A part of The Sims, as a series’, charm is that the player has a variety of ways to customize the game to his/her liking.
I was inspired to create this poll because I thought Stormy_Winter's now closed
Vanilla/ Mods? thread was a missed opportunity for polling and others might be interested to know how other players like to play the game/s as well. My hope is that this thread can prove to be a helpful source of information, and not just satisfy a bit of curiosity. So--
How do you prefer to play The Sims?
- Just as Maxis/EA releases it--no additions--‘vanilla’?
- With mods to supplement the game?
- With custom--oftentimes, fan created--content that’s designed using existing officially published assets? (CC)
- Or do you enjoy making use of both mods and CC?
If you can spare the time, please share why you enjoy playing the game/s as you do.
All reads/votes/shares are appreciated, thank you!
*If you have pointers on how to make this thread more meaningful/relevant/engaging, I'd appreciate any suggestions (I'm new to participating in the forums and this is the first discussion I've started). Thanks!
Comments
I’m stunned when I see how clever, creative, diligent and thoughtful CC creators and modders are; so much of their work enhances The Sims gaming experience; and what little I’ve seen is astounding. But I’ve been keeping my games vanilla because The Sims games have enough issues on their own without me--the least technical person--fiddling around with a folder of stuff that needs to be kept up-to-date.
And, while there are mods and CC out there which truly fill in some gaps, and/or fix some known issues or troublesome or lacking points of interest in the game/s--with regards to TS4--I’m waiting, with hope, for TS4 team to tackle core issues and bugs officially (e.g. in depth personality for the sims by implementing a likes/wants/fears/dislikes, etc system into the game). (I'd love to play TS3 again, but I lost the disk in a move and don't remember where I wrote the product code.)
I used to enjoy using cc a LOT but then there would be game updates and suddenly interactive bits didn't work, etc. And it became so annoying to have to replace all of the counters, showers, beds, etc when they stopped working. I could still use clutter/plants/wall decor that is cc I suppose but my PC only has 1T and runs slow when internet and sims are both running so I don't want to risk it. Plus I like to share to the gallery and make a lot of no cc stuff. Still waiting on a Maxis fav but it's hard to meet all of the criteria!
@nerdfashion - deaderpool's MC Command Center is a powerful tool for addressing issues in game, many times even before TS4 team will seek to address the issues. When the game wraps, if TS4 still hasn't addressed some issues deaderpool's mod can help to address, it's the one mod I would most likely consider adding to my game. Re: UI Cheats Extension- once saw a Game Changer accidentally kill a test sim (i.e it instantly died of starvation when she clicked on the hunger bar to fill the sim's need) whilst recommending the mod to viewers. So, whilst I love the idea of that mod, I can't help but worry that would 100% be me--accidental sim killer--all because I wanted to take a shortcut quickly. Would be pretty neat if the dev team allowed players a limited access version of the dev version of the game, specifically for UI cheats, via game options :]. Thanks for voting & commenting!
(Not to mention, the Sims 4 has a lack of content for minority sims (they're getting better tho), but being a black simmer myself, I was disappointed with the absence of hair/skins/makeup/clothing for underrepresented groups. Custom content really helped me w/ that issue.)
With custom content, I can actually create diverse sims such as:
vitiligo sims
sims with heterochromia
hijabi sims
albino sims
dark-skinned sims
-things that seemed to have been overlooked by EA.
Tumblr (WIP)
At one point, I had an insane amount of CCs that had been bundled with some households I'd downloaded. Despite the upload dates being recent at the time I'd downloaded them, a lot of the CC was broken at the start. It slowed the game down (especially on loading) quite a bit, a lot of it I was quite sure would all do the same despite being different, it cramped the CAS menu (the eye menu was unusable due to a ridiculous amount of colors, most of which were identical), and resulted in some really weird townies. Ended up deleting most of the CC, only reinstalling it for the two or three custom Sims that had been added to existing households.
The good thing about the Tray Importer and Sims4Studio is that it helps to easily find what doesn't work, and what I don't like the looks of before I even start the game--that way I can eliminate the broken and unwanted CC more easily.
Mods. Because there's some aspects of the vanilla game that frustrate me to no end.
The Sims 2: Mods to fix bugs.
The Sims 3: Mods to fix bugs.
The Sims 4: Mods to enhance gameplay.
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted
It is only the past few months I have started to lean towards CC due to running out of hairstyles to use for Sims
CC for me is a waste except for specific needs like a slightly less extreme/dated Caleb hairdo that's still quitessentially Caleb, and things like dilated pupils, bloodshot eyes, signs of injury, and yeah...I might get some decent jeans for my guys because the basegame ones are either badly out of date, or rob a man of his dignity.
I would also go get some CC for a certain style of leather cap I love, maybe some handstitched leather shoes. OK I guess I'll become a CC lover if those items exist.
Curtains are another awful issue in basegame. Almost none of them strike me as tasteful, and/or the ones I want won't fit the windows I have, so it's either hideous ones or none, in which case I opt for none because I hate having the view occluded anyway. Fusty heavy draperies blocking the view to the outdoors make me feel claustrophobic. The vampire pack curtains are the ugliest things I think I've ever laid eyes on.
Let's make Liberty and Justice For All a reality.
I don't like CC though.