The aim of this thread is to:
- Provide basic troubleshooting steps you can take yourself to resolve problems with your game without having to post on the forums asking for help.
- Provide helpful links regarding general gameplay, graphics and CC/Mods
- Make users aware of general game bugs which affect both Mac and Windows users.
- Report Mac specific issues
Basic troubleshooting steps:
- The very first thing you should try when experiencing problems, especially crashing ones or the game not loading, is to move your Sims 4 folder out onto your desktop and let the game generate a new one (just like in The Sims 3). You can find the folder in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4. If your game then works ok the problem was in your user data (most causes for this are incompatible or conflicting CC/Mods). Now you have a nice, new, clean user data folder you can try adding your old data back into the game gradually, testing after each addition. For example, copy your saves from your old The Sims 4 folder into the new one. If your game once again doesn't perform properly then you know that there is a problem somewhere in your saves, one or more may be corrupted. For more information on Saves read this.
- Try repairing your game. Open Origin, go to My Games, right click on The Sims 4 image and select Repair Game.
- Disable Origin in Game. Open Origin, navigate to the The Sims 4 image in My Games, right click on the game and select Game Properties. Make sure Disable Origin in Game for this game is ticked.
- The cheat console can be opened by holding down CTRL, Shift and C together. If this is not working for you check your keyboard configuration in System Preferences, have you changed it in the past? Have you changed something in System Preferences > Accessibility > Keyboard? Have you changed the Modifier keys? The cheat console is coded into the game, there is no reason why it shouldn't work unless the user has changed some settings or has software installed which may be conflicting with the keyboard settings. Check whether your CTRL key is faulty or broken. If all else fails, try plugging in or bluetoothing another keyboard to your Mac.
- If you have Origin open but your game won't load, quit Origin then try launching the game again from the Sims 4 icon in your Applications folder.
If your game still isn't working after trying those recommendations and you would like some help, PLEASE post the following information (examples in brackets). It is unfair to expect anyone to help you if you do not take the time to post the information we need to work out what the problem may be. Please also take the time to click on threads that people link to that may help you. A lot of time and effort is spent on compiling information and most of the time your problem will already have been reported and answered, whether there is a solution or not. To find the info about your Mac click on the Apple icon, top left of your desktop then select
About This Mac:
- Mac model (mid-2012 15" non-Retina MacBook Pro)
- Processor (2.6 GHz Intel Core i7)
- Memory (16Gb RAM)
- Graphics (Intel HD 4000 1Gb/NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1Gb)
- Operating System (OS X Yosemite 10.10.5)
- Official EA EPs/SPs/GPs installed (Get To Work, Outdoor Retreat, Spa Day, Luxury Party Stuff, Perfect Patio Stuff, Cool Kitchen Stuff)
- Do you have antivirus or clean up apps installed? If so what are they? (Sophos, AVG, MacKeeper, SimpleCleaner)
- Are you running any background tasks? If so, what are they? (Time Machine, Dropbox, Memory Clean)
- Do you have any CC/mods installed?
General Gameplay tips:
- If you want to copy your save games into a new game installation navigate to Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 and copy your saves folder onto a USB stick. You can then place this folder into the Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 folder on your Mac, replacing any saves folder you already have in there that you do not want. Only copy over the saves folder, not the whole Sims 4 folder. You can also move over the Tray folder if you want to keep the Lots/Sims you've saved to your Library.
- The best place to find game tips, such as keyboard controls and a general Q&A is Simsocity's help thread. You can find it stickied here.
- If you haven't yet installed The Sims 4 in OS X, and want to know if your Mac can handle it, please read this thread.
- Want to know how well the game can perform on your Mac? It's all about the graphics card. Read this thread to get an idea of how well you will be able to play.
- If you want to stop your game from storing all the little thumbnail images from the Gallery you can use Automator to write a simple script to automatically delete them.
- If you play on two or more Macs, and want the same save game on all of them, you can use a file sharing site and MacDropAny to sync your saves automatically
Graphics related threads
CC & Mods
Origin
For any issues regarding Origin (downloading, installing, connectivity etc.) please try the recommendations in
this thread at AHQ.
General game bugs affecting Mac and Windows users:
- The most comprehensive bug list is Crinrict's bug thread over at EA's Answer HQ. She regularly updates it and has more knowledge of game bugs than probably anyone else.
Comments
Outstanding as of 11th November 2017
Mac specific CC bugs
Cats and Dogs EP Mac bugs
Fixed Mac bugs
Just ran into first sort of minor issue; when I moved my household camera was sluggish to non-responsive. It would move a little bit, then I'd get a brief spinning beach ball, then move a bit, spinning beach ball, etc. I'm playing an existing save that I brought over from my Boot Camp partition; it's got a bunch of achievements that I really don't want to have to repeat.
Specs:
Addendum: just remembered that when I looked at the graphics options, the game defaulted to Medium; I changed them to High because I'd been able to run on High under Windows 7 with no issues. Maybe I should go back to Medium?
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
According to the GraphicsCard.sgr yes, you should be on Medium - how does it perform?
EDIT: Aaaaand now it crashes when I try to play.
EDIT 2: Crashing issue solved; removed Mods folder and repaired game. Have reduced graphics to Medium. Now I'm going to re-download a few of the mods and see if I can keep playing (I'll just have to decide which ones are essential and which ones aren't).
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
SPECS: (computer should play this game no problem)
Processor: 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB
Storage: 3TB Fusion Drive
I can post the crash report if that makes a difference.
I don't have any mods or CC, purely vanilla. Going to keep tinkering around with it and see how it behaves.
Anyone figured out how to tilt the camera yet? I've changed the settings to Sims 3 controls but CTRL +S/W isn't working. I can twiddle my fingers round on the trackpad though to spin the camera round, that's pretty cool
Edit - figured out the tilt control. Hold down CTRL then right click (two fingers) and swipe up and down on the trackpad.
Try opening the game this way:
Open Applications then right click on The Sims 4 icon and select Show Package Contents. Now navigate to:
Contents > Mac OS
then double click on The Sims 4. A Terminal window should open to launch Origin, then the game, automatically.
What happens?
Also, please can you state what other stuff is running as mentioned in the opening post?
Hope it behaves
I know you can tilt the camera up/down in Build/Buy mode with the T key -- haven't figured how to do it with the mouse. I have the Steelseries Sims 4 mouse so I might have to play around with it and see if I can program it for an automatic tilt function.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
I changed it when they announced the release date for Mac Sims 4. My Mac will be very happy to get the stupid Windows 7 partition off of it once I'm sure I can actually play on the Mac side without crashing every time I try to play.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
How to report bugs at AnswersHQ
AHQ Tutorial
Hmm, would be interesting to know what graphics cards they have. It looks like most Mac ones from the last 7 years are supported but the Intel HD cards should be on low/medium.
Please do not send me PMs/post on my wall if you're looking for help. I can't attend to those. You can find me at AnswerHQ.
How to report bugs at AnswersHQ
AHQ Tutorial
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Here are my specs:
Mac model (mid-2012 13" non-Retina MacBook Pro)
Processor (2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 turbo boost to 3.1)
Memory (4Gb RAM)
Graphics (Intel HD 4000 1024MB-approx 1GB)
Operating System (OS X Yosemite 10.10.2)
People are reporting the same issue over on Answers HQ with the Intel HD 4000 graphics. I'm still going through the GraphicsCards.sgr file but after a quick glance it looks like the Intel HD 3000 and Intel HD 4000 aren't officially supported in OS X.
I've got the bad mods (gets out whip -- "Bad Mods! Bad! Bad!" ) in a separate folder on the desktop; hope I can find a solution soon. It's going to get tiresome using testingcheats so often again.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Thank you so much I truly appreciate your hard work!
Graphic specs for Mac seem to be different than Windows; I was on High on my Windows 7 partition but the install defaulted to Medium, then when I changed to High I kept running into hangups (spinning beach ball) when trying to zoom in on a house to furnish it. I think it's best to stick with what the install comes up with.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
You're welcome
My specs
Model: late 2013 15-inch retina macbook pro
Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750M 2GB
Storage: 500 GB flash storage