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Keeping The Sims 4 Running Smoothly?
Lyoufln
Posts: 10,861 Member
Hello! I've been playing the Sims on a MacBook Pro early 2015 model for nearly a month now. It's been lots of fun, but I'm wondering if there's something I can do to keep it running smoothly. I had to use testingcheats twice (once to remove a stuck childhood phase and the other to add a trait because I forgot to add it when my Sim aged up) I always made sure to disable testingcheats when I was done. My game suddenly got laggy just when I was playing it a few minutes ago. It basically froze up. I've already repaired my game before writing here.
I've seen a lot of talk about the "Tray" folder under the Sims 4 and keeping it clean. I've never done anything to it yet, but there seems to be a whole bunch of things in there when I check it out. Maybe this is why my game froze up? I don't want to do something to mess up my game! I really like my Sims and I don't want to lose them!
Anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do?
I've seen a lot of talk about the "Tray" folder under the Sims 4 and keeping it clean. I've never done anything to it yet, but there seems to be a whole bunch of things in there when I check it out. Maybe this is why my game froze up? I don't want to do something to mess up my game! I really like my Sims and I don't want to lose them!
Anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do? 0
Comments
Which MacBook Pro do you have? There are 13" and 15" models and the 15" are split into an entry level with integrated graphics and a high end with dedicated GPU. A 13" will start to lag quicker when you add more packs to the game as the Mac will be struggling to keep up with all the demands the game is making. Lowering graphics settings can sometimes help with this issue.
The Tray folder is where the files for your Library items are stored. Crin has a couple of great pages on explaining the Tray folder and what it does:
http://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2014/09/extended-loading-time/
http://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2016/10/lags-and-freezes-patch-1-24-102/
Since our little 13" MBPs weren't designed to be gaming computers, we have to help them as much as possible. I have reset the game from time to time, using the method that @Tremayne4260 mentioned and it's helped for a while. I've had this computer for 2 years and only recently have I experienced game crashes and freezes. Some of that is probably from all the game packs and CC I've accumulated over the years, but the rest is, I believe, related to the computer's limitations.
But, if you don't go have your graphics on high settings, don't have a high number of game packs and CC, make sure the game is the only program running and your computer has good air circulation, you should be able to play the game. (We already talked about the overheating issues.) I also recently learned to keep the laptop plugged in while playing the game. If I had to get rid of the game packs and CC to play, it wouldn't be much fun. So, for me, the ultimate solution is to trade in this machine for a 15" MacBook Pro because they have a dedicated video card and more power. In the meantime, as I mentioned, I do frequent saves just in case another freeze/crash occurs!
If you've tried the Origin "repair game" tool and nothing seems better, you can reset the game to the factory defaults.
If you have things you’d like to save (Sims, buildings, etc.), do the following:
1. If you’re playing the game, quit it and quit Origin.
2. Go into Documents—>Electronic Arts. You’ll see a folder called “The Sims 4”. Drag that to your desktop.
3. Start the game, then immediately quit the game.
4. Go back into Documents—>Electronic Arts. You’ll see a newly created folder called “The Sims 4”.
5. Take the following files from the old Sims 4 folder on your desktop and drag them to into the newly created “The Sims 4” folder. You’ll be asked if you want to replace the item. Click “replace”.
—Custom Music (folder)
—Mods (folder)
—Options.ini (file)
—saves (folder)
—Tray (folder)
If you don’t have any game info or things you’d like to save, then you can do steps 1-3 from above and ignore steps 4 & 5.
Maybe @BluebellFlora can confirm this? I've done this a few times already, but I may not have explained the steps clearly enough.
The Options.ini file is just your in game settings so don't bother copying it over. It will be recreated when you launch the game and it will determine the optimal graphics settings based on what your machine can handle. You can always change the settings in the options after you've loaded the game.
This is a really common cause of crashing and not loading - people set their graphics options too high in game then the game won't load because the computer isn't capable of running it at the settings the user has chosen. If this happens just trash the Options.ini file and load the game again.