Forum Discussion

WisdomBuilders's avatar
WisdomBuilders
Rising Ace
3 days ago

Black Screen, Sims Still Active, Can't Close

Since the Sept 18 update, my game has been moving slow and about 4 times now the entire screen turns black, with the exception of the conversation bubbles, progress bars, and the bottons at the top. It won't let me click the ... button, it won't let me go back to manage world (I can still see that button), but I can still hear them talking and using items. Every time this happens I'm unable to close out my game or even shut it down from the main button at the bottom of my Mac.

I play vanilla and have no cc and have never had mods in my game.

I play on a Mac Pro with 2 terabytes and before this update I haven't had problems with lag.

I have tried repairing my game, shutting down and restarting my computer.

I own all packs, but was playing only with base game using the pack selector.

I hope that's enough info. I'm not a techie person.

Thank you!

Edit to add:

This is what the screen looks like right before it goes black:

Notice all the playable buttons and such are all missing, and so are a couple of the top buttons.

7 Replies

  • Mine has been running much slower, too. I have the Mac Pro with 2 Terabites. Own all packs and it's never been slow before this update.

  • This was put in tech issues, I'm assuming because someone thinks it's my Mac...so help me understand how this wasn't a problem before the update and now is a problem.

    I don't want my serial number revealed, so these are close up screenshots of my mac's specks, which if I'm reading the trouble-shooting right, should be well enough.

    It said I need at least 4 GB, and I have 32. It's a newer computer, has tons of space left. So, what's the problem?

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    2 days ago

    WisdomBuilders​ 

    Firstly, can you try a brand new clean Sims 4 folder as described here [INSTRUCTIONS] How to troubleshoot and test a broken game | EA Forums - 11864548 and see if the issues persists. Also test in both fullscreen and windowed mode and see if happens in both.

    WisdomBuilders wrote:

    Every time this happens I'm unable to close out my game or even shut it down from the main button at the bottom of my Mac.

    Does Force Quit work? Apple > Force Quit. 

    Thanks for the screenshot. A Mac Pro is a different machine to a MacBook Pro, specs and OS always really help when troubleshooting.

  • WisdomBuilders's avatar
    WisdomBuilders
    Rising Ace
    2 days ago

    Absolutely! I'll try all of these things, hopefully later today when my husband, who's more tech savvy can help me. Thank you for responding!! I truly appreciate it. 

    I'm a bit in panic mode, to be honest. Sims is very important to me, and if it's truly a Mac problem, I would have to settle on a lower screen resolution and not being able to buy any more additional packs. It might sound stupid to some, but these are the flower bouquets from my husband (I wasn't ever a flower bouquet kinda gal, so he bought me these instead and I collected/collect everything). I would be devastated if I couldn't buy another pack! 

    Thank you sincerely for trying to help! I'll let you know if it works. 

    PS. I know how to use force quit, but I couldn't do that either. 

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    2 days ago

    WisdomBuilders​ 

    If it were truly a Mac issue then all Mac players with the same machine/OS as you would be experiencing it and we haven't seen any other reports here. Common issues on specific configurations can accumulate quickly, see this Catalina/NVIDIA issue as an example. 

    Maybe your Mac has an issue, although I doubt it as you're only experiencing issues in TS4 right?

    If you can't Force Quit how have you been closing the game? By holding down the power button on your Mac until it shuts down?

    Your Mac is more than capable of running the game. Hopefully the new clean TS4 folder will fix it.

  • WisdomBuilders's avatar
    WisdomBuilders
    Rising Ace
    2 days ago

    Bluebellflora​ 

    I backed up my most important saves and I'm about to begin trying the suggestions in the link you gave me. It might be awhile before I know since it sometimes takes hours of play before it happens. Since Sept 18 update it happened about 4 times, some right in a row, others over hours time. 

    I tried to Force Quit because that's what I'm used to when I get stuck. It just had "Quit" without the option to force quit, but it wan't responding at all. The store button did, lol, so I know it wasn't my mouse. I minimized it just fine, tried to find a way to force quit as I've done before, but didn't have access to the option and regular quit wouldn't respond. Yes, all four times, I ended up holding down the power button until it shut down, finding no other way. Then I would restart my computer, repair game and try again. After this happened the fourth time, I didn't want to push it any further and reported the bug and quit trying to play. 

    Yes, I'm only experiencing problems with TS4. Everything else I normally use is working fine.

    I'm super relieved to know my Mac is capable of playing the game! I will try everything I can to make it work. Thank you for your continued help. I've got my techie husband on standby. I don't mind loosing my saves, but loosing my sims game would be heartbreaking! 

  • Bluebellflora's avatar
    Bluebellflora
    Hero+
    15 hours ago

    WisdomBuilders​ 

    Thanks.

    I tried to Force Quit because that's what I'm used to when I get stuck. It just had "Quit" without the option to force quit, but it wan't responding at all.

    Force Quit is not accessed by the active app menu. It is always available when you click on the Apple in the top left of your Desktop. Apple have a support page here that explains it https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102586 

    If you are in fullscreen mode you could use the keyboard combination to bring it up. Or use the Trackpad and 3 finger swipe to the right to take you back to the Desktop then click on the Apple logo (there is probably an equivalent mouse gesture for this but I don't know what it is).

    Please let me know how you get on with the clean Sims 4 folder 🙂