The Sims 4 might be going “Full Power Balanced” soon.
The Sims 4’s August 19th Patch has brought in more than just a new Pack Disabler and Skin Details. First discovered by anadius, there are new files for The Sims 4 Base Game launcher hiding in the game files of the Windows version.
Here’s what we know so far about this discovery and what it could mean for the future of The Sims 4:
Table of Contents
The Sims 4 -fpb Launcher Discovered in Game Files
A new The Sims 4 executable, which is titled “TS4_x64_fpb.exe” has been found in The Sims 4 > Game > Bin folder of the Base Game files on Windows. Along with that is the new “Simulation_x64_fpb.dll” file that launches together with the first mentioned executable file.
According to anadius, there aren’t any official ways of activating and launching this version of The Sims 4. However, you can try adding -fpb tagline in your game launch options for EA App or Steam.
I’ve tried this method and launched my game, however I haven’t noticed any differences in game performance, nor any new features in the Game Options.
Here’s the full discovery shared by them:
In the newest update EA added these files to The Sims 4 on Windows:
TS4_x64_fpb.exeSimulation_x64_fpb.dll
There are no in-game options to use this exe but you can force it by adding -fpb to the launch options. You can find them in game properties on EA app and Steam.
I haven’t tested the performance. The only difference I noticed is that the “FPB” executable can’t use DirectX 9. The option either disappears or is greyed out, with a tooltip that says “DirectX 9 is not supported in Memory Boost mode. To access this option, deactivate Memory Boost.”
As far as I know this is the only mention of “memory boost” in game but I might’ve missed a text line.
– anadius
Discovery by our reader
08:52AM PT ARTICLE UPDATE: Our reader Diffevair has tested the new executable version of The Sims 4 “-fpb”. According to them, the long-reported issue of Neighboring Houses showing as Default / Empty is fixed in the newly reported version of The Sims 4 Base Game.
Here’s what they’ve said:
OMG, can’t belive they fix problem with Default/Empty houses in neighbourhood!
This problem is huge when you have apartments from “For Rent” pack.
– image source
What does this mean for the future of The Sims 4?
It’s too early to tell yet. For the first time ever, we’re hearing words of the “Memory Boost mode” feature. Which hasn’t been mentioned before ever by The Sims Team nor discovered (until now) in the game files.
I did a quick google search to see if the abbreviation “fpb” means anything. The top rated result on abbreviations.com is “Full Power Balanced”. Which has been used before in the world of Computing and Hardware.
The Sims 4 Base Game has gone through several technical changes in the past. First, it got updated from 32bit to 64bit version with the launch of The Sims 4 Get Together Expansion in 2015. Several months later, we enjoyed the new indoor lighting brought around with the launch of Sims 4 Dine Out.
The game adapted to a 64bit only version by seperating the game with The Sims 4 Legacy Edition around the Island Living era. Which got discontinued in November 2022.
The last big technical changes made to The Sims 4 Base Game started in May 2024, when EA introduced the first iteration of the game for DirectX 11.
This update is designed to increase the overall gaming experience, with improved rendering capabilities that will allow for more details and immersive environments in future releases!
– May 28, 2024 Patch Notes
At the moment, The Sims 4 supports both DirectX 9 and DirectX 11 versions. However, the new Sims 4 executable found in August 19th Patch includes a “Memory Boost Mode” that doesn’t support DirectX 9.
Time will tell what the new Memory Boost Feature will allow for players. And what switch might happen for The Sims 4 next. Until then, we already know that there are going to be three big Base Game Feature updates for The Sims 4 until the end of this year. Could the “fpb” version of The Sims 4 finally be activated in one of those updates?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and stay tuned on Sims Community for the latest Sims 4 News!
OMG, i’m testing now and its look like they fix “Neighboring Houses show as Default/Empty Issue” in EA forum
if they’re sticking with this game its their obligation to keep the game stable + innovate, we want fully open worlds, customization features for objects, color wheel and etc, everything they took away from us from TS3 to TS4 + the game needs several gameplay overhauls and a graphical overhaul, everything in this game looks so low texture, low poly, low detail, it’s time for a full overhaul in many areas.
I love all that in the sims 3, and that’s why I prefer the sims 3 in addition to a huge gameplay, but open worlds will never happen on the sims 4, you would have to redo the whole game from the beginning, and that’s just impossible, unless you launch a new franchise, the sims 4 will remain closed worlds, they will not do a complete overhaul of the graphics either, the game is already too heavy, they can make some adjustments, but no more.
that’s why overhauls exist, if they want to implement cars or sims in wheelchairs in the game, they will have to overhaul the worlds anyway, the sims 4 is too limited and all its competitors are coming up with open world systems + customization features, it’s abysmal to not be able to select a swatch color for a bed without altering the color of the sheets, if this is the definitive sims game moving forward, it NEEDS to be overhauled, cause then why even assemble a team to update the core technology for the product? why give interviews for variety saying they will deliver HD simulation and what people would want from a Sims 5 without starting from scratch? it makes no sense, the game feels ARCHAIC to play in 2025, it was already limited in 2014 btw.
The cars will only serve as decor, there are plenty of places where it is impossible to drive, they don’t even talk about it anymore anyway, I tell you again, technology does not allow you to change closed worlds into open worlds without deleting everything and redoing everything, I understand your desire and your frustration, and that’s also why I’m going to start on the paralives, but it was from the beginning that it had to be done, it’s too late, it is impossible to enlarge the worlds, any game creator will tell you, the game is coded and it is irreversible, of course the game is obsolete, that’s why it would have been necessary to make the sims 5 against the other games than to persist on the sims 4 which are in agony.
that’s not true at all, they had surveys about cars a few months ago and project rene is being made in UE5 + will share a storefront with The Sims 4, all these experiences will be unified under The Sims Hub, they’re actively working on the core portion of the game, not even 4 weeks ago they’ve sent surveys for players asking their opinions about changes in animations for the game + EA has several multi franchise technologies in place that would make it way easier for developers to significantly update the core technology of the sims 4 and make it more modern both in graphical and technical fronts without having to completely re-code the entire game. lindsay pearson herself told in an interview to pc gamer this year that they entertained everything for ts4 moving forward when it comes to overhauls and even mentioned the sims freeplay as an example of a game who has had seen several overhauls in its existance
Improving the animations does not mean an open world, I’ll let you hope but you will be disappointed, I’m not saying that they will do nothing to improve the graphics, but not an open world again, as for the cars, we had them in the sims 2 and they were also closed worlds, so they can very well be included without going very far, but not everywhere, only where it will be possible, we will see.
they literally said they will deliver what people expect from a sims 5 without starting over, the top thing that people expected from a sims 5 was an open world system, 60% or more from the Project Rene team was moved back to Sims 4 to update the core technology for the game, these people are literally working on modernizing the sims 4
You dream too much, you take what they say at face value, you seriously believe that they are going to transform the sims 4 into sims 5, but come back down to earth, the rené project is a mobile game that nobody wants, I leave you to your delusions because it is tiring to see how blind you are about the future of the sims 4, you are going to fall from a great height, and believe me, it hurts.
Maybe the required configuration will now be more demanding, in terms of RAM, I remember that when The Sims 4: Discover University was released, it required a more powerful minimum configuration than before, this could therefore announce DLCs that are more demanding in terms of capacity and memory to run properly and therefore more RAM required for the player’s PC or new, more demanding features as well, this could certainly boost the game but small PCs may have even more lag than now.
I checked the string table:
Memory Boost (Early Access)
Frees up memory, reduces lag, improves frame rates, and helps prevent crashes. Restart required.
Recovery saves will be labeled “Memory Boost”.
Compatible with DirectX 11 only.
Toggle Options: “Automatic” for game-managed settings, “Enabled” to activate (DirectX 11 only), or “Disabled” to keep original settings.
Switching modes may affect save compatibility.