After a couple of minutes of play, the game freezes indefinitely

[Akiriwe]

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? 1.99.305.1020 (also happened on 1.99, prev minor version)
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Expansions: All except Horse Ranch. Game Packs: All except Werewolves, My Wedding Stories, Journey To Batuu, Strangerville. Stuff Packs: All except Toddler Stuff Pack, Vintage Glamour, Kids Room, Romantic Garden, and Spooky Stuff Pack. Kits: Only Bust The Dust, Fashion Street, Desert Luxe
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? It does not reproduce for me on a brand-new savefile. I will attach my own one, which freezes after 1-2 Sim-hours.
What happens when the bug occurs? After a couple of minutes of playing on a specific save, the game gets stuck in some kind of loop where time stops (and doesn't start again) but the current animations continue, even when entering/exiting build mode. I can click on any buttons but not on any sims/objects, and neither can I cancel the sims interactions. When this bug occurs I can click the buttons to go to manage worlds, main menu, or exit the game but if I do the game gets stuck on a seemingly eternal loading or saving screen. While stuck on the saving screen the animations still continue.
What do you expect to see? For animations to be still when I pause the game and for time to stop/continue as I pause/unpause. To be able to go to manage worlds, main menu, or exit the game without being stuck on a loading screen.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Not now. I've removed them.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Neutral/Not Sure 

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I moved kids out of my main family, Stephanie, and Amanda, to gain an education at Foxburry University, and moved them to a dormitory from Gallery, this will be in a save file. This happens specifically on this lot, other families seem to be untouched by this.

Some insights:

- In the other topic (https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Time-freezing-animation-looping-in-university-dorm/td-...) there was an assumption it is related to broken Windows or broken video card drivers. I did a clean install of videocard driver, and this didn't help. I am attaching dxdiag.txt as well in case if this helps; 

- On the new save file with a similar setup (the same Gallery dorm, the same place) this issue does not appear, so it's save-bound;

- This does not happen on other lots with other families, and when I travel as the other family to that cursed lot, it operates fine;

- When the family living in the dormitory visits other places, they do just fine, it happens only on the dormitory lot;

- simreset does not do anything;

- I checked out Father Winter theory (https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/ARCHIVED-Game-Freeze-Extended-Loading-Times-Save-Game-Bloating...), and for me, this is not the case - the save-file is not bloated, RAM and video memory are alright, no Father Winters. I am also not entirely sure how to check route issues, I tried to delete some furniture but nothing changes;

- Some cases are very similar to mine (the last one is quite the same, I even copied the explanation because it was that good :D):

   - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Clock-froze-sims-stuck-in-loop-but-surroundings-kept-g...

   - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Time-freezing-animation-looping-in-university-dorm/td-...

   - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/ARCHIVED-Game-Freeze-Extended-Loading-Times-Save-Game-Bloating...

   - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/FIXED-Routing-Issues-with-Platform-freeze-the-game/td-p/978812...

   - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/Game-stuck-in-animation-loop/m-p/12227544

Things I didn't check:

- Moving out-moving in - since my Sims are in the dormitory, I wanted them to stay there, and moving them out means playing somewhere else for a whole week, and I used the mod to make their former classmates as roommates, and I wanted to play all together. :c Although I might fall into this if there is no other remedy.

Savefile - https://drive.google.com/file/d/16AGPjxY68OKOJlhdsbmJx8So9qc7HxvW/view?usp=drive_link

[Akiriwe]

Hey,

I've got some progress while digging deeper. Haven't solved it yet, but checked some other stuff.

Some other things I've tried: 

- Did clean install of the game - nothing changed;

- Did SSD check and virus scan - nothing found;

- Moved the sisters to another lot (still Britechester, but other hood and the private house) - no issues anymore, so it's something particularly strange going on in Foxburry dormitory or in the Foxburry hood;

- Used bb.enablefreebuild cheat and replaced the dormitory for 14 sims to the one with 8 sims, much simpler and without platforms, to see if it helps - still issue is there, so the amount and the mod increasing it are not the issue;

- Found a backup save right before they moved to uni, created a separate sim, and enrolled him in the same Gallery dorm, with mods on. Strangely enough, it had some progress - sims weren't completely and irreversibly stuck this time. Although they still had simulation issues (stood without action, time was going on, needs dropping, but all were staying and complaining, Autonomy is on), reset helped for a couple of hours. I noticed this also happens while they try to wash dishes or throw away the trash (sinks and trash cans are there). That time, I removed mods again, and this helped (removing mods in the save with girls already in uni didn't help). I am looking into which mod causes it, but I am kinda confused that the issue is different, but still there.

So it might be the mod after all, but I am confused why the issue is different and why in the first case with sisters removing mods changed nothing, AND why this does not happen on a clean save. I will try to locate the mod, remove it, and try to move them to the dorm again to see if this happens again.

I'll let you guys know about the updates, but I am sorry in advance, if this was the mod and I wrote the report here :D

Lesson learned, having backup saves is a good thing. 

[Trimoth]

My issue is similar to yours too a t, I will search for a mod as well

[Akiriwe]

@Trimoth The mod was Simulation Lag Fix, this removed their issues with routing to trash cans and sinks. Strange, considering the purpose of the mod XD


However, the original issue is still there, and I found a way to reproduce it on a backed up save (not on a clean save tho).

When you schedule an event (Keg Party in my case) AND you have a celebration going on (in my case Founder's Remembrance, custom thing), it leads to a behavior described in a original post (time stops, animations circulating, nothing else happens, saving and go to manage worlds is not possible).

I tried to not schedule Keg Party, everything's fine. Tried to schedule the day after when there is no celebration, everything's fine. Not sure what's going on, but at least this sounds like a workaround.