#sims 4 mod manager

[simmers-against-curseforge]

About Sims 4 Mod Manager

It came to my attention a few days ago that a popular program used for sorting custom content, Sims 4 Mod Manager, is based on Overwolf software. The issue with this is that ad placements on Overwolf programs give a 20-30% cut to Overwolf directly. As stated on their website. I know it is an Overwolf program because you can find Overwolf files within it:

Personally, I do not mind un-obstructive ads on free programs as long as they are vetted by the developer, but I do not want to give Overwolf any money. So I will be kindly contacting the developer via the contacts on his website and ask he divest and use a different avenue with the ads. Maybe moving to github instead. He is also recently released a curseforge integrated app.

If you are to request the divestment, please please do so with respect as to invite people INTO the conversation and not put them in a defensive position. No one likes to listen when they are being threatened or harassed. 🤷‍♀️

I know many will be disappointed with this news as it is a great, one of a kind program, so I wanted to offer some alternative methods besides manually sorting custom content:

Sims 4 Mod Assistant: A small app used to find duplicates and mod conflicts. Also supports filtering and moving files to other folders. Available on Mod the Sims and Github.

S4Pavir: It's not that pretty, but it can be used to view, remove, and sort cc. Available on Github.

You can also use sims tray importer to sort through cc. Dress your sims in all the cc you want to remove or place build/buy items on a lot. Save the sim/lot to your library and use Sims 4 tray importer to view the list of cc used, and open its file location to delete. Available on Luniversims (.fr)

Sims 4 Studio can also be used to view, edit, and delete cc. Available here.

Let me know of any other methods you know or notify me if there are any issues with these two programs.

Hopefully there is a positive outcome with reaching out to the creator. Please be respectful and you can use my pinned post as a reference for why curseforge is a problem. 🙏

Edit:

Update on Sims 4 Mod Manager

After going through the older versions of Sims 4 mod manager I have found out that Version 1.0.9 Beta (Windows 10, 11 for me) does not have Curseforge ads. I think this is suitable option to use the mod manager without giving direct ad revenue to Overwolf/Curseforge.

When you go to the Sims 4 Mod Manager site, click other versions and scroll until you find this version. It does not have all the current features, but it works. You can uninstall your current version by searching the app in your start menu (Windows), right click and select 'uninstall', and click 'uninstall' again once you find it in the list that comes up.

(I do not have Mac, so I do not know if the later version 1.1.3 Beta, will also not have ads. If you download it please let me know.) I will update my original S4MM post with this info and also put it in a reblog so hopefully everyone can see this.)

It doesn't have the sort to subfolders option, but my way around that is to sort cc into a "moving folder" and then open your regular file explorer and cut and paste those items to your sub-folder manually. Easy peasy!

[unicornsandcake]

CC creators faking updates to be at the top!

This whole issue sounds so overdramatic but its more annoying that anything!

I can't be the only one that has noticed some CC creators suddenly having updates on their CC every time you open Curseforge or the Sims 4 mod manager. After about the sixth time I had updated all the stuff from Quirky introvert, I sent a message asking them what is up, never got a reply. Still baffled I continued as usual thinking "this is probably just them sorting or fixing something with their CC" so I updated and moved on. But since then it has continued and today I opened the app and had again an notice to update ALL of their CC.

So I did a a little research and found out that if you sort by popular when looking at CC, ALL their CC is now at the top as most popular, which good for them to find a cheat in the system. Hella annoying for anyone actually using and supporting their CC.

I am torn how to feel about it, I will probably just delete all their CC because I really need to know what mods and CC that actually needs to be updated for my game to work, so them constantly saying they need to be updated is going to bug the shit out of me. I personally don't really want to take the risk that anything is broken and it feels a bit shitty that they know most simmers is going to update to not fuck up their saves etc.

I don't really think this is a huge scandal or anything, I just wanted people and Curseforge to be aware that updating CC is used as a cheat to get on top. I also think it will probably only hurt the content creators that do this in the long run, as people like me will get really annoyed getting the popup to update their stuff every time I open the app and will probably stop using their CC/mods all together.

The real issue I think is most important would be that if more CC creators start doing this we will not really know what mods and CC actually need to be updated for the game to work and what is just there to get to the top. It also doesn't really give a fair chance for new CC and mod creators that would be popular to end up on the top. As they will be buried further down. So it a bit douchey to do this.

[dreamertrait]

The latest update where u can access curseforge from sims 4 mod manager makes me wanna just download things on there forever 😭😭 it’s so clean

[isimbecauseofreasons]

Guys, if any of you use the Sims 4 Mod Manager - I'm posting this as I've not seen any posts as of yet - I'm sure you've seen that people had been contacting the creator in regards to the whole shitshow that is Curseforge. Well I opened the program yesterday to make sure I'd not got any duplicates in my mods folder after downloading a few lots, and a message box popped up asking me if I wanted to TURN OFF CURSEFORGE!!

I am seeing this as a win? Please lmk if there are any official messages that have been posted regarding this? I'd like to see what was said if there was :)

@simmers-against-curseforge

[peonypyxels]

i girl bossed just the right amount tonight & learned how to make loading screens

[rottengurlz]

I can’t stand EA I deleted some cc and repaired my game and now my game is back to not working again 😊😊

[daisy1728]

Sim Info Manager by Lumpinou

Polish translation only

Tłumaczenie w języku polskim moda do  TS4 od Lumpinou. Mod dodaje do gry bibliotekę kodów, która umożliwia jednym kliknięciem zmianę imienia, płci, nastroju, sentymentów, cech u Simów!

Wymagania: Skrypt Lumpinou's Toolbox Library-Mod

Link do modyfikacji:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/mod-sim-info-log-86597581

Link do tłumaczenia: https://simfileshare.net/filedetails/4124034/

Pamiętajcie proszę, że tłumaczenie musi się znajdować w tym samym folderze co mod oryginalny.

[babyphatlingerie]

watched a blender tutorial bc i was interested in learning how to render sims edits and realized i just don’t have the drive to be a sims content creator

[littleredthesimmer]

Omgggg how did I not know about this sooner?!?

Do y'all know about the sims 4 mod manager? It is a pretty good program for organizing cc and deleting anything you don't need. I highly recommend, so far everything seems to be going good.

[cloudyccs]

sims 4 cc/mod manager -- absolute must have for people who have hundreds or thousands of cc & mods.

please make sure to go check it out! thank you gametimedev for making this!

[bohollama]

I am going to clean out my cc folder wish me luck ;-;

[glittermutt]

btw ya boy deleted over a thousand pieces of old cas cc <3

[m0therx0fxcha0s]

Organizing Mods for The Sims 4

Using mods for the Sims 4 is a pretty popular way to expand your creative abilities in the game. From custom content to gameplay mods, to those required utilities for function, there’s many ways to use mods to enhance your experience. Modding the Sims 4 is incredibly easy and only takes a few steps. With a little planning and time spent on setting things up, this task can actually become a…

[kery-sims]

This is a great read with some great recs! I came up with my own system from scratch but I'd argue it's pretty much exactly this (convergent mod sorting evolution? perhaps 🤔).

Personal things I like to do (sharing if others want ideas I guess):

For mods I know are likely to break during patches (anything that mods gameplay in some way or anything with scripts) I slap a 0 - at the front, (so for example, '0 - MCCC' ). This will force the files to appear at the TOP of the list if you're using windows alphabetical sort order.

Extremely major mods like MCCC, Wicked/Wonderful Whims, Better Build etc. get their own folders with the respective mod name with '0 -' added.

For any additional gameplay tweaks I try to rely on specific creators who cover a lot of areas so I can give them their own '0 -' marked folder with their creator name, again making it easier come patch day. I also use this for creators who have a gameplay mods with a lot of files (common with kind of 'module' type systems for example).

For my own modding specifically, I have a folder named '[KERY-SIMS] Modding', which with windows sorting order takes precedent over 0 - so it appears at the very top.

I also have a folder called [TEMP] for any CC I'm just testing out or putting in for screenshots or something to remove later. Sometimes I'll just straight up chuck any new mods in here if I am especially tired and can't sort stuff at that moment, just so I can play and make sure it works.

I use subfolders a lot. I don't know what the subfolder limit is, but I find this super useful for when I get a huge haul of cc. I'll drop it in the main category first and then check it out (almost like a probation period). If I decide I like it, I'll use Sims 4 Mod Manager to sort it into it's appropriate sub-folder. If I don't it's still in the first folder so it's easy to find and remove. (Reminder: don't put scripts more than one folder deep, ofc).

Primary categories are still reasonably specific, and I'll append them with a label to indicate what section they are in (CAS - Hair, for example, then Subfolders are 'Female', 'Male' etc.). I previously used 'Buy -' but have since moved that into a primary folder (until I notice items start disappearing I'll keep it this way I guess). I keep CAS divided up in the root of the mods folder because that's usually where I'm putting most of my downloads and need more housekeeping.

I'll merge some things with S4S to improve performance. I usually merge by creator sets, rarely by creator (if I tend to get a lot of stuff from one creator) which I'll also throw on a date of when it was merged so I can tell any content I find after that date is not in the package. In the case something goes wrong and needs updating, it's not too difficult to find what is broken and S4S can easily un-merge the package.

Lastly I'll do an occasional housekeeping (like today) where I'll go through items in CAS for example and decide if I still want them, then tab over to the Mod Manager, find the item and apply 'marked for deletion' custom tag from the categories option, so once I close the game I can just pull that category up and delete everything in it.

Sorry to make a long post longer anyways those are my personal little sorting quirks!

Hey, folks! I'm a simmer who loves me a well organized CAS/CC/mods folder, so I figured I'd share some resources to help you out in achieving such a thing yourself.

A well organized Mods folder as well as organized CC in-game IS possible! Click through the cut to read more!

Table of Contents:

Getting Started

Essential Programs

Essential Mods

Useful Programs and Utilities

Other Useful Things

A Word of Caution/Caveats

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Getting Started

1. @nynsimmer's Completely Empty Organized Mods Folder

When I first started getting serious about CC I went looking for something to help me get started, and I'm so happy I found this. It takes a lot of the effort out of figuring out these category trees yourself! It's not a mod, it's just a simple collection of empty folders to help you organize your CC more effectively. It comes in a couple different flavours based on what your CC-hoarding game is like, and of course, you can make any changes/edits to it you like. Use it as a starting point, then build your perfect Mods folder from there.

For those who are curious, here's how my Mods folder looks right now after using this to start:

I added a "Defaults and Overrides" folder to make those easier to find, and to separate them from non-default CC so I can more easily run batch fixes without harming my default files.

I have a lot of Gameplay mods; since many of them are script mods and can't be more than 1 subfolder deep in order to work, I organize them by creator to make it easier to keep track and update them. Any miscellaneous mods go in the "Gameplay/Build/CAS Mods" folders.

2. @sparrowcc's Tidy Details & Tattoos

Though recent game updates have made this not work so well for original Maxis items, it still works for CC items and makes it so much easier to figure which slots everything is listed under so you can more effectively make use of the various skin detail/tattoo/accessory categories. It adds an item thumbnail to the beginning of each Skin Detail/Tattoo category to tell you where that category begins, making the CC in that category appear after it; no more long list of thumbnails and having no idea which skin detail slot they're hiding under!

There are also versions available for accessories, occults/Get Famous, and acne, which could be useful depending on what EPs you have.

EDIT: There's also an updated version of this available from @yoruqueenofnightsims!

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Essential Programs

1. Sims4Studio (Windows Version | Mac Version)

Sims4Studio (S4S) is an essential program for any Sims 4 player who dabbles in CC, whether you're creating it from scratch or simply downloading and using other creator's CC in game. S4S allows you to make simple edits to fix problems or make your CC life easier, and comes with a TON of useful batchfixes to fix some of the more common problems that occur with CC. (The "Disallow CC for Random" batchfix is essential for me; I run it periodically to catch new CAS CC that isn't tagged properly.) The UI is pretty friendly, and it's fairly simple to get started.

You can find the official S4S Tutorial List here.

Some more tutorials to get you started:

How to Clean out CC with S4S by @srslysims

How to Run a BatchFix with S4S by @srslysims

How to Edit/Change Skin Detail Categories using S4S by me

How to Change the Sort Order of CC Eyecolours by @oydis

2. CmarNYC's S4 CASTools (Windows Only)

CASTools is another program you can use to make CC from scratch, and it comes with a lot of options to make that easier depending on what you want/need to do. It's a little more complicated and difficult to get the hang of, but once you do, it gives you a ton of control over your CC.

For example, you can easily hide an item from appearing in CAS by unchecking this box and saving the package:

Which is useful if you have some recolours/hairs that require a mesh to show up, but you'd rather the original mesh didn't appear in-game. (I have some Maxis Match texture edits of Alpha hairs that require the original meshes to work, and this way only the MM edits show in CAS, not the Alpha hairs.)

You can also easily use it to change the sort order of CC, changing where it appears relative to other items in the CAS categories in game. To do that, you just change the values of this option here:

(Changing the Sort Order in S4S is slightly more complicated, so I often use CASTools for this instead. It applies the sort order to all swatches of an item in one go, which saves a lot of time!)

CASTools is also required for the CAS Sort CC Alphabetically Utility I mention later, which has been an essential tool for me!

(I am not an expert on CASTools, so please don't ask me for help or support using this program! Please reference the original creator's page or search for tutorials to help you learn how to use it.)

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Essential Mods

1. @twistedmexi's Better Exceptions

I didn't know how badly I needed this until I found it. This mod does a LOT of things to help you keep a healthy Mods folder, such as letting you know when mod errors occur, and telling you about any issues such as duplicate CC or possibly outdated mods. Super useful, I recommend it to anyone who has a heavily modded game!

2. @twistedmexi's Better BuildBuy: Organized Debug

Super useful if you have a lot of BuildBuy CC, or if you do a bunch of building! Adds a bunch more filters to your BuildBuy menu so you can more easily find the CC you want, and also indexes and adds Debug items to your BuildMode catalog and makes them searchable/filterable. Read the mod's download page for more info.

3. @twistedmexi's Expandable BuildBuy Catalog

This is included in the Better BuildBuy mod, so don't download it if you decide to use Better BuildBuy. Otherwise, it's a simple mod that allows you to expand the size of the BuildBuy item picker window, letting you see a much larger number of items at a glance. Super useful if you have a lot of BB CC, or if you're an avid builder.

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Useful Programs and Utilities

[Note: All of these are Windows Only. Apologies, Mac users!]

1. NEW Jan/2022: GameTimeDev's Sims 4 Mod/CC Manager

A real game changer! GameTimeDev's mod manager allows you to easily visualize your mods folder by showing your package files with their in-game thumbnails to help you identify them, then gives you powerful tools to sort, add/delete, "load/unload", and filter to your heart's content. This is such a powerful program to help you organize your mods folder! The Sims 4 Community wrote a really great tutorial here to help you get started with the program if you need it. Just be sure to refer to the original download page on ModTheSims for updates and support.

2. Barteke22's Sort CC in CAS Alphabetically Utility

So you've downloaded a bunch of CC, and it's all working great, but your CAS categories are still a chaotic mess; hairs from different creators are all mixed together, and it's impossible to find that One Hair you're looking for in amongst all the others. How do you fix this horrible situation??

If you're me and this bothers you to no end, you end up spending hours changing the Sort Order for each piece of CC yourself by hand using CASTools. You put on a podcast, zone out, and start opening packages, changing numbers, and saving files. It takes forever, and you wonder if it's really worth it. 😵😩

Thankfully, Barteke22 came to my rescue with this amazing tool! It does pretty much exactly what I was doing by hand before, except it automates it, allowing me to eat lunch or play my Switch while it organizes all my CC exactly where I want them. It does make your computer unusable while it runs, but that's a small price to pay for the piece of mind of having a nicely organized CAS, imo.

You can go from this:

To this:

All your hairs sorted alphabetically and easy to find! What a relief!

(Please refer to the original download page for information on how to get this tool set up and for how to use it. You'll need to download AutoHotKey for it to work.)

Keep in mind: This tool doesn't read sub-folders, so you have to organize each sub-folder separately. It's a good idea to keep a .txt file around with info on what sort numbers you've used where, so you know what you're doing and don't accidentally reuse any.

Also: It WILL screw up Merged packages. Make sure you're only sorting individual packages with this tool, not merged ones (You can use S4S to merge/unmerge package files).

If you're still having trouble getting this utility to work, I wrote a long rambly thing about it here that might help you. I apologize for my deplorable lack of brevity. <3

3. Bulk Rename Utility

A small Windows utility program for bulk renaming files. Extremely useful if you have CC from a creator that doesn't put their username at the beginning of the filename, making it difficult to find their CC in your Mods folder when sorted alphabetically. I haven't used this much myself, but @ilovethesims2cc gives a quick overview of it here and how to use it to remove special characters from filenames.

4. S4Pavir by @margosims

Note: It's come to my attention that the current version of S4Pavir doesn't work and the creator has stopped developing it, so download and use it at your own risk. That being said, I'm keeping it on the list on the off chance someone picks it up and updates it someday; it could still be useful to the right person!

I haven't used this myself, since my CC has already been categorized in subfolders for a long while, but if you have a large, unorganized mods folder this may help you organize and make some sense of it. As I understand it, it checks each .package file to see what category the item is listed under in-game, then it can move them into subfolders based on that category. (Like I said, I haven't used this myself, so I can't help you make sense of it; please contact the original creator for support!)

5. Sims 4 Mod Assistant by EgorBlagov

A small program used to find duplicate packages and possible mod conflicts. Useful if you have a lot of CC and you know there are dupes in there, but you're intimidated by going through all your subfolders and finding them manually.

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Other Useful Things

1. More Columns in CAS by Weerbesu

This mod gives you more columns to work with in CAS, allowing you to see more items/CC at once! Comes in a few different flavours, use the one that works best with your screen resolution. (This mod regularly breaks with the bigger patch updates, so make sure you check to make sure it works with the patch version you're using.)

2. Various Maxis CAS Item Hiders

If you're serious with your CC and would rather not have the original Maxis items cluttering up your game (alpha players might appreciate this!), or you just want to hide some of them because they're not to your taste, there are some options available:

@starbearysims CAS Hiders (For everything up to Journey to Batuu/Nifty Knitting)

@plumbobsandcowplants CAS Hiders (For the Hair Swatch Update and more recent EPs/GPs/SPs/Kits)

MAC Cosmetics Hider

CAS Makeup Hider

Feb2021 Patch Custom Content Hider by @teekalu

3. @amicurl's Catalog Overhaul

Amicurl's been working tirelessly to reorganize and clean up the BuildBuy menus to make more sense. Check out the Introduction to the project to see if their mods are something you'd like. They also have a mod for hiding the pack icons on BuildBuy items, and a subtle CC wrench icon override.

4. @maxismatchccworld's, Well, Everything

@marvell-world at @maxismatchccworld has been tirelessly supporting the Sims 4 CC/modding community for years by sharing posts featuring Maxis Match CC for your perusal. It's extremely well organized and searchable, making it easy to find exactly the CC/Mods you're looking for. I highly recommend taking a look through their navigation categories to see if there's anything you're missing!

5. NEW Jan/2022: @xandezsims' Notes and Tips for Trans Sims

If you're annoyed at your CC not working properly on trans frames, take a look at this handy reference and consider updating the "restrict opposite gender/restrict opposite frame" flags yourself.@xandezsims worked so hard on this guide, and the information is so valuable to CC makers! Definitely worth bookmarking.

6. NEW Jan/2022: The Sims After Dark Team's DIY Troubleshooting Library

A great many very useful tutorials with step-by-step notes and useful reference images for doing a great many useful things in regards to your game and Mods folder. There are tutorials on how to 50/50 test your mods folder for broken CC, how to install mods in the first place, how to organize your mods folder, how to batch fix, and more.

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A Word of Caution/Caveats

As always when using mods and programs that edit files, always be prepared for mishaps and mistakes; keep backups of your CC and important game files before editing them if at all possible, and know that Mods/CC are not officially supported by EA/Maxis. You use them at your own risk.

I am not an expert in any of these programs, nor am I responsible for how they affect your game. Please contact the original creators for support and more information, and make sure they're all updated to the newest versions and working with your game patch version.

If you have other suggestions for useful tools/resources on how to keep an organized and healthy CC/mods folder, please reply/reblog and add them! What works for me won't work for everyone, and I'm sure there are tons of things out there I've missed!

Take care, and happy simming! <3

[neon-danger]

Can't forget being scared of werewolves, unless they're not, then they stop to cheer and clap every time they see one. From one extreme to another. Don't get me wrong I still love them but I just call them dumb puppies for how impotent their intimidation is lmao. Seriously vampires are like, weird. I also learned that they can't die of thirst in this game?? They sure can in 3, I had it happen a lot. But when I had Alex and Jack as vampires, it changed very little aside from them doing bad in the sun, terrible for Alex's occupation at home. I watched them seemingly attempt to stave off thirst by drinking alcohol, which does absolutely nothing for them, before eventually picking a target to drink from. It didn't matter if no one was around, they wouldn't starve or anything. I figured it was dumb luck but NOPE, they're more likely to die in the fucking sun than by not drinking blood. Can't die of dehydration as mermaid either unlike in 3, which is perhaps for the best as I swear they both lose hydration fucking constantly and don't like to shower or bath unless it's to splash around, and roaming around Oasis Springs for fucking rocks is making Jack perpetually smell like a fish market. I so often forget Aliens are even a thing as they're so, nothing, they don't even utilize their few unique abilities much, unless it's memory wipes. Oh boy, fun. Most fun I get from all occults is making their designs in CAS lmao. I kind of regret curing Alex and Jack of lycanthropy as I liked how I designed their werewolf forms. Oh well, there's always another time. They'll still just kind of be weird hyper puppies tho. I don't know my point here. I like occults a lot, but I rely a lot on mods to make them more interested and just their design philosophies. I probably actually like Spellcasters the most despite not looking different, just because magic is fun and they're not a liability or anything and hybridize well with other occults without really any issue due to not having alt forms. Tho the ones who teleport tend to piss me off just as I can't keep track of where they are.

Pretty sure the only reason vampires can die at all is if their magic source or life source or whatever runs out

The big purple bar at the top of their needs list

I often cheat the need higher when I notice them out in the sun

[lucy-shining-star]

I need this ‘Leave sims alone for 24 irl hours/ one sims year video’ in which player tries to make them surive not watch as fast they die/cause chaos