@JeanVW I think this is one of the many problems that the Sims team "is aware of" but hasn't prioritized. The issues are that not everyone experiences the problem and that there don't seem to be any similarities among those that do. That strongly suggests that the cause is at least largely something on the user end, not within Sims 4, even though an element of the game may be conflicting with something on your computer.
The point is not that the issue shouldn't be investigated, just that it's more complicated to do so. It's simple to reproduce an in-game bug: if feature X isn't working as intended, or using feature Y in certain circumstances causes a crash, it's easy to see and troubleshoot. Short of shipping your computer to headquarters, I'm not sure how you could help the QA team reproduce your issue. Even another system with the same components might not display the same lag.
Anyway, if you'd like, I can flag your posts and see what happens. Please provide a fresh dxdiag and summarize what you're seeing right now: where and when the lag happens, what it looks like, what kind of framerates you get, etc.
@puzzlezaddictThank you for the response. I'll, of course provide a dxdiag from the time of writing. See the attachment.
I've also reinstalled my complete Windows system at a certain point, so I'm fairly certain it's not my system.
Ah well, as for summarizing what the issues are;
- What am I seeing?
I'm seeing frame drops, varying from 20 frames to as low as 10, when my game usually plays at 60 fps, stable (I've put V sync on in game and in NVCP). Have had this for a while now.
The whole screen moves so slow, it's unreal. When I click the three dots in the right hand, it goes away, but it returns just as fast. You can describe it as going from 100 to 1. It goes from buttery smooth gameplay to stuttery, slow, unresponsive.
The framerates fluctuate from 60 to 12 at it's lowest. It doesn't really matter where I am ingame, it just happens. I've seen people write about the 3x speed and that having a possible effect, I can't say that for myself to be honest.
My most important computer specs are atm (also in Dxdiag);
-Videocard: Nvidia RTX 2060, 6GB
-CPU: i5 7600K, 3.8ghz (up to 4.2 turbo)
-RAM: 32GB
I am seeing a lot of Event Name: RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64, don't know what that means?
Anyway, thanks for your concern and I hope someone can fix this, because at this state, the game is unplayable, which is a shame, because I enjoy playing it.
Kind regards,
Jean
@JeanVW Thanks for the summary and dxdiag; I'll flag this now and see if anyone has other ideas.
The RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64 error is Windows detecting a memory leak, or the beginnings of one; 64 means 64-bit. It's not an uncommon error with Sims 4, and nothing to worry about under normal circumstances. I guess it could be related to the fps issue, but we see those errors all the time, so unless you're seeing one every time you get an fps drop, you can probably ignore the errors.
Please also try disabling your antivirus program, at least long enough to test. Although antivirus issues usually look different, it's worth experimenting.
@JeanVW and @MadPeachyTV Going over your dxdiags again, the only thing that stands out is that you both have an Acer 75 Hz monitor connected via HDMI cable. This shouldn't be a problem, and I'd expect more reports if this kind of setup caused any issues, since Acer is a popular manufacturer. But @MadPeachyTV if you're interested in testing, you could unplug your second monitor (restart your computer afterwards) and see how the game runs with just the Asus.
@JeanVW There's a way to disable it, but it's so common and normally so unintrusive that I wouldn't expect it to be causing the issue. It's worth disabling Controlled Folder Access though, if it's on.
https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/03/windows-10-defender-controlled-folder-access.html
This wasn't a reported issue back in the summer, but these days, Origin sometimes uses excessive CPU resources for no apparent reason. It's easy to see this happening in the Task Manager, if you alt-tab to it during gameplay; putting Origin in offline mode fixes the problem. This is kind of grasping at straws, but since nothing else so far has worked....
By the way, did I ever suggest playing in a new Windows user account? It's a long shot, but creating a new account takes so little time, and you wouldn't need to redownload the game.
Hey everyone,
So I tried something. I went and completely uninstalled my razer software. Game Manager, and Synapse. (I hope I don't jinx this lol) but so far I've been ok! No lag since I went and did this! When I first experienced the issue back in June, I never tried uninstalling it, and I'm pretty sure even in my clean boot, Razer would still be running. So back then that might have been why it never made a difference.
@puzzlezaddict Is anyone else willing to try this too? See if it helps at all??
@MadPeachyTV That is great to hear, and an interesting development. I do remember one person a few months ago with Razer software who had mouse lag in-game, but it was all the time, starting as soon as the game loaded, and partially responsive to other interventions, so I didn't think it was related. Or it may just be a coincidence.
@JeanVW has a Corsair mouse and keyboard, not Razer, but it's always possible there's some Razer software left over from a previous peripheral device. Or maybe Corsair software is interfering in the same way. I guess the point is, another clean boot may be in order, this time with additionally disabling pretty much everything that can be force-closed in the Task Manager.
I'm experiencing the same issue, and clicking the '...' button fixes the lag for me as well until the next time I enter build mode. (Thanks @MadPeachyTV, before you pointed that out as a workaround, I thought the only way to stop it was to save the game.) Lag is as others have described, it drops from a smooth 60 fps to a juttery 1-5 fps.
Specs:
6 core 12 thread Xeon E5-1650 v3 @ 3.5GHz
128 GB DDR4 PC 2133 Buffered ECC RAM
Nvidia GTX 1080 GB
Samsung NVME SSD
I wonder if it has something to do with the quantity of content? Some algorithm in the UI not scaling well to the number of items. I have all of the packs/expansions/etc except for paranormal.
@cruser43 One person fixed this by uninstalling their Razer software. Another player reported a similar issue went away with a couple of tweaks to graphicsrules.sgr:
As noted in the next post below that one, you don't need to edit your original version; simply make a copy and stick it in ConfigOverride. The game will use that copy when it's present, but if you don't like the effects of the edits, it's easy to delete that second copy with no harm done.
Thanks @puzzlezaddict ! I'll give those a try.
My theory about it being an algorithm that doesn't scale in build mode was wrong btw. I can make the lag inside build mode go away by clicking '...' just like I can make it go away outside of build mode by clicking '...'. That suggests that a state is flipped when transitioning between the two modes causing lag, and hitting '...' unflips it so everything works well again. There is nothing in build mode or live mode that is lagging on its own.
What I can't fathom, is that it's not reproduced yet. SO many players are experiencing trouble with this. And for a good while too, to add.
I think most people aren't reporting it because it's such an OLD problem, most people have given up on it being fixed.
I've had the problem myself for years. On MULTIPLE computers.
Most of the time, hitting ESCape and going back in resolves it temporarily. When it happens, I go into build/buy mode and my framerate drops from 50+ to ~10. I had it go down to 7 (SEVEN) fps just this afternoon. I hit ESCape twice and it rocketed back up to 55. Problem is, it tends to stick in build/buy mode. Once I return to Live mode, I can hit ESC twice and it's back to almost normal temporarily.
Quick update on my situation.
Bad News:
I enabled the FPS counter in Origin, and it was showing ~7fps ☹️. Using '...' stopped working for me after the latest update.
Good News:
I was able to fix it. I removed everything inside my C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Mods folder (including Resource.cfg), then I started the game, and things ran great. Afterwards, I added all the mods back in one by one (except for the Resource.cfg file, the game had generated a new one for me). No I'm getting a steady ~90-100fps regardless of what I do. I can hop in and out of buy mode and cas with no issue. Not sure what changed, all the mods are the same. Still, worth a shot.
This could also work for people without any mods. Just delete everything in that folder (probably just Resource.cfg) and see what happens. Couldn't hurt right?
For the record. I have every pack installed and active except for Paranormal while getting 90-100fps. Hope this helps someone!
*edit* Bad News Again:
This stopped working as soon as I traveled to another neighborhood. But at least clicking '...' works again.
Eco totally drained my Mac, so had to uninstall. Not missing it at all, as it's incompatible with some of my other packs. How man celebs have turbines all over their cell homes? lol
@GednaaMe too. ECO completely destroys my framerate. I want to investigate how to remove some of the more... laggy... features in a mod without losing some of the assets, furniture, clothes, power generation, etc. Might not be too easy.
ECO adds a LOT of features that makes off-the-grid viable. Without them, it's practically impossible. But it ruins the framerate. If I can turn off those features in a mod without losing the objects, that would be optimal. Otherwise, I'll have to weigh my options.
Ok I've found the problem. It's the notification panel, once you clear it, you won't have lag in the buy mode
You are right Hakhob, I have a fps counter displayed when I play I cleared it and it just jumped from a disgraceful 15fps to 120Fps! then i accidently click gameplay icon, and jumped back to build mode, and i'm back at just 15fps, and now I have no notification board to clear, because It's already empty, now what do i do ?
And if you just click again in the build mode, then click in the panel notification (without clear it). I found that solution for me.
I've tried this tonight with no luck.
So far, going to the Map / Travel clears the lag up for me.
I also have No Mods, using a Rog Strix Scar 17 & was surprised I even have this issue when entering Build Buy Mode.
Still would love to play ECO but it sounds like too much hassle! Such a pity and waste of money and I'm running it on an imac! A mac was supposed to answer all my prayers. It's made life worse! I can't even be a musician anymore let alone play a game!
