[closed] Mods and CC Known Bugs and Issues: September 26th, 2023 Game Update

Tips and Tricks for Mod Users at Update Time

Before Sims Updates

Because some outdated (“broken”) mods can actually corrupt your save file, before you let the EA App update your game, back up your Saves folder. If you aren’t sure when an update might come out, you might want to get in the habit of doing this regularly.

“Backing up” a folder or file means making a copy of it in a different place. You’ll find your save files in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Saves. You can copy that whole folder to somewhere else — your desktop, say, or a different folder you make yourself, like Documents > Sims Backups. Now you’ll have a pre-patch copy to fall back on in case you run into serious problems.

It can be very tempting to just set up a syncing app, like OneDrive, to sync your Documents folder online as a way to back up your saves. Don’t do this. The Sims 4 and synching programs hate each other. You’ll run into whole new problems, including things like the app putting mods you delete back.

It can also be very tempting to rely on a mod manager to handle your mods folder for you. Mod managers from sources that aren’t working with Maxis can also cause you more problems than they fix by doing things like renaming files (so that you end up with duplicates eventually) or putting back files you deleted. The best way to manage your mods is generally to take the responsibility for it.

One way of taking that responsibility is to have an organized Mods folder. If you don’t have a lot of mods and have Curseforge doing your installations, you can ignore this: you don’t want to be making subfolders and moving things into them. But if you download mods manually or have a lot of mods (in which case, download them manually!), having subfolders that organize by, say, the name of the creator can help you when you’re doing a 50-50 (more below) or hunting for a mod that needs to be deleted or replaced.

After Sims Updates

Many patches change enough in the game to trigger it to turn off the setting that lets the game “see” your Mods folder. If you save like that, everything that those mods effect — your Sims’ hair, their kitchen cupboards, their careers and aspirations, their height, etc. — will be stripped from that save and need to be put back in by you. You don’t want that to happen. You also don’t want to have that save corrupted unexpectedly.

So, after the game update,

1. DON’T delete your Saves backup. You might still need it.
2. Check to see if mods you use have been reported “broken” (outdated) or obsolete (for example, a bugfix that’s no longer needed) so you can remove those or wait for them to be updated.
3. Check to see if mods you use have been updated. Some modders will update very quickly. Others need more time for various reasons, all of which are absolutely okay — the update might be complex, they might prioritize more popular mods than what you use, they might be very busy with other responsibilities; they might be unwell. Please give them space. Too many modders have left modding because they were tired of being asked “Are we there yet?” by impatient players.
4. If you really want to play now but mods you use aren’t updated yet, consider making a new save that doesn’t rely on the outdated mods. (Select “New” on the home page. If you have multiple “saves” after this, you can use “Load” to pick out the one you want to play next.)
5. If you do play your “old” save that relies on mods, don’t save it if you haven’t re-enabled mods. To re-enable mods, head to your Settings, under Other. But keep that backup of your Saves folder!

When Problems Happen

If you use mods, someday problems will happen, especially if you use a lot of them. Of course, not all problems after game updates are caused by outdated mods! So this section includes a test for that.

1. Check to see if mods you use are known to be outdated or have been updated. This applied to all mods — both game mods and custom content. Yes, your Sim’s eyelashes can break the whole game! Delete and replace updated mods, after checking for new installation instructions. Delete obsolete mods. Delete outdated mods that haven’t been updated. Often this is enough to solve your problem. If not, keep going!
2. Check if the symptom you have is commonly mod-related for this patch or a recent patch. You'll find some info about this in the next post.
3. Test whether the problem was caused by Mods. This is called testing “vanilla”. To do this, exit the game (especially if you forgot to back up your Saves folder, don’t save first!). Go to Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4. Drag your Mods folder to your desktop, or cut (NOT copy) and paste it. Now delete the file called localthumbcache. Restart Sims 4 and check to see if the problem is still there. If it’s not, it was probably caused by outdated mods. Either way, exit without saving. (Extra tip: Sometimes deleting a mod and localthumbcache isn’t enough to make a problem go away in a save. You can test a new save as well.)
4. So, now you seem to have, somewhere in that Mods folder, an outdated mod that isn’t on the “Broken/Updated” list. Isolate the outdated mod. One way to do that is to do a “50-50” of your mods folder.

How to “50-50” Your Mods Folders

To figure out which game mod or piece of custom content is causing problems, you can test mods in increasingly small batches, systematically.

1. Move your Mods folder to your desktop, and delete the localthumbcache file from Electronic Arts > The Sims 4. Make a new, empty folder there called Mods.
2. Make a test copy of your original folder on your desktop. You'll use the test copy for the 50-50 so that you don't lose the organization of your original folder.
3. Divide your folder up into batches. You don't have to start with two huge batches. You can start with more medium-sized batches, depending on what's comfortable for you. Name each batch something like "Untested 1" so you can keep track.
4. Some mods depend on other mods to work. That might be a CC mesh or a mods like XML Injector. Make sure those dependencies are with the mods they depend on in eac batch. Otherwise, a mod might seem to not work, but it'll be not working because it's missing its dependency.
5. Start with one batch. Copy it into Mods. Try it out. Is it all okay? Delete it from Mods, delete localthumbcache, and rename the desktop batch something like "All Clear 1".
6. If a batch fails, divide it up. Somewhere in that failed batch is a problem. Make it into smaller batches and test those separately. Remember to keep track of what's already tested and what isn't, and remember to keep deleting localthumbcache.
7. Retest the full folder. Delete the problem file from the original Mods folder, move that into place, and test it. With some luck, you've now found your problem.

A 50-50 won't always solve a problem. It will, for example, miss issues that aren't a result of a game patch, like duplicate files, mod conflicts, missing dependencies, having mods you don't have required packs for, and wrong mod installation.

An additional note about cooking mods: Some of these have very particular instructions for removing them. Consider removing your Saves and doing any 50-50 testing on a new save or new household if you weren't able to follow those instructions before mod testing.

Still Stuck?

This thread is here to help! You can also start a new thread in this forum. But please be descriptive: To help you, we need to know what symptoms you have in your game and we need to know what steps you’ve taken to try to isolate the problem.

Are there supposed to be any live links to mod sources in the "Broken/Obsolete and Updated Sims 4 Mods: 1.101, September 26, 2023 Game Update" lists?