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

@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. 

Could it be something linked with the last patch (just before eco pack) mixed with the eco pack? Cause i don't remember having this issue before this patch and this expansion pack. 

@oaana  San Myshuno is known to produce fps drops on even the strongest systems, so it's not really a good test.  Still, an fps of 10 would be excessive.  I don't think you've posted a dxdiag yet though?  It would help to have that information.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

@JeanVW  Are you willing to do some hardware monitoring?  If so, download hwinfo from here:

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

You don't need to install anything if you don't want to; just choose the Portable version, unzip it, and launch it from Downloads or wherever you want.  (If you would like to install, be sure to click the green button, not the orange one.)  Clean boot your computer, and don't open any other apps.  Disable your antivirus as well as any utilities (Afterburner, RGB software, etc.) that are somehow still running; you can look for them in the Task Manager.

Launch hwinfo, choose "sensors only," and click the icon that's a sheet of paper with a + sign to start logging.  Please also note the time you start the log.  Save the file to your desktop for easy access later.  Wait five minutes, then launch Sims 3 and play long enough to get a significant fps drop, or two if you can manage.  Even if you're able to restore fps through clicking the Options menu, please don't do that until you've let the game run with low fps for at least two minutes.

Please note each time (real world clock) the fps drops, so you can tell me how long it happened after logging.  I might be able to see the effects in the info log, but I'd rather know for sure when it happens.

Click the same button to end logging.  Then upload the log to a third-party free filehosting site and link it here.  Please leave it in .csv format, or if you use OneDrive to share, please compress it in .zip format instead.

@puzzlezaddict I need to wait 5 minutes before opening Sims 4, but I have to let the HWinfo run first?

@puzzlezaddict Hi! Yeah i know San Myshuno is known for bad fps but i also tried on every map and so far it's always the same thing. I load a household for the first time : choppy fps → I go back in the map (fps stays choppy even in the map) and i load this household again and everything is back to normal. It's only doing it with new household so far. 

Here is my DxDiag 🙂 thank you alot for you help !

@JeanVW  Yes, please let hwinfo run for five minutes.  It really doesn't need to be quite that long, but it shows your hardware usage while essentially idle, after the startup sequence has finished and before you add anything else.

@oaana  I didn't realize you'd tested with CL enabled but not playing in San Myshuno.  That's even more interesting that running all packs except for Eco Lifestyle are okay, and EL alone is okay, but EL and CL together causes an issue.  If you want to run an hwinfo log too, please do, and I'll take a look.  You can just run it while you're playing normally if you want; as long as I know where the lag is in the info log, that's all I need.

@puzzlezaddict 

I've tried running ONLY eco pack and the bug still appeared. If I load a premade household in the eco map i will have this fps drops until I got back in the map and load the household again. So I do assume only EP is the culprit. 

https://filebin.net/rwge32gx8ojhwcls

Here is my logfile

I let it run for 5 minutes before starting Sims 4.

During play (at the time of writing) the lag began at 1:13PM when I initiated Build mode to produce the lag.

hey everyone!

So i noticed there was a patch today for the game, has anyone tried playing yet to see if the lag issue was fixed?

@MadPeachyTV The patch was for another issue with the game. My fps still drops whenever I try to play with a new household. It's funny cause if I'm playing with the family I created everything is fine but if i'm trying to join another household of npc it's gonna be 15 fps until i exit in the world and join this family again. As soon as the household is played once, it's fine. (need to have the little green icon on the map)

Do you suffer from the same issue? Could you try to join a household, switch between build and live mode, exit on map and join again and see if the issue goes away? (you can try switching between build and live mode again usually it's fine for me!) You can try on the big houses in the new map for exemple. Tried it on other map aswell like Brindleton Bay.

@MadPeachyTV I'm not jumping the gun just yet, but it seems it's kinda alleviated now. But have to play more, don't have the time. 

So I finally had some time to sit down and play the game again after the latest patch, and sadly the lag is still happening. It was fine for about 30 mins, then I went to renovate a community lot in Granite Falls and as soon as it loaded in, I dropped down to 15 fps. Ugh this is so frustrating.

Im testing right now to see if having Eco Lifestyle installed has an impact.

@MadPeachyTV I've tried to reproduce the issue by numerous clicking the Build icon (and Live icon respectively) but I cannot seem to reproduce the issue (which is positive of course), though I'm staying careful in my optimistical behavior.

I do remember, however (I think I've read it somewhere, IDk really) that I turned certain features on in my NVidia Control Panel for TS4 specifically.

If you want, I can show my settings from there? (I believe I've put on Triple Buffering and the Hyper threading option).

I've put 

Texture filtering - Trilinair optimization ON

Thread optimization - ON

Triple buffering - ON

Idk if it will work for you, but I think since I've put those settings, the build/buy lag is not really there anymore.

(I've played for 2 hours now without it). 

@JeanVW Tried your settings but I still have the same fps drops whenever i toggle build mode on a new household :/

@oaana I've just tried playing a new household for an hour to see if I can recreate the problem, but no. My build/live modes now toggle seamlessly. 

For possible help, I'll post my complete NVCpanel settings below

It's worth mentioning that I've ran CCleaner, I've checked if I don't have updates.

Lag is back for me too unfortunately. Played well for a while yesterday, but it's back again. This time from the START. 

This is getting so annoying and it makes me wanna quit playing the game and just go back to The Sims 3... Can't understand why the team hasn't looked into an issue like this by now. It makes the game unplayable imo.

@JeanVW @Gummingtons @MadPeachyTV @oaana and @DeMosterdsoep  I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner.  I've been swamped and haven't had time to properly troubleshoot, although I've been reading this and other threads and looking for anything useful.

On that note, someone posted in the low fps master thread (a bit different from this one, since it started out about a consistent low fps regardless of what players did in-game) posted that installing a 2020 Realtek LAN driver fixed their issue.  Read fix attempt 5 here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Incredibly-Low-FPS-when-connected-to-Internet/m-p/9218406#M180558

Obviously, this only works if you have a Realtek LAN chip.  When uninstalling and reinstalling, be sure to take your computer offline, so Windows doesn't download what it thinks is a suitable driver before you have a chance to install the new one.  If you want to be extra careful, you should download the latest LAN driver from the manufacturer of your motherboard or laptop as well.  That way, if there's a problem with the newest driver offered by Realtek, you can install the other one instead.

Whether this works or not, please post back if you try it.  And if it does work for you, please post in that thread as well, so people affected by that issue know it's worth trying.  (And go give that person some XP for their hard work.  They deserve it.)

I have a Z170X Ultra Gaming motherboard and I looked it up, that one uses Intel LAN Drivers, the latest is from 2020, mine was older, so fingers crossed!

@xJuriox Yeah, same here. Ive had this for a while and a half now. Long before the Eco pack. My PC exceeds the requirements. The game in it's current state is unplayable. It's kind of ironic, how TS4 plays worse for me now than TS3, when TS4 was made for lower end PCs (which I do not have).