My old computer bricked before I could backup any saves and at first I was really mourning the loss of my sims. I had a family that I had been playing for two years. However, starting completely fresh ended up being a really nice change of pace. Plus I really needed to clean up all the CC I had on my old computer, it was getting a bit ridiculous. Now I'm playing with no CC and only MCCC mod. It's actually nice. Sometimes the CC would clash when random townies would use it or it would bug out. I actually am happier just using the CAS stuff that came with the game. Less complications and I don't have to fix as many townies. lol
I'm sure I'll eventually load this PC up with tons of CC when I get bored but not yet.
I'll still go CC hunting, but probably just recolors, make up, skin details, eyes, skin. Some building mode stuff mostly floors and walls and once again just recolors. I wanna keep EVERYTHING maxis match. I'll also be organized this time and download just what's necessary. I now know the style of all my sims, so I'll literally just download individual pieces for specific sims.
Whenever I'd restarted it's always been due to a mess of CCs - oftentimes with them crashing or making the game near impossible to play. Though I have a short attention span and will get bored with families every so often and move on, so restarting has never been an issue for me. If you really enjoy following families and stories for a long time, then I'd say restarting won't be the way to go for you.
It totally depends on how you play and how you enjoy the game.
I do follow their stories, but I always recreate the same families, I've been doing this since TS2. I already know them by heart.
Before I needed to reinstall windows on my pc something about a month ago, I thought the same thing like you, I thought starting over would be a good idea. I had a save that I started in october 2016 I think. Well, my final decision was to not move a single save, but a few hours later I regretted it. I eventually recreated this family I was playing in the old save to play out an "alternate universe", were some things turned out different than in the previous save.
That's about my experiences, I tried it, but eventually played the same family again
Oh I'm totally thinking about recreating all these families, I have since the sims 2! Haha
Thing is I was never organized when it came to CC and I have so many things I wanna get rid off lol. Honestly I think my main problem is having to rebuild! I love decorating so that's ok with me, but I do remember how tired I got of building.
Do you use CC?
I don't have that much cc in my game, my whole mods folder is dominated by game mods, I have a bit maxis match hair, mostly child hairstyles converted to teens and older and some more hairstyles for toddlers, even though I still haven't played one . How many cc do you have? I would just look through the whole folder and sort everything out I don't need anymore, it takes some time, but it's worth it!
Believe me, starting over is one of the most satisfying things to do. My mods folder used to be an absolute mess and I wouldn't play the game bc I was trying to find cc online that I accidentally merged and in the end I just went - who cares? And deleted it all. Deleting stuff is the perfect time to start organizing things probably - putting subfolders in your mods folder, with all the different aspects of CAS. I don't go as far as gender and age bc god I'd need *so* many subfolders, but uh these are the folders I do have:
Tops
Bottoms
FullBody
Skin
Accesories - under accesories I have Upper (where I put necklaces, glasses and earrings) and Lower (where all other accesories go)
Poses
GameMods
Brows
I don't have one for facial hair I just realized.. I guess you could make one though, you can even just shove your brows in there as well.
Non Defaults (basically, things that do not replace another thing - i.e if you downloaded some eyes and they added a swatch to the eye colours, it is a non default bc it doesn't replace an eye colour that is already in game.) Under NonDefaults I have Skins and Eyes but you can add more if you want, personally I didn't feel the need bc the rest of the non defaults I have are just clothes and hair which I just shove in.. Well, clothes and hair folders.
DefaultReplacements (does the opposite of non default.. replaces something that is already in game, this can be eye colour, baby skin, skin, clothes, whatever.)
Shoes
Tattoos
Hats
BuildBuy.
If you want you can add another folder for sets, as in when people merge multiple items of cc when you go to donwoad it so my brain screams WHAT FOLDER DOES THIS GO UNDER and then I stick it under full body bc I'm a rebel and too lazy to make a set file despite how easy it is but.. It's good if you like order. Legit just call it Sets.
More stuff, when you are downloading your cc again, if you have firefox like I do, press the three lines on the right corner, press options, general, and under downloads click always ask where to save files. This way when you are downloading cc it will not: randomly save without you being able to name it yourself, and you will not have to mess around looking in your downloads folder for it and waste space having unknown cc you forgot about hanging around in your downloads. If you don't have firefox Idk what you do but I'm sure you can find a way. Doing what I said will allow you to give your own names to files, preferably informative ones like: creator name, name of website where downloaded, exact name of what you are downloading and what it is. E.g I download a dress from some person called Anya59 on the sims resource, the dress is called summer dreaming. So I would call the file: Anya59TsrSummerDreamingDress, just an fyi but if you don't use spaces and you don't use any special characters of any kind except, well letters and numbers you can drastically cut down your loading times which is why I name my cc like this, with no spaces and using capitals at the start of each world, and also why I name my folders like this. Merging cc can help cut down loading times but it's more of an inconvenience to me personally bc once it's merged it can't be unmerged, so you can use sims 4 studio I think to merge packages, preferably of the same category like a dress and no matter what do not merge game mods or poses or non defaults or defaults bc game mods and poses may need updating, non defaults and defaults are just a pain in the butt to merge.
I didn't restart with lots, only cc and characters like I bulldozed everything and I was like I cba to redecorate so... I give cc advice instead.
My sims 4 studio with poses for download and stuff: click
I recently moved to a new computer and decided at the time to start over completely fresh and didn't move any of my saves over though I did save a my current legacy family at that time, their Legacy house and a few other sims to my library but didn't really have any real plans to play any of them again (and I haven't).
For me I don't regret it. I had a gazillion saves going and have tried to keep it down to under five since moving. I never would have been able to got through and delete those files without the complete restart so it was good for me.
The only save file I regret not keeping was the one I was doing a Complete Collection run on since they didn't do the Egg Collection this year and I had it in that save (along with the Sugar Skulls) but at the end of the day I know I did originally complete that collection so if I have to download a room from the gallery or use the show hidden objects cheat to get them once I get around to doing another Complete Collection run I won't feel too bad about it.
As for CC I usually go through and do a complete remove of all the CC in my game (other then a few Can't Live Withouts) and then start recollecting every few months or so. I get a lot of joy out of the act of actually collecting CC (probably a lot more then actually using it in the game) and starting fresh is a lot of fun just to see what sort of different stuff you might get this time around and what you'll end up DLing again. But that's probably just me lol.
I completely understand where you're coming from. When I finished my desktop I initially brought over old saves just so I could see how the pc handled big saves and things like that. But after a while I kind of wanted to start anew. I just made sure to backup my files in the event I'm feeling nostalgic and want to play with an old family again.
Believe me, starting over is one of the most satisfying things to do. My mods folder used to be an absolute mess and I wouldn't play the game bc I was trying to find cc online that I accidentally merged and in the end I just went - who cares? And deleted it all. Deleting stuff is the perfect time to start organizing things probably - putting subfolders in your mods folder, with all the different aspects of CAS. I don't go as far as gender and age bc god I'd need *so* many subfolders, but uh these are the folders I do have:
Tops
Bottoms
FullBody
Skin
Accesories - under accesories I have Upper (where I put necklaces, glasses and earrings) and Lower (where all other accesories go)
Poses
GameMods
Brows
I don't have one for facial hair I just realized.. I guess you could make one though, you can even just shove your brows in there as well.
Non Defaults (basically, things that do not replace another thing - i.e if you downloaded some eyes and they added a swatch to the eye colours, it is a non default bc it doesn't replace an eye colour that is already in game.) Under NonDefaults I have Skins and Eyes but you can add more if you want, personally I didn't feel the need bc the rest of the non defaults I have are just clothes and hair which I just shove in.. Well, clothes and hair folders.
DefaultReplacements (does the opposite of non default.. replaces something that is already in game, this can be eye colour, baby skin, skin, clothes, whatever.)
Shoes
Tattoos
Hats
BuildBuy.
If you want you can add another folder for sets, as in when people merge multiple items of cc when you go to donwoad it so my brain screams WHAT FOLDER DOES THIS GO UNDER and then I stick it under full body bc I'm a rebel and too lazy to make a set file despite how easy it is but.. It's good if you like order. Legit just call it Sets.
More stuff, when you are downloading your cc again, if you have firefox like I do, press the three lines on the right corner, press options, general, and under downloads click always ask where to save files. This way when you are downloading cc it will not: randomly save without you being able to name it yourself, and you will not have to mess around looking in your downloads folder for it and waste space having unknown cc you forgot about hanging around in your downloads. If you don't have firefox Idk what you do but I'm sure you can find a way. Doing what I said will allow you to give your own names to files, preferably informative ones like: creator name, name of website where downloaded, exact name of what you are downloading and what it is. E.g I download a dress from some person called Anya59 on the sims resource, the dress is called summer dreaming. So I would call the file: Anya59TsrSummerDreamingDress, just an fyi but if you don't use spaces and you don't use any special characters of any kind except, well letters and numbers you can drastically cut down your loading times which is why I name my cc like this, with no spaces and using capitals at the start of each world, and also why I name my folders like this. Merging cc can help cut down loading times but it's more of an inconvenience to me personally bc once it's merged it can't be unmerged, so you can use sims 4 studio I think to merge packages, preferably of the same category like a dress and no matter what do not merge game mods or poses or non defaults or defaults bc game mods and poses may need updating, non defaults and defaults are just a pain in the butt to merge.
I didn't restart with lots, only cc and characters like I bulldozed everything and I was like I cba to redecorate so... I give cc advice instead.
So glad to hear this! I'm feeling more sure about this by the minute. Also thank you for the cc organizing tips
I recently moved to a new computer and decided at the time to start over completely fresh and didn't move any of my saves over though I did save a my current legacy family at that time, their Legacy house and a few other sims to my library but didn't really have any real plans to play any of them again (and I haven't).
For me I don't regret it. I had a gazillion saves going and have tried to keep it down to under five since moving. I never would have been able to got through and delete those files without the complete restart so it was good for me.
The only save file I regret not keeping was the one I was doing a Complete Collection run on since they didn't do the Egg Collection this year and I had it in that save (along with the Sugar Skulls) but at the end of the day I know I did originally complete that collection so if I have to download a room from the gallery or use the show hidden objects cheat to get them once I get around to doing another Complete Collection run I won't feel too bad about it.
As for CC I usually go through and do a complete remove of all the CC in my game (other then a few Can't Live Withouts) and then start recollecting every few months or so. I get a lot of joy out of the act of actually collecting CC (probably a lot more then actually using it in the game) and starting fresh is a lot of fun just to see what sort of different stuff you might get this time around and what you'll end up DLing again. But that's probably just me lol.
The collection things bothered me too I thought about maybe using the cheat where you can get all the items... idk if the cheat includes those items though
I completely understand where you're coming from. When I finished my desktop I initially brought over old saves just so I could see how the pc handled big saves and things like that. But after a while I kind of wanted to start anew. I just made sure to backup my files in the event I'm feeling nostalgic and want to play with an old family again.
I do have my saves just in case. I just have over 1000 cc files
Before I needed to reinstall windows on my pc something about a month ago, I thought the same thing like you, I thought starting over would be a good idea. I had a save that I started in october 2016 I think. Well, my final decision was to not move a single save, but a few hours later I regretted it. I eventually recreated this family I was playing in the old save to play out an "alternate universe", were some things turned out different than in the previous save.
That's about my experiences, I tried it, but eventually played the same family again
Oh I'm totally thinking about recreating all these families, I have since the sims 2! Haha
Thing is I was never organized when it came to CC and I have so many things I wanna get rid off lol. Honestly I think my main problem is having to rebuild! I love decorating so that's ok with me, but I do remember how tired I got of building.
Do you use CC?
I don't have that much cc in my game, my whole mods folder is dominated by game mods, I have a bit maxis match hair, mostly child hairstyles converted to teens and older and some more hairstyles for toddlers, even though I still haven't played one . How many cc do you have? I would just look through the whole folder and sort everything out I don't need anymore, it takes some time, but it's worth it!
I have over 1000 things , so you can imagine the mess
I reset my game a few months ago. I only brought over my Tray. I do play the same Sims, and have a certain family that I've played since Sims2, in fact. They still give me great joy. I've also started a new family, too. I'm playing my ancestors from the 18th century. Kind of, sort of, playing a rotation save with them. It was easier when my sixth great-grandparents (in the game) were still just teens, living in their respective parents' homes. Once I got them married (and it would have been sweet were I to have been able to have them the teens they were when they actually got married. She fifteen, and he just sixteen), but alas, the game doesn't allow for that. So, when the time came (I play on Long) that I decided it was time for him, and then for her, to age up to YA, I started playing, almost exclusively with them. Being certain to add their siblings to the two other households in that save. Also, I finally aged up his next younger brother, and added his future wife's family to the save.
I don't have any qualms starting over, even with the same Sims. The game doesn't play out the same way, twice. LOL It's kind of refreshing starting anew, too. My other save is my singer Sim (who became my Founder) when I brought him over from Sims3. I even created a copy of the Wright Way house, using another player's Sims3 version of it. (At least in Sims 3 & 4, you have grids you can count) I carefully drew it out on graph paper, one panel of wall per square. Went back into Sims2, just to have another look, and caught an error, that had transpired in the Sims3 version, that I accidentally transferred into my copy of it in Sims4. I had forgotten there was no grid to go by in Sims2, even in build mode. Given that, the person who redid it for Sims3 deserves a round of applause. I straightened out the slight error in the front of the house. Now, that our Sims can sing, I thought it time to start Erik all over again. He's a teen. I just recently learned they have Karaoke contests at the Karaoke bars. Don't know where I've been to have missed this, but there you have it.
Hey guys! I'm really excited about the new desktop I'm having built this week! But the thing is that at first I was going to move all my saves onto the new computer, but since it's new I thought maybe starting over wouldn't be such a bad idea, specially because I have a mess with CC! I do have mixed feelings cause I have been playing the same save since pretty much when the game came out. I thought that MAYBE it was worth a try, I was wondering if some of you have done a similar thing and if you recommend it.
I know that by the end of the day, I'm the one to make the choice, but it doesn't hurt to hear experiences from other simmers
I was thinking that maybe it wouldn't take me that long to build my game up, by downloading homes and just redecorating them (building is not my cup of tea). Has any of you just built up their game, by downloading lots and community places for your sims?
Thank you!
Quite a bit -- I have a couple of template saves that I use when I want to start over, and I fill them with lots that I download from the Gallery as well as some of the Maxis made lots that I've remodeled and the rare build of my own. I'm currently playing a couple of the premades from the base game that were in the Library, Ollie and Cassidy Perdue; they're brother and sister, not romantic partners. I'm exploring some of the features I hadn't gotten around to checking out completely; Cassidy is in the Social Media career while Ollie hangs out at night at the karaoke bars working on his Singing skill. I also took advantage of the Wishing Well and got Ollie a soulmate, while Cassidy got the "give up" Sad moodlet so she's still working on that. (Ollie was courting Miko Ojo but it was taking way too long.)
Check out my Gallery! Origin ID: justme22
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
@Orchid13 for the collection thing all the collectible items are available in Build/Buy if you use the buydebug/show hidden items cheat (I'm not totally sure about the post cards/monster cards but those are easy enough to collect in game). There are also room on the gallery that have all the collectibles in them so it is possible to get all the collectibles but it's not quite as much fun as collecting them. If I were to do that I would probably set up a shop so at the very least my Sim has to physically buy them not just have them magically appear in their inventory.
When I got my new laptop, I sorta did start anew but not with my sims. So basically I used my old sims but I did start a new game.
I also thought about doing that, but I need to really fix them to get the style I want. It's been so hard! I don't get it right, but now we a good computer it should be much easier.
@Orchid13 for the collection thing all the collectible items are available in Build/Buy if you use the buydebug/show hidden items cheat (I'm not totally sure about the post cards/monster cards but those are easy enough to collect in game). There are also room on the gallery that have all the collectibles in them so it is possible to get all the collectibles but it's not quite as much fun as collecting them. If I were to do that I would probably set up a shop so at the very least my Sim has to physically buy them not just have them magically appear in their inventory.
I get where you are coming from, I'm a fan of collectibles, but since I'm recreating them... I'll pretend that never changed. I worked so hard for some of that stuff lol
I do fresh starts periodically. I'll dump all my cc, delete all my saves and just start again.
Is it hard for you?
Not at all. Someday I'll wake up and see all those saves and all the cc and just feel like its too much stuff. and rather than sort through I'll just dump everything and start over. I enjoy the starting over process, the finding new cc or cc that I'll really use a lot or just whole new styles like last week I was on a rockabilly/pin-up/retro kick and when on a sims cc "shopping" spree, next week it might be gothic/punk I just never know but eventually it will all be too irritating to sort through lol.
You must have a lot of time on your hands to be able to do that regularly.
lol I have to give 24 hour care to my motherinlaw and wrangle 10 ferrets I make time. Sims stuff is running all day and in between everything I have to do I get minutes here and there then in the evenings from 6p-11p I have uninterrupted time for the most part aside from giving meds at 9 and putting ferrets to bed at 8:30 and dishes at about 7:30.
ETA:
TLDR... Nope I don't have a lot of free time I have to make time.
Oh ..you're life sounded like mine for so very long.. well two sick elders no ferrets . Stay strong and enjoy your downtime.
I start over like on a regular basis, not because I want to but because my game seems to get messy all the time. I have to admit it is kind of satisfying to me to restart clean and promise myself that this is the time I will play with my sims family for many generations (it never happens though).
Believe me, starting over is one of the most satisfying things to do. My mods folder used to be an absolute mess and I wouldn't play the game bc I was trying to find cc online that I accidentally merged and in the end I just went - who cares? And deleted it all. Deleting stuff is the perfect time to start organizing things probably - putting subfolders in your mods folder, with all the different aspects of CAS. I don't go as far as gender and age bc god I'd need *so* many subfolders, but uh these are the folders I do have:
Tops
Bottoms
FullBody
Skin
Accesories - under accesories I have Upper (where I put necklaces, glasses and earrings) and Lower (where all other accesories go)
Poses
GameMods
Brows
I don't have one for facial hair I just realized.. I guess you could make one though, you can even just shove your brows in there as well.
Non Defaults (basically, things that do not replace another thing - i.e if you downloaded some eyes and they added a swatch to the eye colours, it is a non default bc it doesn't replace an eye colour that is already in game.) Under NonDefaults I have Skins and Eyes but you can add more if you want, personally I didn't feel the need bc the rest of the non defaults I have are just clothes and hair which I just shove in.. Well, clothes and hair folders.
DefaultReplacements (does the opposite of non default.. replaces something that is already in game, this can be eye colour, baby skin, skin, clothes, whatever.)
Shoes
Tattoos
Hats
BuildBuy.
If you want you can add another folder for sets, as in when people merge multiple items of cc when you go to donwoad it so my brain screams WHAT FOLDER DOES THIS GO UNDER and then I stick it under full body bc I'm a rebel and too lazy to make a set file despite how easy it is but.. It's good if you like order. Legit just call it Sets.
More stuff, when you are downloading your cc again, if you have firefox like I do, press the three lines on the right corner, press options, general, and under downloads click always ask where to save files. This way when you are downloading cc it will not: randomly save without you being able to name it yourself, and you will not have to mess around looking in your downloads folder for it and waste space having unknown cc you forgot about hanging around in your downloads. If you don't have firefox Idk what you do but I'm sure you can find a way. Doing what I said will allow you to give your own names to files, preferably informative ones like: creator name, name of website where downloaded, exact name of what you are downloading and what it is. E.g I download a dress from some person called Anya59 on the sims resource, the dress is called summer dreaming. So I would call the file: Anya59TsrSummerDreamingDress, just an fyi but if you don't use spaces and you don't use any special characters of any kind except, well letters and numbers you can drastically cut down your loading times which is why I name my cc like this, with no spaces and using capitals at the start of each world, and also why I name my folders like this. Merging cc can help cut down loading times but it's more of an inconvenience to me personally bc once it's merged it can't be unmerged, so you can use sims 4 studio I think to merge packages, preferably of the same category like a dress and no matter what do not merge game mods or poses or non defaults or defaults bc game mods and poses may need updating, non defaults and defaults are just a pain in the butt to merge.
I didn't restart with lots, only cc and characters like I bulldozed everything and I was like I cba to redecorate so... I give cc advice instead.
So glad to hear this! I'm feeling more sure about this by the minute. Also thank you for the cc organizing tips
I recently moved to a new computer and decided at the time to start over completely fresh and didn't move any of my saves over though I did save a my current legacy family at that time, their Legacy house and a few other sims to my library but didn't really have any real plans to play any of them again (and I haven't).
For me I don't regret it. I had a gazillion saves going and have tried to keep it down to under five since moving. I never would have been able to got through and delete those files without the complete restart so it was good for me.
The only save file I regret not keeping was the one I was doing a Complete Collection run on since they didn't do the Egg Collection this year and I had it in that save (along with the Sugar Skulls) but at the end of the day I know I did originally complete that collection so if I have to download a room from the gallery or use the show hidden objects cheat to get them once I get around to doing another Complete Collection run I won't feel too bad about it.
As for CC I usually go through and do a complete remove of all the CC in my game (other then a few Can't Live Withouts) and then start recollecting every few months or so. I get a lot of joy out of the act of actually collecting CC (probably a lot more then actually using it in the game) and starting fresh is a lot of fun just to see what sort of different stuff you might get this time around and what you'll end up DLing again. But that's probably just me lol.
The collection things bothered me too I thought about maybe using the cheat where you can get all the items... idk if the cheat includes those items though
I completely understand where you're coming from. When I finished my desktop I initially brought over old saves just so I could see how the pc handled big saves and things like that. But after a while I kind of wanted to start anew. I just made sure to backup my files in the event I'm feeling nostalgic and want to play with an old family again.
I do have my saves just in case. I just have over 1000 cc files
Before I needed to reinstall windows on my pc something about a month ago, I thought the same thing like you, I thought starting over would be a good idea. I had a save that I started in october 2016 I think. Well, my final decision was to not move a single save, but a few hours later I regretted it. I eventually recreated this family I was playing in the old save to play out an "alternate universe", were some things turned out different than in the previous save.
That's about my experiences, I tried it, but eventually played the same family again
Oh I'm totally thinking about recreating all these families, I have since the sims 2! Haha
Thing is I was never organized when it came to CC and I have so many things I wanna get rid off lol. Honestly I think my main problem is having to rebuild! I love decorating so that's ok with me, but I do remember how tired I got of building.
Do you use CC?
I don't have that much cc in my game, my whole mods folder is dominated by game mods, I have a bit maxis match hair, mostly child hairstyles converted to teens and older and some more hairstyles for toddlers, even though I still haven't played one . How many cc do you have? I would just look through the whole folder and sort everything out I don't need anymore, it takes some time, but it's worth it!
I have over 1000 things , so you can imagine the mess
You've just proved to me the benefits of building my own own lots.
Good luck with the new PC and make sure you have the latest security updates for your OS first before you think of downloading anything again. Ransomware rife at the moment all over the world.
Congratulations on getting a new computer, that's always so exciting.
I love starting fresh a brand new game, new sims, and I used to do that a lot. I lost count how many times I started again, sometimes every real week. But recently about a month ago I moved sims into Newcrest playing each a few sim weeks and then moving a new family in, some from the gallery some my own and some homeless townies. each played a few sim weeks. Then I got to my main families. and have been playing them about a sim month.
The bit I don't like is downloading a restaurant it takes ages to get it right, redo the toilets, kitchen, seating etc. I'm still enjoying my game and haven't restarted in a real month.
have fun what ever you decide to do.
I don't use CC or Mods in my game. I have started over a few times, I seem to bore easily these days. When Pets finally come out I am going to uninstall the entire game and reinstall without Get Together I don't play in that world or with clubs, hopefully making plenty of room for my Pets.....
One thing you could do is simply label your "The Sims 4" folder as "The Sims 4 Original" (or whatever). As you know the game will regenerate a clean The Sims 4 folder and you can start over. If you ever want to go back to the Original just delete the new Sim 4 folder or rename it and pick up where you left off.
Some advantages of doing this is that you don't loose anything and if you put mods and custom content back you can determine what you really like and use. (I actually wish we could delete custom content from CAS as I tend to download a lot of stuff I never use, but I can't figure out what it is from the file names. So I let it build up.) If you have stuff in your old Tray folder you can simply copy it over.
I recently started afresh because I read the bios of the premades and decided to explore them (first time around I played with ageing on and concentrated on my one sim family). I'm enjoying it thoroughly but repopulating Newcrest can wait.
I think you should should still if you ever want to look back on it or play again. I could never do that. I get way to attached to my sims. I would devastated if my save broke or was deleted and its come close a couple times
I start over like on a regular basis, not because I want to but because my game seems to get messy all the time. I have to admit it is kind of satisfying to me to restart clean and promise myself that this is the time I will play with my sims family for many generations (it never happens though).
I think I a fresh clean game could be really good.
Believe me, starting over is one of the most satisfying things to do. My mods folder used to be an absolute mess and I wouldn't play the game bc I was trying to find cc online that I accidentally merged and in the end I just went - who cares? And deleted it all. Deleting stuff is the perfect time to start organizing things probably - putting subfolders in your mods folder, with all the different aspects of CAS. I don't go as far as gender and age bc god I'd need *so* many subfolders, but uh these are the folders I do have:
Tops
Bottoms
FullBody
Skin
Accesories - under accesories I have Upper (where I put necklaces, glasses and earrings) and Lower (where all other accesories go)
Poses
GameMods
Brows
I don't have one for facial hair I just realized.. I guess you could make one though, you can even just shove your brows in there as well.
Non Defaults (basically, things that do not replace another thing - i.e if you downloaded some eyes and they added a swatch to the eye colours, it is a non default bc it doesn't replace an eye colour that is already in game.) Under NonDefaults I have Skins and Eyes but you can add more if you want, personally I didn't feel the need bc the rest of the non defaults I have are just clothes and hair which I just shove in.. Well, clothes and hair folders.
DefaultReplacements (does the opposite of non default.. replaces something that is already in game, this can be eye colour, baby skin, skin, clothes, whatever.)
Shoes
Tattoos
Hats
BuildBuy.
If you want you can add another folder for sets, as in when people merge multiple items of cc when you go to donwoad it so my brain screams WHAT FOLDER DOES THIS GO UNDER and then I stick it under full body bc I'm a rebel and too lazy to make a set file despite how easy it is but.. It's good if you like order. Legit just call it Sets.
More stuff, when you are downloading your cc again, if you have firefox like I do, press the three lines on the right corner, press options, general, and under downloads click always ask where to save files. This way when you are downloading cc it will not: randomly save without you being able to name it yourself, and you will not have to mess around looking in your downloads folder for it and waste space having unknown cc you forgot about hanging around in your downloads. If you don't have firefox Idk what you do but I'm sure you can find a way. Doing what I said will allow you to give your own names to files, preferably informative ones like: creator name, name of website where downloaded, exact name of what you are downloading and what it is. E.g I download a dress from some person called Anya59 on the sims resource, the dress is called summer dreaming. So I would call the file: Anya59TsrSummerDreamingDress, just an fyi but if you don't use spaces and you don't use any special characters of any kind except, well letters and numbers you can drastically cut down your loading times which is why I name my cc like this, with no spaces and using capitals at the start of each world, and also why I name my folders like this. Merging cc can help cut down loading times but it's more of an inconvenience to me personally bc once it's merged it can't be unmerged, so you can use sims 4 studio I think to merge packages, preferably of the same category like a dress and no matter what do not merge game mods or poses or non defaults or defaults bc game mods and poses may need updating, non defaults and defaults are just a pain in the butt to merge.
I didn't restart with lots, only cc and characters like I bulldozed everything and I was like I cba to redecorate so... I give cc advice instead.
So glad to hear this! I'm feeling more sure about this by the minute. Also thank you for the cc organizing tips
I recently moved to a new computer and decided at the time to start over completely fresh and didn't move any of my saves over though I did save a my current legacy family at that time, their Legacy house and a few other sims to my library but didn't really have any real plans to play any of them again (and I haven't).
For me I don't regret it. I had a gazillion saves going and have tried to keep it down to under five since moving. I never would have been able to got through and delete those files without the complete restart so it was good for me.
The only save file I regret not keeping was the one I was doing a Complete Collection run on since they didn't do the Egg Collection this year and I had it in that save (along with the Sugar Skulls) but at the end of the day I know I did originally complete that collection so if I have to download a room from the gallery or use the show hidden objects cheat to get them once I get around to doing another Complete Collection run I won't feel too bad about it.
As for CC I usually go through and do a complete remove of all the CC in my game (other then a few Can't Live Withouts) and then start recollecting every few months or so. I get a lot of joy out of the act of actually collecting CC (probably a lot more then actually using it in the game) and starting fresh is a lot of fun just to see what sort of different stuff you might get this time around and what you'll end up DLing again. But that's probably just me lol.
The collection things bothered me too I thought about maybe using the cheat where you can get all the items... idk if the cheat includes those items though
I completely understand where you're coming from. When I finished my desktop I initially brought over old saves just so I could see how the pc handled big saves and things like that. But after a while I kind of wanted to start anew. I just made sure to backup my files in the event I'm feeling nostalgic and want to play with an old family again.
I do have my saves just in case. I just have over 1000 cc files
Before I needed to reinstall windows on my pc something about a month ago, I thought the same thing like you, I thought starting over would be a good idea. I had a save that I started in october 2016 I think. Well, my final decision was to not move a single save, but a few hours later I regretted it. I eventually recreated this family I was playing in the old save to play out an "alternate universe", were some things turned out different than in the previous save.
That's about my experiences, I tried it, but eventually played the same family again
Oh I'm totally thinking about recreating all these families, I have since the sims 2! Haha
Thing is I was never organized when it came to CC and I have so many things I wanna get rid off lol. Honestly I think my main problem is having to rebuild! I love decorating so that's ok with me, but I do remember how tired I got of building.
Do you use CC?
I don't have that much cc in my game, my whole mods folder is dominated by game mods, I have a bit maxis match hair, mostly child hairstyles converted to teens and older and some more hairstyles for toddlers, even though I still haven't played one . How many cc do you have? I would just look through the whole folder and sort everything out I don't need anymore, it takes some time, but it's worth it!
I have over 1000 things , so you can imagine the mess
You've just proved to me the benefits of building my own own lots.
Good luck with the new PC and make sure you have the latest security updates for your OS first before you think of downloading anything again. Ransomware rife at the moment all over the world.
Congratulations on getting a new computer, that's always so exciting.
I love starting fresh a brand new game, new sims, and I used to do that a lot. I lost count how many times I started again, sometimes every real week. But recently about a month ago I moved sims into Newcrest playing each a few sim weeks and then moving a new family in, some from the gallery some my own and some homeless townies. each played a few sim weeks. Then I got to my main families. and have been playing them about a sim month.
The bit I don't like is downloading a restaurant it takes ages to get it right, redo the toilets, kitchen, seating etc. I'm still enjoying my game and haven't restarted in a real month.
have fun what ever you decide to do.
I completely forget about the restaurants GP haha and I have it lol. I'm so bad at building community lots
I don't use CC or Mods in my game. I have started over a few times, I seem to bore easily these days. When Pets finally come out I am going to uninstall the entire game and reinstall without Get Together I don't play in that world or with clubs, hopefully making plenty of room for my Pets.....
Pets is the one thing I'm looking forward the most for this game I think it's a great idea to make room for it!
One thing you could do is simply label your "The Sims 4" folder as "The Sims 4 Original" (or whatever). As you know the game will regenerate a clean The Sims 4 folder and you can start over. If you ever want to go back to the Original just delete the new Sim 4 folder or rename it and pick up where you left off.
Some advantages of doing this is that you don't loose anything and if you put mods and custom content back you can determine what you really like and use. (I actually wish we could delete custom content from CAS as I tend to download a lot of stuff I never use, but I can't figure out what it is from the file names. So I let it build up.) If you have stuff in your old Tray folder you can simply copy it over.
I recently started afresh because I read the bios of the premades and decided to explore them (first time around I played with ageing on and concentrated on my one sim family). I'm enjoying it thoroughly but repopulating Newcrest can wait.
Something similar happened to me. I played with aging off but just for my own sims and not the premades and they died and now I miss them haha
I think you should should still if you ever want to look back on it or play again. I could never do that. I get way to attached to my sims. I would devastated if my save broke or was deleted and its come close a couple times
Comments
I'll still go CC hunting, but probably just recolors, make up, skin details, eyes, skin. Some building mode stuff mostly floors and walls and once again just recolors. I wanna keep EVERYTHING maxis match. I'll also be organized this time and download just what's necessary. I now know the style of all my sims, so I'll literally just download individual pieces for specific sims.
I do follow their stories, but I always recreate the same families, I've been doing this since TS2. I already know them by heart.
I don't have that much cc in my game, my whole mods folder is dominated by game mods, I have a bit maxis match hair, mostly child hairstyles converted to teens and older and some more hairstyles for toddlers, even though I still haven't played one
I like to build stuff
Tops
Bottoms
FullBody
Skin
Accesories - under accesories I have Upper (where I put necklaces, glasses and earrings) and Lower (where all other accesories go)
Poses
GameMods
Brows
I don't have one for facial hair I just realized.. I guess you could make one though, you can even just shove your brows in there as well.
Non Defaults (basically, things that do not replace another thing - i.e if you downloaded some eyes and they added a swatch to the eye colours, it is a non default bc it doesn't replace an eye colour that is already in game.) Under NonDefaults I have Skins and Eyes but you can add more if you want, personally I didn't feel the need bc the rest of the non defaults I have are just clothes and hair which I just shove in.. Well, clothes and hair folders.
DefaultReplacements (does the opposite of non default.. replaces something that is already in game, this can be eye colour, baby skin, skin, clothes, whatever.)
Shoes
Tattoos
Hats
BuildBuy.
If you want you can add another folder for sets, as in when people merge multiple items of cc when you go to donwoad it so my brain screams WHAT FOLDER DOES THIS GO UNDER and then I stick it under full body bc I'm a rebel and too lazy to make a set file despite how easy it is but.. It's good if you like order. Legit just call it Sets.
More stuff, when you are downloading your cc again, if you have firefox like I do, press the three lines on the right corner, press options, general, and under downloads click always ask where to save files. This way when you are downloading cc it will not: randomly save without you being able to name it yourself, and you will not have to mess around looking in your downloads folder for it and waste space having unknown cc you forgot about hanging around in your downloads. If you don't have firefox Idk what you do but I'm sure you can find a way. Doing what I said will allow you to give your own names to files, preferably informative ones like: creator name, name of website where downloaded, exact name of what you are downloading and what it is. E.g I download a dress from some person called Anya59 on the sims resource, the dress is called summer dreaming. So I would call the file: Anya59TsrSummerDreamingDress, just an fyi but if you don't use spaces and you don't use any special characters of any kind except, well letters and numbers you can drastically cut down your loading times which is why I name my cc like this, with no spaces and using capitals at the start of each world, and also why I name my folders like this. Merging cc can help cut down loading times but it's more of an inconvenience to me personally bc once it's merged it can't be unmerged, so you can use sims 4 studio I think to merge packages, preferably of the same category like a dress and no matter what do not merge game mods or poses or non defaults or defaults bc game mods and poses may need updating, non defaults and defaults are just a pain in the butt to merge.
I didn't restart with lots, only cc and characters like I bulldozed everything and I was like I cba to redecorate so... I give cc advice instead.
My sims 4 studio with poses for download and stuff: click
For me I don't regret it. I had a gazillion saves going and have tried to keep it down to under five since moving. I never would have been able to got through and delete those files without the complete restart so it was good for me.
The only save file I regret not keeping was the one I was doing a Complete Collection run on since they didn't do the Egg Collection this year and I had it in that save (along with the Sugar Skulls) but at the end of the day I know I did originally complete that collection so if I have to download a room from the gallery or use the show hidden objects cheat to get them once I get around to doing another Complete Collection run I won't feel too bad about it.
As for CC I usually go through and do a complete remove of all the CC in my game (other then a few Can't Live Withouts) and then start recollecting every few months or so. I get a lot of joy out of the act of actually collecting CC (probably a lot more then actually using it in the game) and starting fresh is a lot of fun just to see what sort of different stuff you might get this time around and what you'll end up DLing again. But that's probably just me lol.
So glad to hear this! I'm feeling more sure about this by the minute. Also thank you for the cc organizing tips
I thought about doing that, but my lots have so much cc
The collection things bothered me too
I do have my saves just in case. I just have over 1000 cc files
I have over 1000 things , so you can imagine the mess
I don't have any qualms starting over, even with the same Sims. The game doesn't play out the same way, twice. LOL It's kind of refreshing starting anew, too. My other save is my singer Sim (who became my Founder) when I brought him over from Sims3. I even created a copy of the Wright Way house, using another player's Sims3 version of it. (At least in Sims 3 & 4, you have grids you can count) I carefully drew it out on graph paper, one panel of wall per square. Went back into Sims2, just to have another look, and caught an error, that had transpired in the Sims3 version, that I accidentally transferred into my copy of it in Sims4. I had forgotten there was no grid to go by in Sims2, even in build mode.
Looking forward to the next GP, too.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Quite a bit -- I have a couple of template saves that I use when I want to start over, and I fill them with lots that I download from the Gallery as well as some of the Maxis made lots that I've remodeled and the rare build of my own. I'm currently playing a couple of the premades from the base game that were in the Library, Ollie and Cassidy Perdue; they're brother and sister, not romantic partners. I'm exploring some of the features I hadn't gotten around to checking out completely; Cassidy is in the Social Media career while Ollie hangs out at night at the karaoke bars working on his Singing skill. I also took advantage of the Wishing Well and got Ollie a soulmate, while Cassidy got the "give up" Sad moodlet so she's still working on that. (Ollie was courting Miko Ojo but it was taking way too long.)
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
I also thought about doing that, but I need to really fix them to get the style I want. It's been so hard! I don't get it right, but now we a good computer it should be much easier.
I get where you are coming from, I'm a fan of collectibles, but since I'm recreating them... I'll pretend that never changed. I worked so hard for some of that stuff lol
Oh ..you're life sounded like mine for so very long.. well two sick elders no ferrets
You've just proved to me the benefits of building my own own lots.
Good luck with the new PC and make sure you have the latest security updates for your OS first before you think of downloading anything again. Ransomware rife at the moment all over the world.
I love starting fresh a brand new game, new sims, and I used to do that a lot. I lost count how many times I started again, sometimes every real week. But recently about a month ago I moved sims into Newcrest playing each a few sim weeks and then moving a new family in, some from the gallery some my own and some homeless townies. each played a few sim weeks. Then I got to my main families. and have been playing them about a sim month.
The bit I don't like is downloading a restaurant it takes ages to get it right, redo the toilets, kitchen, seating etc. I'm still enjoying my game and haven't restarted in a real month.
have fun what ever you decide to do.
Some advantages of doing this is that you don't loose anything and if you put mods and custom content back you can determine what you really like and use. (I actually wish we could delete custom content from CAS as I tend to download a lot of stuff I never use, but I can't figure out what it is from the file names. So I let it build up.) If you have stuff in your old Tray folder you can simply copy it over.
I think I a fresh clean game could be really good.
Im still gonna have the old files on my old computer
What's ransomware?
I completely forget about the restaurants GP haha and I have it lol. I'm so bad at building community lots
Pets is the one thing I'm looking forward the most for this game
I will keep the files on my old computer
Something similar happened to me. I played with aging off but just for my own sims and not the premades and they died and now I miss them haha
I get attached too , but I'm recreating them
Thank you