Lag Due to Other Lots in Neighbourhood

[BansheeHVO]

A couple of weeks ago, I asked for help with lag I was experiencing in Del Sol Valley that was impacting my homes in The Pinnacles. I have three separate (though related) families living on the three lots and had noticed a drop in frame rate when moving the camera in specific directions at ground level (but when I tilted the camera towards the ground even slightly, the frame rate returned to 60fps). Since then, I have narrowed it down to the fact that whenever the camera moves in the direction of another lot, the frame rate drops.

I have:

==> removed all mods

==> repaired the game nine or ten times

==> upgraded my OS to Windows 11

==> created 'new' saves thrice via 'save as'

==> created new folders seven or eight times

==> upgraded all drivers

==> spoken to Microsoft AND HP in order to determine that it wasn't my computer at fault (a gaming laptop I bought brand new in Sept 2020 - 1TB SSD (200gb of which is free), 8GB RAM)

Nothing worked.

When I finally decided to remove two of the lots, the frame rate issue fixed itself. I removed all mods first and replaced them gradually, a few at a time, just to be sure, before finally playing with all my mods. No frame rate issue. 

I then downloaded my 64x64 lot from the gallery and placed it in game. The frame rate issue on the Ward Den lot returned. The second I moved the camera in the direction of the lot (at ground level), frame rate dropped. When moving the camera tilted towards the ground even slightly, the issue disappeared again (as previous).

The three lots are on the gallery under 'BansheeHVO' and do not contain CC.

I cannot think of why this is happening. I didn't have this issue until late last month and had been playing with my latest lot for at least a couple of weeks prior to that. 

I would really appreciate some help with this. I have no idea what to do now. The only solution I can conceive of is to move all my sims to a new save, but as I am making this a generational save, it contains at least thirty sims - most of whom are related. The nightmare it would be to have to repair all relationships is just... I'd rather treat that as a last resort.

[puzzlezaddict]

@BansheeHVO  This is an issue with Sims 4 that can't really be solved: the game itself has trouble rendering a large number of objects at once, and so the framerates drop, sometimes by a considerable margin.  The limitation is the game engine, not your computer, and the game engine is what it is at this point.

However, you might be able to improve performance somewhat.  If you're interested in experimenting, try the (free) graphicsrules overhaul by Simp4Sims, which, among other things, changes graphics settings so the game doesn't switch between high and low level-of-detail renders nearly as often.  That constant switching can cause fps drops all by itself, so lowering the frequency may help to at least some degree.

I can't link the site, since it's a third-party download, but google should know what you're looking for.  If you don't like the results, the file is as easy to remove as it is to install, with no permanent changes to your game.

Other than that, the only things you can really do, at least with the tools currently available, are to remove a number of objects from the problem lot so the game doesn't have so much to render; or to place that lot elsewhere within your save so you can't see it from the other lots currently nearby.

[BansheeHVO]

@puzzlezaddict

Thanks for your reply.

I actually started using the graphicsrules overhaul a few months ago and it really sped things up.

I can't understand why it only started happening a few weeks ago. I'd been playing with those lots for some times without issue and now it's taking me out of the game, making it less likely that I play on those lots. It also only happens on two saves (though I will check just to make sure). Could the issue be the saves themselves or is it really the game engine?

I am wondering why this happens indoors, if the game renders everything in that direction even if it can't be seen at that particular moment?

I wanted to build another lot on one of the three but I've been putting it off for this reason.

[puzzlezaddict]

@BansheeHVO  If you want to test whether the issue is the lot itself or the save, try placing that lot and your current household's lot in a new save (but in the same locations), then play as you're playing now and see what happens.  It's always possible that the issue is a sim living in the other household, or even some object in their inventory, odd as that would be.

I don't know enough about how the game engine handles all its calculations when dealing with objects that are on an inactive lot that is currently in camera range.  I do know there's a difference—if you want to see it for yourself, go to a central location in a large-enough world, for example Sulani, and watch framerates change as you move the camera around and zoom in and out.  That even happens in a new save with nothing added to it.

This is what I mean about the game engine having limitations: I don't know exactly what's triggering the fps drops, but I know it happens before I build at all or my sim acquires any inventory objects, with no mods or custom content installed.  And I know it's not my computer's hardware because I can see from monitoring tools that neither the CPU nor the GPU is anywhere near maxed out.

Anyway, this is the kind of problem you probably can't solve, just work around to some degree.  As for why it started happening a few weeks ago, maybe it was the last patch before this one, or you added something to the large lot, or a sim who lives there acquired something or changed in some way, or the eco footprint changed, or the season changed, or... it can be really difficult to tell if you're not paying close attention at the time.

[BansheeHVO]

@puzzlezaddict Thanks so much for your advice. I am seriously considering moving all my sims to a new save, as laborious a process as that's going to be, but just to make sure, I'm going to try it with just one family first, as you suggested.

Will get back to you as soon as I've done it (either today or tomorrow). 😊

[BansheeHVO]

@puzzlezaddict I managed to move my sims over to another save, though it took some time. Things have improved a little, though there's still a drop in frame rate when facing either of the other two lots (but only while indoors, which is strange).

I've since uninstalled and reinstalled the game (for an unrelated reason) and so will check again, just to see if there's any difference.

[puzzlezaddict]

@BansheeHVO  In the new save, are the other two lots blank, or did you already place houses on those lots?  If the latter, I'd be interested to know whether the issue still occurs when the other two lots don't have anything built on them.  You don't need to move your sims to another new save; just test with a copy of the household and their house and leave everyone else behind.  The only goal of the test is to get an answer.