Brand new game- 10 hours into it and lagging [ Edited ]

[xmasangel01]

Okay, so the thing is that I'm running a mix between windows 7 & 8 currently. I know, super outdated but my computer is still fast and seems to still load everything fine! 

my problem, I bought Sims 4 3 days ago. It took about an hour and a half to download and before I know it I was playing. I played 1 night with absolutely no problems. Fast as ever. On day two (so about 8 hours of playing so far) and all of a sudden the game becomes very laggy. To the point that I physically can't do anything. I can't even open the task manager and needed to restart my computer to close the application. I tried a few more times and it starts okay for about 2 minutes before it slowly lags... The lags only get worse after that and 5 minutes later it's so slow I can't play. Well, for fun I did a system defrag and checked for viruses. Have none. While not on the game my computer was working completely normal. Fast as anything, I try again after both those items and the game starts okay for 10 minutes then lags for 2 minutes, then runs okay again for another 5 before it really starts lagging again. I also tried turning the resolution right down and turned it on laptop mode since I am using a laptop. Nothing. any idea??? It's definitely the game though I think for sure. 

I've read a few other suggestions for game lags but I'm not super tech savvy so didn't understand most of what they're talking about 🤣 simple terms please! Haha.

thanks everyone! 

[crinrict]

@xmasangel01 Could you post your Computer's DxDiag?

- Press Windows-Key + R
- Type: DxDiag
- Click on Save all Information.
- Attach the Text File to your post

[xmasangel01]

Done.

[Psychotps]

@xmasangel01Well, your computer is not very powerful (and I'm being VERY nice about that). Very slow CPU, low computer memory, Shared GPU video memory taking up even more of what little there is of computer memory. Drive C disk space is very low...

My computer is many many times more powerful than yours, and mine has problems with lagging.

Maybe if you turned down the game to all the lowest possible settings... it just might run "fair"... But I don't think so.

If you REALLY wanted to get the most out of your computer...

Purchase enough ram to at least double your computer memory.

Free up some disk space on C:. (Or get a bigger hard drive)

Buy a good dedicated video card instead of using the on-board thing.

But even with all that, it'll likely still run badly with such a slow CPU... but it might become tolerable.

EDIT:

Oops... I just looked up your model... it's a laptop? Well... Uhm... I don't think there's anything we can do.

[xmasangel01]

Could've been nicer about that reply but thanks I guess....

The game ran fine the first day and a half. If my computer is as bad as you're obviously saying it is, then why did it run fine before and now only intermediately lags? Also from how you bashed my computer you make it sound surprising that it downloaded at all. 

[Psychotps]

@xmasangel01Lol. Should I have been more politically correct?

"Your computer is... 'gaming challenged' "?

I'd rather be honest. You can't give people useful information if you're always "disguising" the truth behind false platitudes.

I could be more technical and detailed, but every time I do that, people's eyes tend to glaze over...

Sorry, but just telling it like it is.

- The (UberBlunt) Psycho

Added:

As to why it worked early and not later... game builds things up. Cache files, library files, save files, The more complex you make your world, the worse it gets. The more you play the game, the more resources it demands from your system. And with The Sims, it demands a LOT. It just didn't take very long to overload your computer.

Even just playing makes it more complex.  Look at it like this..  You create a sim and send him to a bar. Well, the bar needs a "bartender" right? Well, the game creates one. BAM, a whole new sim for the game to control.  Take your sim to the geek festival? Wow... that takes what... 5 or 6 new sims for the game to create? Go to work at the Scientist Career? That's FIVE MORE sims... (Not including the aliens if you go to the alien world... which is a DOZEN more)

All these sims and things the game creates, it just builds up. Slows things down.

A few things you can try...

Delete the game's cache files after every time you play it.

Try lowering the graphic settings in the game.  (Try looking up 'Carl's Sim Guides' on YouTube. He has a great video on how to optimize Sims graphic settings for different computers)

[crinrict]

@xmasangel01 There's a few things you can do about your computer as well

1. Update your graphics drivers. Check if your laptop allows to install these: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/de/download/29969/Intel-Graphics-Driver-f-r-Windows-15-33-
2. Free up some space on c. Do you have the game on the c or d drive ? What about your user folder ? I would move both to d. Origin has a move option where you can just move the game to a new folder, to move your doc folder follow these instructions: https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-move-windows-7-personal-folders-my-documents-another-dr...
3. As your graphics chip is minimum requirements for the base game, set all your graphics settings to low.

Do you just have the base game or also packs ?

[xmasangel01]

Thank you. I will try those. I'm pretty sure the game decided to put the game on C and I just left it there. I'll try moving it though. I only bought the base game as of right now though. Depending if I can get it to work I'll more than likely buy packs in the future. Thanks again.

[crinrict]

@xmasangel01 I don't think your computer is capable of running too many packs, especially the bigger ones like season will probably bring it to it's limit.

Was just curious for troubleshooting if you're running more than just base.