Game freezes computer

[Bluebellflora]

@Aldriona

I wonder if you're having the same issue as the 16" MBPs. Have a look at the opening post in this thread and see if your issues are the same and if the workarounds help, It would be great to know - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/NEED-INFO-Problems-playing-Sims-4-on-the-16-quot-MacB...

Do you have a LastCrash file in your Sims 4 folder? If so please could you attach it to a post here.

[aromanticace]

@Bluebellflora and @Aldriona 

I went through the 16" Macbook thread and agree that my problems looked similar, so I tried the proposed workarounds. None of them worked, and none even did so much as improve performance. Game now freezes within 5–10 minutes of gameplay.

By now, I can attest that moving the camera causes it. It doesn't happen the first time I move the camera, but around that 5–10 minute mark, even the slightest pan or rotation locks up the graphics and sometimes causes tearing. It still does not generate a LastCrash file, nor does it crash the rest of my computer. At this point, the game is completely unplayable.

[Bluebellflora]

@aromanticace

Does it happen in all worlds, on all lots? Or just specific ones?

[aromanticace]

@Bluebellflora 

It was happening consistently in any lot I opened, especially if I tried to build there. It was far worse on lots I had edited myself, especially when I tried to use the new feature of windows overlapping on tiles, but I had this happen throughout Willow Creek and Oasis Springs.

I say "was happening consistently" because as I was going through to test more lots, specifically San Myshuno since the 2016 Macbook thread indicated it might be a particular problem, I only had this happen once: on my edited version of the Goth family house in build mode. The only thing that was different between these loads/plays and previous ones is that I had turned off my f.lux filter (a third-party app which reduces the amount of blue light produced by my computer screen at night). Even during daytime, this filter is technically active unless you either disable it or quit f.lux. With the filter off, I was able to go into any lot I wanted in build mode, bog it down with as many items and swatches as I could think of, and wheel the camera around in all directions. The only time I had it lock up was when I tabbed out of the fullscreen game to check something else while I was working on the Goth house. I've had problems with tabbing out and back into the fullscreen game plenty in the past, so I don't think it's directly related to the issue at hand.

I don't think there's a fundamental problem with the f.lux app—when I closed the game, turned the filter back on, and reopened the game, I was able to be just as aggressive, even on lots that had frozen on me in under 2 minutes before—but it seems plausible that it was causing some issues since all but a few were strictly graphics-related. Might also explain why resetting the PRAM/NVRAM didn't work for me. Curious to know if anyone else experiencing problems is using this or even the built-in nighttime filters in macOS.

I haven't yet tested all the lots, just the ones that were giving me trouble + a couple of City Living default apartments, and I've done about half an hour of glitchless play in live mode at this point, which is more than I'd gotten before.

[Bluebellflora]

@aromanticace

Seems very likely the flux app is a major cause. Anything that overrides the OS settings and affects graphics is a likely candidate. I only referenced the 16" MBP thread because you have the last 15" model and have similar, but not identical, hardware.

Thanks for all the really useful info, great to know

[groenroos]

I have the same problem now after updating to the latest patch - never had any similar problems before.

I only get 2-3 minutes of gameplay of trying to build on an empty lot with no family. Seems like the most common trigger for these glitches is rotating the camera, which will occasionally freeze the game for a few seconds, with the default MacOS cursor showing instead of the in-game one. Music will continue to play, but everything else is unresponsive.

The longer I play, the more frequent, longer and severe the glitches get. Once the glitches are triggered once, the subsequent ones will happen automatically. Eventually even exiting the game becomes almost impossible. Got a whole screen of bright red for 10 seconds once. Weird square artefacts in the graphics, which will be even displayed in the world map preview of the lot I was editing, after restarting.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)

macOS Catalina 10.15.4 (19E287)

Processor 2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

Memory 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

Graphics Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

Storage 1 TB

Expansion Packs City Living, Discover University, Get Famous, Get to Work, Get Together, Island Living, Seasons

Game Packs Dine Out, Parenthood, Spa Day

Stuff Packs Bowling Night, Cool Kitchen, Fitness, Laundry Day, Moschino, Perfect Patio, Romantic Garden, Vintage Glamour

I've played my save with CC and mods, but I've tried playing with them disabled and it's no different.

Not running f.lux or any other software that would modify my graphics or display.

[Bluebellflora]

Hmm, you all have last generation 2019 15" MacBook Pros with AMD Vega GPUs. iMac Pros with similar GPUs are experiencing complete system lockup after the September patch with similar GPUs - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/CPU-max-usage-and-system-crashing-on-IMac-Pro/m-p/946... although they are getting complete system lockup which I don't think you guys are?

Could you see if disabling Origin in-game helps at  all? https://bluebellflora.com/2017/12/23/disable-origin-in-game/

And if any of you get any lastCrash reports please can you attach them to a post here  

[groenroos]

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@Bluebellflora wrote:

Hmm, you all have last generation 2019 15" MacBook Pros with AMD Vega GPUs. iMac Pros with similar GPUs are experiencing complete system lockup after the September patch with similar GPUs - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-Mac/CPU-max-usage-and-system-crashing-on-IMac-Pro/m-p/946... although they are getting complete system lockup which I don't think you guys are?

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The mouse still moves normally during a freeze glitch for me, so I guess it's not a total system freeze. I occasionally get the beachball spinner as well. Never gotten any system alert like in their first screenshot, but the blocky artefacts from the second screenshot are exactly what I get when I let the spiral of glitches get bad enough.

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@Bluebellflora wrote:

And if any of you get any lastCrash reports please can you attach them to a post here  

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I haven't got any lastCrash reports, as the game doesn't technically crash - though maybe it might if I leave it for long enough?

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@Bluebellflora wrote:

Could you see if disabling Origin in-game helps at  all? https://bluebellflora.com/2017/12/23/disable-origin-in-game/

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I'll try that next, thanks!

[aromanticace]

@Bluebellflora 

It's definitely not a full system crash for me. The closest I got to that was the Origin glitch if it froze in windowed mode instead of fullscreen; the game would close itself and the client would claim that it was logged in on another computer (it was not). The only thing I could do to fix it was restart the computer, but there was no LastCrash file. It doesn't really seem to be a "crash." About half the time, I can actually mouse through the exit menu by watching the cursor change shape, and if I'm in build mode and click on a menu item, I can hear the sound effect for selecting an item, for example. The game is responding, according to macOS; but the graphics are wrong.

I did disable Origin in-game, especially because of that weird Origin glitch, and it didn't help the overall game freeze. So far, the only thing that seems to have made a serious improvement was disabling f.lux.

[Aldriona]

I tend to be able to move the mouse even when the screen goes completely frozen, and still with the ingame pointer rather than the system one.

Yesterday I managed to play for several hours on a new save. Regular gameplay, on one of the premade lots. Made some minor build changes to it and added new furniture with no issue. I then made a new save for building, created a tester family, exited to manage worlds and went into a lot to build. Within twenty minutes it started freezing again.

Tonight I tested the linked fixes. iCloud is disabled already, I disabled retina display ingame, toggled laptop mode, enabled vertical sync, and reset my NVRAM. No change. The build lot now starts acting up within less than five minutes of opening it, some times less than a minute.