Performance Issues & Solutions
The Sims 4: Royalty & Legacy, with its added complexity of dynasties, noble careers, and new objects, can sometimes lead to performance issues, especially on systems that are at the lower end of the recommended specifications. Lag, stuttering, and long loading times can detract from the experience of building your noble empire.
The most immediate solution is to optimize your in-game graphics settings. Access the Options menu from the main screen or within the game, navigate to Graphics Settings, and consider lowering settings such as texture detail, shadow detail, and visual effects. Reducing the resolution can also significantly improve performance. For players on PC, ensure that your game is running on your dedicated graphics card rather than integrated graphics, if applicable. This can usually be configured through your graphics card's control panel (NVIDIA Control Panel or AMD Radeon Software).
Large household sizes and extensive custom content (CC) are notorious performance drains. If your dynasty has grown to include many Sims, or if you have a large number of CC items installed, try temporarily removing CC or splitting your household into smaller groups. Mods like Sims 4 Tray Importer can help manage your library of Sims and lots, allowing you to archive or remove items that are not actively in use. Reducing the number of Sims in your active household, even temporarily, can free up significant processing power.
Loading times can be exacerbated by a large number of save files or a cluttered game cache. Regularly clean your game cache by deleting the localthumbcache.package file located in your Sims 4 game folder (Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4). It will be regenerated automatically upon the next launch. Consider archiving older save files that you no longer actively play to reduce the load time when selecting a save from the main menu.
For persistent performance issues, especially on older consoles like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, consider closing other applications running in the background. On PC, ensure your operating system and all drivers, particularly graphics drivers, are up-to-date. If you are experiencing frame rate drops during specific events, such as large royal weddings or kingdom-wide festivals, try to save and exit the game before these events occur, then reload. This can sometimes help reset the game's performance for those specific scenarios. The Anasi Trials, with their unique visual effects, can sometimes be demanding, so ensuring your system is optimized before attempting them is advisable.