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

@JeanVW

ECO very likely includes a massive FPS drop. If a computer is already a little on the slow side, it may have been there earlier. Laptops are naturally a lot slower than desktops and people seem to like them for some reason. My Intel NUC is very new and quite fast. So, removing ECO gave it a much needed speed boost.

I tested this by putting ECO back in and removing Paranormal. I got a speed boost, but not nearly as big as removing ECO.

If you have a computer that's more on the slower side, I'm willing to bet if you disable more packs, it would run better. Some packs will naturally include a bigger game lag than others. ECO's lag is just very large.  I'm willing to bet if you disable Seasons, the game speed would increase a LOT. You would just have to decide which packs you can live without if you seriously want a speed boost.

It makes perfect sense. The Sims 3 was the same way. They released so many packs that the game got so bad, it would barely even run if you had them all. They even designed the game launcher so you could Choose to disable some packs on the fly if you wanted better performance. It got so bad that the game was unplayable unless you disabled half the packs. The Sims 3 had less packs than 4 but it was a bigger problem because Sims 3 was Open World. Every pack included a massive game lag. Sims 4 they removed the Open World so they were able to release more packs before they started effecting performance. But it was bound to happen eventually.

I wouldn't be surprised if a launcher change was coming in a future update before long.

Well i have a rtx 2060, i5 7500k and 16 gigs of ram.. Sims 4 has for a while now and long before eco living, had this issue for me. And more people with me.. Idk if eco made it worse, but it was definitely already present. 

I had to uninstall Eco because the game was unplayable (as if it hadn't been laggy enough before!)  I just upgraded to 72 gb RAM on an iMac Pro 5, 2019 and it's still noisy in build mode with the fan.  Going to see how this pans out the more I build on my property!

@Gednaa@JeanVW

Each pack adds more running components. Those use up memory, processor time, maybe even texture memory. Mine has little impact on my system because it's a new-gen Core i7, 64 gigs of computer ram with 4 gigs of GPU ram and 32 gigs of shared video ram. So, the dedicated high speed GPU memory might be small, but it has a MASSIVE amount of video memory available, 36 gigs. So, capability-wise, it's awesome, but speed-wise, not so much. I can have extremely high resolution textures and it'll have little impact on speed, but the overall speed is lower.

I'm just trying to decide whether to disable ECO and lose the clothing and power/water generation options, leave it in and just deal with the lag, or maybe go through the packs and disable something else.  I'll likely leave Paranormal off for now, maybe add something else. Leave ECO on for the power and water generators. They help with playing off-the-grid.

I would think Seasons is an enormous lag because of the constant weather running all the time. But I like the weather.

I had seasons switched off for a while, but I do like the weather.  I turned it off because of the dogs, they were scared all the time, now I have no pets, I switched it back on, as I love listening to the thunder and rain.  I like my sims complaining being cold (iceproof trait??).

I hated Eco for the constant lecturing about their lifestyle while they should be acting.  I don't think the two packs mix.  I wish I'd known before buying.  It was fun (well certain aspects), but my Mac ground to a halt and I was fed up with them lecturing everyone about Eco.  Seemed a lot to do for candle making and the extra simoleons from identifying artefacts.  

So now it looks like a video memory upgrade??  I have Radeon Pro 570X 4GB.

I'll do a video upgrade it it's possible without compromising my warranty.  :/

@Gednaa

Yea, I think you might need it. My previous system I upgraded from had a Radeon GTX 980, 8 gig. It was pretty good for GPU speed, but the PC was getting old. Was an quad i7 but at least 3-4 generations old. This one's not much better GPU speed-wise but the PC is a TON better. LOTS more memory. Overall it's a bit better for gaming.

But Sims 4 is getting far too demanding for its own good. I fear it'll end up unplayable like Sims 3.

@Gednaa  Your Mac's graphics card is not upgradable, neither the card overall nor its VRAM.  If you think the VRAM is limiting performance, you could try playing at a lower resolution, which would use less video memory overall.

In theory, you could get an eGPU enclosure and a standalone card to go with it.  In practice, this is a terrible time to buy graphics cards of pretty much any kind—demand is high and supply is snatched up minutes after appearing.  So unless you want to pay double to a scalper for a 5700XT or something, it would probably be better to wait a few months.

@Psychotps  Since you're into making mods and generally messing around with game features, do you think disabling a few components of Eco Lifestyle would help performance?  I'm thinking specifically of the visual effects of a green or industrial footprint, but there might be other elements that are worth poking at too.  (Applying the NAPs seems like it would be mostly CPU intensive and spare the GPU, but that's easy to test with in-game settings.)  I would guess that like most packs, there are only a few features that have an outsize effect, and the rest are negligible.

@GednaaWell, I can't speak for apple stuff, the last Apple I used was the Apple ][ back in 1982-84. So, I don't think it really compares to the current stuff. I'm pretty much a hard-core long-term IBM/MS PC person. Been using those since the IBM PC 1 and the PC jr in the early 80's.

@puzzlezaddict  That's not a bad idea. I'm quite sure it would entail scripting mods as most of that is in the python. I'm extremely weak at script mods. I've dabbled a little, and I know programming, but Never took the time to learn python. Don't think it'd be hard, it is only another programming language after all. I know dozens already.

I was looking into it yesterday coincidentally. You know the bug reports of the detective career, how they only spawn one suspect so they're simple to find? Looks like that's by design. The others are called "Decoys" in the code. Turns out, the game spawns 2 decoys for every clue you missed figuring out. If you find them all (6 I think), no decoys are spawned so you only see the suspect.

I really need to go through the code more.

I'll look into it... eventually... I'm currently swamped working on a half-dozen other mods.

@PsychotpsLove this! Never payed a detective, but it sounds exciting. maybe more exciting than the same old same old acting gigs in GF 😉 I might get one of my sims to get into this. I like the sound of that! In other news , BluebellFlora has just alerted me to the fact that I have a Mac not an iMac Pro 5, so I will be getting on to the (supposedly very reputable store) that sold it to me here in the UK and at the moment feel like ripping their heads off! No wonder I''ve been struggling. having said that the new ram has helped loads, but seems all I got was a fancy bigger screen from what I can glean/. (put your imagined expletive here that I have said since finding out!) Get a Mac! Get a Mac was all I heard from my record label! I did. Crap!!! Can't even gt a freaking game to work.... Sorry I'm just so mad. I'll stop now. Ahem...