Memory Boost - Step-by-Step Guide
Memory Boost is an early access, opt-in feature for PC only, that brings performance improvements to The Sims 4. It optimizes memory usage, reduces lag, improves frame rates, and helps prevent memory-related crashes. We’re inviting players to try it out and share feedback as we prepare for a wider rollout. You can turn Memory Boost off at any time. Any new recovery saves created while Memory Boost is active will be tagged, and at least one original (untagged) recovery save is always preserved for fallback, so you can safely revert if needed. Step-by-Step Guide Note: Memory Boost is currently in early access. We encourage you to try it and let us know about your experience. You can turn it off at any time, and your original game saves are always safe. How to Activate Memory Boost Note: Before enabling Memory Boost from the in-game settings, you'll want to add TS4_x64_fpb.exe as exception to your antivirus program. Access Game Options: From the main menu, select the three dots (•••) to open the Game Options menu. Select Other: Navigate to the “Other” tab within the Game Options. Enable Memory Boost: Find the Memory Boost dropdown menu and select “Enabled”. Your game will restart with Memory Boost enabled. Note: Recovery saves with Memory Boost enabled will have a special “Memory Boost” tag indicating this feature is active. One recovery save will always remain without Memory Boost enabled to ensure you can revert to a previous game state if needed. Disabling Memory Boost Access Game Options: Return to the Memory Boost option in the Game Options menu. Disable Memory Boost: Select “Disabled” to turn off Memory Boost. Note: Recovery save files that had Memory Boost enabled will continue to display the “Memory Boost” tag, indicating it was used on that file. This tag is simply a marker and doesn't affect gameplay, so you can continue playing as usual. How to Check If Memory Boost is Enabled To verify that Memory Boost is enabled, use the in-game cheat “version” to display output indicating whether FPB (Memory Boost) is running. To use the “version” cheat in The Sims 4: Launch the game. Press Ctrl + Shift + C to open the cheat console at the bottom of the screen. Type “version” into the console and press Enter. If you see (FPB) in the Summary line, Memory Boost is active. Ensure you’re not running a DirectX version argument. Ensure you have the latest update and that you're not running DX9. Check your DirectX version by looking at the bottom right corner of the main menu screen to confirm you're on DirectX 11. Remove any launch argument that automatically switches you to a specific executable, such as "-dx9" or "-dx11", from the "Advanced launch options" box via the EA app, Steam, or Desktop Shortcut. Feedback and Support For our FAQ about Memory Boost please Visit: https://forums.ea.com/blog/the-sims-game-info-hub-en/memory-boost---early-access---faq/12559451 Visit our forums to report issues and provide feedback. For more information, please check the link below: https://forums.ea.com/blog/the-sims-game-info-hub-en/memory-boost-technical-issues-and-feedback-thread/12559480
Community Concerns with Save File Issues - October 2025 Update
Sul Sul Simmers, In our last blog, we shared our commitment to investigating concerns that some players had around save file corruption, and we’re here to update you on what our team has been working on and where our investigation currently stands. In this update, we’ll share our progress, what we’re still investigating, and the next steps we’re taking. From collaborating with players to analyzing save data and exploring technical leads, here’s where things stand today. We’re committed to being transparent with you about our processes, and while we don’t have all the answers yet, progress is being made every day. Thank you for your patience, your feedback, and your passion for The Sims. The Sims Team Our Progress So Far We’re focused on identifying any potential causes of corruption, implementing preventative measures to avoid future issues, and resolving any identified problems to ensure your gameplay experience remains safe and reliable. When we refer to “save corruption”, we mean situations where the game itself won’t load, a save file fails to load, or a save loads but is missing assets, such as thumbnails or Lots. To tackle this, our specialized team is focused on save integrity. Here’s what’s been happening: Community Collaboration: We asked you to share your impacted saves, and we’ve received dozens of them so far. Thank you for providing these, please keep them coming! New Tools: We’ve developed a new Python-based tool that helps us extract, analyze, and summarize the data in save files provided by our players. This is helping us provide more actionable data to investigation teams. Player Save Database: We’ve organized incoming reports to better understand potential patterns, such as file size, code versions, number of packs, use of mods, and more. Review of Past Fixes: Our team has analyzed historical corruption cases to learn from previous solves and spot any recurring causes. Our Current Investigations From attempting to reproduce the issues reported by players both with and without mods, we've identified the following issues as strong leads. These require more time to investigate before we can confirm anything concretely, but we wanted to keep you updated on what we've learned so far. Scratch File Concerns: One of our most pressing leads involves scratch files. These are important but temporary files the game relies on, and reports suggest they may be disappearing or getting deleted, which could trigger corruption. We’re looking into the root cause of these deletions now, focusing on any areas where The Sims 4 files would come in contact with other systems, cloud backup services, and other external factors that could be deleting or overwriting these files. Lot Data Issues: Another major area of focus is Lot data: Some Lots provided to us show up with missing or extremely minimal information in saves. We’ve reproduced cases internally of endless loading/white screens linked to certain build behaviors like super-stuffed Lots, with and without mods. We’re also tracking any potential links to specific expansion packs or objects, though corruption reports predate packs like The Sims 4 For Rent. Other Areas of Focus: Excessive rental units alone don’t seem to be the primary cause of corruption at this time. While more units do increase error reports, data also suggests it’s likely tied to overall save complexity rather than unit count alone. Instances of corruption existed before the release of For Rent, and our investigations into individual packs remain a top priority. In some cases, specific types of mods called script mods are leaving behind files after the mod is removed that can cause issues in The Sims 4, though we have not yet linked this to corruption. Our Next Steps: Continuing to test venue type data transfer across saves. Deepening our investigation into scratch file deletion and common external programs. Exploring historical cases of save bloat to understand potential connections. Out of an abundance of caution, we’re removing the bb.increaserentalunitcap Residential Rental Unit cheat in an upcoming update, as a preventative step while broader fixes are developed. This step is needed to mitigate any potential risk. We know how much your saves mean to you - they represent countless hours of creativity, storytelling, and play. Please keep sharing reports with us, as each one brings us closer to understanding and solving these issues.Dag Dag to Lag: Improving The Sims 4 Performance
Alongside our ongoing efforts to bring you closer to what we’re working on with our save file investigations and Quality of Life roadmap, we wanted to take a moment to share some behind-the-scenes info about how we make The Sims 4 the best experience it can be for everyone. Our team puts love and care into each pack and update we create, running meticulous performance tests to ensure they run smoothly on across many platforms, including min-spec machines. Here’s the fun part - we’ve learned a lot from our QA testing that can help you make the most of your game! We have advice on how you can build, utilize cheats, and experience the game in more performant ways. This is important information for all players, but especially those who may be exceeding hardware limitations and heavily utilizing in game systems as this increases the chances of resulting in error codes, lots failing to load, or other memory related issues. Read on to learn more! Signs That Indicate You Should Make These Changes You may want to make these changes in your game when you see things like long loading times, various error codes when saving or loading your game like ‘Error Code 140:95e2d14f’ ‘Error Code 34’, etc. or when you experience lagging and freezing in either Build/Buy or Live Mode. If you can hear your computer struggling, it’s probably time to take some of the steps below. Keeping your System Up-to-Date No matter what hardware you use, it is always best practice to remember to keep your system software and drivers up-to-date. This is best practice for any game. How to keep PC up-to-date How to keep Mac up-to-date How to keep Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One up-to-date How to keep PS4 up-to-date How to keep PS5 up-to-date Technical Explanation on Performance Beyond your computer’s hardware, two main things affect how well The Sims 4 runs: How much the game has to draw on screen. How many interactive objects are in play. Every visible object, piece of furniture, or part of the environment takes power to display. The more the game has to show at once (like nearby lots or heavily decorated builds) the more your computer has to work. Similarly, each object that Sims can use (like stoves or sinks) takes processing power, even when not being used. The more complex or versatile an object is, the more it impacts performance. For example, kitchen counters are surprisingly heavy on performance because Sims can do so much with them. Performant Lot Building Best Practices There’s no “one way” to build a lot, but if you’re ever curious on how you can build a more performant lot, here are some helpful tips and guidelines: Wallpapers - Multiple types of wallpaper on a Lot will impact performance more, especially wallpapers with edges. Mirrors - Multiple mirrors in a single room will impact performance if their reflections are bouncing off each other. Doors that have glass, transoms, or sidelights will impact performance more. The more of these a door has the more impact it has. “Portal” Objects - Portal objects are any object that transitions a Sim from one room/level to another. Large numbers of portal objects increase Sim routing time. Portal objects include doors, arches, fence gates, platforms, ladders, stairs, and more. The more portal objects a Sim must traverse to get somewhere the more performance is impacted. Pools and Platforms - Platforms are much like pools as Sims can get in and get out of a pool or traverse a platform at any location, so they have a lot of portals! The larger the pool or platform, the more portals. The smaller the pool or platform is, the more performant it is. Note: Fountains are quite performant, because you can’t get in or out of them. Fridges and computers - These have high simulation costs because they have so many interactions. Kitchen counters are an additional example due to the amount of hidden autonomous interactions available when using them. The more unique items used on a lot, the higher impact on performance. Clutter, lots of different pictures, lots of carpets, window types, light types, plants, etc. all add up. Ponds - The larger and more complex a pond is, the less performant it is. Small ponds with simple shapes are very performant. Large ponds with irregular shapes are less performant. Small ponds are about 8 x 8 tiles. Large ponds are about 19 x 19 tiles. “Simple” means smoother edges and simpler shapes like an oval or circle. Number of Sims - Be mindful of the number of Sims on screen at any given time. The more active Sims in a lot, the less performant your game will become as more resources are used. Large Lots - Whether a lot is big or small it has the same object budget. If you are building a large lot and want to keep it performant, our tip is to try to find a way to fill it in using creative object placement that isn’t dense or tile designs. Decorations cannot be as dense as they can on a small lot. Occluders and Visible Objects - When you load a lot with other lots around it, objects inside buildings on the other lots aren't visible. This is because the solid walls of the building act as “occluders.” If these objects are placed outside of the house walls then there is nothing to occlude them when loaded into another lot and the game has to draw them, which can result in a dip in performance. Most games work this way! Glass Walls, large Glass Windows, Glass Roofs also do not act as occluders because you can see what’s happening behind them. Seeing objects when loaded into another lot isn’t problematic, unless a nearby lot is very full with objects. Cheats are another performance variable to consider. Remember that cheats can impact your gameplay negatively if your specs aren't high enough, and it’s always best practice to backup your saves before trying any cheats, especially those that remove restrictions. Things that Will Affect Your Memory and Performance and Might Result in Bugs if Overutilized: There are many tools The Sims 4 provides the player to enhance creative options! We don’t know your exact software, however, and overutilizing these tools can result in poor performance, or memory issues (like corruption or failure to load issues). Mods are another aspect to consider when playing performantly as we can’t account for their resource costs when developing content for The Sims 4 as they are developed and maintained by the community. Please use these tools at your own risk and responsibly. These are also cumulative. Meaning, if you are doing all of these, then that adds up. That’s why sometimes bugs around crashes, freezes, and failing to load things can be difficult on our end to investigate - each one can be very dependent on how it came about. Graphics Settings The best practice is to be aware of your settings in relation to your system’s capabilities and don’t increase Graphics Settings beyond your system’s limitations. On PC and Mac, The Sims 4 has a benchmarking system where the game automatically optimizes graphics settings on first launch and allows the player to adjust. Exceeding the determined graphics settings can cause performance issues on lower spec systems. Build Cheats like vertical move cheats, scale cheats, or bb.moveobjects. These move cheats alter the navmesh (what Sims use to know where they’re going) and make it more complex. When this happens, the game has to do extra calculations which takes up extra performance and memory. Doing this a handful of times is normally perfectly fine, but if you have a Lot where this is happening hundreds and hundreds of times, that can be very hard on most computers. Using the bb.showliveeditobjects Cheat When we ship objects in a pack (the ones you can find normally in Build Mode or as rewards for gameplay), we have built and tested those objects to be performant. If you use LiveEditModeObjects, these objects are not performant when player-placed. Placing a handful of these items on computers with capable hardware is perfectly fine! This is why we wanted to provide this cheat as an option to you. However, if overused or if used by lower spec hardware this could cause a lot of memory and performance issues. This also applies to laying multiple objects together. Maximum Sim Count Game Options This is an option in the Household Manager menu. By default this is set to 80 Sims for played Households in a Save. This is best for players with Min Spec computers (and honestly healthiest for all computers). However, Mid to High End computers can reasonably upgrade to 150 Max Sims. Choosing the 200 or Unlimited options are things we’ve given you the option to do, but are not recommended in most instances. Please do this at your own risk. Super Stuffed Lots How much you can pack into your lots really depends on your specific hardware. If you fill every lot to the brim (and skip the performance tips here), you run a higher risk of encountering slower performance, crashes, or other issues. There’s no single “right” amount as every setup is different. If you find that you can build Lots with full, detailed spaces and your hardware can handle it, great! The key is finding a good balance that keeps your game running smoothly. Have Too Many Farm Animals Chickens, Mini Goats, and critters like these are super cute! However, depending on your hardware, having too many (not 10-15, but in the 30-100+ range) can cause the game to lag heavily, though we have made changes to try to decrease the effects of this. Mods that Allow Increased Sim Cap Limits We have a limit on how many Sims can appear at a time in a neighborhood for performance reasons. If you increase this using Mods, this is happening at your own risk and can greatly impact performance and memory. Screenshots Folder, Custom Music, Mods The more content you have in these folders, the more content that needs to be loaded and run. Having an overabundance of content on certain hardware specs can result in performance and memory issues. This is particularly relevant to mods, as much we love them! Running Other Apps and Programs Having other resource-heavy programs running on your computer while playing The Sims 4 can impact performance. Closing those extra apps can free up resources and make your game run more smoothly, so your Sims can thrive without any hiccups. You can easily see any programs that are configured to start running as soon as your computer does for Windows here, and here for Mac. Other Instances There are probably other ways a game can become inefficient and have memory issues based uniquely on how it is played. As always, the best advice is to create judiciously based on your computer hardware, listen to the game (if it starts chugging, or your cooling fans start ramping up, it isn’t happy), and follow a “moderation” is key approach. These things above aren’t off limits! But should never be overdone. Ultimately, The Sims 4 offers an incredible range of creative possibilities, and we love seeing the unique worlds you build and stories you tell. However, every creative choice comes with a performance cost, and understanding those limits helps ensure your game stays fun and stable. By balancing creativity with moderation and keeping your hardware in mind, you’ll enjoy smoother gameplay and fewer headaches, crashes, and load times. As always, if you have any questions or concerns you can reach out in our Technical Issues section of The Sims forums here for additional assistance.Community Concerns with Save File Issues
Sul Sul Simmers, We’ve received questions from players with concerns about the For Rent Expansion Pack, and what we’ve been doing to tackle save file issues in The Sims 4. To address this community concern, we’re providing an update below on: For Rent issues we’re currently investigating Current issues with The Sims 4 that might impact saves How we prevent issues before release What to do if you’re experiencing serious issues with your game Nothing is more important to us than the performance of our game and players’ enjoyment of it, and we’ve been investigating these issues thoroughly before providing an update. What we discovered is this is not a single bug, and given the complex variance in devices, setups, packs, and other factors, it’s required extended investigation. With this being shared, let’s dive in. For Rent: Known Issues We’ve fixed 29 For Rent issues that the community has reported, and as of August 26, we’re tracking 37 others across 2 different statuses. 26 Issues Currently Being Investigated: This means we’re aware of the community report and it’s going through our internal processes. This can become a lengthy process that ranges from trying to replicate the bug to identifying the cause, working on a fix, testing the fix, or scheduling an update for the fix to come. Our team will share updates as the work continues. 11 Issues Require More Info: This means we’re unable to make progress on this issue until we get more specific information from players who are experiencing it. Save files with the issue occurring is the most helpful for our teams, and you can learn more about how to report issues further down this post. For Rent: Save File Issues Of these 37, we’re currently aware of 2 issues commonly associated with save corruption that players are experiencing: Lots/Houses disappear in saves featuring a large number of rental units, with 173 votes. We’ve identified a partial fix for this issue and will provide an update once we have more information about the scale of the fix. We won’t mark this as fully resolved until we’re confident we’ve fixed the issue as described by players in this post. White screen when loading the world, with 39 votes. We’re tracking this across PlayStation 4 and looking for more reports. If this is not your experience with For Rent, and you continue to face issues that specifically relate to this pack, we’d like to receive the info needed to investigate further. If you recognize an issue you're facing, please drop a comment or a vote - it really helps us prioritize what to tackle next. If your For Rent issue is not listed here, please start a new post here so we can investigate it. The Sims 4 Save Issues Let’s look at what issues are impacting save files on The Sims 4 more broadly. A most severe issue would be if The Sims 4 game is completely unable to be opened and does not launch. We currently have zero confirmed reports of this; if any players are experiencing this, please leave a comment here so we can help troubleshoot. The next type of serious issue is when a player is able to load the game, but unable to load their save. From what we’ve found in our investigations so far, we’re currently aware of 6 issues that players correlate with save corruption, and this is where we’re investing our focus to resolve. The game loads up initially, but then the player is unable to make further progress. This could mean a player sees a white screen, or the game crashes, the player gets stuck in infinite loading, or receives an error message that prevents them from being able to play that particular save file. Status: 3 known issues; Unable to load lots after Aug 19, 2025 update, with 104 votes. We’re looking for save files from players who don’t use mods. Players report being stuck on an endless loading screen when using lots from the gallery, with 81 votes. Players report seeing a Load Error 800/801 while playing the game, with 44 votes. We’ve been trying to reproduce this issue internally with no success, and are looking for save files that exhibit this issue. If you’re experiencing this issue please share your save file in the EA Forum linked above. The game and save file loads, but the player reports that things are broken, which typically means builds/lots, items and/or Sims are missing. Status: 3 known issues; Neighboring builds are missing, with 98 votes. Builds/lots disappearing, with 85 votes. Furniture is floating with builds missing, with 14 votes. It’s important to note that just because these issues are not unique to For Rent, they may have connections to For Rent that could be uncovered during investigation. You can expect us to share updates as we find them. We’re committed to continue investigating these issues and work towards making progress, alongside shipping fixes for other top community concerns. We aim to deliver updates quickly, once we have new or helpful information, to keep players informed of our progress. Keep reading to learn more about how our team works behind the scenes to identify and address player issues. Investigating Game Issues Before we release new content, we complete compliance tests across platforms and multiple levels of quality verification, including playtesting with The Sims team and a paid group of experienced Sims players from the community. We’re unable to recreate every potential Sims scenario across the different combinations of packs, playstyles, and devices before launch. Once it’s been released, we utilize player feedback to understand what issues are being experienced, by how many people, and any patterns of what might be causing them to aid our resolution. Another variable is if players use Mods and Custom Content (CC), as we’re unable to test against those in our pre-launch testing. Some mods come with permissions that modify save file structure, which can have unintended consequences out of our control. We have best practices for mod players here, which include disabling mods before any update, and we do our best to let modders know when to expect a base game update via our roadmaps. We also share our TDESC (Tuning Description) files via Discord to help with their updates, as that provides essential information for understanding and modifying data like field names and options. Reporting Game Issues If you’re experiencing something that’s impacting your ability to play the game that’s not on these lists, we want to hear about it. If you’re unable to get your The Sims 4 game to load or have a save file that you cannot open anymore, we want to hear from you and review that save file. We’ve created this new thread for any reports that the game is not functioning as expected, as we want to capture the full situation. Fixing old issues and addressing new ones are both equally important to our team and to players. While many players continue to play without interruption, we understand experiencing these issues is frustrating, and we remain committed to making progress against them. We’ll continue to update players via SimsDirect on X and Discord, and through our Laundry List and Patch Notes. Plus, we’ve seen players ask for information on how to back up save files and improve the overall game performance, which we’ll be sharing soon. Lastly, we invite you to join our Discord community so we can hear from you directly, you can chat with our team and other Simmers, take part in surveys, and share your thoughts in our new feedback forum we’re launching August 27.
Pack Selection - FAQ
What is Pack Selection? Pack Selection is a new feature allowing you to customize your experience when starting a new save based on the stories you want to tell and the experiences you want to build. This helps free up resources on your PC, Mac, or consoles without needing to uninstall packs you don't currently use. Please note that once you've started a save, removing packs may affect the save itself, so this feature is best utilized when creating new saves to optimize performance. How does it work? Access the Game Options menu from the main menu, select "Pack Selection", and choose the packs you wish to load or unload. Confirm your choices with the checkmark button. For more detailed instructions please visit Pack Selection - Step-by-Step Guide What happens if I disable a pack? Disabling a Pack removes its specific content, such as hair, clothing, and objects. We recommend only disabling Packs when starting a new Saved Game to avoid any unintended loss of content and progress. Be aware that disabling packs may impact your save file, so backup is recommended. Will disabling packs affect my save files? Disabling packs may impact your save files if they contain pack-specific objects, traits, clothing, Build/Buy or other features. Ensure you back up your saves before making changes. Will Pack Selection impact my saves? There's risk when unloading/loading packs. The diverse range of hardware configurations, legacy gameplay, pack combinations, CAS, B/B items, and pack-specific traits create complex game states. These complexities may impact player saves, so we always recommend backing up your save files to ensure your game data is protected. Are mods compatible with Pack Selection? We recommend disabling all mods before proceeding to ensure stability. How do I know if my save file is missing content? If a save file is missing content, you might notice a few indicators: Unloaded Content Message: When loading the save file, you will see a warning indicating that certain packs or content are missing. This message appears before you proceed to play. Save File Details: Save files with missing content on PC will show whether the necessary Packs are loaded, indicated by the Pack icons next to "Required Packs." Pack Selection Menu: In the Pack Selection menu, any packs without a checkmark next to them indicate they are not loaded. What happens if I try to load a game with missing Packs? When loading a game with missing content, you’ll have the following options: Play Save with Missing Content: Continue playing your current save file without the missing content. Note: Items such as clothing, objects, worlds, and gameplay functions will be unavailable with this option. Please be aware that saving the game after loading with missing content might lead to unexpected issues with your save file. Play a New Copied Save [PC ONLY]: Create and play a new save file with missing content. This save will be labeled with "copy_" in the name. Note: Items from missing packs are unavailable This ensures your original save file remains unchanged. Add Missing Content: Return to the Pack Selection menu to load the missing Packs. The missing Packs will be pre-selected. Confirm to load them. What happens to my household Sims if they were living in a world that I unloaded with Pack Selection? If a pack is unloaded, any content specific to that pack will be removed or become inaccessible. This could include objects, traits, or interactions related to the pack. Don't worry—your Sims will still be available from the Manage Households menu. You can view them there and move them into a lot or transfer them between households. However, any items or elements specific to the unloaded pack will be removed from them until the pack is reloaded. If I play across multiple saves with different packs (e.g., one with all packs and one with none), how will this affect my gameplay and saves? Playing with different packs means you'll experience varying content. In a save with all packs, you have full access, while a save with none limits you to base game content. Be careful when switching between saves as you'll receive a warning for missing content but not when new content has been added. Always check the Pack Selection menu to see what's loaded. Feedback and Support Visit our forums to report issues and provide feedback. For more information, please check the link here.150+ Community Voted Fixes - Coming Nov 4
Hey Simmers, Welcome to the Laundry List, where we update the community on what's coming next to The Sims 4! On November 4, we’ll release a large update fixing 150+ community reported issues, and bring exciting new free items to the Base Game. This update is part of our ongoing commitment to our community, ensuring the game remains stable, responsive, and enjoyable for players. Since our Quality of Life Roadmap announcement, EA Forums bug pages saw a 148% jump in views and 903% surge in votes; this helped us understand what’s affecting your game the most and directly shaped what we worked on for this update. We’ll share more info about the new content soon, and below are some of the 150+ fixes that will be resolved across the Base Game and Packs. Dave and Sims developer Alex will be joining our Discord community on Friday October 31st to answer your questions about these fixes, and can share more about what’s coming next as this isn’t a one-time effort. We’re committed to addressing community-raised issues consistently, and work is already underway on the next batch of fixes planned for December and beyond. We’re continuing to investigate Save File issues; find out more from our last update and we’ll have another update next month. If you encounter an issue, please continue to report and vote on The Sims 4 Bug Reports page. Thank you for your time, as this information is critical for us to prioritize and verify fixes. Keep an eye out on The SimsDirect across X and Discord for future updates! Issues that will be resolved in our November 4th update, in order of most voted by Simmers: Top 5 Most Voted Fixes: [EA Forums] Identified and resolved some cases of photos turning black in inventory when taken with the camera. Applies to new saves only. [EA Forums] Sabotage interaction is no longer available on objects without completing Deviance aspiration. [EA Forums] When the Mixologist is in conversation with NPCs, they'll break out of it if a drink order is queued up and be more responsive. [EA Forums] Children should now more clearly inherit some features from their parents. There may still be some variation (a child's nose may be slightly wider than their parent's, for example, but you should be able to see distinct features passed down between generations; if both parents have large ears, the child probably will too. [EA Forums] Relationship decay after having a baby was too fast and was destroying relationships. It has been slowed. Base Game Fixes: [EA Forums] ‘Sit Up' Milestone now properly unlocks and displays after travelling. [EA Forums] Sims won't use their phone when in the water or jogging. [EA Forums] "Take Vacation Day" is only given to the sim if their next shift is within the next 24 hours. This means that some careers often have 1-3 days free so sims must wait until the last day in order to request that Vacation day. When the option is not available it is now greyed out with a tooltip explaining it's only available 24hrs before the next shift. [EA Forums] Sim put books, foods and drinks into their intended inventories (bookshelf, fridge respectively) instead of more random inventories like the ICYA Chest/Sticker storage box. [EA Forums] Random Sims will no longer enter the home without knocking when using sliding doors. [EA Forums] Aspirations no longer default to the first one when looking at or switching to another. [EA Forums] Fixed issue where infants were being placed near a crib or playmat instead of remaining in it if the player travels to a different lot with a Sim and returns. [EA Forums] Excessive 'Wants' are no longer generated from music when there are other categories of preferences. [EA Forums] Mischief interactions between Sims who both like mischief can now properly succeed. This was happening only with Get Famous installed and that has now been fixed. [EA Forums] "Dance to stereo music" wants are now fulfilled when Sims dance using earbuds. [EA Forums] Sim will no longer autonomously perform 'Grab a Drink' interaction with 'Tea Magic Personal Brewer'. [EA Forums] Resolved an Exception that triggered while putting the baby in the crib leading to Infant resetting and laying on the floor outside of crib. [EA Forums] Infants can now acquire the Little Babbler trait. [EA Forums] "Energized" interactions will appear for Energized Sims on all showers; including locker room showers. [EA Forums] Fixing CAS applied makeup color swatch selection to be consistent on swapping items with the one that is highlighted. Tattoos are still being worked on to provide the same functionality. [EA Forums] Toddlers with 4 or 5 Movement Skill will no longer walk as if they have lower Movement Skill while in certain moods. [EA Forums] Sims will stop wearing hats while in their nude outfit. [EA Forums] When Sim goes to work, all the newborn/infant/toddler will be sent to daycare. Adoption events and pregnancy events were blocking this and now be resolved. [EA Forums] Nannies and Butlers will perform their duties more often and regularly. They will check if they need to perform duties every 30 minutes instead of every 4 hours. [EA Forums] Fire Fighters can fit into unroutable errors to better fight fires. [EA Forums] Soulmate is now added when the friendship/romantic track is full. The bug was caused when the friendship value was not updated in the romance relationship and assigned the wrong relationship bit. In existing saves, Sim now can be soulmates if they lower their friendship/romantic value and raise it again to achieve the soulmate status. [EA Forums] Aspiration goals will no longer reset when Sim travels to another lot, you switch to another Sim at home, and then perform "Bring Here" interaction on the first Sim. [EA Forums] Excessive Townies will no longer generate every time the computer is used. We adjusted a filter for style influencers that was generating new sims if you had not met a style influencer. [EA Forums] Moodlets related to fear will not trigger after the Fear of Dark trait is removed. [EA Forums] Fixed cases where NPC sims wear random weather outfits which they don't own. [EA Forums] Trash from all inside trash cans will now be emptied and dumped to the outdoor trash can. [EA Forums] Maid Sim with neat trait will no longer get stuck in grill cleaning loop. [EA Forums] CAS categories (excluding tattoos & pets) will again show all content from their subcategories. A previous update was made to the CAS Menu to support the new tattoo arcs. The change also caught several other categories, causing them to only show one subcategory at a time unlike their usual behavior of showing all categories at once. [EA Forums] ‘Listen to <genre specific> Music' wants are now fulfilled when Sim listens to music through Earbuds. [EA Forums] Sims can only Woohoo in steam rooms that are indoors and not broken. They will stop unsuccessfully attempting outdoors. Trash will be present in the world and on Community lots and trashcans can be properly rummaged. Sim's needs should now gain more consistently while they are low at Work/School while you're playing on a different lot. [Bug Archive] "Complete an aspiration with the Child Sim" goal now completes properly in 'Aliens Stole my Parents' Scenario. Affecting Multiple Packs: [EA Forums] Added glass wall pattern styles for Greenhouse Haven Kit and Life & Death glass roofs. [EA Forums] Patients and Ranch Hands will no longer arrive in random hats. [EA Forums] Reduced the size of the footprints of the following Radios (stereoTable): The Grimophone, GrammyFone Old-Fashioned Music Player, Kitty Tunes Radio, HiFive High Fidelity Radio, Life's a Ball Speaker, Vintique Record Player. [EA Forums] Nannies/Gardners/Ranch Hand will no longer return immediately after dismissing or firing them. [EA Forums] Cafeteria workers will now show up as expected. Cafeteria workers will not leave as soon as the game loads from save. Expansion Packs Adventure Awaits [EA Forums] Adding curtain rod for modular curtains in Adventure Awaits pack. [EA Forums] Skills from Adventure Awaits can no longer be increased in University "Sit in on Skill Class" interaction without the pack installed. [EA Forum] Firewatch tower structure pillars in the Wander Woods Wilds will no longer disappear when zooming out using sims 3 camera. [EA Forum] Child Sim's Legs will no longer show a wrinkled texture when wearing "cfBottom_EP20FlutterSkirt". [EA Forums] Fixes to Getaway Outfit selection on Controller: Scheduler UI should display correctly after setting Custom Role's outfit multiple times and Game should remain responsive. Getaway Sims will keep performing activities and interactions when running in 3x speed Fixing an issue where Sims were teleporting and exiting the pool after performing Woohoo in Water. Camera shake will time properly with the Geyser blow. Drowning, meteorite, lightning, cowplant or freezing deaths will now occur during Getaways. "Examine" interaction will not route fails if butterflies are placed in one of the center slots of Butterfly & Moth habitat. Can now gift a Friendship Bracelet to Imaginary Friends. Enchanted By Nature [EA Forums] When the "Limit Fairies to Innisgreen" option is enabled, Fairy Sims should not autonomously appear in their fairy form in any world outside of Innisgreen. [EA Forums] Most Fairy eye colors are now available for Infant, Toddler or child sims. 10 of the 18 overall Fairy eyes are now allowed. [EA Forums] "Connect to Power Grid" interaction is now available on lightning root when the plant has bloomed. [EA Forums] If Sims is on cooldown from a cured ailment, pixies won't be able to immediately add it back. Business & Hobbies [EA Forums] Sims will no longer reset and trigger a Last Exception when performing grab food interactions after using Secret Spice perk. [EA Forums] Customer Sims more consistently complete their laundry tasks before leaving the lot. [EA Forums] Sticky Fingers Aspiration: A Sim with an owned business can now swipe properly at Mischief level 10. Life & Death [EA Forums] "Return to office" interaction is now available on the Reaper when on assignments in Reaper career. [EA Forums] Random NPC Sim will no longer replace Edith. [EA Forums] Fixed cases when Funeral Guests would wear random outfits or work outfits (whichever they had last worn) to the Funeral event when no outfit was selected. Sims should now wear more appropriate outfits. [EA Forums] "Death by Pufferfish", "Death by Overheating" & "Death by Freezing" death types are now available for child Sim in CAS. [EA Forums] Woohoo with Grim will no longer get cancelled. This is happening because of an incompatibility with grimReaper_CarryScythe. [EA Forums] Ghost Essence notification now fires properly and players will only see the TNS if essence is actually being added (and no essence is already in inventory). [Bug Archive] Fixed cases where NPC Waylon and NPC Lady Ravendancer were being selected for the 'Walkby' Situation and pulled from their duties. [Bug Archive] All grave and urn options should appear now under 'Display as' interaction on urn/tombstone. Lovestruck [EA Forums] Preventing Neighborhood Stories romance actions from happening between incompatible Sims. Previously, it was not taking Sim's Romantic Preferences into account with "Romance Changes". This now verifies that Sims are still romantically interested in each other's genders before considering the action to be successful. For Rent [EA Forums] Rent in bills section will no longer show 0 and Tenants will now be able to pay rent. [EA Forums] Changing a Penthouse lot type to Residential Rental will not result in white screen asserts or an infinite loading screen. [EA Forums] Tenant agreement 'Remaining lease' duration will no longer revert and freeze when Sim travels somewhere and then returns to home lot. [EA Forums] The Kettle & Pressure Cooker will not cause excessive cases of "Unpleasant Surroundings" moodlet and Sims' reactions to smelly food. The pressure cooker now won't automatically decay into the spoiled state, but instead will only start decaying after anything is prepared there, and will reset after the object is emptied or cleaned out. [EA Forums] Tenant revolt event will not trigger when Rental Unit Events are disabled in game options. [EA Forums] Now able to convert Residential Rental lot to Residential lot when active sim not living in the main unit of the Residential Rental. [EA Forums] Tenants on Residential Rentals can send items on Plopsy/Trendi. [EA Forums] Aspiration goal "Handle a Maintenance event" now ticks off after completing the goal. [EA Forums] Resolved issues where Property Owners would fail to inspect or repair broken objects. The "Garden Blight" event of Maintenance Troubles Lot Challenge will now progress as intended. Stoves and Ovens can be replaced during the explosive malfunction event on a Non-Residential Rental. Horse Ranch [EA Forums] Sims will not receive Fizzy buffs from drinking crafted Nectar drinks. [EA Forums] Ranch Hand will no longer stay past 7pm. [EA Forums] Mini goats and sheep will no longer be able to use the gate when it is locked. Growing Together [EA Forums] Sim will no longer stand idle when a child asks for help with bike riding indoors. [EA Forums] Sims will no longer receive random milestone moodlets without achieving the milestone. [EA Forums] Daycare milestone will now unlock for toddler & infant Sims away from the lot when they return. [EA Forums] Child Sim will not be forced to sit on the edge of the pool when 'pull out loose tooth' or 'wiggle loose tooth' interaction is performed. [EA Forums] Child Sim's Confidence no longer stuck on Neutral and will change as expected. [EA Forums] Winning the marble game will now add new marbles to the child Sim's inventory. [EA Forums] Temporary Stay Guests will now sleep; even in sleeping bags. Cottage Living [EA Forums] Added message to help players understand that Gnomes have a reason for dropping gifts outside of holidays after Agatha Crumplebottom interacts with them. [EA Forums] Egg will no longer spoil while incubating it to hatch. Snowy Escape [EA Forums] Sim no longer gets a bored moodlet from an outdoorsy lifestyle for being inside when they are actually outside. High School Years [EA Forums] A high school official will always be present to give out the diplomas to graduating students. [EA Forums] Teens graduating early will no longer get 'Resentful About No Prom Invite' Sentiment when the Sim attends or skips the Prom. Both Sims need to have not graduated early for the sentiment to show up now. [EA Forums] Fixing immortal homeless high school students. Homeless teens in high school weren't aging up. This was particularly noticeable in multi-generational gameplay (e.g. classmate of parents is now classmate of child). We've added code to check for these Sims and appropriately age them up as you would expect compared to their classmates. [EA Forums] "Copperdale Llama Sports Mascot" object now appears in Build/Buy mode. [EA Forums] Drama Club/Scouts will now complete Afterschool tasks in the Goal-Oriented Aspiration. [EA Forums] When going to school on a Holiday, the proper High School UI shows by default instead of the Holiday UI. [EA Forums] Fixed cases where there would be no pop up option to Join school or Send Alone when Teen should be going to the Highschool. [EA Forums] The Science Fair Judge shows up when expected and stays for the duration of the Science fair Festival event. Eco Lifestyle [EA Forums] Sim can travel to a Community Space that has been updated to a Maker Space without experiencing crashes or error codes. [EA Forums] Vendors will now be consistently available at stalls or selling tables at the marketplace in Evergreen Harbor.Vendors were not appearing at market tables after the community lot type changed. [EA Forums] Sims will make more than just White Cakes when Food NAP is active. In new saves, Sim can now sell/own the Full wood jacket bike which was discovered from the dumpster. [EA Forums] Households that receive a bill with an owed value that's positive (a refund) can now pay bills, allowing the refund to be processed and the bills to be marked as paid. [EA Forums] NAPs no longer show TNSes with the option turned off. [EA Forums] Moving the recycler/fabricator in build buy mode from Manage worlds screen will no longer cause a Last Exception. [EA Forums] Incoming phone calls will no longer drop due to "Off Grid" when Sim isn't actually "Off Grid". Discover University [EA Forums] Added benefits to the Dream Home Decorator career if you have graduated from the Fine Arts or Art History programs. Island Living [EA Forums] Adjusted event timing to avoid overlaps which will allow the Turtle Hatching event to occur. Get Famous [EA Forums] Bouncers will arrive as expected to staff VIP Exclusivity doors on Studio PBP Lounge in Del Sol Valley. [EA Forums] Celebrities can now be interacted in a Retail store. [EA Forums] Actor career now properly displays as an Active Career in the "Select A Career" UI. Seasons [EA Forums] Admiring ghost and occult Sims will count for a Holiday's spooky spirit. [Bug Archive] Funny interactions on Teen/YA Sims will now fulfill the Good Deed badge. [EA Forums] Removed "in season" tests from the Research and Evolve interactions so they can be interacted with out of season. [EA Forums] Father Winter now gives toddlers a gift even if they've not officially met. Cats & Dogs [EA Forums] Vet clinic will no longer get stuck on 3 star rating. [EA Forums] [Console] Now able to enter dog/cat breed names for the pets adopted from neighborhood stories. [EA Forums] Fixed Dogs excessively exploring bush and triggering the Skunk encounter outcome and becoming dirty as a result. [EA Forums] Pets adopted by households from neighborhood stories will not properly show their breed. [EA Forums] Decreased the time duration range of taking dogs on Long and Medium Walks. [EA Forums] Sim and Dog will now autonomously exit the 'Go on Walk' interaction before reaching Motive failure. Get Together [EA Forums] "Dance" interaction is now present again on DJ booth objects when a DJ is playing. Get to Work [EA Forums] Sims will now buy things which are "set for sale" on display shelves from retail stores. [EA Forums] Alien Sims will no longer repeatedly wipe out the memory of their spouse autonomously. Game Packs Home Chef Hustles [EA Forums] Sims with glutton trait will no longer autonomously eat prepped ingredients when other foods are available. Werewolves [EA Forums] Werewolves will not use their phone when rampaging. [EA Forums] "Lunar Expert's Studio" and "Surreptitiously Studious Stationery Pile" objects can now be cloned with the Eye Dropper tool. [EA Forums] NPC Sims who are not werewolves will no longer be seen as Werewolf pack members. Please note that this only applies to new Saves. [EA Forums] Werewolves can no longer break upgraded objects; which caused Sims to continuously try to repair them. [EA Forums] When overmaxing the Werewolf's XP bar will now properly resets and the Sim will receive the expected ability points. My Wedding Stories [EA Forums] Fixed cases when Wedding Guests would wear random outfits or work outfits (whichever they had last worn) to the wedding event when no outfit was selected. Sims should now wear more appropriate outfits. Dream Home Decorator [EA Forums] Client Sims will stop being unhappy even though Decorator does the gig according to their preferences. [Bug Archive] Retro Dinette Stretch Booth now counts as "dining chairs" when performing Bar Renovation gig during the Interior Decorator career. Realm of Magic [EA Forums] Players will now receive the right notification stating for their Sims to become higher ranked Spellcasters if they want to learn additional spells from Practical & Mischief Sages. [EA Forums] Sims can now purchase or win all wand recolours. Parenthood [EA Forums] "Play with Emotion" interaction for child Sim will no longer be greyed out with tooltip asking to Repair or Replace Piano when it's not broken. Journey to Batuu [EA Forums] NPCs will board the X-Wing as needed for quests like "A Daring Rescue" Resistance mission including tasks like "Fly Rescue Mission in X-wing". [EA Forums] Arresting Someone (First Order) will no longer get stuck or fail. Dine Out [EA Forums] Sims can now check off restaurant related goals on a date. [EA Forums] Batuu 'Cantina Booth' will now count towards dining spots. Fixed some drinks that were appearing as water in the restaurant Menu. Outdoor Retreat [EA Forums] Sim prepares the herbal potion and places it in their inventory without any T-pose or animation issues. Stuff Packs Nifty Knitting [EA Forum] Fixing CAS unlock display to remove locked thumbnails in "Knit Clothing" even though the items are unlocked. Kids Room Stuff [EA Forums] Monster will no longer be spotted under the bed when monster spray is used. Vintage Glamor Butler stays on the lot (and remains in their work outfit) when you travel with your sim to another lot. Spooky Stuff [EA Forums] Sims can now perform 'resume' interaction on a pumpkin carving station.Quality of Life Roadmap
Sul Sul Simmers, Our top priority is to provide a fun, positive experience for all players. We see your feedback on technical issues and game performance. And, we want to assure you that your concerns are heard. Today, we’re sharing the steps we’re taking to double our efforts, ensuring Simmers have the best experience possible with The Sims 4. Over the next 8 weeks, our dedicated teams will dive in to resolve current issues and get ahead of unforeseen technical disruptions. Here’s what the next couple of months will look like for The Sims 4: September 2025: Base Game Update On September 18, PC and Mac players can expect a Base Game Update. We are pulling forward the release from its originally scheduled launch to allow additional time for us to quickly identify and address any potential issues that may take place across players’ various setups and game configurations. This also provides space for mod creators to update their content prior to the launch of the Adventure Awaits Expansion Pack. Before the game update, we will release the TDESC files in The Sims Discord for those who need time to support and maintain any mods or custom content. Console players will see this update on September 23 after it goes through additional verification. Since PC and Mac will be on a newer game version until the PlayStation & Xbox update on September 23, console players will need to use the PlayStation and Xbox filters in the Gallery until you receive the update. More information will be provided in the Laundry List on September 16, and in the Patch Notes released on September 18. September 2025: Community Prioritized Fixes We’re investigating and resolving issues based on votes in The Sims 4 Bug Report section of the EA Forums. Player upvotes are crucial in prioritizing fixes, and we’re doubling down efforts to focus on the most impactful issues players want resolved. Each upvote you cast on a reported issue helps us determine which problems are causing the biggest disruptions across the community. The earlier we receive votes, the better. We’ll provide an update on our progress if we’re unable to address all of the top-voted issues in our October Laundry List. With our commitment to quality, and providing a smooth and enjoyable game experience, we’ll tackle as many issues as possible based on the top-voted issues. We’re starting with a known list of highly upvoted threads from EA Forums, in addition to the save file investigations we previously announced. We’re looking at the top-voted issues in the “Under Investigation” and “Needs Info” statuses in The Sims 4 Bug Reports | EA Forums. Scroll down to read more about “How It Works” to vote on the issues you are experiencing. October 2025: Monitoring and Addressing Fixes We’re currently completing compliance tests across platforms and multiple levels of quality verification for the Adventure Awaits Expansion Pack, including playtesting with The Sims team and a paid group of experienced Sims players from the community. On October 2, the Adventure Awaits Expansion Pack will be released, and monitoring will continue through the EA Forums to ensure any unforeseen issues are fixed in a timely manner. November 2025: Fixes and Freebies for Everyone November 4. Mark your calendars. This will be a big day! Not only will you see fixes based on your feedback, but the update will also include some new, free content for all players. Ongoing Work We assure you that we’re aware of the issues impacting your play experiences, and your voices matter to us. Whether it’s gameplay, Create a Sim issues, or just a visual bug, utilizing the EA Forums and casting your votes will directly shape our future updates and changes to The Sims 4. Dag Dag, The Sims Team _________________________________________________________________________________________ Community Prioritized Fixes - How It Works Here’s where we’re starting with “Top Votes:” The Sims 4 Bug Reports | EA Forums Share Your Issue: If you have an issue with The Sims 4, take a few minutes to visit the EA Forums and see if a report thread already exists for the issue you are having. If you are unsure if a report has been made, please create a new report, and our team will merge it into an existing one, if appropriate. If you are still experiencing an issue that is marked as “Fixed,” please create a new report. If you are experiencing an issue that is marked as “Needs Information,” we’ve been unable to make progress or replicate this issue. Save files with the issue occurring are the most helpful for our teams, so please share your save file when upvoting one of these issues. Instructions on How to Send User Files: [INFORMATION] How to Send User Files to The Sims 4 Team | EA Forums - 5048472 Vote for Fixes: If you see a report that matches any issue you are experiencing with The Sims 4, simply click the “Vote ⬆” button to add your vote. If you created a new report, please upvote the report you created. That’s it. You’re not limited on how many issues you can upvote. We will start with the reports that have the most upvotes by the end of September for a November update. If during the course of our investigation we discover an issue is only happening with saves that use mods, we may not be able to resolve that issue. As a reminder, we do not and cannot pre-screen, support or endorse mods. Closer to the base game update in November, we’ll publish a special edition of our Laundry List including the Top Voted Community Issues you can expect to see resolved. Follow The Sims Direct and The Sims Discord to stay current with important updates on fixes.Pack Selection - Step-by-Step Guide
Pack Selection is a new feature allowing you to customize your experience when starting a new save based on the stories you want to tell and the experiences you want to build. This helps free up resources on your PC, Mac, or consoles without needing to uninstall packs you don't currently use. Please note that once you've started a save, removing packs may affect the save itself, so this feature is best utilized when creating new saves to optimize performance. Disabling packs will remove pack-specific content like hair, clothing, objects, and gameplay functions. Re-enabling will restore this content. Step-by-Step Guide Using Pack Selection Access Game Options: From the main menu, select the three dots (•••) at the top right, to open the Game Options menu. Select “Pack Selection”: Navigate and select the “Pack Selection” menu. Choose Packs: View all your owned Packs and select which Packs you want to load or unload. Simply select which Packs you would like to load (indicated with a checkmark) and which you would like to unload (No checkmark). Confirm Selections: Press the checkmark button at the bottom of the screen to confirm your selections. Note: Loading times may vary based on the number of packs selected. - Important Considerations - Disabling packs will remove pack-specific content like hair, clothing, objects, and gameplay functions. Re-enabling will restore this content. Warning: Disabling pack content may impact your save file. Please back up your saves before proceeding. Despite thorough testing, the diverse range of hardware configurations, legacy gameplay, pack combinations, CAS, B/B items, and pack-specific traits create complex game states. These complexities may impact player saves, so we always recommend backing up your save files to ensure your game data is protected. Mods: 3rd party mods and Custom Content (CC) is not available from the Pack Selection menu. It is recommended to disable mods before proceeding. Options for Loading a Game with Missing Content Loading a save with missing content on PC will show whether the necessary Packs are loaded, indicated by the Pack icons next to "Required Packs." To restore missing content, access the Pack Selection menu, choose and load the necessary Packs. Additionally, when loading a game with missing content, several options are available for you to choose from: Play Save with Missing Content: Continue playing your current save file without the missing content. Note: Items such as clothing, objects, worlds, and gameplay functions will be unavailable with this option. Play a New Copied Save: (PC/Mac Only) Create and play a new save file with missing content. This save will be labeled with "copy_" in the name. Note: Items, clothing, worlds, etc. from missing packs are unavailable. This option ensures your original save file remains unchanged. Add Missing Content: Return to the Pack Selection menu to load the missing Packs. The missing Packs will be pre-selected. Confirm to load them. Feedback and Support Visit our forum to report issues and provide feedback. For more information, please check the link here.Community Concerns with Save File Issues - November 2025 Update
Sul Sul, Simmers, Welcome to our November update into save file investigations. Over the past few months, our team has been testing, analyzing, and dissecting every lead - from missing lots to infinite loading loops - to understand what’s really happening under the hood. Thanks to our new Python-based tool and a growing database of player-submitted saves, we’ve identified several consistent patterns that point to the root causes of these problems. Here’s a high-level overview of where we’re at and where we’re headed, with more technical details below. 1. Fixed a cause of infinite loading on November 4th. Our team was able to identify and reproduce an issue that was causing infinite loading when converting Penthouses or Dorms into Residential Rentals. This issue was discovered internally, not linked to any previously ongoing investigations, and began with Adventure Awaits. A fix was shipped out alongside the community voted issues in the November 4th Base Game update. 2. Thanks to the community providing their affected saves, we’ve also been able to resolve the underlying causes for Error code: 109:4fe45107, Error code: 109:d7e16575, and Error code: 123:b378c837 in the saves that they were originally occurring in. You can expect to see these fixes in our upcoming Base Game update in December. This does not mean that these error codes will no longer occur, but we can confirm that we've resolved the issue that was triggering the error in the provided saves. If you do run into these error codes again, please let us know on EA Forums and provide your save file to the team as we work to eliminate other causes. 3. We’re also exploring what we call a “Protobuf Overflow” - a case where save or Lot data grows so large it exceeds its storage limits, leading to missing or corrupted Lots. The good news is that our Memory Boost Feature seems to reduce this risk, and we’re continuing to test this theory using intentionally overstuffed save files. We’re also tackling Error 801, where multiple processes compete during load and can crash the game, and we’ve begun the process of moving scratch files from the Documents folder to AppData to prevent conflicts with cloud backups. On top of that, we’re investigating event overlaps, cheat-heavy or modded Lots, lingering mod data, and even cases where venue data carries into new saves. The further we investigate these issues, the more we’re certain that save corruption has no single underlying cause, there is no “patient zero”. More accurately, save corruption is akin to “18 bugs in a trench coat” that we continue to curtail as we progress. - The Sims Team Our Current Investigations: Protobufs - Missing Lot Data Our investigations suggest that missing Lot data may be caused by a “Protobuf Overflow.” Protobufs are the data files that store information about your saves - but they have a size limit. When a save or Lot grows too large (for example, due to extremely packed builds or complex saves), it could exceed that limit and cause corruption. We’re currently testing this theory using an intentionally overstuffed save file and have found that the Memory Boost feature has the ability to to help reduce the likelihood of overflow, therefore preventing this issue from occurring on some hardware configurations. Our investigations are ongoing in this area, but this discovery gives us a solid direction for potential fixes to issues related to corrupted Lots and disappearing houses in saves with lots of rental units. We've done some testing on saves where lots appear missing and found that sometimes loading that save with the Memory Boost feature enabled can cause them to appear again. Our investigations are ongoing in this area, but given that both hardware and software are involved, it means we need more time to investigate this thoroughly so that we can come up with a proper solution. However, we do feel we have a solid direction and you can help us speed this up by filling out the survey linked below. Error 801 and Scratch File Investigations We’re actively working to better understand the underlying causes of Error 801, which can cause the game to crash before loading. Our current testing suggests that multiple processes might be competing to finish at once, creating inconsistent results. Although we haven’t confirmed scratch file deletion as a direct cause of corruption, we’re taking extra precautions. To prevent conflicts with cloud backup services, scratch files are being moved from the Documents folder to AppData in a future update. This change is currently in internal review to ensure stability while we collaborate with other internal teams on scratch files and their interactions with The Sims 4. Other Areas of Focus: Overstuffed and Cheated Lots: We’re testing how Move Objects and heavily decorated or modded Lots from the Gallery behave when downloaded into new games. Our theory is that the game struggles to resolve certain cheat-related placements when those cheats aren’t enabled - possibly causing corruption in large, complex builds. Potential Corruption Via Gallery Downloads: In some cases, mod data has persisted inside a save file even after the mod was removed. This can happen with mods that add excessive Lot traits or custom scripts. We’re looking into whether this leftover data can also transfer through Gallery uploads, creating issues for players who don’t have those mods installed. Venue Data Carrying Across Saves: We found that in certain cases, data from one save can carry into a newly created save within the same session, creating a broken save right from the start. This behavior began in Lovestruck and isn’t linked to older reports of corruption, but it helps us understand how different systems can unintentionally interact. Our Next Steps: Missing Lot Data Survey We’re looking to gather more information from anyone who’s experienced issues around missing Lot data, and we’ve set up a quick survey to gather information like Memory Boost interactions with previously broken saves, DXdiags, and any mods you have installed, as we think this may be critical to our ongoing investigation into these issues. We continue to investigate the issues discussed in this article, and look forward to gathering even more useful information from you via the survey linked above. Once again, your save data continue to be vital to this work - every file you share helps us identify new patterns and move closer to long-term fixes. Thank you for your patience and passion as we work to keep your Sims’ worlds safe, stable, and corruption-free. Thank you for reading, we’ll see you back here for our next monthly update in December.Memory Boost - Early Access - FAQ
Memory Boost is an early access, opt-in feature for PC only, that brings performance improvements to The Sims 4. It optimizes memory usage, reduces lag, improves frame rates, and helps prevent memory-related crashes. We’re inviting players to try it out and share feedback as we prepare for a wider rollout. You can turn Memory Boost off at any time. Any new recovery saves created while Memory Boost is active will be tagged, and at least one original (untagged) recovery save is always preserved for fallback, so you can safely revert if needed. Why is Memory Boost opt-in and in early access? Memory Boost introduces significant improvements to how The Sims 4 manages memory. Because every player’s hardware is different, we’re starting with an opt-in phase to ensure stability across all systems. Your participation and feedback help us make Memory Boost even better for everyone. How do I enable Memory Boost? To enable Memory Boost, go to the main menu, select the three dots to open Game Options, choose "Other", and then enable Memory Boost from the dropdown menu. What happens when I enable Memory Boost? Your game will restart with enhanced performance settings. Recovery saves created during this time will have a tag indicating Memory Boost is active. What type of crashes does Memory Boost help prevent? Memory Boost is designed to address crashes related to high memory usage, such as those that can occur during extended play sessions, when using lots of content, or in large, complex households. By optimizing how the game manages memory, Memory Boost helps reduce the risk of crashes caused by running out of available memory, making your gameplay experience smoother and more stable. Can I revert to a previous game state? Yes, one recovery save will always remain without Memory Boost enabled to ensure you can revert if needed. How do I disable Memory Boost? To disable Memory Boost, return to the Game Options menu, choose "Other" and select "Disabled" under the Memory Boost dropdown. Will enabling Memory Boost affect my current game saves? Once Memory Boost is enabled, your existing saves remain unchanged. Any new recovery saves created while Memory Boost is active will be tagged to indicate they were made with the feature enabled. This tagging helps you easily identify which saves were created with Memory Boost, while always preserving at least one original (untagged) recovery save for fallback. This ensures you can safely try Memory Boost without impacting your previous game progress, and you can always revert to a pre-Memory Boost save if needed. Remember: If you want to load a save created before Memory Boost, disable Memory Boost before playing that save to ensure everything works smoothly. Why do my recovery save files say "Memory Boost"? Recovery saves with Memory Boost enabled are tagged to indicate the feature is active. However, one recovery save remains untagged to ensure you can revert to a previous game state if needed. What happens to my saves if I disable Memory Boost? Recovery save files that had Memory Boost enabled will continue to display the “Memory Boost” tag, indicating it was used on that file. This tag is simply a marker and doesn't affect gameplay, so you can continue playing as usual. What does "Automatic" in the Memory Boost options do? Selecting "Automatic" allows the game to optimize memory usage based on your system’s capabilities, providing the best performance without manual adjustments. I see a new executable in my The Sims 4 Game folder. What is it? The new executable is part of the Memory Boost feature, designed to enhance game performance. It's essential for running the optimized version of The Sims 4. Why don't I see the DX9 option in the options menu while Memory Boost is enabled? DX9 is unavailable when Memory Boost is active. You need to disable Memory Boost to access this option. Why don't I see the Memory Boost option? Ensure you have the latest update and that you're not running DX9. Check your DirectX version by looking at the bottom right corner of the main menu screen to confirm you're on DirectX 11. Remove any launch argument that automatically switches you to a specific executable, such as "-dx9" or "-dx11", from the "Advanced launch options" box via the EA app, Steam, or Desktop Shortcut. For more details, visit: DirectX 11 Guide How do I know if Memory Boost is enabled? To verify that Memory Boost is enabled, use the in-game cheat “version” to display output indicating whether FPB (Memory Boost) is running. To use the “version” cheat in The Sims 4: Launch the game. Press Ctrl + Shift + C to open the cheat console at the bottom of the screen. Type “version” into the console and press Enter. If you see (FPB) in the Summary line, Memory Boost is active. Is Memory Boost available on other platforms other than PC? Memory Boost is currently only available on PC. It is not supported on other platforms at this time. For more information and a step-by-step instructions please check the link below: https://forums.ea.com/blog/the-sims-game-info-hub-en/memory-boost---step-by-step-guide/12559448
