Laggy Sims 4

[Bampers13]

1. My sims 4 game lags so much and always says Not Responding. I don't even want to play anymore because it's so aggravating. I do have cc and mods but I've never seen it this bad. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@Bampers13  To get a baseline for performance, please try playing in a clean user data folder.  Move your entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents\Electronic Arts and onto your desktop, and when you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content.  Don't add anything to it yet; just start a new save, play for a bit, and see whether it lags.  Please test at least a couple different worlds, including one that isn't San Myshuno or Evergreen Harbor.  Let me know how it goes.

If the game stlll lags, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

[Bampers13]

Hello thanks for responding! My game was still lagging pretty bad so I'm going to attach my dxdiag file. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@Bampers13  Your system could use a new graphics driver; yours is from 2013.  First though, please run a couple of basic checks on your Windows system files.  Most of the errors in your dxdiag are Windows-related, not necessarily from Sims 4.

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

Restart your computer, and download and install the newest Intel driver for your computer.  It's only from 2015, but that's not unusual for Windows 8.1 drivers.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Pavilion-23-All-in-One-Desktop-PC-series/6528335...

Restart again, and let me know how the game runs.  Please test in a clean folder again as well.

[Bethunicornstar]

@Bampers13 Hey! I recommend, just deleting all your cc, and downloading cc that has been updated, for the newest patch that we got this month! It was a big update that fixed problems/bugs in the game.

[Bampers13]

Hello, the message I received said that there was no integrity problems found. When I dowload the new driver where do I put it? When i downloaded it the old driver still showed up.

[puzzlezaddict]

@Bampers13  When you download the driver, what you're downloading is an executable file, one that needs to be run to actually install the driver.  There should be instructions on the HP website, if you need more specifics.  But the basic idea is, you double-click, and the installer will lead you through the process and ask for permission when necessary.

[Bampers13]

@puzzlezaddict  When I tried reinstalling and downloading a new driver it said my computer didn't meet the minimum requirements or that the version I was going to download was older than the current one. 

[puzzlezaddict]

@Bampers13  When you went to the download page, did you specifically select Windows 8.1 as your OS, then choose the Intel graphics driver from April 2015?  I double-checked the download page, and it lists your exact model computer; your currently installed graphics driver is from 2013, so this one shouldn't be flagged as older.  Strangely though, the driver version is listed as older than the one you have installed.

At any rate, please make sure you're downloading the 8.1 driver, and if you get the same error, let me know.  In that case, please also look for any recent Sims 4-related errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes.  You'll see a list of errors and updates, with a column for each day.  (Today is all the way on the right.)

For any errors that happened after you ran DISM and sfc, click "View technical details," then copy the information and paste it into a text document.  (Notepad is fine.)  You can attach the file to a post as you did with your dxdiag.  Sometimes the Reliability Monitor doesn't update right away, so if you don't see any errors after you've played, be sure to check back an hour or two.  The timestamp in the initial chart can also be off by up to an hour, so that's not an entirely reliable metric, but the one in the technical details is usually accurate.