Part of me wants to reinstall...

[SimsFreak89]

But I'm kind of afraid to. Every time the game updates, I have to wait for the mods to get updated. And a lot of times they don't for a while. Like, back in August or September when the game updated, it broke so many mods. Then I gave it like a month and the game had to be updated again, and of course the mods were still broken at that moment because of the constant updates. I decide to give it a little longer, uninstalled, and now I'm debating about it again but I see that, of course, more updates have happened. 😒Does anyone have an inside clue as to when EA will decide to stop updating Sims 4 like they did Sims 3? The game is already like 10 years old. Sims 3 stopped getting updated after being out for about that long right? I just want to be able to have Sims 4 mods on without having to worry about all these constant game updates breaking the mods. Just have the game and mods as is, like in Sims 3. Yes, I do like Sims 3 and its mods and yes I still have them, but Sims 4 has more than Sims 3 that I didn't realize I needed for my gameplays until I saw its mods and CC 😅 How do you all manage with dealing with the constant game updates and having to update all your mods?

[SilentAegis]

Sims 1, 2, and 3 only got 4 years of support. Sims 4 is the only exception here as EA has decided to milk the game as long as possible and so far, it's working for them. It's also that The Sims 4 shipped extremely bare bones, so there's a lot of room for it to grow and I'll bet that games today are easier to update. Updating TS4 to keep up probably makes more sense to them than creating a sequel when TS4 is still lacking many features (and honestly, I'd prefer they stick with TS4, I had no plans to support a sequel). So there are no plans to give The Sims series a proper sequel at this time. 

 

As for dealing with updates... we're lucky that a lot of modders are still here updating their mods. Yeah, it's a hassle, but I dealt with the same process back when I used to mod Fallout 4, so I'm used to it. My game is heavily modded, but I only use mods that remain consistently updated and are likely to be updated next time. I also keep track of modders that are consistent and ones that are inconsistent.

 

For example, I'm quite sure I can trust Triplis, TURBODRIVER, weebersu, and Deaderpool to keep their mods updated as they've been consistent for years. Triplis has quit modding, but promised to keep his mods updated and has kept his word to this day. But KawaiiStacie and Sacrificial can be inconsistent (though the latter has been much better lately), so I plan for when their mods aren't updated. I'll either deal with the bugs that come with outdated mods or I'll just not use them for a while. 

 

I also keep my gameplay mods sorted into files for easy access. All I really have to do is wait about a week at the most for everything to get updated, download all the updates, then test my game. It's a process that takes a few hours at most. 

 

Admittedly, it wouldn't feel as bad if the DLC drops for these updates were often good, though. Life & Death seems like the first decent EP we've gotten in a long time, so dealing with updates doesn't feel as bad right now for me as the EP has content I'd actually use. 

Edited November 5, 2024 by SilentAegis

[Oops19]

I use mainly outfit CC, a little bit of build-buy CC - these usually never break.

With a number of selected script mod there are usually no issues after an update. Most of the mods I use require S4CL which is often the only mod which needs an update. I update TS4 as soon as possible to test my mods.
With Life&Death DD throw a few exceptions, I think the only mods to update for me were DD, S4CL and XML-Injector. DD+S4CL were fixed within 4-5 hours after the release, so users who updated TS4 early had only a short period of time with issues.

It's not EA's fault that so many mods break. Many mod creators simply have no idea how to properly integrate mods in TS4 and/or they know it but don't want to spend more efforts creating a mod. scumbumbo wrote about this somewhere on MTS, the information how to properly integrate is available for everyone who can read, while it may be hard to understand.

I avoid mod creators who copy TS4 code (script and/or XML), modify a thing, and then release it as a new mod (overriding the original TS4 tuning or script). These mods cause too much trouble.

 

In any case I have my script mods in folders starting with '_' so it's easy to locate and delete a broken mod. Usually I delete it to avoid any f**king issue in the future.

One can always disable script mods and play without them for a few days, hopefully.

 

[SilentAegis]

57 minutes ago, Oops19 said:

Many mod creators simply have no idea how to properly integrate mods in TS4 and/or they know it but don't want to spend more efforts creating a mod. scumbumbo wrote about this somewhere on MTS, the information how to properly integrate is available for everyone who can read, while it may be hard to understand.

 

That's super interesting. While I never agreed with blaming EA for mods breaking as they outright say they don't support mods, I had no idea mods breaking was usually because of the modders themselves. While I know absolutely nothing about XML tuning or Python, I may try to hunt for this post from Scumbumbo just for knowledge's sake. 

[Oops19]

e.g. https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=575118
 

After reading this it is obvious that it is more easy to clone the tuning, edit the XML and add something to it than to use a script to edit the python instance of the tuning. The effort for the initial override mod is really small. E.g. adding 'TEEN' to the 'age test' is straightforward in XML.

For new packs with new features EA adds traits, buffs, loots, ages (key error 5 for foxes), ... to the XML / package files.

• Modifying the python instance does still work (or fail and change nothing if the object is no longer there - e.g. deleted test for buffs while EA usually adds new buffs to an existing test and doesn't delete tests).
• An override mod needs an update to include the new loot, traits, buffs, .... Without an update the mod may still work while the user will miss a few new features - really hard to notice - or they don't work or throw an exception. With 5-30 modified tunings in a mod there is some effort to update all tunings.

[SimsFreak89]

On 11/5/2024 at 1:40 PM, SilentAegis said:

Sims 1, 2, and 3 only got 4 years of support. Sims 4 is the only exception here as EA has decided to milk the game as long as possible and so far, it's working for them. It's also that The Sims 4 shipped extremely bare bones, so there's a lot of room for it to grow and I'll bet that games today are easier to update. Updating TS4 to keep up probably makes more sense to them than creating a sequel when TS4 is still lacking many features (and honestly, I'd prefer they stick with TS4, I had no plans to support a sequel). So there are no plans to give The Sims series a proper sequel at this time. 

 

As for dealing with updates... we're lucky that a lot of modders are still here updating their mods. Yeah, it's a hassle, but I dealt with the same process back when I used to mod Fallout 4, so I'm used to it. My game is heavily modded, but I only use mods that remain consistently updated and are likely to be updated next time. I also keep track of modders that are consistent and ones that are inconsistent.

 

For example, I'm quite sure I can trust Triplis, TURBODRIVER, weebersu, and Deaderpool to keep their mods updated as they've been consistent for years. Triplis has quit modding, but promised to keep his mods updated and has kept his word to this day. But KawaiiStacie and Sacrificial can be inconsistent (though the latter has been much better lately), so I plan for when their mods aren't updated. I'll either deal with the bugs that come with outdated mods or I'll just not use them for a while. 

 

I also keep my gameplay mods sorted into files for easy access. All I really have to do is wait about a week at the most for everything to get updated, download all the updates, then test my game. It's a process that takes a few hours at most. 

 

Admittedly, it wouldn't feel as bad if the DLC drops for these updates were often good, though. Life & Death seems like the first decent EP we've gotten in a long time, so dealing with updates doesn't feel as bad right now for me as the EP has content I'd actually use. 

 

Ohh ok. Well I will definitely make sure I separate the files. Say, maybe 1 folder have something like "Animations", another "Gameplay", another "CC"?

 

I will keep those modders in mind, and take a more careful note on who does what mods. Maybe I'll have a separate Mod folder that says like "Mods that are constantly updated" and put those mods into it. Thank you for the tips.

[SimsFreak89]

On 11/5/2024 at 3:12 PM, Oops19 said:

I use mainly outfit CC, a little bit of build-buy CC - these usually never break.

With a number of selected script mod there are usually no issues after an update. Most of the mods I use require S4CL which is often the only mod which needs an update. I update TS4 as soon as possible to test my mods.
With Life&Death DD throw a few exceptions, I think the only mods to update for me were DD, S4CL and XML-Injector. DD+S4CL were fixed within 4-5 hours after the release, so users who updated TS4 early had only a short period of time with issues.

It's not EA's fault that so many mods break. Many mod creators simply have no idea how to properly integrate mods in TS4 and/or they know it but don't want to spend more efforts creating a mod. scumbumbo wrote about this somewhere on MTS, the information how to properly integrate is available for everyone who can read, while it may be hard to understand.

I avoid mod creators who copy TS4 code (script and/or XML), modify a thing, and then release it as a new mod (overriding the original TS4 tuning or script). These mods cause too much trouble.

 

In any case I have my script mods in folders starting with '_' so it's easy to locate and delete a broken mod. Usually I delete it to avoid any f**king issue in the future.

One can always disable script mods and play without them for a few days, hopefully.

 

 

Oh I know it's not EA, but it just...sucks lol, all the constant updates. Because it is a hassle. That is another good tip I'm seeing replied back to me, you saying about putting '_' in front of the script mods. I think I dis end up having a lot of script mods in my folder, because it's all mostly animations and body replacements and all that jazz. I have a good bit of CAS CC though, not so much the building CC; I was going to get there eventually.

[SilentAegis]

20 hours ago, SimsFreak89 said:

Ohh ok. Well I will definitely make sure I separate the files. Say, maybe 1 folder have something like "Animations", another "Gameplay", another "CC"?

 

Whatever floats your boat. just as long as everything is easily accessible to you so that the inevitable troubleshooting/updating process doesn't require looking for needles in a haystack. Keep in mind that script files can't be too deep in a folder. Some script files, such as the script file for Witches vs Fairies by SpinningPlumbobs, only function when they're in the Mods folder. Modders will usually mention this in a "README" note file or a note file marked "Installation" or something similar.  

Edited November 9, 2024 by SilentAegis

[Avélie]

I don't update my game regularly, usually about once every 6 months or so