Sims 4 - How-To: Reduce Load, Load Faster (Tips)

[ClayMask]

In most of my games the load time when traveling isn't a major issue.  My current Sim, however, knows a lot of Sims, and he also travels a lot.  When traveling, the game takes a long time to load.  I haven't timed it, but I'm guessing five+ minutes, which is annoying since the game won't be paused upon arrival, so I have to watch it the whole time.  Also, often when it finally does load, the game is most often playing multiple songs simultaneously, which I sort of solved by turning off the music in the game.  However, I'd really like to reduce the load time when traveling for this file.  Are there options that I can select which will specifically help with that?  I've already tried clearing the cache, and it does help, but has to be done very frequently.

[MrsFlynn]

How to reduce loading time, so game loads faster? (Tips)

The following tips may or may not help speed up loading times, it depends on your computers specifications and how big your game save file is.

In-Game/Origin Tips
Tech Related Tips
Other Considerations
Relieving Freezing/Lag
General Crashing Issues/Stopped Working
 

In-Game/Origin Tips

Lower the in-game resolution to (say) 1366x768, set the graphics to Low and turn on Laptop mode. The game won't look "great" but it should help the loading times.

1. Play in smaller lots with less interactive objects and landscaping.

2. Let the game cull unplayed, unhoused Sims from the saved game and relationships.

3. Clear out some of your Sim's personal inventory and the family inventory. As having a lot of things in both personal and family inventory is know to cause lag and game glitches.

4. Turn off Origin In-Game:
Open Origin, Select Origin > Application Settings > Origin In Game tab and click the on/off switch to disable Origin In Game. - This deactivates Origin In-Game, as it has been known to cause problems with games.

5. Try lowering the in-game graphics, resolution and settings:
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=29282.msg401652#msg401652

6. Try playing the game in "Laptop" Mode
While in-game, go to Options. Click Game Options, and down at the bottom right of screen check Laptop Mode.

7. Try playing the game in "Offline" mode
In Origin go up to the Menu and select Go Offline.

8. Start the game in Windowed mode:
In Origin > Games Library, right-click on Sims 4, select Game Properties > Advanced Launch Options - In the Command Line Arguments, add the following text: -w and click Okay.

Or while in-game go to Options. Click Game Options, Display Type: Select from Fullscreen, Windowed Fullscreen, and Windowed.
 
9. Turn off Post-Processing (Turning this off helps lower end computers play the game better.)
-- While in-game, go to Game options. Under Graphics, is where you'll find this option, in the lower right hand corner of menu screen.

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Tech Related Tips

1. Move the mods folder to the desktop, delete the game cache and the localthumbcache.package from the Sims 4 folder to help with troubleshooting. Load the game and play a new save to test. If it loads and plays okay it may be that some of the mods/cc have become outdated.

How to Fix Problems with Mods/CC
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=25031.msg426156#msg426156

2. Even if you don't play with mods or custom content installed, it's a good idea to delete the game cache and the localthumbcache.package from the Sims 4 folder.

Delete both game cache and Origin cache files

-- Delete Game Cache Files (What and How-To)
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=29288.msg401662#msg401662

-- Delete Origin Cache Files (What and How-To)
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=29289.msg401663#msg401663

---- Reduce the amount of mods and custom content you're using. Having a lot of Mods/cc in your game does cause performance issues. - Maybe start by using only half of what you have.

3. Move the Tray folder to the desktop, and try launching the game again to test. - This helps the game from loading what you have stored in your library.

Your Tray folder should be found using the path below:
C:\Users\<Username>\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Tray

4. Remove some of your old saved games. (How to Backup a Saved Game)
C:\Users\<Username>\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\saves

Please be careful in removing save games, as the saves may have many files that go along with it. If you delete the main save file, the game can't recognize the save any longer and will need to be renamed to be recognized by the game. See the post linked below for more Information:

How-To: Recover a Saved Game
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=21519.msg387147#msg387147

--- Having a lot of older game saves and a lot of files in your Tray folder will cause lag and freezing in-game, and may cause slow loading.

5. Delete the Scratch subfolder from inside Saves, then launch the game again.

6. Try a game booster - Razer Cortex: Boost - This may help with game performance.
      http://www.razerzone.com/cortex/boost

** We don't use the above program. So we cannot be support for it. If you have issues, please visit their site.

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Other Considerations

Consider the hardware you are playing the game on. Lower-end and older computers may "run" the game, but not play it very well, will have a lot of crashing, game lag and other headaches. They will get worse as you add Sims 4 content to it, along with the required Origin and game updates. Unfortunately, this is to be expected.

Middle-grade computers that can play the game okay for a while often see drops in performance as updates, patches, and packs are released, this is to be expected as well.

If using a laptop, ensure the game is consistently using the higher-end graphics card instead of the integrated graphics chip, if the laptop happens to have dual graphics. When graphics updates are installed it may default to using the graphics chip instead of using the graphics card. This does make a difference.

Graphics Card/Intel Chip Dual Systems
http://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2014/09/graphics-cardintel-chip-dual-systems/

Something worth reading about computers
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Your_Computer_is_Like_a_Car


*** Having a good/better rated (dedicated) video card that has a minimum of 128 MB or up to 2 GB or more of video memory does help a lot. As well as having a processor that meets or exceeds the recommended specs of Sims 4. For example: a 2.4 ghz processor or better.

Recommended specs:

Desktop Specs:

Processor: intel i5 / i7 quad core or AMD FX 8000 series / AMD ryzen 1400
Video Card: Nvidia GTX 1050, 1050 ti, or 1060 / AMD RX 480 or 580
Ram: 8 to 16 GB System Memory
Hard Drive Space: 500 GB or more
Windows 64 bit

Laptop Specs:

Processor : i5 or i7 HQ or MQ quad core
Video card : Nvidia GTX 960m or better (GTX 1050, 1050ti or 1060)
computer ram 8GB
hard drive space at least 500 GB
windows 64 bit

Look for an Intel i5 or i7 quad core processor which will end in HQ or MQ after the series number

For laptops - a cooling mat (even if the laptop will be used on a desk).

* These are our recommend specs. They will give better game performance and experience overall.

Read more in the post below -
Buying a Computer For The Sims 3 & The Sims 4
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=21609.msg387974#msg387974

[Carl]

Because others will read this looking for ways to reduce load times, I will say that hardware matters a lot. The two big things with this are reading the hard drive, so solid state is good, and the speed of memory. For Sims 3, going to a solid state drive dropped my load times to 1/3 of normal. To take full advantage, I had to use a symbolic link to put the files that are normally under Documents/Electronic Arts on the SSD as well. The files on the drive are loaded into physical memory and played from there, with other files being called when necessary. This is the single biggest factor. What MrsFlynn suggested should help a lot, since bigger textures is more to load into memory.

[tonycdh]

Wow. 5 minutes seems like a very long time. Mine only takes like 10 seconds and I'm on a mid level Acer laptop. Must be a hardware issue. I don't know much about pc's, but that's a very long time. Wish I had some more insight for you. 

[ClayMask]

Because others will read this looking for ways to reduce load times, I will say that hardware matters a lot. The two big things with this are reading the hard drive, so solid state is good, and the speed of memory. For Sims 3, going to a solid state drive dropped my load times to 1/3 of normal. To take full advantage, I had to use a symbolic link to put the files that are normally under Documents/Electronic Arts on the SSD as well. The files on the drive are loaded into physical memory and played from there, with other files being called when necessary. This is the single biggest factor. What MrsFlynn suggested should help a lot, since bigger textures is more to load into memory.

I play on a laptop, and portability's important for me, so I don't see myself switching to a solid state drive.  It does sound like that would work well for a lot of people, though.  I'm glad it worked so well for you.  I'm not sure how to check what speed of RAM my laptop has, but I don't think it would be easy to change in a laptop, anyway.

@tonycdh Are your load times this fast even if your Sim knows a lot of Sims, or has a full inventory?  My Sim knows a ton of other Sims.  Load times for a new game are fast.

[Carl]

Yeah, I realize there's not a lot a person with a laptop can do as far as upgrades. Honestly given the game is not one big world, it seems strange to have load times beyond 90 seconds on any machine that can be called modern. It is possible we'll see some optimizations in the future, however, that would benefit us all.

Here's a 4 page topic about the same problem on EA Answer HQ

Sims 4 Long Loading Screens
http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4/Sims-4-Long-Loading-Screens/td-p/3500469

Where similar logical things are suggested to improve it, but even people with good desktops find that after a number of hours the load times start to slow. Hopefully it can, therefore be fixable because it's not going to be better with 10 EPs installed eh? That gives me some hope for it given how many fixes they have already pushed for this 8 month old game Sorry that does nothing for you at this moment though

[Nettlejuice]

I've been having this problem too and I thought it was all down to CC but I have played without them and the same thing happens. I tend to clear caches and such everyday and close the game often which seems to help a tiny bit.

[tonycdh]

I play on a laptop, and portability's important for me, so I don't see myself switching to a solid state drive.  It does sound like that would work well for a lot of people, though.  I'm glad it worked so well for you.  I'm not sure how to check what speed of RAM my laptop has, but I don't think it would be easy to change in a laptop, anyway.

@tonycdh Are your load times this fast even if your Sim knows a lot of Sims, or has a full inventory?  My Sim knows a ton of other Sims.  Load times for a new game are fast.

Well, to be quite honest, I am the biggest cheater ever when it comes to games. So I used the cheat to make me acquaintances with everyone. Half of which, I'm really good friends with on my own accord, only because I haven't found a cheat to make me 'friends' with everyone. As far as inventory, my house is pretty normal. Nothing extravagant. I downloaded a couple ridiculously large mansion type houses just for aesthetics, and if I travel to that lot it takes a bit longer to load, maybe twenty to thirty seconds.

My Acer laptop has 500gb of storage, 246 of which is free, 6gb ram , Intel core i5 CPU @ 1.70ghz. 64bit operating system. I am running windows 10 also, was having problems with the game not running at all, but that's fixed now.

Hope some of this info helps.

[ClayMask]

I am running windows 10 also, was having problems with the game not running at all, but that's fixed now.

I thought Windows 10 wasn't out yet.  Are you doing a beta test or something?

[tonycdh]

It is actually out of beta, and is an insider preview now.  Not totally polished yet, but it is out of beta phase. I wouldn't suggest trying it out to anyone only because it isn't a final release and they tell you not to put it on your main computer. I just don't listen and put it on my desktop and laptop. Luckily no major hangups. I only bring windows 10 up so people know that sims4 is currently running a-ok on it 😊

[Carl]

Good to know, Tony. I look forward to that one, after completely ignoring 8. As long as it keeps the performance about the same (no vista 1.0 fiasco), I will upgrade to 10 as soon as it's ready for the public. There will probably be some big reason to, directx and all.

[ClayMask]

I tried all the tips on the list except reducing the resolution, and it does seem to help.  Most of them can be accomplished all at once by simply changing the graphics quality to low.  It does look pretty bad though, so I'll have to decide whether it's worth it.  I'll definitely be switching back after I stop playing this Sim.  Thanks for the help.

By the way, my laptop is only two years old and was a medium range laptop when I bought it, but it appears this isn't good enough for The Sims 4.  I was hoping it would be good enough, considering how they designed The Sims 4 for lower end computers.  Maybe what this ends up meaning though is that at least high end computers can run it without trouble.  The funny thing is that my specs seem to be better than tonycdh's, yet he's not having trouble and I am.  I'm using an HP ENVY laptop.  My processor is an Intel 2.6 GHz with 4 CPUs, and I have 8 GB RAM.  Operating system is Windows 8.1, 64-bit.

Edit:  The last couple of times I traveled, the game went back to not responding even though I had cleared the cache recently and had graphics quality on low.  I'm wondering if the problem is the graphics card my laptop came with (Intel HD 4000).

[MrsFlynn]

Hi ClayMask,

Yes, your video card may be what is causing some of the problems. It's not a very well rated card, and is under minimum specs for Sims 4, which requires 128 MB of dedicated memory, and yours only has 32 MB of dedicated memory.

Unfortunately, there's not much that can be upgraded on laptops.

MrsFlynn

[ClayMask]

I found something else that helps, so I figured I'd mention it.  Since my Sim has a lot of friends, it helps if I don't try to travel with the friends tab open.  I suspect the same would be true of his inventory if he had a lot in it.