[INFO] How to Use Mods and CC

Installing Mods and CC

In this post:

• Installing Mods and CC
• Enabling Mods and CC
• Special Issues with Defaults and Translations

Installing Mods and CC

1. Install the Right Files: Using Creator Instructions

Location of Installation

Most mods don’t come with special instructions for where to install them. For those mods, follow the general instructions above. But some mods come with special instructions about where in the Mods folder its parts should go. Check if yours do.

NOTE: Are you trying to use a non-default location for the whole Mods folder? Support is available at the Sims 4 PC Tech Support and Sims 4 Mac Tech Support.

Picking and Choosing Files

• Some mods have instructions to choose between certain files, not install both “flavors” of them. Leaving both options in will produce errors.
• Some mods have instructions to remove files for packs you don’t own. Leaving those files in will often produce errors.

Dependencies

Some mods need other mods to make them work. Instructions for this will always be on the mod’s main page. These are typical gameplay mod dependencies:

• Scumbumbo's XML Injector and mods called "Injectors". Injector mods sit between a mod and the game code. They’re typically written by someone other than the mod creator. They make modding and your Mods folder more efficient. Injector mods rarely are broken by game updates. You'll often see XML Injector by Scumbumbo (updated by Triplis/LittleMsSam) required. The current version of XML Injector is available only on the Scumbumbo memorial website and Curseforge. 
• Lot 51 Core Library and other “Core” or "Library" Mods. These also contain code a mod relies on to make it work. Some, like Lot 51’s Core Mod, are used by many creators. Others are created by individual creators just for their own mods. Core mods, like injector mods, make both modding and your Mods folder more efficient.
• Recipe Enablers. These act as base mod for a creator's recipes, whether those are for food or for crafting.
• ... and similar mods that others rely on. Many mods come with multiple optional parts, but all those optional parts can rely on one or more files that aren't optional.

If you’re testing your gameplay mods and put one in the Mods folder without its dependencies, you aren’t really testing that mod at all. You’ve only partly installed it, so you can’t tell if it’s broken or working. 

If you remove an injector or core mod and the game now “works,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that that the injector or core mod was broken; For XML Injector and Core Library especially, it typically means that one of the mods that relies on it was broken.

The current versions of some of the most commonly needed core/injector mods are listed in the current pinned Broken/Updated Mods and CC list.

Meshes are dependencies for some CC. They provide the shape or form for the CC. If you’re missing a mesh, you will generally end up with weird blocky shapes or invisible body parts because there’s nothing to “hang” the CC code on. Sometimes CC is relying on old meshes that are no longer available, unfortunately, and you simply can’t use that CC.

2. Install the Right Files: Handling Download Formats

Mods are downloaded either as individual .package files or as compressed folders (most often Zip files, but also .rar or .7z files). Individual .package files can go straight into Mods or a subfolder. Don’t put Zip, .rar, and .7z files in the Mods folder. Instead, extract the files from them and put the extracted files in the Mods folder, then delete the compressed file.

3. Install in the Right Place: The Mods Folder

NOTE: Having trouble finding your Mods folder? Has it disappeared on your? Are you trying to use a non-default location? For support, head to the Sims 4 PC Tech Support or Sims 4 Mac Tech Support.

The location for all mod and CC files is Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods. This is the only place the game will see your mods or custom content.

To create the Mods folder, start the game and then exit. Don’t create the folder yourself.

On a PC, the default path is This PC > C: > Documents etc.. Below, the installation drive was specified as F: when the game was installed. (For how to move the location of “The Sims 4” and its subfolders, see the links in the first post. Just moving the folder will not work.) NOTE: This folder should not be inside a OneDrive folder. OneDrive causes problems for Sims.

The Mods folder includes a file called resource.cfg. This files is created by the game but can be safely deleted. The game will recreate it. When the game was launched back in 2014, you had to edit the file if you wanted to use subfolders in the Mods folder, and you can still find that advice on the internet; this is no longer the case. Just leave that file alone.

Common folder issues we see from users include:

• Not being able to find the Mods folder. You can use this method to find where the game is storing files. For more support with game installation issues, especially if you’ve been moving installation locations, please go to the Technical Issues forum for PC or Mac.
• Not having a Mods folder in the right place. Just start the game and exit. The folder will now be there, in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4.
• Creating your own folder in the game’s program folder. Only use the folder the game creates in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4.
• Syncing software, such as OneDrive, creating a second folder that the game can’t see. For this and other OneDrive (and related) problems, plus how to make OneDrive stop messing with The Sims, see this thread.
• Using the wrong folder inside The Sims 4. There's a folder called "content," but it's not for your custom content.

A Note on Tray Files

These file types come with Sims or lots that you save to your Library, download from the Gallery, or download from places other than the Gallery. They go in the Tray folder, not Mods:

• .blueprint
• .bpi
• .hhi
• .householdbinary
• .rmi 
• .room
• .sgi
• .trayitem

Often, custom Sims or lots that aren’t on the Gallery will come with CC .package files. Those go in Mods, but test them on a new save first! They might have been on the internet a long time and not be compatible with the game anymore.

4. Install in the Right Place in Mods: Script Files and Your Folder Structure

The Mods folder can have up to five levels of subfolders inside it. These levels of subfolders are what we talk about when we talk about how “deep” you can put a mod. You can create these subfolders yourself; the game will not create them for you.

• Script mods — mods that include a .ts4script file — must be no more than one folder deep. For example, a script mod’s files can go in Mods or it can go in Mods > TwistedMexi, but it can’t go in Mods > TwistedMexi > BE. That’s too many folders deep.
• Non-script mods — mods that are only package files — can go up to five folders deep, but no more. This is useful for organizing your Mods folder.

In the folder structure shown below, script mods cannot go in the subfolders “Hair” and lower. They can only go in the first level, such as the folder “LittleMsSam,” which is also shown here, with a complete (two-file) script mod highlighted. That script mod can’t go in a subfolder of Mods > LittleMsSam.

TIP: Make sure not to have a folder named "Mods" inside your Mods folder.

Enabling Mods and CC

By default, mods and CC are disabled in Options. To enable the game to see your mods and CC, from the Main Menu, go to Game Options > Other and select “Enable Custom Content and Mods”. If you also want to enable script mods (which are typically more complex), you must also tick “Script Mods Allowed”.

One issue we sometimes see is the mod settings turning themselves back off. This can be caused by antivirus/security settings. For more on this, see the topic Anti-Virus blocking User Folder.

NOTE: For support with mods not staying enabled, head to the Sims 4 PC Tech Support or Sims 4 Mac Tech Support.

Best Practices: Backups and Testing

Before enabling mods/CC, consider making a backup of your Saves folder. The game itself keeps five backups for you, but if the way your game has broken becomes apparent to you after you’ve saved that many times, you might be really happy that you have an outside backup that’s older than that. And very occasionally but tragically, save file corruption can actually spread to your whole Saves folder. Back up your Saves.

Things are very wrong? You can’t load a household/lot? Your Sims are missing their hair? it’s okay to exit without saving! If you accidentally save without mods and CC, you can load an older save file by selecting Load Game, clicking on the disk symbol with a back arrow on it, and selecting Recover on an earlier save point. Another method involves renaming files in the Saves folder.

Enabling a Specific Mod

Some mods have specific things you need to do to make the mod active in game. If you don’t do these things, you won’t “see” the mod. For example, Deaderpool’s MC Command Center mod has default settings that are very close to (but not the same as!) the game settings, and you need to do things in the game to change those settings. Toggle-style mods usually default the game setting and have a way to turn them “on” in-game.

Special Issues with Default Replacements and Translations

Some mods need to have priority loading to work right. For the average Mods folder, this doesn't pose a major issue. For people with large folder, though, it can. In those cases, one option is to force the game to see those files.

There are two ways to do this. BUT both these methods can cause problems. I advise doing this only if a particular mod/CC is working perfectly well when you test it alone (including dependencies) and the mod instructions don't tell you to not touch the name or installation location and you're very careful about how what you download, how you update, etc., given the cautions below each method. Some players may end up more comfortable in the end managing smaller collections of mods and CC instead.

Method 1: Rename the file to start with !

CAUTION: Changing filenames can cause problems in at least three cases:

1. You don't delete the old !-starting version when you update. You will end up with both old and new versions installed.
2. You download that CC or mod again, forgetting you already have it. You will end up with duplicates.
3. You change the name of a mod that other mods refer to using the filename and they can't see it anymore. Those other mods now won't work.

Method 2: For Mac users, the first method can fail. Simmer mekelley25 has written up a set of instructions on how to use a subfolders and an edited resource.cfg file as an alternative. For support, head to the Sims 4 Mac Tech Support.

CAUTION: If you refresh your Mods folder or Sims 4 folder, the original resource.cfg will be regenerated by the game and you'll need to replace it again.