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How do you update 100s of Mods and CC?
Chaotic_Moira
Posts: 482 Member
This may be a stupid question, and maybe I am misunderstanding something, but as I understand it, after every single update you have to go through your mods folder to check for updates. The only way I know how to do this is to individually go to each item's website and see if the creator has mentioned that it is updated. For this reason, I only use a few mods, and I skip out on tons that I really want, not to mention the cc. But I see people mentioning all the time having hundreds or even thousands of cc items! How are you making sure your stuff if good?
Am I unaware of a simple solution?
I find keeping up on just the small pile I have tedious when EA has an update every few weeks. Plus so many creators just say, "mod/cc is up to date." Up to date when? Which date? When was that posted?
Am I unaware of a simple solution?
I find keeping up on just the small pile I have tedious when EA has an update every few weeks. Plus so many creators just say, "mod/cc is up to date." Up to date when? Which date? When was that posted?
Features I'd like brought back from the dead.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
1
Comments
As for mods, those also don't generally need to be updated "every game update". But it is something that needs to be paid attention to.
I use hundreds (literally over 400) individual mod package files in my game, but worrying about "updates" and troubleshooting problems is something that takes only about an hour after each game update, following the below general principles.
To facilitate easy updating, what I do is I keep all my mods separated into folders with the name of what modder made the mod and have bookmarks in my browser for the main update page of each of those modders. That way when troubleshooting problems, I can quickly narrow it down to which modder has a mod that 'needs' an update and quickly check their web site. It also lets me just move that one folder out, temporaly, while waiting for said updates.
I also follow a general rule of not using any mod that is likely to need updates often.
Examples of this would be some of the cooking/baking related mods that directly override the functions on stoves and refrigerators in order to do what they do. Those end up needing to be updated every single time the game adds new recipes...which is far too often for my tastes.
The good news is that there are generally modders that provide similiar mods without doing that kind of override.
If a mod that I use breaks on a game update several updates in a row, I generally remove the mod entirely and just won't use it anymore, ever, flagging it as more trouble than it's worth.
I also have, over the years, made a mental list of which modders do that the most, and don't use any of their mods. While at the same time, I have a mental list of which modders do a great job of making their mods small, modular, and who update quickly when needed. I favor their mods.
The community also provides a lot of assistance, such as the thread here in this section of the forum that provides information on what mods are broken and what (and when) mods get updated after a game patch. @Luthienrising maintains these threads currently, and deserves a freaking trophy from the community for just how helpful those threads are.
And I guess the last thing that, imo, is helpful is having some understanding of basic modding oneself. Knowing how to open a mod and look specifically at what it is doing means that 1. If needed, I can provide my own 'update' of a mod in the short term until the actual modder fixes it and 2. I have a better idea of what the mod all 'touches' so that when I do have a problem in my game, it's easier to quickly make a mental short list of which mods are most likely to be causing the problem based on that knowledge and reading the patch notes.
Regarding this question, it's the internet, generally posts like that have a date on them. And most modders also specify specifically which patch version number they are referring to.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
I'd add a few more notes.
One, if you use 18+ mods (plus a few modders that for other reasons aren't in my Forums coverage), you need to follow lists off these Forums to get info about them.
Two, organize your mods by creator to help you keep track. You can pull a creator's whole folder back into your Mods folder when they clear their mods, for example.
Three, have an alternative no-mods, no-CC save for when you still want to play but you have mod/CC issues to figure out or there was a really big patch and you're in the "modders still checking their stuff" time, which can be a good week or two overall.
Four, follow elsewhere if that's where you are. If you're mainly an email person, follow Patreons to get update news sent to your email inbox. Lots of active modders these days have a Discord server for support and announcements, and those can push notifications. Those two are my faves because info gets pushed out to you. If you're more a Discord person than a Forum type, you can get general update feeds there two; lots of servers pick up the mod update feed from Deaderpool or Sims After Dark, and some pick up the CC update feed from Creator Musings (which is otherwise a forum for creators supporting each other).
Five, start out slow. You don't have to have all the things just because someone made another cool one. Pick up the ones that relate to your gameplay as it is now, plus bugfix mods that fix things you're likely to encounter. The fewer mods you have, the less you need to keep track of.
Six, when you can't figure out what's broke and have tried everything, including a proper 50-50 with deleting localthumbcache every time, take advantage of the amazing bots and knowledgeable Simmers on Discord over at Deaderpool and Sims After Dark. They can use your error files to help you solve what's broken for you, if it's a mod problem not a game problem.
I also don't understand well enough how they work to feel confidant in knowing what might break, so I never know which updates I need to worry about.. and I am always afraid that if I have a broken mod in my game that I don't know about, play without problems (not realizing anything is broken), and I save with the broken mod in the game, then my save file will be ruined. I don't even know if that is how it happens, I have just read about so many people having broken games due to outdated mods that I assume this is what happens. Am I misunderstanding it? I wouldn't worry as much if I didn't think my whole save file was going to be ruined.
I do check for the posting date, but I think some modders probably don't have the time to go to each mod page and say a mod is up to date if they didn't need to change it, so then it will have a really old date. A good example of this is TwistedMexi's Expandable BuildBuy. It says it is updated to Spa Day. Now he is pretty active, and a modder I trust, so I downloaded it assuming he just didn't see a need to say it is current as perhaps he has not needed to make changes since then. But I see a lot of mods listed like this.
I do try to stick with Modders that I see staying active. And I recently did the thing you mentioned and bookmarked all the mods that are in my game. I do keep them organized as well. I thought cc was less of a concern but being unsure I kept looking at it too, and I had to go look up the batch fixing thing. That is interesting. Thanks for mentioning it. I do have Sims4 Studio, but I only use it to edit cc for my game, I didn't know about the batch fix thing at all.
@luthienrising thank you sooo much for the update threads. I only found out about that last month and it was helpful. There was a few mods I wanted and saw on the list that they are broken. I only have one game save. Every house I play is in the same file and I rotate houses. I don't even know what I would do with a whole new game, lol. When updates hit I usually just build stuff in a new game while I wait. I am not on discord or twitter, but it seems like both are used often by modders, so I may have to sign up just for updates I guess. My email is a swamp so...
I am actually pretty chill with mods, I don't go crazy wanting all the new things and I avoid big override mods. I just really hate certain things in the game that I know mods can fix, and those are what I focus on. Things like how fast or slow something goes, or how annoyingly often sims will do certain things. I could probably have 50 mods making these little adjustments if I wasn't always stressed about updates.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
Trait mods and career mods are more risky, but I have not had issues that would corrupt a save enough to break the game or prevent loading of the save file. Sims with custom careers simply become unemployed if something happens to a career mod.
I avoid core script mods like MCCC and Kawaii Stacie slice of life because they make major changes to the interactions in the game. These are 99 percent likely to require updating with every patch, and removal has worse consequences than any other mod type. You also should never use more than one core mod ever, or they will conflict.
Finally, there is the 50/50 method that involves moving out half of your mods folder to a different folder. Repeat until the game loads correctly. If the game does load, immediately use the Save As button to copy and save your game to a new slot. However, it is best to back up your mods and your tray folders to another location by manually copying and pasting the folder
How do you know if a mod is a "Core Script Mod?"
I use MCCC, why would removing it have consequences? I actually just took it out to check out EA's Sp, but I assume all that would happen is the functions it provided are gone.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
As for MCCC, it is perfectly safe to remove it at any time and it won't damage your save game.
That said, doing so can have some devastating consequences depending on the MCCC settings that you use. For example, if you have lifespans extended with MCCC, then a TON of sims will age up immediately on loading a save after removing it. And if you had extended the elder life stage, a ton of elders will instantly die as a result.
By comparison, the MCCC equivalent for TS3 was indeed a core mod, and if you removed it, your save would be badly corrupted and become unplayable. The reason mods were called "core" mods in TS3 is because they replaced the core file of the game. That's also why you could not use more than one at time.
That's not a thing for TS4.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
- Name of Mod
- Version
- Creator
- Status (Updated, Outdated, Unsupported)
- Last Updated (This is the time I last updated the mod, not the last time a modder pushed an update out. This distinction is important as I don't immediately update my game, so sometimes I'm running a mod that's not the newest version.)
- Link to page where the mod is hosted
Then, every patch/update, I use the MCCC Discord server & Luthienrising's forum threads to check on the mods that I have & see if they've been updated/which mods have become obsolete. This entire process takes me at least an hour or so but I never update my game right away after patches/updates so I can take my time.
This sounds much like my own process, minus the spreadsheet. I never update immediately after patches or other updates drop, either, and likewise I can take my time with everything.
Also I want to add my own to the other grateful shoutouts to @luthienrising for her invaluable threads.
Because I can't; I keep all sigs turned off.
Ahhhhh how interesting... I did use NRAAS Master Controller for Sims 3, which is what I assume you are talking about... Although I think there was another one that I remember some people seemed to have issues with which I didn't use... maybe that was why.. hmm
I didn't even think of the age thing.. Interesting.. Now I am just wondering what else in there might have similar affects.. I think only used it for cheats and SP though, so it should be fine.
My husband loves making spreadsheets! Maybe I will try this. It would be helpful to look at a list that just says what it is, so I am not trying to work it out..
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
Since I can add pictures now, I thought I would provide a visual of my sheet, in case it would be helpful to you! I used the word spreadsheet, but I can't be bothered with real spreadsheets so I use a program called Notion to keep track of things. You can create spreadsheets (called databases) inside Notion that are a lot easier to work with than Excel. However, Excel works just fine for the folks that know how to use it!
I always play off-line anyway, so I can update at my leisure whenever I'm ready. I don't even update every time there is a new patch, sometimes I wait and update two or three patches at once, so I don't have to go through the mods check as often.
@Stormkeep Thanks for the explanation about "core" mods in Sims 3 vs Sims 4. I have been so confused about that.
You can continue to play your modded game safely during the period it takes for the modders to do their updates. This means becoming a 'patient gamer' and missing out playing many packs or using any new functionality through base game updates day one. Personally, I see it as an advantage as then you can let others be the guinea pigs for new stuff
Shake dreams from your hair
My pretty child, my sweet one.
Choose the day and choose the sign of your day
The day's divinity....
The Ghost Song - Jim Morrison
For some other creators (like me, Adeepindigo, etc.) we generally do an individual status post and do not update the download posts with clear/compatible statuses (I only update the post itself when it needed an update). It's too much work to edit each page for something like compatibility when patches are so frequent.
@MizoreYukii yes I think getting familiar with the modders is a good point, too, thanks. It wasn't something I noticed in the past because I am not really familiar with getting around some of the sites people use (like tumblr for instance). I would just use google to find a mod, and go straight to the download page. But exploring recently, I did notice that some of you have a post simply saying everything was current. And it makes sense when you have a ton of stuff. I can't imagine the time modding and upkeep takes. You guys are amazing.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
Definitely takes the stress out of it.
Also worth you knowing that if you have to put Origin online because Origin itself is wanting to update, you can safely do that as well - just don't click update on the game itself!
Once Origin has updated, then put it back into offline mode and carry on playing your modded game
Shake dreams from your hair
My pretty child, my sweet one.
Choose the day and choose the sign of your day
The day's divinity....
The Ghost Song - Jim Morrison
OMG I didn't even know you could do that! I thought once that update button was there that was it until you updated!! I can't believe I never knew this. I once went months wanting to play my game and not doing it because of a stupid update, LOL!
I am curious. If there is an update, and I play offline, but then while I am in my game, I want to go into the gallery. Can I sign in whilst already in game?
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
I am not entirely sure about that, but will definitely test it next time an update comes along. Given the game would already be running, then it can't update so I suspect it is safe to try.
Shake dreams from your hair
My pretty child, my sweet one.
Choose the day and choose the sign of your day
The day's divinity....
The Ghost Song - Jim Morrison
That is what I was thinking. It seems like it should work.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
@83bienchen I love your mods, and use quite a few of them. I don't play with most the big ones either, they just seem like too much of a game overhaul for me. I prefer to make small tweaks to the normal play. Although I do use MCCC.
It is good to know about the save files not being messed up. I might be overly worried about that because it is the only problem I ever encountered in all my years of playing Sims, which is from the first game. I never worried about mods or cc, and then in Sims 3 I had a problem where one of my saves got corrupted somehow, and ever since then I have been worried about it. I don't even know if it was due to a mod for sure. Someone said that saving with moveobjects on could corrupt save files as well, so... I don't know. I have been putting more of the mods I want in over the last few weeks, trying to not stress about it as much, cause they make the game soooo much better.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
Tonight before shut down laptop will check discord servers, patreon and the BROKEN/UPDATED MODS & CC: APRIL 26, 2022 MENU PATCH
here to see if any announcements were made. Friday will check the above in morning when turn on laptop and again when shut down and then every day for those that have updates or broken mods. If any c.c. is broken will check their tumblers once a week and TSR for updates. All broken mods and c,c, is removed and written on a list that version of mod and game version so will know which version I need along with the game version when it comes to the time to update til Friday or Saturday I will be playing vanilla and then only add c.c. and mods not reported broken or throwing new LEs caused by the patch
If on discord throughout the day check all my servers to see if any mods or c.c. were announced
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/999292/broken-updated-mods-cc-april-26-2022-menu-patch/p1
I didn't get on my game today, but I will be trying what @ModerateOsprey and I were discussing about playing offline, and seeing if I can still use the Gallery in game tomorrow. If so, then I can just take my time with updates. I have been remembering to bookmark the pages with the stuff I use.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |