A few questions.

[Qwert_yyy]

I'm trying to create my ideal build for the ages and I want to ask a few possibly difficult questions. And maybe if they are answered, people will be interested in finding out the answers themselves.

 

1. Organization. Are the files loaded in alphabetical order and not from top to bottom but from bottom to top? Are folders ignored? Is that why people put "!" so that the files are prioritized at TOP, and therefore loaded LAST?

 

2. Overrides. Do we have an "Overrides" folder that overwrites the original files? Are there any cases in which using this folder is mandatory? That is, I want to understand with which mods it should be used. And I don't understand, there are a lot of mods where all that is there is a note "Default" or "Override", does that mean that they replace the original files? But I thought for this you need to place the mod in a certain folder. And what if I have several of these mods with the note "Override", it will not cause problems?

 

3. WW Body Parts. We have the ability to select, in the menu for each sim, their own body shape based on what we have downloaded and installed. But in the CAS menu we do not display what is applied to the sim, but what? Is there any way I can make it so that the CAS menu displays those body parts that are currently applied to this sim?

Spoiler

Body parts in sims 4 GAMEPLAY:                  can be changed using the WW setting at any time, for any sim.
Body parts in sims 4 CAS MENU (editor):     one specific body is loaded for each sim, which is set as a priority for you and marked as a default replacement
                                                                     (usually authors mark defaults, but not always, read the description of body mods).


How do I edit a Sim's body if it's different from the default body?
Also, usually (but unfortunately not all) authors add their bodies to the CAS menu as additional clothing. To make it easier for you to edit. If you are currently editing a sim whose body part is set to something other than the one in your default replacement, then you put the appropriate body part on the character AS CLOTHES and edit the body, after finishing editing, take it off.

 

 

4. WW animations and character height. If we change the character height with a slider, it breaks the animations. There is support for some specific height sliders by WW author, but I don't even know what it looks like (Does it somehow fix the animations? And is there a list of sliders that are supported?). I want to use "hokusai26" sliders, but it seems his height slider is not supported.

5. Sliders. There are just so many mods that think they need to add some kind of slider. Am I doing the right thing by deleting every single one of those slider files? I'm going to use the slider pack from "hokusai26" which already has a lot of sliders. Sliders are just dots that are used to change the shape of the body and there's no need for extra sliders if I already have all the positions used, right?

6. Downloadable Sims. When I download a Sim, usually it may come with some script or slider mods. Is it okay if I delete the slider mod, won't it ruin the character's face, for example? (script files and other things can and should be deleted)

7. Number of subfolders. I heard that the number of folders in the "Mods" structure can affect the smoothness of the gameplay. Is this true? Is this something to keep a close eye on?

8. Number of mods. I'm not going to install many gameplay mods. But many fixes and tweaks. And A LOT of clothing, body parts, animations and overlay parts. I want to understand how the game handles mods technically and the impact on performance. In the past, I had an experience with a problem where the game would start experiencing serious lags in the simulation, the more sims there were on the lot, the longer the lags. For example, a character could eat one dish for several hours. All characters would perform their tasks very slowly and it was almost unplayable, I had to clear the area of characters.

I may have explained myself incorrectly somewhere, based on my limited knowledge, please correct me if I misunderstand something.

Edited April 15, 2025 by Qwert_yyy

[cooldood555]

1. The files are loaded alphabetically. Folders are not ignored, and I'm unsure if they load before or after loose files. The "!" is intended to give load priority. I don't know how it works on a technical level but I do know that, in the case of conflicts, the mod with load priority will "take over" the function (e.g. if there are two mods influencing the same interaction, only the effects of the mod with load priority should play out on that interaction in game). There's an easier way to set priority though, in the resource.cfg file. Most people's contain a list that goes like "Priority 500" on the first line, then "PackedFile *.package" and then "PackedFile */*.package" and so-on. I have 2 folders I give load priority over that by adding lines "Priority 1000" and then the path for those folders, e.g. "PackedFile folder/*.package".

 

2. I've never used an overrides folder, even when the mod instructions say so, and have never had an issue. Some resource.cfg files come with an automatic priority for an Overrides folder, which is why those instructions are there, but it's not necessary and won't even help if you don't have that line in your resource.cfg

 

3. I don't believe this is currently possible. I don't understand the details but it's something about how CAS displays Sims differently than in-game; it's the same reason male Sims with a feminine frame and female Sims with a masculine frame still display underwear in CAS when their clothes are removed but don't do so in-game.

 

4. I don't use height sliders so I have little info there.

 

5. You can install whichever sliders you want, even none. The exception is if a mod *requires* certain sliders (I haven't seen much of this but it does happen).

 

6. Deleting the slider *should* negate whatever edits were made to the Sim using that slider, so it will change how the Sim looks in-game (e.g., if you delete a breast slider, the Sim's breasts will look different in your game than in preview images from the creator). As for script mods added, as you said, they can be deleted. Some script mods *do* contain CAS items for some reason so that might impact it. If you ever download a Sim and *want* to keep the script mods, then you should search for the mod online and get the most recent version, assuming it's still even maintained and compatible with the game version you have.

 

7. I haven't noticed this myself. I have 51 subfolders with no issues. Just keep in mind script mods can't be more than one subfolder deep in the mods folder.

 

8. This is entirely dependent on your computer and how much you download. Gameplay mods may cause lag but CC can very quickly make the mods folder very large and that can cause lag too. I use very little CC and many gameplay mods and have a mod folder of only 2.13 GB and I don't have any lag in my game at all. So this is really a situation where you should install stuff and test incrementally, focusing on things that are essential for what you want in your game and then moving onto other items. It also helps to install incrementally in case you have any issues with mods, because it'll help you narrow down the issue.

[Qwert_yyy]

39 minutes ago, cooldood555 said:

1. The files are loaded alphabetically. Folders are not ignored, and I'm unsure if they load before or after loose files. The "!" is intended to give load priority. I don't know how it works on a technical level but I do know that, in the case of conflicts, the mod with load priority will "take over" the function (e.g. if there are two mods influencing the same interaction, only the effects of the mod with load priority should play out on that interaction in game). There's an easier way to set priority though, in the resource.cfg file. Most people's contain a list that goes like "Priority 500" on the first line, then "PackedFile *.package" and then "PackedFile */*.package" and so-on. I have 2 folders I give load priority over that by adding lines "Priority 1000" and then the path for those folders, e.g. "PackedFile folder/*.package".

 

2. I've never used an overrides folder, even when the mod instructions say so, and have never had an issue. Some resource.cfg files come with an automatic priority for an Overrides folder, which is why those instructions are there, but it's not necessary and won't even help if you don't have that line in your resource.cfg

 

3. I don't believe this is currently possible. I don't understand the details but it's something about how CAS displays Sims differently than in-game; it's the same reason male Sims with a feminine frame and female Sims with a masculine frame still display underwear in CAS when their clothes are removed but don't do so in-game.

 

4. I don't use height sliders so I have little info there.

 

5. You can install whichever sliders you want, even none. The exception is if a mod *requires* certain sliders (I haven't seen much of this but it does happen).

 

6. Deleting the slider *should* negate whatever edits were made to the Sim using that slider, so it will change how the Sim looks in-game (e.g., if you delete a breast slider, the Sim's breasts will look different in your game than in preview images from the creator). As for script mods added, as you said, they can be deleted. Some script mods *do* contain CAS items for some reason so that might impact it. If you ever download a Sim and *want* to keep the script mods, then you should search for the mod online and get the most recent version, assuming it's still even maintained and compatible with the game version you have.

 

7. I haven't noticed this myself. I have 51 subfolders with no issues. Just keep in mind script mods can't be more than one subfolder deep in the mods folder.

 

8. This is entirely dependent on your computer and how much you download. Gameplay mods may cause lag but CC can very quickly make the mods folder very large and that can cause lag too. I use very little CC and many gameplay mods and have a mod folder of only 2.13 GB and I don't have any lag in my game at all. So this is really a situation where you should install stuff and test incrementally, focusing on things that are essential for what you want in your game and then moving onto other items. It also helps to install incrementally in case you have any issues with mods, because it'll help you narrow down the issue.

Thank you so much for your answer, you really helped a lot! ❤️

[cooldood555]

37 minutes ago, Qwert_yyy said:

Thank you so much for your answer, you really helped a lot! ❤️

No problem! If you have any further questions feel free to ask! Even if I don't know the answers I'll try to find them for you lol

[Qwert_yyy]

Another question, so as not to create a new topic:

1. I am currently deleting duplicates and there is a certain oddity. I downloaded original files and downloaded ready-made sims. And many files that have different weights, but different names, why can this happen? And also, why do some files have a newer date, but the file weight is less? And why can even body files be of different sizes, this makes me very doubtful about the problems. Why does it seem like all files can have different weights, textures, meshes, anything falls under this list. Even sliders! I do not know what I should delete in the end and what to leave.
Here is an example: 

Spoiler

2. A few years ago I was modding the sims. I downloaded a lot of sims then. I opened the game, went through the sims and resaved each one, deleted the extra ones. It's stupid, but after this process I scanned the mods folder and deleted the duplicates, this led to all those sims having their body shape broken, the sliders seemed to return to stock values or something like that. NOW I really don't want to do something similar. And I'm even more afraid that I'll break faces. After all, after that the next face I break will be mine.


3. Did I understand correctly? We download our favorite sliders. But we must delete those sliders that will conflict with ours. Delete those sliders that come with the downloaded sims. But the question arises. If we delete these conflicting sliders, will it break the downloaded sims? And if it does, can this be fixed somehow? What to do?

Edited April 15, 2025 by Qwert_yyy