Game super laggy after Feb 5th patch

[ArianaLee721]

Hi there – I have TS4 on a Mac desktop that has tons of RAM and previously was running the base game + Jungle + City Living perfectly fine, with all graphics set to high. I just updated the game, however, and it's super laggy. (Cursor takes a while to catch up/figure out what I'm hovering over, switching between sims/tabs is slow, all camera movements are slow, etc.) I already tried repairing the game, deleting all mods/CC (even though they were already disabled) and repairing again. 

Is anyone else experiencing this? Anyone have any ideas?

[Tremayne4260]

@ArianaLee721 , try moving your entire Sims 4 folder (Documents > Electronic Arts > Sims 4) to your Desktop and do NOT delete it! This is where your saved games are stored. Next start up the game allowing it to regenerate a new Sims 4 folder and start up a new game as your saved games, CC/Mods are currently on your Desktop. Create a new Sim and play for a bit to see if the game still lags. You can then quit the game. 

Before updating the game, you always need to check with the creators of your favorite Mods to see if they were updated to work with the latest patch. I recommend turning off automatic updates to insure that you can then update your mods prior to updating your game. Out dated Mods can cause the game to no longer work. 

Please keep us updated.

[Bluebellflora]

@ArianaLee721 

Lag isn't just RAM related, if your graphics card isn't particularly powerful the game won't run smoothly. If you have a ton of CC that will also slow it down. Please can you provide more information about your Mac. Instructions on how to do so here - http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-4-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/4612...

[ArianaLee721]

So I tried @Tremayne4260's solution to no avail –– even in CAS it was super laggy.

As I mentioned, all CC has now been deleted and the game was running just fine at high graphic settings until this update – hence I'm inclined to believe that this is not a hardware issue. But just in case, the computer specs are as follows:

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, mid-2015)
Processor: 3.3 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 M290 2048 MB

Thanks in advance, friends.

[Bluebellflora]

@ArianaLee721

Thanks. Is it still laggy with a brand new Sims 4 folder? Play a new, clean vanilla game for 20 minutes or so and see how it is.

You could also test by setting up a new user account on your Mac and playing in that account. Sometimes something already running on your Mac may be causing the issue with the game. I've noticed since the latest update that Discord seems to be causing lag issues when I switch between the two.

[ArianaLee721]

So I tried with the clean new folder and it was laggy then too, although admittedly I didn't play for 20 minutes (i went into CAS and even that was laggy to use).

I guess I will try making a new Mac user account next. I don't think there are any other programs open, but Mac's task manager equivalent isn't as in-depth (with processes and all that) as Windows'.

[Bluebellflora]

@ArianaLee721

In Activity Monitor you can see exactly what is running, the parent process, and end any residual processes left over from closed apps. It may not be the same as Windows but macOS is not the same as Windows

No need to play for 20 minutes if you experienced the lag straight away, that was to ascertain whether it was cumulative load causing the issue. Hopefully the new user account may help, make sure you load the game as soon as you log into the new account.