The Sims has been one of the biggest and, above all, longest-running successes in the gaming world. For this reason, the developers have had to create new features, aspects, and designs within the game to keep the public interested in buying it. Currently, this life simulator has a large number of expansions and additional content offered by EA itself. But it seems that this isn't enough for many users, and that's why they've developed their own mods. Today we'll explain what mods are, how they work, and the best mods for The Sims 4.
What are mods and how do they work?
These mods are, like the official one, expansions with new content that expands the existing one within the game. These can range from new hairstyles, clothes, furniture, professions or even custom ones, and actions that we have not been able to perform before (or were censored) in The Sims.
Obviously, like any content external to a game, we will not find a trace of them either on the official EA website (developers) or on platforms such as Origins where we can buy the game itself and its official expansions. In order to download the mods we will have to go to the different repositories of their developers. Later we will show you some of the most interesting to facilitate your work.
What does EA think about mods?
You may think that, like other unpleasant content for other games, it is illegal content and that its use is penalized by the developer company itself. Nothing is further from reality.
On Electronic Arts' own question and answer forum, many users have inquired about the legality of using this type of content. For this reason, the company created a section explaining its position on these mods . In summary, EA accepts the use of mods within its game, but under the user's own responsibility, and obviously will not provide support to anyone who has installed this type of content and experiences game malfunctions.
Types of mods that exist
Modifications in The Sims 4 can be of many types. A modification for clothing items is not the same as a modification that changes the way your Sims behave in certain contexts. We can find some mods that act as corrections within the game, since they have created some that allow you to correct the trajectory of your sims when going to the dishwasher (sometimes they travel more distance than necessary).
Install mods in The Sims 4
Being external content to the game and being something developed by third parties, installing this type of expansion is not as easy as one of the official ones of this game. But don't worry, the general procedure is simple and, also, if any extra step is required, the creators themselves usually indicate it in their repositories.
The first step to using them is to activate them from within the game itself:
- You will have to start The Sims 4 and, on the game's loading screen itself, click on the button with the three dots in the upper right bar.
- Within this menu access "Game Options". Here you must activate the box “enable custom content and mods” y "Allowed script mods". Remember that every time the game is updated, this box will be will automatically deactivate. You will need to log back in after each update to reactivate it.
Now is the time to start downloading mods everywhere. We recommend that you classify these into folders according to theme, that is: hairstyles, furniture, professions, etc. to avoid possible confusion and detect errors quickly. Then you will have to add these folders to a specific path on your computer. But first, you must make a small modification in a document to avoid errors.
Whether you have a Windows PC or a Mac, you'll need to navigate to Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Mods . This is the folder where you'll add all the mods you download. But first, as we mentioned, you need to modify the small file called "Resource.cfg" . Right-click on it and open it with your computer's Notepad app. At the very end, add the following lines:
PackedFile */*/*/*/*/*/*.package
PackedFile */*/*/*/*/*/*/*.package
Therefore, the final document will look like this:
Now save the changes, and you're all set to start downloading mods and copying them to this folder. Remember that you can organize them into subfolders within this folder, so the path should look something like this: Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Mods/MOD NAME
Best free mods for The Sims 4
Now that you know everything important about these unofficial expansions of the game, we bring you a compilation of the best mods for The Sims 4.
Wolfman
With this mod, you can add an appearance tab to your Sims so that when midnight arrives during a full moon, they transform into werewolves . You'll also have the option to customize these transformations with accessories and cosmetics specially designed for these lycanthropes. If you'd like more information, you can access it here. Remember that one of the latest officially released DLCs, featuring werewolves as the main characters, is already available.
The Sims play with Nintendo Switch
This mod is absolutely brilliant because it lets your Sims enjoy a Nintendo console. Not only can you download the console graphics, but also some games from its catalog , like Animal Crossing , which you'll see reflected on the living room screen or any TV in your home. You can download all the elements from here.
Sim credible designs: the Ikea of furniture for Sims
If the furniture in the original game and its expansions isn't enough, you're sure to find what you need in Sim Credible Designs . You'll find everything from different room designs to more sofas, tables, chairs, plants, and much more. The best part is that we have a large gallery to help you find new furniture, and once you've located what you're looking for, all you have to do is click download and add it to your mods folder.
Asian Adventures World
One of the most well-known mods for its gameplay changes is Asian Adventures World . This expansion works with the official Sims 4 Vampires pack, transforming the Forgotten Hollows neighborhood into a Japanese village. The streets will be filled with cherry blossoms, geishas, and samurai.
Romance In France
If you're a hopeless romantic, you'll definitely love the Romance in France mod for The Sims 4. Thanks to this game expansion, the Magnolia neighborhood will be transformed into a recreation of Paris. From then on, you can stroll through different iconic locations in the city, have a romantic evening, and even live in an attic apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower.
Playable Pets
If you've played any of The Sims' pet expansions, you've probably thought at some point how fun it would be to manually control the pets. Well, with the Playable Pets mod , you can make that idea a reality. You'll have different actions depending on whether you click on other pets, your own pets, or your Sims.
slice of lice
This Slice of Life mod adds greater realism to your Sims. You'll see their appearance change, from skin blushing and the stages of intoxication they experience when drinking to acne, and more. You'll also get new personality traits and smartphone features. The most realistic Sims ever.
Royalty in The Sims 4
You've probably wanted to be related to royalty at some point, those who live in immense palaces surrounded by butlers, maids, and staff who make life so much easier. If you want to give your Sim that lineage that sets you apart, don't miss the chance to activate this mod, which will transport you to an idyllic fairytale world, back when princes and princesses were real and, after meeting, fell in love and lived happily ever after.
But if any of them go astray, don't hesitate to disinherit them, strip them of all their noble titles, and send them out into the street to fend for themselves. You can download it right here.
Bank Bills
And speaking of realism, haven't you found it a little strange that since you started playing The Sims, they only ever received one bill at home, and always the same one? Well, to make the experience as realistic as possible, the SBank Bills mod will make you receive bills for all your Sims' expenses: water, electricity, mobile phone, internet, etc.
MC Command Center
Describing what the MC Command Center mod does is complicated, as it's actually comprised of a large set of mods. Among these, you'll find some that allow teenagers to get pregnant, or even expand the number of available professions or alter the physical appearance of your characters. We recommend you check it out because it significantly changes many aspects of the game.
SimDa Dating App
Dates on The Sims' Tinder can often be monotonous and boring. If you can't find your match, this mod is perfect for finding a one-night stand or a more serious relationship based on different criteria. What makes this mod special is that it doesn't restrict dates to the usual parameters.
For example, you can let the mod surprise you with a Sim of a different age than your character. You can choose to go on a blind date or even meet a Sim who isn't looking for anything romantic and is just there for the hookup. SimDa Dating App is a very comprehensive mod with tons of options, so you won't think all NPCs are the same. You can download it here.
the babies mod
For years, fans of The Sims have been asking Electronic Arts to pay a little more attention to babies. The smallest Sims are barely funny in the game, which doesn't make sense, since we already know that being a parent is not exactly an easy task.
Tired of begging EA for help, modder Caradriel set to work creating his own version of this mechanic. This mod is called Better Babies & Toddlers , but be aware that you can only use it if you own the 'Parenting Stuff' DLC.
Once you have both the DLC and the mod, you'll enjoy a much more complete experience . Your little Sim won't just be a simple NPC that magically grows up; you'll be an active part of their upbringing, and you'll even be there when they say their first word.
If you want to download it, simply go to the author's Patreon.
Best Skin Mods
Automatic Beards
Hipsters may be out of style, but it 's still not cool having to decide whether your Sim has a beard or not. With this mod, your Sim's beard will grow every day , and nature itself will dictate how often you use the razor. Because what we love most about playing The Sims is having to do personal chores, right? Automatic Beards is free, and you can download the mod from its official website.
Height Sliders
Four generations in, and it's still hard to get your head around Pau Gasol or Julia Child. But that's solved with Height Sliders , a mod that lets you push the limits of height. This way, you can create truly towering figures who'll never have to climb a ladder to change a lightbulb.
More CAS Traits
Many of the best Sims 4 mods affect how Sims interact with each other. The game has a large list of traits that change a Sim's behavior, and since these are relatively easy for modders to create , you can quickly expand that list with custom content.
The 'sweet tooth' trait, for example, makes your Sims better bakers and adds new moodlets to help them express their love of pastries, while the 'new hobby' trait encourages your Sim to pursue their favorite activities to de-stress. There are hundreds of traits available in this mod, and you can combine up to three traits at once: just type a quick cheat code that includes the name of the desired trait to add it to your Sim. Everything is explained on the mod's page.
Melanin Pack 2
Since the beginning of time, The Sims has never accurately represented the skin tones of darker races . They usually end up with a grayish tone that isn't very realistic. Well, there's a mod that contains dozens of skin tones so your Sim can have the exact skin color you want. You can also adjust the makeup tone afterward, and the result is quite impressive. The mod is the work of programmer and streamer Xmiramira , who decided to solve the problem of not being able to represent her own skin tone in her favorite video game herself. You can download it from Xmiramira's website.
Sim Sugar Baby
With this mod, you can become the sugar baby of a wealthy Sim, showering them with compliments and accompanying them to parties and other social events. Experience a life of luxury beyond your wildest dreams, and of course, when you've had enough, you can always break up. You can download it here.
Random calls and texts
Imagine creating chaos with the actions of your Sims' mobile phones, which will randomly start calling and texting any other character living nearby in The Sims 4 neighborhoods . Imagine sending an inappropriate message to a neighbor, or to another friend you get along with, and suddenly they start treating you rudely. That's how fun this mod is, and you can download it here to discover its full potential.
Other skin mods
- prehistoric clothing: become a real caveman.
- Fashion clothes: go to the last with this pack of garments.
- walking styles
- apple shoes: sneakers with the Apple logo.
- Formal dress: for a very special night.
- Harry Potter Sweaters: The sweaters that Ron wore in the movies can now be worn by your sims.
Best Furniture Mods
The following list compiles various furniture elements that we can have thanks to these mods:
- pokemon dolls: 18 Pokémon dolls from different generations.
- pet lift: to help pets go upstairs.
- Igloo: who has not wanted to have their own igloo at home.
- old west accessories: if you like cowboy movies, this is your mod.
- Children's furniture pack.
- floating luxury: get a luxury yacht.
- Carpet from your childhood: Now you can have the carpet with streets that we all used as children to play with strollers.
Best Building Mods
Many of The Sims players are not interested in social relationships, resource management and character creation, but rather in building. If you are one of those who spends hours building houses in this video game, you should know that there are also some mods that can make your life a little easier.
Better Build / Buy
This mod was created by TwistedMexi . The goal of this add-on is to have everything you need readily available. Sometimes, when building in The Sims, we waste a lot of time searching for the tools we want to use. TwistedMexi's Better Build/Buy alleviates many of these headaches by bringing order and logic to building in the game.
What does this mod do? Well, first of all, it expands the number of rows when searching for objects and greatly simplifies the user experience thanks to the filters . However, the most important thing is how much easier it makes finding debug objects —objects that exist in The Sims 4 but can normally only be revealed for use through cheats. Better Build/Buy lets you see them without having to enter cheats and gives them a name, making them much easier to find. Debug objects also have color swatches. In short, you'll be able to build much more smoothly and without wasting time thanks to this mod.
Most “crazy” mods for The Sims 4
As expected, since they are created by users external to the company, some of these developers perhaps give too much free rein to their imagination or creativity to create some of the craziest mods for this game.
Replace the maps with more realistic ones
If you want to give the world map of Glimmerbrook , Brindleton Bay, Oasis Springs, and StrangerVille a more realistic look, you need to install these mods to get the impression that you're living in a real virtual simulation as you travel around. They really do look much better, don't they? You can download them from this page and also from here.
K-Pop Career
Thanks to this Sims 4 expansion pack, you can become a true K-Pop star . You'll start at the audition booth and work your way up to success on every stage.
Wicked Whims
We won't delve too deeply into the changes the WickedWhims mod makes to this game. It's an expansion for mature players where you can see everything, absolutely everything, that was previously censored in The Sims.
death
If you're a fan of realism, and let's be honest, a bit of the macabre, Morten 's mod will give you the realism you've been wanting when Sims die in the game. It's so realistic that, after a Sim's death, their family will have to call a doctor to remove the body, among other eerie details.
Hoop up, my steed!
Following the release of the Cottagecore expansion pack (also officially known as Farm Life ) , someone was inspired to create horses. Horses! And you can actually ride them! If you longed for a pony as a child, this is a great way to channel your inner horse girl . The best part? You only need the base game, no expansions required.
Paid mods in The Sims 4?
Having done extensive searching in this world of mods, we found it quite strange not to find any of them that required a payment to download.
The only business models we found surrounding mods were two:
- Membership systems– Using platforms like Patreon, developers were asking users who enjoy their work to adopt some of the “reward” models for their work. What would these users receive in return? Well, among other things, early access to mods, check with the developer himself before developing a new mod, private chats to talk to each other about the game. But the exclusive content was never mentioned, that is, they would not receive anything that other non-paying users could not later acquire for free.
- Donations: As in other projects, many developers add a donation button via Paypal so that any user can make a selfless donation for their work.
Therefore, we understand from this that since it is a development outside the game and original expansions, requesting a payment as a mandatory requirement to get one of these mods is somehow illegal. Despite the fact that the game developers and the company itself accept the existence and inclusion of these internal expansions. Even so, you have to understand that it is about one (or more) person working to create something that many others will enjoy. Therefore, do you think they should charge for their work? We think so.
farmaland
One of the most popular paid mods right now is Farmaland , from developer Arnie, who created the first open world for The Sims. This mod opens up a whole new world for all those who love the countryside and farm life. Grow your own food, build barns, take care of the farm, and much more. If you want to download this mod, you'll have to subscribe to the developer's Patreon quickly before the early access slots run out.
Doing jogging together
For the modest price of €1 per month on Patreon, you can download this mod—and many others from the same creator—that allows you to invite other NPCs and characters to exercise with you. No more going for a run or a walk alone; now you can have company and social interactions while you grind that Physics skill. It also works with dogs and children. It's called BG – Go for a Jog… Together.
sword fighting
If you're into historical reenactments, this mod is for you. With it, you can acquire the swordsmanship skill and engage in sword fights with another person who also has a sword. You won't be able to have a fight to the death—that would require another mod—but it will make Sim life more interesting. Its name is Historical Mod – Sword Fight with Real Swords.
Be the witch from Snow White
Since you can't legally poison the lunch container that someone always steals at the office, we offer you this alternative: the poisoned apple mod. If you have The Sims 4: Strangerville expansion pack , your witches and vampires can now poison an apple and offer it to someone . If you feel guilty, there's an antidote. Otherwise, you have 30 minutes to revel in watching that annoying Sim finally meet their end. If you're interested, this mod is called RoM – The Poisonous Apple.
How to order the mods
As you can see, the number of mods that exist for The Sims 4 is endless, so it is most likely that you will end up dizzy between so many installations and so many files stored in the mods folder. Well, luckily there is Mod/CC Manager 2021, a mod manager that will allow you to have everything on your computer and check in a very visual way what mods you have installed and how to delete them whenever you want.
The main window of this program will show you different categories, thus being able to have a quick look at the types of mods you have installed. Mods of clothes, dresses, furniture, hair, makeup, nails, necklaces, sports and many more. From there you will be able to upload and download the mod to the game, and uninstall it forever if you prefer.
The program is in charge of identifying all the mods that you have installed and looking for a representative image that describes them. You can download Mod/CC Manager 2021 completely free from the Mod The Sims forums. We leave you with the link below.
Download Mod/CC Manager 2021