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Community Lots - Lag (post patch/Seasons install)

I posted this over in the PC/Mac - Bugs & Gameplay issues and was told to also post here.

After the latest patch and installing Seasons, I am experiencing a ton of lag on community sites, like coffee shops, spas, restaurants, any of the festivals, etc. It doesn't seem to matter what "city" I'm in - San Myshuno, Windenburg, Newcrest, etc. I'm not sure if it's the number of Sims that are on the lot, perhaps? Maybe it's somehow increased after the patch or new expansion? I never had a problem previously, but my Sim is becoming a hermit because the game is unplayable on community lots.

For what it's worth, I'm playing on a Mac with OS High Sierra. No mods or CC. I started a brand new game after the patch and installation of Seasons with just one Sim in my household. I have gone through all of the standard Mac user things to try - repairing the game, dumping some of the cache files, adjusting graphics settings. Nothing has seemed to help.

For now, I'm blaming the new patch and/or Seasons, as I never experienced this before.

Comments

  • Tremayne4260Tremayne4260 Posts: 3,126 Member
    Please give us the specs of your Mac found under the Black Apple logo in the upper left hand corner. Do not give us the serial number.
    Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
  • MayliciousMaylicious Posts: 96 Member
    macOS High Sierra
    Version 10.13.5

    iMac (21.5 inch, Late 2012)
    Processor 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5
    Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
    Startup Disk Macintosh HD
    Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB

    And one of my RAM chips is brand-new.
  • Tremayne4260Tremayne4260 Posts: 3,126 Member
    In my game, I have been to several of the Festivals and it hasn't lagged. Hum.... will have to test further.
    Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
  • MayliciousMaylicious Posts: 96 Member
    edited June 2018
    It's not just the festivals (like the Spice Festival and so on). It's also going to places like the Shrieking Llama or the Perfect Balance Spa (that was unbearably laggy), or someone's apartment in San Myshuno.

    But going to other places, like work (scientist career) is just fine.
  • Tremayne4260Tremayne4260 Posts: 3,126 Member
    I took my husband and wife sims to Villa Bovine for dinner and I didn't have any problems with lag. Is it a specific lot or any community lot?
    Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
  • MayliciousMaylicious Posts: 96 Member
    I haven't tried all of them, but it is only some. The ones I mentioned previously were bad yesterday, but today, the Ancient Ruins were just fine with a dance party and lots of Sims. No lag at all.

    It's starting to seem like it's hit or miss, but I'm trying to track it to see if I can notice any patterns.
  • Tremayne4260Tremayne4260 Posts: 3,126 Member
    Keep track of the lots and report back here. Are you playing with a single sim or more than one sim? I'll give it a go as well to see if it happens to me too.
    Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
  • ruby_s1mmerruby_s1mmer Posts: 5 New Member
    I've had this problem as well! The South Square Coffee lot in Windenburg gives me the most trouble. It's been so bad that it's taken my sim the equivalent of 3-5 sim hours to even start a single queued interaction! I've started to just completely ignore the lot altogether. It's happened both with and without cc before and after the patch. Any chance you've been able to find a pattern?

    Specs: 8GB Macbook Pro Retina 13IN(Early 2015), OS X El Captain, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 Processor, Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB
  • MayliciousMaylicious Posts: 96 Member
    Alright, no pattern still that I can tell, but South Square Cafe is consistently terrible, as said in the post above. Sims just stand around, not completing any actions. After using the resetsim cheat multiple times, it functions enough for me to get my sim home (several sim hours later).
  • BluebellFloraBluebellFlora Posts: 7,110 Member
    @Maylicious

    If you play a brand new save do you still get the lag? If not, how about if you move your whole Sims 4 folder to the desktop then launch a brand new, clean game?

    You also said one of your RAM sticks is new. RAM should always be replaced in equal pairs so if you replace one chip you should also replace the other of the same size and speed. Are both chips the same speed? You can check by clicking on the Apple in the menu bar > About This Mac > System Report > Memory. I think your RAM chips should be 1600 MHz but it should work with faster ones installed, although the actual speed wouldn’t be faster.
    apple-signature.png
  • Writin_RegWritin_Reg Posts: 28,907 Member
    Yesterday I took my sim to every festivale they offered, plus she had Night out Holiday and went out to eat with her friend, then they went clubbing at two clubs in Windenburg. Also she went to the Karoake Bar in San Myshuno twice for the contests.

    Everyday she goes to the big combo gym - and works out before work for an hour - and I am definitely not seeing any lag or issues period.

    I'm on a desktop 8 core high end gaming PC with 16 gigs of ram.

    Wonder if it is just a Mac thing. Maybe some more Mac people can see how it goes for them and report here.

    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.

    In dreams - I LIVE!
    In REALITY, I simply exist.....

  • Tremayne4260Tremayne4260 Posts: 3,126 Member
    I play on a 27" iMac with 32GB of RAM and don't have any problems with lag. Sometimes (but not often) Sims will pause a moment before going on to the next action in the queue. Haven't played much lately, but should try with some "big lots".
    Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
  • MayliciousMaylicious Posts: 96 Member
    edited July 2018
    @BluebellFlora - I tried both things that you said, and again it seemed hit or miss. The new game without moving the folder seemed fine, but after moving the folder and starting a new game, the lag was unbearable again, even on the home lot, which doesn't usually happen. It's usually community lots (particularly South Square Cafe and anywhere in San Myshuno).

    As for replacing the RAM stick, that's what Apple did when I took it in. They never said anything about replacing both at the same time. My two memory chips are the same - 4 GB, 1600 MHz each. They probably could be upgraded, but since this model of Mac has to go in to the store (my husband can't upgrade it at home), it's too pricey at the moment to do that. And this computer is old now. I would probably consider getting a new one over upgrading the RAM in this machine.

    Everything was fine though until I installed Seasons.
  • BluebellFloraBluebellFlora Posts: 7,110 Member
    @Maylicious

    Crinrict has an excellent thread here on lag in the game - https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/COLLECTION-THREAD-Autonomy-and-Simulation-Lag-Seasons-Patch/m-p/6918287

    It would be worth posting there if your game doesn't improve after testing a clean folder or checking your RAM chips. Just so you know, you should be able to play fine with 8Gb RAM providing you don't have a ton of other stuff open on your Mac at the same time. 16Gb would be ideal but your game really shouldn't go over 3Gb RAM usage at any point, leaving plenty for the operating system.

    Discounting any bugs, lag can be caused by your graphics card struggling to keep up with the load of your game, particularly if you have your settings on high. You could update your NVIDIA graphics drivers manually although this is not normal practice on a Mac. I did it on my 2012 MBP with NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1Gb and the improvement in performance was unbelievable. If you're interested I wrote a guide here on how to do it but please take the time to read about it so you are aware of what you are doing. The reason it improves performance so much is because Apple do not often update their drivers, it's really rather infuriating!
    apple-signature.png
  • BluebellFloraBluebellFlora Posts: 7,110 Member
    Maylicious wrote: »
    As for replacing the RAM stick, that's what Apple did when I took it in. They never said anything about replacing both at the same time. My two memory chips are the same - 4 GB, 1600 MHz each. They probably could be upgraded, but since this model of Mac has to go in to the store (my husband can't upgrade it at home), it's too pricey at the moment to do that. And this computer is old now. I would probably consider getting a new one over upgrading the RAM in this machine.
    Oh that's fine then. From your comment I was under the impression that the RAM may be completely different :)
    Maylicious wrote: »
    Everything was fine though until I installed Seasons.
    Updating the driver, as per my previous post, should help with this but ultimately 512Mb VRAM is a little on the low side now, especially with Seasons installed.
    apple-signature.png
  • MayliciousMaylicious Posts: 96 Member
    @BluebellFlora - Thank you for pointing me in the direction of Crinrict's thread and how to update my graphics drivers. I may attempt that later this evening, after I've read through it a couple of times. I also don't play with anything else open, even turning off my time machine backups and having Origin go offline. It's frustrating that I can't find a pattern, but I do know that with the age of my computer, the specs are not as great as they once were.
  • BluebellFloraBluebellFlora Posts: 7,110 Member
    @Maylicious

    Good luck with the drivers! Let us know how you get on :)
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