Some Tips to Avoid (or lessen) the Lag

Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!

So whether we want to admit it or not we’re all experiencing some sort of Animation Lag since the Easter Take Down for TSTO hit our games earlier this week.  If you’re game is running slow, or you notice a stutter or hesitation when scrolling through your town (or a neighbor’s)…I can assure you it’s not just you going through it!

While we all await a new “hotfix” from EA for the lag (and note…it’s not just TSTO going through this..other EA games are experiencing it as well) there are a few things you can do to try and lessen the lag in YOUR town.  And in return it might help lessen the lag for your neighbors when they visit you!

fit milhouse work it 3

Our awesome readers here at Addicts have been posting various things they’ve tried throughout the last couple of days to try and limit the amount of lag their game creates.  We’re not saying these will work for everyone, but it doesn’t hurt to try 🙂

-Try to avoid outside tasks for your characters, especially joint outside tasks.  Less animation for characters to lag on.

-Try storing all of your Non-Playable Characters in Inventory for now.  Let’s be honest they’re just roaming your Springfield right now taking up valuable TSTO memory!

-Try removing some roads in your town.  This will create fewer places for your characters to walk, thus potentially lessening the lag in your town.

-If your town is loaded with decorations, try storing some of the ones that will be easy to place again once the fix comes out.  Don’t destroy any of your 2d or 3d creations, but if you have some fences that can easily be stored and replaced try that.

-Finally, if you’re noticing a TON of lag when visiting your neighbor’s try checking out their Krustyland.  Usually KL has a lot less going on in it, so it may be lag free for you!  Just remember..if you’re visiting KL’s someone might be visiting yours too.  So don’t forget to pop into it every now and then and clear those handshakes!

Hope these tips help you guys lessen the lag in your town!   And even more importantly I hope the fix comes soon!!!

Happy Tapping my friends!

Do YOU have any tips to avoid the lag?  Have you tried any of the methods above?  Do they work for you?  Sound off in the comments below, you know we LOVE hearing from you!

LEGO Friday Bunny 2

148 responses to “Some Tips to Avoid (or lessen) the Lag

  1. I will just stick to gaming on iPhone because it runs games better.

  2. I’m not sure if it’s already been mentioned or not, but I put whoever I could in KL to lessen the animation in SF. I still get a terrible lag while visiting some neighbors. The helicopter pretty much seals the deal as far as being dead in the water.

  3. I just stored all my fountains (I had quite a few), I figured with all the animation to them it might help. Let me know Imodat, Silly & Freak if it helped when you visited.

  4. famchic2013@gmail.com

    Hello Famchic here … to all the addicts out there : I have found that if you keep your finger on the screen while youre looking around it laggs much less just dont remove it while its moving 😉

  5. I usually play my game on my computer. I prefer the larger screen 🙂 Due to the lag I have started playing on my phone instead, a Samsung Galaxy S3, because the lag isn’t as bad. I can actually visit my neighbours on my phone 🙂

    That left my computer free 🙂 So I have decided to start rewatching The Simpson’s from the beginning. That way, while I’m busy decorating my town, I can have The Simpson’s on in the background 😀 I’m already at Season 4, Episode 11 – Homer’s Triple Bypass. It is set up and ready to go 😀

    I’ve never felt like more of a TSTO Addict in my life 😀 xoxoxo

  6. I’m so excited I’m gonna pee my pants! (well not really, but ya I’m excited LOL). My son gave me their tab! So much easier than my cel phone!

    • Sweet!

      • Now if I could just tap my tv, I haven’t tried Bluestacks since before the “event”, but I will once this lag problem is fixed.

    • They still make Tab???… 😉

      • OMGosh, whatever they call the dumb thing, tab, tablet, bigger thingie than I already used, my son loves being a smartypants & just said it’s like my phone but you can’t make phone calls on it. WTH is a phone call? Oh, he also said it’s a droid not an IPhone… I don’t think it’s the droids I was looking for? Heck I don’t know, all I know is I don’t have to use my reading glasses to play LOL!

      • Yeah we have it out here. Sometimes I even see mellow yellow. My uncle finds red pop on occasion.

        • LOL, first thought when reading “mellow yellow”… watch out where the huskies go…

          yes, I am warped 😉

      • Don’t encourage him Ryan LOL

      • Darlene…have you really been playing TSTO only on a teeny tiny phone??? …if so…wow!!! Hope you had a good day…g’night everyone… 🙂

        • Yep, IPhone 4S… I know, crazy, right? Have a good night sweetie, see you tomorrow 🙂

    • I’m answering a question you asked below so it would appear as a comment to you😉. I was in your town just a few minutes ago (you’re it! BTW😜) and it was indeed lagging. Remember, when you put your characters “inside”, it helps you get around your own town. But when someone comes to visit, they all pour out onto the streets. But I don’t mind…..you’re worth the small added effort.👍. I just want to help you get your cool Lisa skin.😊

      • Awwww, how sweeeet Silly! I will not put them on tasks then. BTW, you’re it again 😛

        :-*

      • Cyber, I have often wondered about that…seems to be quite unnecessary for them to rush out like that…stopping that occurrence would help against lag tremendously…but what do I know… 🙂

        • I’ve always had this 1 neighbor where every single character of theirs would run out of 1 particular building, never thought about it, other than it was just their game :/

          • EA made it so we’d see characters in neighbors no matter what task they’re for valentines to get the cards. Right now a lot are sending characters indoors…so that change forced them all out…even if it’s one building. Lol

            • Well truss me up and call me a turkey! I never knew that! I’m sure you told us somewhere about it, but I must have missed it. I’ll only task the ones for quests til we get this lag thing behind us 🙂

          • I said g’night because I usually don’t get a reply for hours…lol…I just e-mailed EA again saying 15 donuts ain’t enough…that place I have for my blocko store is empty and sad… 🙁 …hey, so I made a castle (sorta) out of concrete walls… 🙂

            • I’ll have to go take a look 🙂

              I wont be going to bed anytime soon, no work tomorrow, so I play. I’ve always been a night person, can’t shake it, but isn’t that when all the fun happens?

              • freaknstein8

                I need to sleep but it’s so peaceful when the kids( my folks) are asleep…my mother spent the day trying on dresses from her closet asking me which one she should wear for her funeral…she’s like that everyday…kills me!!!

              • granmamaDar

                Just humor her and tell her the purple one, it will match you 😉

              • freaknstein8

                I know what you mean but…it’s bad…tells me how I’m going to hell because I don’t go to church every Sunday…but she can’t remember that I couldn’t go because of her…oh, I’m sorry…just morbid here very often…finally got rid of that cactus…had a couple days off to get outta the pollen and mom had me plant flowers in the yard… 🙂 …enough of that, lol…sun will be up in an hour…I may fall asleep…

              • granmamaDar

                Freak, you aint going to hell, they wont take you 😉

                Seriously, going to church doesn’t make someone a christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. Get some rest, and keep the faith, He’ll never give you more than you can handle.

              • freaknstein8

                I’ve read the good book three times…taking notes each time and used different versions/translations…My first job ever was to ring the church bell …was intended as a wake up for the town to get ready for church…raised on holy water…blah, blah, blah…lol…no preaching, sorry!!! My pastor just resigned and a handful of members are eyeing me to preach…and they know I’m the wild preacher’s son…don’t get me wrong…I love God, I just have little faith in organized religion…that is the extent of my religious rant…lol…sun is up here, birds singing…passing out. 🙂

              • granmamaDar

                Ditto @ organized religion. Now get some sleep!

              • freaknstein8

                Woohoo…naptime is over!!! 🙂

              • granmamaDar

                LOL, ya I got a solid 4 myself (it was Bunny & Ryan’s fault)

              • See i granmamadar my education is paying off!!! lol, now only if i got real money for keeping you up till 5am!!!

              • granmamaDar

                Yes Ryan, you did help keep me up late, but only because I let you 😉

              • wink..wink..

              • granmamaDar

                🙂

            • I really like that! I still haven’t had any inkling as to what I would use those walls for (I still have more iron fences in storage than I care to admit). Yours is the first design utilizing them that I really have noticed a true building use. Just don’t ever take down the album cover, it’s my favorite 😀

            • Awww, how sweet, I noticed you left a message for me, also. Too bad you’re incorrect ;P

              • freaknstein8

                🙂 …wait a sec…omg…you…uh huh, yeah, I’m the dirty one…and of course, no one knows what we’re talking about… 🙂 …what you sippin on over there? LOL 😉

              • granmamaDar

                Water, that’s pretty much all I drink. I live in the desert, remember 🙂

                Yes dear… you’re correct LOL

      • Cyber — I thought you might enjoy knowing (or perhaps you saw this too when you entered your KL?) whenever I went into your Krustyland during the Easter event, a whole bunch of bunnies looked like they were running out of the starting gate because of the fences you have at your entrance. Well, at least that’s my recollection of your entrance seeing as I can’t get in the game to double check. Anyway, it cracked me up!

  7. Wow you guys are active today. My phone is going crazy!!

  8. Another new update just hit, but I’ve still got the lag. I saw another person comment that visiting certain friends shuts their game off. I’m having the same issue with just one of my neighbors, which seems odd. I’ve got around 90 and they’re all laggy, yet fine except for one. Attempting to visit them shuts my game off. So sorry, “sliqstream”…EA doesn’t want us to be friends right now. 🙁

    • I’ve had that happen with one neighbor or another at various times. Frustrating, but it could be an issue with their game on their end. Check to see when their last login time was. It might be they’re locked out of their game because of an issue with their Springfield.

    • That same neighbor also shuts my game down every time! I wonder if he or she can access his or her own town? Now that tapping on all buildings gives neighbors FP when they clear handshakes, it’s a definite bummer that no one can access them.

  9. Pffff lag. My game hasn’t even worked since the update. Between this and the Easter update, I’m pretty sure it’s just time to hang it up.

    • It’s probably a bigger issue. Have you contacted EA directly about your game? It’s reminding me of what happened after the Christmas removal.

  10. It’s weard, my own town is running good after the update, but by visiting half of my neighbours I experience lag or even get kicked out. Especilly when the helikopter is flying or sideshow Bob is there.

    • I have the opposite problem. My town lags like crazy, but no issues with neighbors at all. Or Krustyland for that matter.

      I suppose it probably doesn’t help that most of my buildings have decorative items hidden behind them. And sometimes other buildings…

  11. The Krustyland Trick I discovered on my own, so I can verify it has worked for me on all but but 2 of my neighbors towns, and these were towns that often caused my game to crash out even before this latest update. One in particular I always skip over and pre-emptively clear my cache before going there. I’ve noticed that neither of these neighbors have been to their towns now in a couple of days…. I wonder if they are also locked out of their towns?

    It’s just too bad that this particular glitch is affecting Tapped Outs most loyal long time players–if you guys hadn’t made your towns so gorgeous… ;-(

  12. I’ve just downloaded a new update and it seems like my Springfield isn’t lagging at all now, and it was pretty bad just an hour ago. Still having bad lag at a lot of my friend’s places though

    • Exactly the same here my town is much better but neighbours still lagging although have noticed if I hit the Bart/Milhouse icon after each collection as opposed to using the left/right arrows it’s about 1in 7 neighbours that lag!

  13. I have put all my NPC characters into inventory (wow, didn’t realize just how many I had..lol) and it did help the lag. I have moved all characters that can work there, to KL (except those in active quests). I no longer assign characters to tasks (except quest lines), I find that most the time, at least half my characters are standing perfectly still. If I assign them to an inside task, it will trigger a building animation (which defeats the purpose). Also, when a neighbor visits, and all characters are inside, the game can come to a screeching, slo-mo halt (due to the data processing space needed to animate all characters simultaneously filing out the doors of buildings). Hope this helps the lag problem when my dear friends come to visit!😉

    • All the characters come out of their buildings when they are doing tasks inside & someone visits? PH

      • I finally found where the words are!!! Lol I read every post and I just noticed!! Hey I was born blonde haired blue eyes and sun tanned OK!

      • I know a lot of text slang…but, not sure about “PH”. Plz excuse my ignorance, but what does that mean?😳

        • I use it for “Palm Head”, as in smacking my palm on my forehead… I know some use others, but that’s what I do 🙂

          You still didn’t answer my question, is it better for inside tasks, or no tasks, & did my game lag when you were there? I’m still getting it in some towns & don’t want to make my town any harder for my neighboreenos 🙂

        • Oh, I don’t ever call it ignorance, I usually use some genderish types of comments that are vaguely vague.

          😉

      • I did answer you…..lol it’s tagged to your “pee my pants” post.😉

  14. Not sure if it’s just me but my game just did a mini update?

  15. My town is running well…so I haven’t taken any precautions…is anyone having problems with my town???

  16. Thanks for the tips! I removed most of my animated decorations like fountains and fires, then removed the non earning characters and several streets. It has made big difference. Once again awesome job!!!! Thank you!

  17. i was experiencing a lot of lag in my town with everything clustered together in one spot [haven’t had a free day to organize yet]. adding more roads for people to wander on helped, as did spacing out bldgs. i still get some lag, but nowhere near as bad as i used to. having too many characters wandering around two little streets was creating enormous amounts of lag.

  18. I’ve noticed that my lagging is worse when I do anything that collects money. Once the money has cleared the game seems to get less stutter-y. It’s frustrating as we obviously want to collect money and free up characters who are finished with tasks but it seems that this adds to the problems I’m having. Here’s hoping for a fix soon. Thanks for the update and tips guys 🙂

  19. So…what did I miss? What do the words mean with the pics at the end of the posts?!?

  20. Thanks!
    Although the thought of putting away things into inventory is a scary one. Knowing I’ll have to place them all again makes me want to grin and bare the lag lol xx

  21. I haven’t experienced any lag, but there are 3 of my neighbors that, when I try to visit them, it completely crashes my game & I have to start it up again. Weird.

    • Neighbors who have posted that they can’t get into their towns..SDS (spinning donut syndrome) will crash your game when you visit. Two of my neighbors, CXonor13 and Pickles210p, have posted they have this problem and thus, booted me out when I tested a visit. I have them quarantined right now (don’t worry, I won’t drop you guys😉), until EA gets them back in play.👍

      BTW, sorry if my town lags when you visit….I have LOTS of stuff.😟

      • That’s what I was afraid of. I’m afraid it’s the Wookiee glitch and not related to the same thing as the lag.

      • Your town was fine. I’m in love with some of the building decoration set ups & stare at them for a few minutes, so if there’s lag, I wouldn’t notice. Lol

      • Cyber!!!!… 🙂 …stop lagg’n dawg!!! Come see my lame a$$ castle!!! LOL

      • Oh, by all means stare…LOL. Nothing gives me more joy than to know someone else enjoys my town as much as I.😊 That’s just one (of many) reasons I love this site. You get to actually interact with friends. Before, I never knew how a visitor felt about my designs until I would see some of them duplicated in their own towns. I would tap on or near it to say….”Thanks for liking this”.😉

      • Thanks for promising not to ditch me, Cyber!

      • Now what kind of neighbor would I be if I dropped you when you had a little trouble with EA and your game?😉 I tried again just now but it looks like you are still locked out of the fun…….that sucks. Hope they resolve your issue soon for you.👍

        • I still have a couple of neighbors I lock up on, Candie is one of them, but I think I finally got into her town today. I’m just being patient & not deleting anyone. I’m happy I’m able to play & hope EA gets all the bugs worked out soon so we can all enjoy our games again.

    • Was I one of them??? Saw you only tapped one spraycan…

      • I only saw one can to spay. I know how much you like those done, so I figured I would come back & get two more later. I ended up falling asleep & taking a nap, so I’ll go back in now. Hee hee. Yours does not lag freak. Sorry about your egg baskets.

        • I forgot to mention…been exploring flicker, think I made one of your pics a favorite… 🙂 …you do alot of screens, girl!!! Cool Marge hair nails 🙂 …since putting up my own screens, my name was right there for everyone, so…Hi, I’m Gary…a sponge’s best friend!!! 🙂 …see ya…

      • Spray, not “spay”. With those rabbits gone I don’t think we need to spay anyone.

      • You SPAYED my can!!! 🙂 …haaha, you took a nap and I’ve been giving BobBarker a haircut…he’s my son’s dog… 🙂 …but the irony… 😉 …it appears there’s no need to paint towns this go round…getting FPs from all handshakes…so tap anything, sweetie!!! I’m sorta doing my old “third tap a spraycan” thing but that’s just me…I’ll be visiting you by midnight… 😉

      • Oh, come see my lame castle!!! 🙂

      • That’s not a “lame” castle…..that’s an awesome castle! Great use of the concrete slabs. I don’t know if I like them or not, still not sure how to incorporate into my town.👍

      • Maybe she does what I do… spray, come back a little later, spray again… it’s the slow torture thing LOL

        • …yep…like a shark attack…swoop in and take a bite… 🙂

          Oh, I was talking about this chick on your avatar lastnight…next thing I know it’s four or five hours later!!! 🙂 Much prettier than those last two avatars… 🙂

          • LOL, last Avatar was a touch of Star Wars with a bowl of Cheetos for him 🙂 The one before that is an avatar I created on Plants vs Zombies, I am quite proud of it, and my grandson said it was “COOL grandma Dar” LOL
            This one won’t stay up too long, I’m sure I’ll think of something else 🙂

      • Sorry to butt in here… I too have seen your wonderful-not-lame castle Mr Freak, also, EA forgot all about me down here in Oy-stray-ya, and didn’t force me to update away from Easter until long after the rest of you. I had read Alissa’s posts and took a guess at the numbers, and bought some pink eggs, and got the Blocko store, and the final pink spins had given me enough gold eggs to keep going and get Fr Sean. So that’s what happened to your Blocko store Freaknstein, it’s in MY town. You can come and see it any time you like. A shrubby greeting indicates just whose Blocko store it really is. While you are there, you might want to go on over and buy some fences, I hear someone in my town is having a sale.

        • Butt in… 🙂 …by all means!!! Howdy neighbor!!! I will come and see/spit on your Blocko store daily… lol 😉

        • Oh, Ruth…Hi…I’m Gary…but call me what you wish… 🙂

      • Udele McOodle

        Well that’s an oops, er, your Blocko store is in MY town…

        • I saw your signage… 🙂 and did a kind of double-take…it was a “that’s not for me, is it” kind of thing… 🙂 …I am sooo jealous!!! I have always held out and onlyy updated days later…I’m on a kindlefire and it did an autoupdate… 🙁 …so nice to hear that I have more friends downunder!!!

      • Udele McOodle

        Hee hee hee, I saw your handshake appear in my town just as I was finishing up doing stuff there, thought you’d probably figure it out 🙂

        • Ruth…I was bad…when living in Hawaii, I and another squid(submariner) would pretend to be Australian sailors rather than American sailors…all just to pick up girls that loved the accent… 🙂 …only one knew we were faking it…lol…I even wore my high school ring backwards and on my left ring finger because they were more impressed with married men…now I just try to pull off purple and crazy…got the crazy part down pat…lol…right guys?!?… 🙂

          • Freak! I just can’t ever think you would do such a thing LOL! I admit I’m a sucker for an accent though 🙂

            You haven’t pulled off the crazy part yet, but you got purple down baby 😉

            LMBO @ the ring, I have always had more men flirt with me when I wear my grandmothers ring on my left hand. I’ve also worn it there to keep away anyone wanting to get too serious though. It’s a toss up which hand it’s on the most, but I like that it keeps away the guys who want to hook up, & buy a gallon of booze EVERY single day. Oh yes, my dream man NOT! LOL

            • I was 20 years old…every day was spring…women everywhere… 🙂 …my other option was to sleep in a giant steel can with a bunch of guys…and besides…my story doesn’t mention all the strike outs, or times I drank too much…so…I did have a girlfriend from Az, Teresita, I think…long story 🙂

    • Imodat, please see my reply to Cybersilly below. Are the three neighbours you keep crashing on showing last activity over 48 hours ago? I have the same issue with two neighbours, john_c_green last active 2 days ago and tufelhunde238 last active 3 days ago. I’m wondering if it has to do with the fact that they are still stuck in Espaster and haven’t updated yet.

      • Boot em…you know you want to… 🙂

      • Hi Safi — it might not be that they haven’t updated. I have all the updates (have reinstalled the app three times, too), and I am totally locked out of the game. sniff sniff

  22. Thanks for the tips!! I’ll be doing them, apart from getting rid of the roads….

    I wonder if its worse for those with massive towns with alot going on in them…. I’m level 40, and all my tiles are full…. desperately need lend btw…. And my lag is AWFUL… it’s almost impossible to play… if I tap more than 3 thumbs ups in succession, it kicks me outta the game after freezing… as if it couldn’t process all my actions at once.

    So, I’ll apply these tips… thanks 🙂

  23. actually for many more roads would be better. nothing seems to slow the game down than people who have all their characters pop out of the same small space so they can confine them. it drags the game down in the worst kind of way.

  24. great tips, I’m finding when I visit neighbors that when they have sent their characters to drink at moe’s or go to church that there are major lags going pass either of them since the characters all step out when you open your neighbors springfield. And of course the same happens to me when I have sent everyone to Moe’s and they have all completed when I log onto my Springfield again.

  25. Me it’s just visiting my neighbours that does me in. Do you need cool Lisa to finish off the fit Milhouse quest? If not then ill just hold off visiting my neighbours. 5000 points is 5 to 6 days of tapping so it ain’t running a marathon in 20 minutes.

  26. I’m really surprised this hasn’t been fixed yet by EA! It was a problem before the FP points!! It’s had so many complaints on their forum/notice board! I have tried inside tasks they work but the issue is more with neighbours and collecting FP so I’m just dealing with my A & B town and leaving the neighbours (well was hoping a hot fix would be today) until we have a fix! I just hope my neighbours understand!

  27. Danielle Dove

    Cool thanks for the advice I try it

  28. Great tips. I just deleted and am currently re-installing the app. But I will definitely apply some of your tips as soon as it is re-installed.

    • Safi, you’re fine.😉 Your town doesn’t lag much when I visit bc it’s not as full as mine (premium player). Those spaces you created while waiting to fill with buildings really help. No need to uninstall/install, it’s not you….it’s EA. It seems that either EA had a server bank blowout or maybe they are upgrading servers (this would account for ALL their games running slower) thus forcing all that game data to be processed by fewer options. But what do I know!?! I just looked in the mirror and discovered my shirt was inside out!😜

      • Lol. Wouldn’t that kind of thing qualify you for the job of head programmer? Add some messy hair and one untied shoe and you could code for NASA.

      • Yeah, the deleting and re-installing did nothing. Unfortunately I had deleted mere moments before this post was released. Was not aware that it was an EA-wide issue affecting everybody. Two minutes earlier, and I would have saved those five min of deleting and re-installing. Oh well, no harm no foul.

        None the less, I tucked away my Capital City Goofball and Snowball II (my only non-playable characters I let out, as I don’t like Zombies or Snow Monsters roaming around my Springfield. While I do have a lot of empty land, my town is full of roads, as I have a two way road system as you’ve probably seen (don’t want the cars in my city to crash into each other on those tiny roads).

        Like Imodat, I have two neighbours I have been unable to visit since yesterday, as it crashes anytime I click on them, or if I’m at the adjoining neighbours and try to scroll over to them. I wonder if it’s cause maybe those two haven’t updated out of Easter maybe? john_c_green hasn’t been on for 2 days and tufelhunde238 hasn’t been on for 3 days.

        Imodat, do you have them as neighbours as well? Or if anyone else has these two, can you let me know if they crash every time you visit them? Thanks in advance.

      • Safi, I do not have those neighbors. The one neighbor that I checked had played 6 hours before I tried to visit them. I didn’t check anyone else. Sorry about the delay getting back to you. I took a nap.

      • I’ve probably stored no less than 200 items & have all but maybe 3 outdoor tasks going. All but a couple of my NPC’s are in storage, too. Is there a lag in my town Silly? I’m having such a hard time visiting some neighbors who have all of their characters outside that I’m tapping straight on their KL & avoiding SF after getting kicked out 2x.

        BTW Safi, any time you want there’s a spot for you 🙂

    • Safi… Please see my comment below Cybersilly. I replied to that comment & not yours.

    • Safi, I believe by now ALL players have been forced to update. The problems you have with a couple of your friends, I too have with a few of mine. In my case I know they were locked out of their games after the update because they both posted a comment about the headaches they are now experiencing. The problem stems from a corrupted file on the EA server where their game is stored (not in their devices), thus, not only are THEY shut out, but anyone else who attempts entrance into their game/town.👍

Leave a Reply to AlissaCancel reply