet works fine so i tried manually starting the origin web helper service and origin client service but that didn't help.

I will try running the game in a clean user data folder and running a second clean boot on the clean user file report back. @puzzlezaddict Also my game was crashing previously to the most recent patch, but now (either than the lag for live to build mode) my game is running fine.

I've tried this, but the issue unfortunately persists.

I've just played the game again after reinstalling, repairing via origin, removing my mods ( I have MCCC only), reinstalling drivers again via DDU and just installing the graphcis driver and physx. It's just NOT going away. Which frustrates me, because I can play games like Witcher 3 flawlessly. 

It's mostly when I click Build/Buy mode it lags, when I click the Options icon it'll go away, before returning when I click Build mode again. I think there must be something wrong with that. It's very frustrating.

I've added another dxdiag, as I just played the game. Maybe that makes a difference.

So I tried running the game in a clean user file, at first everything seemed fine, but after some gameplay, the lag persisted. @puzzlezaddict I did find that the more my game was fast forwarded (in 3x speed) the bug would surface sooner.

I'm going to try and see if a second clean boot with the clean user file makes a difference, and I'll let you know!

I can also run all my other games flawlessly, Overwatch and COD i can run on high to ultra no problem, so I agree it is frustrating that sims is the one having the lag problems.

I've just reinstalled my whole Windows system. Still WONT work. I've played without my Wifi on, still won't work.

I do get a RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64 error report in my event log. But idk what that could mean.

I have the same issue. Game runs fine until i hit build more and there goes my fps: 14-15fps. Clicking on '...' reset it. 

Could it be a bug coming with the last patch/ Eco pack ?

I found that the more I played with the fast forward on, the sooner the bug would surface. And again using the "..." was the only thing that would bring my FPS back up to 60. Has anyone else noticed that as well?

All i can see is that everything seems alright on the new map coming with eco pack. But on others households it's random. Some don't suffer from the fps drops in build mode, some do suffer from it. It's really bad in San Myshuno for exemple. 

I've tried moving my TS4 folder to let the game create a fresh one w/o CC inside with new save but still the same issue. I'm trying to repair the game but i don't have much hope, it really feels like a bug introduced with the new patch/eco pack cause i don't remember having this issue before :/

yes, I'm noticing that @MadPeachyTV But the problem is, it sometimes weill introduce itself during normal gameplay too. 

It's really frustrating that this is still happening.  I really don't know what could cause this.

It's inexcusable that this is happening for so many players who have invested money in this game.

I do notice it happens during normal gameplay as well 100%, for me it just seems to happen sooner, the more I'm using the fast forward function. I agree it is super frustrating! And I hope we can get a patch sooner than later.

Do you guys have this problem on every household or just some ? (if some: which one?) I only tried on original ones created by the game. 

So far its has been all my save files, even my clean user folder save i created yesterday. 

I do guess it's a game problem if more than 1 has this issue. It's very curious that these huge fps drops appear whenever we toggle between build and live mode, and most of the time clicking on the menu makes the fps back to normal.

Guess all we can hope is a patch fixing this >.<

Yeah, I've got this on every save file I make too.

It has to be something in the game's files if we all have this indeed.

I click on the three dots it goes away.

I click on Build mode, it appears. I go to live mode, it's sometimes still there (when I toggle between them) and then click on the three dots to relieve the stress again.

It's SO weird, because I don't have any of this with The Witcher 3, The Sims 3, The Sims 2, etc. 

I find it strange that some houses have this problem, and some don't. Like the same appartement in San Myshuno on every save will have this problem but the container on eco map is just fine??? 

I fully uninstalled the game and i did a defrag on my hdd. Now i'm gonna install the base game and try it like that. Then I'll add more and more pack and see if one of them is the culprit.

EDIT 1 : I don't have any issue on the base game. Tested multiples houses, even the big ones. Steady 60fps build and live mode. 

I'm adding more packs now. I'll finish with Eco. 

EDIT 2: added get famous, FPS it's still steady. No bug yet.

EDIT 3: added city living ... the appartement always having the 15 fps issue in build more is alright now. I can't reproduce the bug anymore ... seems like this bug is coming with eco pack then? I'll keep adding more packs

EDIT 4: added all packs except eco, still can't see the bug. I'm adding eco now, let's see...

EDIT 5: I made a new save with all pack except eco and i couldn't reproduce this bug. I installed eco pack and created a new save and bingo! Same bug back once i hit build mode. So it's definitely a bug coming with the eco pack. It took me the whole night to try it out but glad i found the culprit 🙂 ! Loads of house from others maps are concerned. So far the new map seems stable.

I hope the team will notice us and work on a patch asap! 

@oaana Im going to try this too and see if i can re create this!!

Ill let everyone know if its the same for me as well! 
Thanks for the idea! 

@oaana  It's interesting that adding Eco Lifestyle causes this particular issue.  I first heard of it happening long before the pack was released, so it's not the cause for everyone, but maybe there's something about having too many packs or a certain type of content in Build/Buy that grinds the game to a halt.

If you're interested in experimenting a bit more, could you try disabling all of your packs except Eco Lifestyle?  You don't have to uninstall anything; just instruct Origin not to load the other packs.  Here's how:

https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2017/03/disable-single-packs/

@JeanVW @Gummingtons and @MadPeachyTV  I'd be interested to know whether this makes a difference for you as well.  You can disable any pack(s) you want through Origin (see the above link).  Let me know whether it makes a difference.

Not sure if that makes a difference. I've had this problem long before Eco Lifestyle.

But however, in a whim I decided to downgrade my graphics driver to one before DCH was introduced to Nvidia (I use a GTX 1060, with 6GB memory). 

The version I'm using is 398.36 

I simply googled for what the best version of a driver could be for my specific graphics card. As of date, I've yet to reproduce the problem. I've not played for longer at the moment, but will do so this afternoon (it's 1:11 PM here at time of writing).

So if you have an NVIDIA card, try using this driver version. I did the following:

- downloaded this driver version

- downloaded DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller from Wagnard)

- completely shut off my internet (turn off Wi Fi and pull out the Ethernet cord)

- install DDU and via DDU (in safe mode) delete the current driver

- When installing the new driver (after a reboot), install only graphics driver and physx (also, do a clean install)

It may very well have been that the drivers I had (which were 4xx.xx and up) messed Sims 4 up for some reason.

But who knows. 

@puzzlezaddict Hello and thanks for your message. So I followed your link and First i disabled eco and I couldn't find the bug, I tried multiples household and nada.

But after I disabled all my packs except eco and city living (cause usually the bug arrives on another maps than the eco one and, once again, lag in build and live mode. Sometimes clicking on the menu resolves it, sometimes not. Sometimes i have to reload the household to make the fps smothers otherwise it's locked under 20fps. 

It feels like everytime i charge a household for the first time I have the choppy fps in live and build move but if i go into the map and charge the household again, it's smooth like usual. I really have no idea what could cause. The funny part is ... when i load a household for the first time it's like 15 fps and when i go back on the map the fps stays 15 until i charge a household (one i'm already playing) and it fixes the fps. 

So for now I only find this bug annoying if i'm planning to play another household than the initial I created. I don't do this much, I usually stick with 1 i'm creating. But it's still kinda annoying so I hope a patch will eventually fix this issue 🙂

Unfortunately I cheered too fast. Still having the issue. 

I think it's the game handling it's memory not that well.

Its very frustrating. Nothing seems to help. Not even re-installing windows.