2018 Easy Way to Organize Sims 4 Mods

Hi everyone !

Today, we will talk about Custom Content, and how to organize it, especially if you plan to merge your files with the Sims 4 Studio. Merging content  is a good way to make your game and your lot loading faster, as the game will have far less files to read during loading. It's far better to have a few big files than a ton of small files ! So If you have a lot of CC, it can be really helpful.

Let's be clear : I will not tell you how you should manage all your custom content, but only explain how I personally do it. Even if you don't plan to merge your files, you may find here some interesting advice to fix your content, of finding a specific piece of CC in your folder.

I know that some of you will know about most of these tips, but I hope this quick (huhum…)  guide will be useful for everyone !

If your are reading a reblog of this post, please go to the original post, because I might have edited it in the meantime.

To see the full tutorial, click on Keep Reading bellow !

• Before starting, will need some tools :
  

Sims 4 Studio

This one is an essential tool, when it comes to edit or manage your custom content. You can find it here, but you have to register on the forum (it's free, don't worry :p) first.

Tray Importer

We will use this one on the last part of the tutorial. Although not its main purpose, this software is sometimes useful for finding specific custom content in your folders. You can download it there.

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Organize your content (for merging or not)

• Folder organization (create sub-folders for merging)
  

Whether or not you plan to merge your personalized content, this advice will be useful. If you download a lot, and you just put your files in your mod folder without sorting, it will be difficult to find a specific item if you have an issue with it, or simply want to remove it.

This is how my content is organized :

• The CAS and BUY folders are self-explanatory, I think. The first one is for all your sims related stuff, the other for your furnitures, clutter, and everything in Build mode too. We'll talk about the sub-folders right after !

• The GameMods folder is for the mods that affect the gameplay, the interface… These files won't be merged, as they need to be updated really often (when a new patch is released). I also keep all the gameplay mods with a .ts4script file attached (like the Master Controler or the Pose Player) in the root folder. We won't talk about these here, only make sure to check for updates.

• The Replacement folder is for the mods that replace the game textures or meshes (like a default skin, or eyes), but it is not essential (you can put these in the CAS or BUY folder if you prefer).

• And the Poses folder contain… my Poses yep, but if you don't use the Pose Player, you don't need it.

If you have lot of custom content, you will need to create sub-folders in your CAS and BUY folders.  These sub-folders will prove useful later, as we will create a merged file for each of them. So try not to put more than 200 files or 250Mo of files in each of them, it seems to be a reasonable number to me (to be honest, I put a bit more in them, and it's not really problematic).

You can choose to sort your CC by type (it's what I choose to do), by creator, or any other way you want. But don't create too many folders if you plan to merge files, it would be pointless (as we want to reduce the number of files in your main folder, we don't want to create to many merged files).

• Sort your content
  

And now, after creating your folder, starts the long and tedious process of sorting your files, to put them in the right folders. But before that, maybe read the whole tutorial, some tips in the final part can help you reduce your amount of CC (drastically, with the last one). There will be fewer files to sort ! :p

If the name of a file give now clue about what it is, simply open it in the Sims 4 Studio (click on My Project in the main screen and open your file, or assign the .package files to be opened with the Studio). But if it's a recolor of another custom content, it may not show up properly in the preview window (as the mesh is in another file).

So I think it's time to speak about one of the useful feature of this soft !

• Using MyCC in the Studio
  

Open the Sims 4 Studio , and click on MyCC on the right. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the feature is available on the MAC version. If the Studio can't locate your mods, click on Settings in the menu above and find the right location of your Sims 4 folder.

This window is pretty easy to use : on the left, you have your folder and files, a preview in the middle, and on the right, the swatches and tags of your item. Unfortunatly, you can't move your files into folders from there, you need to keep your explorer open for that. But at last, you can have a look at the content !

While we're here, if you see things you don't use and want to remove from your game, move them to a separate folder, from the explorer again. Do not delete them directly from the Studio, keep them in case these files are needed for a recolor.

Also, let's have a look at the right side ! If you want to make your file smaller in size, it can be a nice idea to delete the swatches you don't or won't use, especially if there is too many. Textures can be heavy, so if you have 80 different colors for a dress, it makes the file heavier, and can slow the loading times (it's not noticeable with a single file, but it's always a goog idea to limit the size of your mod folder). You don't really need five similar shades of yellow !

You can also correct the tags, for the outfits category for example. Some creator may forget to change them, so if don't want that sweater to show up in the swimwear category, unckeck the tag in the Outfit Type section.

If you edit the swatches or the tag, don't forget to click on Save in the right-bottom corner.

• Batch-Fixes and looking for updates
  

Let's talk about another awesome tool of the Studio !

Sometimes, after a patch that has a significant impact on the game, some content needs to be updated. For example, this was the case after the release of Cats and Dogs, where most custom furniture needed to be updated so that animals could interact with them.

The Studio includes a function to make most of these essential corrections to all your content, without having to re-download everything. It's even more useful when the creator of the content is no longer active, and so won't updates the files.

When you launch the Studio, go to Content Management on the menu above, then on Batch Fixes , and run all the "fix" and "updates" needed from there (except the Allow/Disallow CC for Random/Alien/Vampire, choose the option you prefer for them, as well as the Delete CC Thumbnails), especially if you never did this, and have old content.

You can even use the fixes on a specific folder. For example, if you use the Disallow for Random, only run it on your CAS folder, to avoid affecting your Replacement files. In any case, the Studio create a back-up of your files in Documents\Sims 4 Studio\Batch Fixes (don't hesitate to delete these batch-fixes back-ups sometime, they can get heavy).

The batch-fix tool seems to work on merged files, but it's better to do it on the original files, and then merge them. This way, if you have to re-merge your files after updating something in the folder, you won't have to run the batch-fixes again.

If you have an issue with a piece of content after a patch, and no fixes from the Studio can help, you will have to find the website where you downloaded it. If you don't remember, looking at the file's name can help to find the original creator. Then search for it in google, or search with the whole file's name.

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Merging files, update or delete content in a merged file

When all the sorting is done, it's time to merge your files !

• Create a backup folder
  

I'll explain how I do it from there. After sorting all your content in different folders for merging, I move all the newly created sub folder into a backup folder, with the same organisation as the main folder, with a CAS and BUY folder. This is how my main mod folder and the backup folder look after merging the files.

The Main folder - Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Mods\CAS

The Backup folder - Documents\Electronic Arts\Sims Backup\Mods\CAS

It's important to respect this hierarchy, with the folder named Mods, to be able to use the My CC feature on the backup folder. You will simply have to open the Settings window in the menu above, and change the Sims 4 Document path fromDocuments\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 to Documents\Electronic Arts\Sims Backup. Then, you will be able to go through all your content in the MyCC window.

• Merging, and updating a merged file
  

When you're done creating your backup folder (and after moving all your un-merged file there in their folders), it's time to merge your content. Open the Sims 4 Studio, and in the menu above, go to Content Management , then click on Merge Packages . Then, drag the files from one of the sub-folder in the window (or click on Add from this window and go select all the files in a sub-folder).

For example, I will merge the files from my CAS_Clothes_Male sub-folder (now located in the backup folder). After dragging the files to merge in the window, I click on Merge , save my file in the CAS folder in my main Mods folder, and name it CAS_Clothes_Male.

Now, if I have to edit a piece of CC in this merged file, I simply have to do it on the file in the backup folder, and then, merge the whole content from the folder again, and replace the merged file in the main Mods folder (it's better to delete the old one before)

I hope it was clear enough ! At the end, your two folders should look like the ones in the images above.

The Sims 4 Studio recently added a new feature to un-merge package. Note that it will only work on merged package created after this update. But it's better and safer to keep your un-merged packages in a backup folder, it will be easier this way to find a specific item to delete it or edit it, or to add new packages in it (as you won't have to un-merge your package first).

• The TEMP folder
  

And now, what if you download new content ?

You don't have to merge it in the right folder directly, that would be tedious ! That's why I created a TEMP folder in my CAS and BUY folders in the main Mods folder (yep, lot of folders involved here :p). When I download new content, I put it there, so I can have a look at it in game, to see if it looks good, and can also edit it in the Studio if necessary.

When I have around 30-40 files in this TEMP folder, I delete the files I finally don't want to keep, run the batch fixes if I need to, and move the other files in the correct sub-folders in the Backup folder. And remerge the folders where I added new stuff.

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Reduce your amount of CC

With all your file merged, your game must be faster to load, and loading a lot should take less time too. But it's still possible to do better !

• Be reasonable, you don't really need all this.
  

Yes, it starts with this. When I was playing the Sims 3, or at the beginning of the Sims 4, I would download a lot of stuff, even If I was not sure to use it. Only because it felt good to have some choice, when in game.

But when your clothing catalog is over cluttered with stuff you will never use, and you spend lot of time to find the T-shirt you were looking for, creating sims is less enjoyable (and I'm not speaking about all the clutters I had then, decorating houses was a nightmare).

So before downloading something, simply ask yourself these questions : Will I ever use this ? Do I already have a similar thing in game ? Is it worth it ?

• Sort your content on a regular basis
  

Sometime, you come across a nice piece of CC, and even if you have something almost identical, this one look better. So you download it anyway, but never delete the old similar item.

That's why it can be a good idea, once in a while, to go through all your content to see if there is things you can delete. Because you now have something better. Because there was a similar item in the last EP. Because you no longer like and use this.

As explained earlier, you can do this with the MyCC window form the Studio (don't forget to edit the settings, to change the Sims 4 Document path). And as advised in the first part, don't delete the file, simply put them in another folder, just in case). When your are done moving files out your merging sub-folders, simply re-merge your packages.

• Find a specific piece of CC with the Tray Importer
  

But lf you want to delete a specific item, and have lots of merged files (and so, many folders with un-merged files), it may be complicate to find it. So it's time to use the second software I mentioned at the beginning, the Tray Importer !

This tool allow you to export a household or a lot from your library, but more than that, it can show you the custom content used in these. So if you are looking for one, or more piece of content, put them on a sims/on a lot, save it, and launch the Tray Importer.

But if you have merged your content, you will encounter a problem : in the list of content used, the Importer will display the merged file, and not the individual file in your backup folder. So using it, temporarily rename your main Mods folder, and move the backup Mods folder (with the un-merged files) in your Sims 4 folder.

Now it's done, in the Tray Importer, find the household/lot that contains the content to be removed, click on the small arrow on the right, and then on Export with CC .

A list will be displayed, with all the content used on your sims/lot. In my example, I choose a recolor my brother's down-in-simsland made of one of my t-shirts, and as you can see, the file necessary for it to work shows-up too. You can also see the location of the file, and if you right click on it, you can open the folder that contains the item you were looking for.

If you want to delete the file, simply delete it there/move it in another folder, move back the Mods folder with the un-merged files in the backup folder, rename back your main Mods folder, and re-merge the files from the folder where you deleted the content (hope it was clear enought !).

Quick note about sharing Lots/Sims with Custom Content

The Tray Importer also allow you to share things directly with all the content used but please, don't do that.

Reuploading content  of other creators without their consent is disrespectful. Most of the creator Term of Use state that they don't want their content to be reupload, so instead, use the list to find the content needed, and give links in your posts to the download pages. This way, people are sure to download the most recent version of the content (if the creator had to update it after a patch, for example), and can have look at the creator simblr/website, and maybe find other things they might like.

I know, it can be tedious to track down all the content used instead of simply share it with your family/lot. But creating content takes time and skill, so maybe you can make that little effort to thank them. ;)

• Why not start over ?
  

And this is my final advice, if you want to significantly reduce your amount of custom content !

I found out the best way is not to delete items in your existing folders, but to select in these folder the things you want to keep and put them in a clean folder. As it takes more effort to keep something (as you have to find and move the file), you will tend to keep less stuff. If you do it the other way around, you will keep more things "just in case", as it will be harder to find and delete things.

I did just that less than a year ago, and went from 7 Go of CC to 1,5 only. And I don't miss anything !

And for that, you can also use the Tray Importer , to look for all the content you actually use on your families and lots saved in the library. And the MyCC window from the Sims 4 Studio as well, to go through all you content a look for the things you want to keep. Do it before everything, before creating folders to merge your files, it will be less content to sort. ;)

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And… it's done, for the moment, I hope I didn't forget everything. I think you can see why it took me so much time !

I hope that all this reading was worth it for you, and that this guide will help you to better organize your content. if you have any question to ask, or have some other tips you want to share, don't hesitate, I can always edit this guide to add more information.

Voilà !

If you are looking on more tips, don't forget to have a look at my Tips tag . I have to other big guides available, one about creating Sims, and another about editing in Photoshop. You can also find all my custom content on this page, if you need more now that your folders are cleaner ;)

And if you like this tutorial, or my creations for the Sims, feel free to buy me a coffee (and a croissant if you want :D)

warrenarmest.blogspot.com

Source: https://simsontherope.tumblr.com/post/178388120106/hi-everyone-today-we-will-talk-about-custom

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