lots won't load

[pif623]

I've been having this issue for the past few days.  Whenever I go to any household, in any neighborhood, in any lot, in any of my saved games the lot won't load.  One of these three things happens instead:

1.  The screen turns black

2.  Sims 4 stops responding

3.  The game crashes

This happens even when my mods are disabled.  I have a macbook pro that I recently updated to El Capitan (10.11.6, yes I know I am super behind on updating my laptop).  What can I do to fix this? 

[Bluebellflora · Accepted solution]

@pif623

For the greyed out play button, bouncing game in Dock, and other issues, you can try this:

1. In your Applications folder right click on the Sims 4 app and select Show Package Contents.
2. Navigate to Contents > Mac OS.
3. Right click on The Sims 4 and select Move to Trash. Don't drag the file as it will only move an alias and leave the original in place. If there is another file in the folder, The Sims 4.par, leave it alone.
4. Now open Origin, click on The Sims 4 in your Games Library and click on Download.

You should also disable Origin in-game which can fix the bouncing icon issue.

There is also a Sims 4 Mac help thread stickied on this forum which has all these tips in it  https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-4-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/461...

Clearing the cache for Origin on Macs doesn't really do much which is why EA made the great little Origin reset tool for us - https://help.ea.com/en-gb/help/origin/origin/how-to-reset-origin-on-mac/

[Bluebellflora]

@pif623

Please go into Documents > Electronic Arts and move the Sims 4 folder to your desktop then launch the game. It will be like new again. Play for a bit and then save and quit, then reload that save - does it freeze/crash?

[pif623]

I tried doing that but when I started up my game none of my saved games were there.  I thought you mean that everything would run smoothly, not like it was 100% brand new lol.  Is there a way I can do this without losing all of my saved games?

[puzzlezaddict]

The point of this "clean folder test" is to try to isolate the cause of your problem.  If you can play a new game using this new folder for a while without seeing the issue (make sure to try to load several different lots), then you can start adding your old content back into the new folder.  You can go back to your existing saves to see if the issue shows up again, and as you add your content back in, you'll narrow down the list of possible causes.  But it's important to find out whether the issue is still present in a clean folder or not, as that will give Bluebellflora a better idea of how to help you further.

[pif623]

The issue is still kinda present even with the new folder.  I've played around with it and have had mixed results.  Some lots have loaded (my test family, The Zest household, and the Free Spirits) but other lots (The Vatores, The Pancakes, Lobo, etc) didn't load.  Half of the time the game froze, the other half it crashed.  The only difference is that when it freezes it's just the giant plumbob frozen on the screen, as opposed to the game making it's I'm-done-loading noise but with a completely black screen.  I am unsure where to go from here.

[puzzlezaddict]

Bluebellflora is the real expert; I'm sure she'll have more troubleshooting advice when she's back here.  But in the meantime, it would be helpful to post your computer's specs, so she has a better idea of how to move forward.

https://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-Mac/READ-FIRST-Sims-3-Mac-Help-Guides-and-Troubleshooting/m-p/475...

[Bluebellflora]

@pif623

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...

[pif623]

Operating system: Mac OS X El Capitan (version 10.11.6)
Mac Model: Macbook Pro (mid-2012)
Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce GT 650M

I am not running antivirus, nor have I tried repairing the game. Is that something I would do with my old Sims 4 folder on my dashboard, or while it's in my electronic arts folder?

I do use mods and cc, but since my game was acting up after I took the old Sims 4 folder out (including the mods) I don't think that is the issue

[Bluebellflora]

@pif623

Thanks Have you considered upping the RAM in your Mac to 8Gb? 4Gb is low and may be causing the issue. Are they large households you're trying to load? How about if you try to enter the lot in build mode? Which town are you playing in? I've deleted everyone from my towns but I'll start a clean game and load up the households to check later.

Also, how much VRAM does your NVIDIA GeForce 650M have? You may find downloading the driver from NVIDIA may help (I did it on my Mac with that GPU and the difference in gameplay is astonishing) but it's not normal practice so don't do it unless you feel comfortable. I have written a guide here on how to do it.

Make sure you have nothing else running on your Mac whilst you play too.

[pif623]

I've been attempting to play at all sorts of households (small ones, larger families, big lots, tiny lots, etc.) in every neighborhood. I haven't tried going into build mode, but I will try and see how that goes. I've been playing with nothing else running, but unfortunately right now that doesn't seem to make a difference. My NVIDIA GeForce 650M has 512 MB of VRAM. This is a really silly question, but how would I go about upping the RAM? I'm not very computer literate. Thank you for sending me the guide, I'll read through it and see if it's something I feel comfortable doing. Would you recommend trying to repair the game before I try anything else?