Hi Simmers,
Some people using Mods and Custom Content on the Mac version of The Sims 4 have experienced problems. Below is a summary of the issues we are aware of:
- ISSUE 1: Use of Script Mods will cause the game to crash on boot on Mac. This is fixed in patch 1.4.103.1210. released Feb 20, 2015.
- ISSUE 2: Some Custom Content will crash when selecting it in Create A Sim on Mac. This is fixed in patch 1.4.103.1210. released Feb 20, 2015. Since there is so much custom content available, we cannot say for certain that the patch will fix *every* instance of this type of crash, but we expect it will correct a significant majority of them.
- ISSUE 3: A fix for this issue was released 5/4/2015 in patch 1.6.69.1220. With this patch the OS file limit no longer limits the amount of Mods and CC that can be installed.
The game is unstable, or the game fails to start with the following error when custom content is installed: “Unable to Start. Initialization error at startup.” This is related to an open file count limit setting in OS X and is more likely to occur when many custom content files are installed.
An improvement for this issue was released 3/10/2015 in patch 1.4.114.1210. With this patch we now recommend not having more than 1000 package files in your Mod directory or else you risk game stability issues. We are investigating a further fix to eliminate this limit, no eta on that fix at this time.
Alternately, if you want to have more than 1000 package files, you can use the below workaround which will change the OS file limit for all applications and will correct the issue. However this solution can cause system instability if applied incorrectly or in some special cases (see “Important Notes” below) so use at your own risk. It is recommended that you close all applications before applying the fix for the first time in case you do experience problems. Once again use at your own risk!
Step 1: Open a terminal window. The terminal application can be found by doing a spotlight search for “terminal”.
Step 2: Type the following command in the terminal depending on your OSX version (Note that the commands are case sensitive):
On OSX 10.10
sudo launchctl limit maxfiles unlimited
<You will be asked to enter system administrator's password to complete the command>
On OSX 10.7, 10.8, 10.9
launchctl limit maxfiles 10240 10240
Step 3: Run The Sims 4
Important Notes:
* These steps will need to be performed every time you reboot your Mac prior to launching The Sims 4. If you fail to do so, the problem will return.
* In the case of 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9 there is an explicit number specified on the command (10240) this is the default maximum value allowed by OSX, but if your system has been configured with a larger setting then you will experience system instability and probably your machine will require a hard reboot.
- ISSUE 4: Custom Content placed within subdirectories of the Mods directory not appearing in game for some people on Mac. This is due to the contents of the "Mods" folder being copied directly over from the PC. If you copied your Mods folder over from the PC, delete the file "Documents->Electronic Arts->The Sims 4->Mods->Resource.cfg" and the game will regenerate it in proper Mac format on next launch. One caveat: if you have manually edited this file on the PC then you will probably want to manually convert that file to Mac format by changing backslashes in directory paths to forward slashes in a text editor.
Note all of these issues are Mac specific, and do not occur on the PC.
Thanks for everyone on the forums that reported and helped diagnose issues, that helped immensely in tracking down these issues.
-SimGuruModSquad
Comments
> Does anyone know how/when we will know how to solve the fourth issue addressed?
If you are comfortable using the terminal you can use these commands:
cd ~/Documents/Electronic\ Arts/The\ Sims\ 4/Mods/
cat Resource.cfg | sed 's.\\./.g' > Resource_fixed.cfg
cp Resource.cfg Resource_old.cfg
mv Resource_fixed.cfg Resource.cfg
These commands will replace all backslashes with forward slashes, move the old file to 'Resource_old.cfg' and the fixed one into place as 'Resource.cfg'
Can you try to narrow down what script mods are causing the game to fail to launch? Or is it just any script mod?
As for the lost saved games, that sounds like an unrelated issue. That't the first I have heard of an issue like that, if you have any more details that would be appreciated.
@skeletoncath20 :
If you did not copy your "Mods" folder from a PC then "ISSUE 4" does not apply to you and you are likely experiencing a different issue.
Deleting Documents->Electronic Arts->The Sims 4->Mods->Resource.cfg is safe (assuming you have not made custom modifications to it). Any other Resource.cfg file in the game's data directories are definitely NOT safe to remove, but deleting the one in the Mods directory is safe and will not stop the game from working.
Either way, even without the CC that prevents the game from running in the first place, the game still doesn't actually run properly. CAS seems to do a great job, except for a few random crashes in the middle of character creation that I don't have an immediate explanation for. It's happened two, perhaps three times, so far, once earlier today.
Perhaps unrelated, loading the neighborhoods happens in a matter of seconds, but loading the household I placed seems to load to an endless loading screen. More importantly, quite often, the thumbnails for the empty lots will be replaced by greyscale pictures of llamas. I managed to actually load my family for about half an hour earlier today, but saved the world and closed again because I was dissatisfied with the framerate and the smoothness, so I wanted to change graphics settings and reboot. Upon reloading the game, couldn't get into the household again.
I imagine I might be able to play without any CC at all (though it seems very strange the CAS items would be having an effect on neighborhood lot thumbnails), but don't know what the effect will be. I cannot post any links, but the items that prevent the game from loading at all are simple recolors by Rope, and hairstyles by MyStuff. In my Mods folder is stuff by Rusty, WhirlyFlower, SimSnacks, tamo, ATS4 and "Unlock CAS Parts" by Fogity.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
Than you so much for staying on top of this! Putting in the command has fixed all of my problems!! (so far)
:smile:
You can actually fix this problem without using Terminal. Just open the Resource.cfg with TextEdit and manually edit it as you would in Windows then save it.
Errr, a prancing llama?? Why's that come up?
http://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2014/08/black-screen-with-llama-picture/
Either that or a zoo is opening in town!