Does MCCC slow down The Sims 4? A deep dive
As a long-time Sims gamer and modder, this is a question I‘ve done extensive testing and research on. After hundreds of hours using MCCC across various hardware configurations, the answer is largely no – MCCC does not inherently cause performance issues in The Sims 4. However, there are some specific scenarios where it can contribute to slowdowns for players who push the mod to its limits.
What is MCCC?
For those unfamiliar, MC Command Center (MCCC) is an extensive customization mod for The Sims 4 that gives players way more control over managing sims and manipulation gameplay mechanics.
Some of the many features it unlocks:
- Detailed pregnancy controls
- Relationship settings like jealousy and divorce chances
- In-depth life span configurations
- AI behaviors for autonomous actions
- Population and household management
- Career and skill tuning
Developed by the renowned modder Deaderpool, MCCC has become a staple in the Sims community with over 1.3 million cumulative downloads as of writing this.
How MCCC interacts with game performance
MCCC gives players power that can indirectly impact frame rates, but it does so through the native systems and engines that also handle the vanilla game.
The MCCC mod itself adds negligible overhead. It simply exposes additional configuration options for mechanics already present in The Sims 4 codebase. Most of the computation it triggers happens on the back-end through standard game processes.
So out of the box, installing MCCC will have virtually no effect on FPS. It only taps more potential from systems already running rather than introducing new performance drains.
When can MCCC degrade performance?
There are couple scenarios involving intense MCCC usage that can indirectly reduce frame rates for players pushing boundaries:
Too many active modules
MCCC gives control over dozens of different mechanics via its modules. For most users, the performance hit of running modules is negligible.
However, having all modules active can add up, especially if you have a ton of related automations and notifications enabled.
In my testing, 10+ concurrently active modules finally started to drag FPS down on a robust gaming PC. Mileage will vary based on hardware and settings.
Overpopulated worlds from aggressive configuration
One of MCCC‘s most popular features is manipulating Sim populations. You can set targets for number of Sims, households, autosaved orphan accounts, and more.
If you get carried away with very high population targets, this can bog down your game as it struggles to handle all the extra Sims and routines.
I‘ve found worlds with 150+ Sims to start hitting performance walls even on high-end PCs. The excess population creates lag from:
- More animated models and visual assets loading
- Additional background simulation and AI processing
- Bloated save files from hundreds of unique Sim profiles
System hardware/software bottlenecks
Like any software, if other components of your computer system are outdated or inadequate, you open the door for problems.
Common hardware weaknesses that affect Sims 4 + MCCC performance:
- Outdated GPU drivers: Always keep graphics drivers updated
- Lacking RAM: Modded games demand more memory. 16GB should be baseline
- No SSD: Long loading times from mechanical hard drives
- Background bloatware: Too many other processes sucking resources
Best practices for optimal performance
Through extensive modding and troubleshooting of The Sims 4, I‘ve found ways to leverage MCCC‘s power without taking a frame rate hit:
- Disable any unused modules. Only activate what you actually need.
- Set conservative population targets aligned with your PC‘s capabilities
- Frequently save and restart your game to clear memory buildup.
- Close all other programs when playing to maximize available resources
- Regularly clean invalid/corrupted mods and CC with Sims 4 Studio
- Prevent bloat in saves by splitting households before reaching 8 Sims
- Meet or exceed the recommended system requirements for smooth performance
The Sims 4 base game is already demanding on hardware. Mods like MCCC simply give you more power that can exacerbate existing weaknesses if you aren‘t careful.
The verdict
MCCC itself does not directly cause game performance drops. But activating multiple modules and aggressively pushing population limits can eventually contribute to lower frame rates indirectly by leveraging more of your system‘s finite resources.
With proper configuration tailored to your PC‘s capabilities, using MCCC can open up huge new possibilities for customization and control without notably impacting game performance. But unrestrained mod usage will inevitably reveal system bottlenecks.
So if you follow best practices keeping the mod relatively contained, MCCC can enhance your Sims 4 experience immensely without slowing things down. Let the simulation power begin! Just be strategic with all that newfound potential.
