Request for a Script Mod API

I apologize in advance to non-technical readers, for this will be a bit “in the weeds”.

If you are considering budgeting significant hours toward improving the game’s infrastructure and stability, I have some suggestions which might seem counterintuitive. Players often misconstrue issues with mods and the game itself. Some don’t know how to determine whether it’s a mod which has broken after a patch has been applied. Others consider the mod in question so essential to their gameplay that the patch has, for all intents and purposes, “broken the game” until the mod creator can fix it. But things don’t have to be this way.

What I and some other creators have been considering for some time is creating a large library script mod which would create, in effect, a massive shim or API layer to surround the simulation’s internals. The goal would be to give this thing a well-documented and stable interface using object models and event systems such that when a patch is released which must make changes to those internals, all the mods requiring it wouldn’t break—only it would. The ultimate objective would be to make even the most complex script mods fully forward compatible. Then we were going to attempt to get as many advanced mod creators on board as possible and establish a transparent communal process for maintaining this layer and even deploying it rapidly to players using player companion desktop apps.

However, you would be in a much better position to do this than us. I’m not suggesting that you attempt to intervene against script mods performing injections. But if you did create something as I’ve described above, I am confident mod creators would favor it over more brittle methods. And I think you have multiple reasons to do it. On the surface, it would relieve significant pressure on players, mod creators, and yourselves which has resulted from mods breaking because of patches needed. In addition, it would help you test things mods are likely to do without having to test the mods yourselves. Finally, zooming out, it could do a lot to distinguish between trouble with the game versus trouble with mods, which I understand has been a particularly nasty thorn in your side.

I have also requested that you share technical resources and documentation in the past. That request still stands in addition to this one because they complement each other. I understand that doing either of these things is not free for you. But they both will allow us to do our part in contributing to improving player experience with The Sims 4, which we definitely want to do.