Mods and CC Organization in My Folder- Sims4

Hi @dunstz - I moved your post to The Sims 4 General Discussion for more help. I'm sure there are some very helpful people here who can help you with your particular questions.

While you're here, you may want to review This Thread on bug reporting when using Mods/CC. Carl's tutorial on How to Install and Download Mods & CC for TS4 might be helpful for you, too.  

Happy Simming!

It's not really that complicated. There are basically two types of mods, ones that change gameplay or add new features, and CC (custom content). CC is just things like new hair, clothing, furniture, objects that don't change how the game plays.

Mods tend to break when the game is updated.

CC "can" break with updates, but it's rare.

Any mods ending in ".package" can go anywhere in your Mods folder. Up to 6 levels deep I think. According to @RandomBuzziness the default is "5" levels deep. Thanks!

Any mods ending in ".ts4script" can only go 1 folder deep.

If you download a mod and it's in a ZIP, RAR, 7Z, or anything else like that, you must extract it first before placing it in your Mods folder.

How you organize it is up to you as long as you follow that.  Although I would recommend not making it overly complicated as it would take a lot longer to go through it if you need to search for broken mods/cc... which does happen EVERY TIME the game updates.

Tips:

I would recommend keeping it simple. Like Mods\Clothing, Mods\Furniture, Mods\Hair, etc.

Put gameplay mods together because those are more likely to break when the game updates.

Most of my core mods that ALWAYS tend to break I put in Mods\Core

Some bigger mods like MCCC, WW have their own folders, same with LittleMsSam's. I have a LOT of hers, so she has her own.

A lot of gameplay mods have version numbers in the file name but a lot don't. So, what I do, is if I put in a mod that doesn't have a version number in the filename, I just create an empty text file with the version number in the name. Text files are ignored by the game so it won't hurt anything. Plus it shows me the mod's version number so when I check for updates, I can easily see what the current version number is. When I update it, I just change the version number on the text file too.

Like in Mods\Core, I have:

UI_Cheats_Extension.package

UI_Cheats_Extension_Scripts.ts4script

UI_Cheats_Extension_v1.17.0.txt

The third file does nothing but has the version number in the name. So, I can just look at the name and see what the current version I have is. Makes it a LOT easier for updating. I "Might" be able to just put the version number in the .package file name but some mods are particular about what their filenames are, so I just don't bother. An empty text file doesn't take up any disk space and it's ignored by the game, so, why not?

Organize it however you want, but realistically, as long as "ts4script" files are only 1 folder deep, it doesn't matter at all how.

But organizing it well will save you a LOT of time later on when you inevitably have to go through them all searching for broken mods.

ThePsycho
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@dunstz Here is another great article about organizing and maintaining mods and CC:

https://simscommunity.info/2018/08/08/the-sims-4-how-to-ensure-a-healthy-game/2/

@Psychotps I think the default number of sub-folders for .package files is 5 levels deep unless you edit your Resource.cfg file.

EDIT: @Psychotps I meant to add awesome post on Mods folder organization and maintenance!

@dunstz I know there is a lot to process in these posts but please do ask if you have any questions. 

So there apparently was 2 mods I had that were RAR files and Idk until the game said error and told me about one of my mods being damaged. I went and deleted them to reinstall later, but after repairing TS4 via Origin it still says something is damaged and suggests I uninstall it or repair. What do you think I should do? 

@dunstzWhat I would do is copy your entire Mods folder somewhere. Make a backup and then delete the original Mods folder. Make sure you have a good backup beforehand! You can also just Move the Mods folder somewhere like your Desktop.

Then just run the game and try to start a NEW GAME. If everything loads up fine, then you have a bad mod somewhere in your Mods folder. You'll just have to figure out which one.

@dunstz I never try adding more than one mod to my game at a time & I always test them to make sure everything is working before I add any more. They're just too much of a pain to troubleshoot when you put many unknowns in your game at the same time. For CC I might add as many as 5 at a time (while still testing each one individually) but never more than that. If I find a CC that looks weird I take it out of my game right away. For all mods I keep careful notes with details like the mod's common name, the actual file name, the name of the mod creator, the website I downloaded the file from, the version number, and the date of the last update or when it was verified to be compatible with the last game patch. Yeah it's a lot of extra work at the time I install it but I imagine it saves me many hours on patch days or if I ever had to do any troubleshooting.

Just to add a couple more things:

- Any time you have a problem with mods or CC and you make any changes to your Mods folder it's a good idea to delete the localthumbcache.package file from your Sims 4 folder. This should clear any bad data from your game cache. I delete this file every time I make any changes to my Mods folder for any reason.

- Like @Psychotps  posted earlier, if you download any mod or CC that is in a compressed format (i.e. .rar) you'll have to un-zip/un-pack it first before you place it in your Mods folder. You should only be putting .package or .ts4script files in there (though some mods will generate things like .txt files while you use them in your game). It's best to follow any special instructions a mod creator includes on their web-pages when installing or updating mods.

- If you come across a mod that specifically says you need to keep the file in the .rar or ZIP format then you should carefully research it to see if this is an outdated version of that mod and if it's still compatible with the current game patch.

Maybe someone can help me too.

Are Custom Hairso nly for the first Character creatio nor can i change them while playing the game?