WhimWatch - A free and open-source updater for WickedWhims and WW Animations DIRECTLY from Creators

[forthewhimsy]

WhimWatch - A free and open-source updater for WickedWhims and WW Animations DIRECTLY from Creators

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WhimWatch

An always free, always open-source, always privacy-focused update checker and updater for the WickedWhims Sims 4 mod and its animation packs.

Who are you and what is this thing?

I'm forthewhimsy, and I'm a gamer and software dev who was sick of manually curating my WickedWhims animations.

 

Then I remembered that - unlike my Sims - I actually have agency and I finally did something about it.

 

Now I want to share that with the rest of the community so that we can all remove the chore of maintaining our library of WW packages, and focus on actually having fun.

 

As you probably know if you are here, WickedWhims has no built-in updater, and animation packs are spread across wicked.cc, LoversLab, Patreon, and other sites.

 

That's where WhimWatch comes in.

What does this thing do?

 

TL;DR: WhimWatch scans your Mods folder, works out which creators' packs you have, and tells you when any of them, or WickedWhims itself, has a newer release, then updates them for you (upon your request).

 

Key Features:

• Cross-platform support for Windows/Mac/Linux
• Finds your mod packs directory automatically
• Finds where each creator of your packages publishes and downloads directly from them (using a variety of standard sites, but you can add more!)
• Updates in one click
  • wicked[.]cc downloads are public, and for LoversLab or Patreon, you can sign in inside the app first (with plenty of privacy settings built-in; your credentials are NEVER saved in WhimWatch) to download updates
• Before installing, you see exactly which files will be replaced or added, and can untick any.
  • Old files are backed up, and every update can be undone from History
• Answers “Will this version of WW work with my game?" before you boot
  • It shows your game version next to the newest one WickedWhims supports, and warns when mods or script mods are switched off in the game's options so you don’t have to do the ol’ dance of booting up, finding out there’s a bug or conflict, and then having to change options, close out, update, and reboot again.
• Stays discreet
  • Has an optional privacy screen that blurs WhimWatch when it isn't the active window (and keeps it out of screenshots and screen sharing on Windows and macOS), a quick-hide shortcut, and hidden post titles.

What should I know about this project?

• WhimWatch is an independent project and is not affiliated with TURBODRIVER, Electronic Arts, wicked.cc, LoversLab or Patreon.
• WhimWatch is NOT and does NOT condone pirating; In fact, this project is meant to remove friction so you can more easily support the rich community of artists and creators who contribute to WickedWhims.
• I also want to make this crystal clear, as there has apparently been an influx of vibe-coded projects and malicious EXEs submitted to LoversLab of late - While WhimWatch is maintained with LLM-assistance, I am a software engineer by trade who has worked in this industry for over a decade:
  • I write some WhimWatch code by hand, some with LLM-assistance, but I review and understand every line regardless.
  • I take the nuanced stance that using an LLM as one of many tools in the process does not make my software less genuinely mine when I am reviewing every single line, running manual tests, making edits, and making the architectural and engineering decisions for the project, and I own the responsibility of all those pieces.
  • I really, really care about the quality of what I put out and have the experience and desire to maintain a good product. I am not a vibe-coder just slopping it up.
  • I do understand AI/LLMs are very divisive in general, so I wanted to be as transparent as possible about this up front while also being adamant that I am not a slop-shoveler, and I put a ton of effort and passion into building and maintaining this project, and protecting my users, and I hope you see that come through in my code and the experience of the app.
• With the above said, I also encourage ALL users to always scan anything you download (including WhimWatch!) through a trusted virus scanner
  • I recommend VirusTotal because it is free and easy to upload and see results quickly. It sometimes flags things as false positives/negatives, but if you look at the results holistically, you should get a good read on whether a file is malicious or not.
  • I also include a SHA256SUMS.txt file in my releases so that you can check this page and ensure the hashes match the file you download (see "Download"  below, and if you still have no idea what any of that means, VirusTotal will also provide you the SHA256 hash of the file you upload to it, and you can just use that to compare the known-good hashes in that TXT file - if these hashes don't match, you may have a compromised file).

 

I designed WhimWatch to be respectful of privacy, secure, easy-to-use, customizable, and simple to submit improvements and bug reports to.

 

I do my best to test the application as far as possible, but am limited by the packages and subscriptions I have available to me, so feedback from those on other operating systems, package sites, and other circumstances is vital to ensuring the app handles as many scenarios as seamlessly as possible.

 

Share any feedback or questions here on LL, or send feedback or bug reports via the app, and you can also contact me on reddit at 4thewhimsy.

 

WhimWatch is free and open source, and always will be.

 

Stay Wicked.

 

GitHub with Source Code and Releases: https://github.com/forthewhimsy/whimwatch

 

Download

System	File
Windows 10 and 11	WhimWatch-Setup-X.Y.Z.exe: installs for your user account, no administrator rights needed. Or WhimWatch-X.Y.Z-portable.exe to run without installing.
macOS on Apple silicon (M1 and later)	WhimWatch-X.Y.Z-arm64.dmg
macOS on Intel	WhimWatch-X.Y.Z-x64.dmg
Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint	WhimWatch-X.Y.Z-amd64.deb
Fedora, openSUSE	WhimWatch-X.Y.Z-x86_64.rpm
Other Linux	WhimWatch-X.Y.Z-x86_64.AppImage (make it executable, then run it)

 

• Windows will likely show a "Windows protected your PC" pop-up because these files are unsigned (click More info → Run anyway).
• macOS says it can't check the app (open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway). This happens once.
• To verify a download, compare its SHA-256 with SHA256SUMS.txt
  • You can run sha256sum <file> on Linux
  • shasum -a 256 <file> on macOS
  • Get-FileHash <file> in PowerShell
  • Or upload the file to VirusTotal, which will spit out the SHA256 for you (see above)

 

Supported Languages

The following languages are supported by WhimWatch (feel free to request or submit a PR for a new one!)

• English
• Italian
• Spanish
• Traditional Chinese

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• Submitter
  forthewhimsy
• Submitted
  09/22/26
• Category
  WickedWhims
• Requirements
  The Sims 4 + WickedWhims base mod (https://wickedwhimsmod.com/)

 

[Rahl81]

Great idea, and thanks for your program.

I wanted to ask if it would be possible to translate the program into my language (Italian). Thanks.

[forthewhimsy]

3 hours ago, Rahl81 said:

Great idea, and thanks for your program.

I wanted to ask if it would be possible to translate the program into my language (Italian). Thanks.

 

Hey Rahl81!

 

Yeah, I can take a stab at starting to use some locales in WhimWatch using automation, but I may need some help ensuring the translations are accurate from folks like yourself (if you see something that looks mistranslated, you can just contact me to fix it).

 

I will cut an Issue to start with Italian, and let you know when it is completed so you can check it out.

 

Thanks for the suggestion!

[tirofederal]

no me sale en español

 

[forthewhimsy]

56 minutes ago, tirofederal said:

no me sale en español

 

I can add Spanish as a follow-up to Italian as well - again may need your help after the changes are in to look out for mistranslations. 

[forthewhimsy]

@Rahl81 + @tirofederal: v0.3.0 just got published with locale support + Italian and Spanish translations.

 

Let me know what you think and if you see anything that looks poorly worded.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Rahl81]

2 hours ago, forthewhimsy said:

@Rahl81 + @tirofederal: La versione 0.3.0 è stata appena pubblicata con supporto per le lingue locali e traduzioni in italiano e spagnolo.

 

Fammi sapere cosa ne pensi e se noti qualcosa che ti sembra formulato male.

 

Grazie per i suggerimenti!

I'll let you know if there are any errors or anything that needs correcting... thanks for now.

[tirofederal]

muchas gracias por la traducción. te aviso si veo algo raro

[forthewhimsy]

1 hour ago, tirofederal said:

muchas gracias por la traducción. te aviso si veo algo raro

¡De nada y gracias a ti también!

[xEmTee]

The Mod looks really good so far and very easy to use. I dont know how much work it would be or if that would even be in your interest but ive been looking for a mod that checks my Mod folder for duplicate files in general since ive been using a lot of custom Sims and have a lot of Dupes since im very tidy and make folders for every creator and the individual sim. Do you know of any mod like that or think you could make one/ add it into WhimWatch? I have zero clue how difficult it would be since im not a tech guy.

[forthewhimsy]

53 minutes ago, xEmTee said:

The Mod looks really good so far and very easy to use. I dont know how much work it would be or if that would even be in your interest but ive been looking for a mod that checks my Mod folder for duplicate files in general since ive been using a lot of custom Sims and have a lot of Dupes since im very tidy and make folders for every creator and the individual sim. Do you know of any mod like that or think you could make one/ add it into WhimWatch? I have zero clue how difficult it would be since im not a tech guy.

Thank you! I’m so glad to hear it!

 

And holy cow, this is so weird: I just made a script to do this today because I had the same problem where a bunch of my old packages were in subfolders and dupes. 
 

It’s actually very simple to do something like this (took a few minutes to script) - But using it also depends on what you are comfortable doing:

 

Would you like me to share that script (if you know how to run scripts/can tell me your operating system), or if not, I can probably slap together a nice UI on it if you’d rather have more of a visual and easy point-and-click experience. 
 

Great minds think alike!

[forthewhimsy]

Actually @xEmTee: I could probably add this on to WhimWatch as an “Extras”  or “Tools” section…that might be the lightest lift. 

[Zasz]

On 9/22/2026 at 7:20 AM, forthewhimsy said:

I also want to make this crystal clear, as there has apparently been an influx of vibe-coded projects and malicious EXEs submitted to LoversLab of late - While WhimWatch is maintained with LLM-assistance, I am a software engineer by trade who has worked in this industry for over a decade:

 

Does your tool prevent the download of exe files?

 

Im not happy that the setup automatically installs the tool.... somewhere. I have a specific sorting system and hate it when I have no control where software is installed. This part definately needs a customization setting.

 

When updating

- under the "this adds XX files" and the list exceeds 14 files, the rest dont show. This window needs scroll bar.

- Im not sure what this window does. Are those the files I have or the files that will be added? All files are by default checked but on the right side I have options. They shouldnt be checked if I dont have some of those files.

- dates always should have a year. Right now Im looking at an update and the first line has no year but the second line has one. I cant tell this way which file is older. A comparison only seems to show while its checking for the update.

Edited September 27 by Zasz

[forthewhimsy]

8 minutes ago, Zasz said:

 

Does your tool prevent the download of exe files?

It does, to the best extent. It does some light static checks to ensure nothing that doesn’t look like a valid .package file comes through a download (though I also always recommend passing files through virustotal.com if you are downloading them for the first time).

 

EDIT: Sorry both .package and .ts4script files are treated as valid. There’s a blocklist of other files that are not permitted in archive.ts

Edited September 27 by forthewhimsy

[forthewhimsy]

14 minutes ago, Zasz said:

 

Does your tool prevent the download of exe files?

 

Also Im not happy that the setup automatically installs the tool.... somewhere. I have a specific sorting system and hate it when I have no control where software is installed. This part definately needs a customization setting.

You know I actually debated allowing for this (the custom install dir) because I think with Electron it amounts to a switch flip - I just opted against it as I wasn’t sure if anyone would care. 
 

Seeing as you do, I will get this added to the list of features for the next version: It’s a good idea. 

Edited September 27 by forthewhimsy

[forthewhimsy]

FYI: Working on a v0.4.0 that fixes/adds things from your above comments + Some additional fixes I’ve found from using the app recently. 

[xEmTee]

On 9/27/2026 at 11:24 PM, forthewhimsy said:

Actually @xEmTee: I could probably add this on to WhimWatch as an “Extras”  or “Tools” section…that might be the lightest lift. 

I think that would be smarter since there will probably be some more people like us that have this kind of problem

Edited September 28 by xEmTee
typo

[forthewhimsy]

@xEmTee and @Zasz: 

Thanks to you both again for the feedback!

Can you check out the 0.4.0 release posted and see if this addresses that feedback sufficiently?

I tested as much as I could on my machine/with the creators I have, but more testing is very appreciated!

Edited September 28 by forthewhimsy

[Zasz]

I uninstalled the version I downloaded yesterday. Unfortunately when I was asked whether I want to keep my settings the window disappeared before I could select an option. Cant tell if it was because my avast was adamant to scan the uninstall.exe because the timing was almost perfect with it finishing the scan and the window disappearing. Then avast wanted to scan the new setup.exe but installation went smoothly. Except the missing option to choose where to install. Maybe in another update.

 

But the dates in the update window help alot. Players like me care about such details. I want to be sure Im actually installing a new file, not an old one.

 

I was checking this while the game was open. Its nice the tool recognizes that instead of trying to install regardless.

[forthewhimsy]

20 minutes ago, Zasz said:

I uninstalled the version I downloaded yesterday. Unfortunately when I was asked whether I want to keep my settings the window disappeared before I could select an option. Cant tell if it was because my avast was adamant to scan the uninstall.exe because the timing was almost perfect with it finishing the scan and the window disappearing. Then avast wanted to scan the new setup.exe but installation went smoothly. Except the missing option to choose where to install. Maybe in another update.

 

But the dates in the update window help alot. Players like me care about such details. I want to be sure Im actually installing a new file, not an old one.

 

I was checking this while the game was open. It’s nice the tool recognizes that instead of trying to install regardless.

Ugh, sorry to hear about the install thing - did it save your settings or no?

 

And also, there should have been a prompt for where to install it EXCEPT if there was still an installation present (so, for example, if the uninstaller actually errored out, it may not have prompted you because it already found an existing installation folder).

 

So one thing I would check is to see if you uninstall again:

 

1. does it still shut that window down before you can select to save settings?

2. If it uninstalls successfully, do you get the prompt on where to install next time you run the 0.4.0 Setup?

 

Also, if that still doesn’t work, let me know what OS you are running and I can try to troubleshoot further. 
 

On my test machine, I uninstalled my existing WhimWatch, and it prompted me for a new install dir next time I ran the 0.4.0 setup. 

[Zasz]

Yeah, looks like the settings remained. Wouldnt have been much of a loss anyway. This time.

 

I still had the apps window open from where I selected to uninstall, like half an hour later or even longer, and suddenly avast popped up, then the uninstall, then the setup. So weird.

 

Maybe I was too fast between uninstall and setup this time. Could also have been avast interfering way too much this time. It usually doesnt do anything like this.

[xEmTee]

1 hour ago, forthewhimsy said:

@xEmTee and @Zasz: 

Thanks to you both again for the feedback!

Can you check out the 0.4.0 release posted and see if this addresses that feedback sufficiently?

I tested as much as I could on my machine/with the creators I have, but more testing is very appreciated!

That worked almost perfectly. It deleted around 1700 files which is a lot and saved me a lot of space as you can imagine. The only thing i would change is that the tool defaults to the newest date of the mod/cc to make sure you dont delete the newest file while leaving older and perhaps out of date versions in the game. But other than that it works flawless. Kudos to you.

[forthewhimsy]

1 hour ago, xEmTee said:

That worked almost perfectly. It deleted around 1700 files which is a lot and saved me a lot of space as you can imagine. The only thing i would change is that the tool defaults to the newest date of the mod/cc to make sure you dont delete the newest file while leaving older and perhaps out of date versions in the game. But other than that it works flawless. Kudos to you.

 

1700!!! Wow, hats off to you, because you must have a lot of CC (I would love some recommendations lol)

On the defaulting question: The program detects duplicates via byte-by-byte comparison, meaning it's actually comparing to ensure the file is completely duplicative based on content alone (not on title or any other feature).

 

What that means is that neither file is "out of date" (since they are exactly identical in content), so I opted to choose the default to keep in this order:

1. A CC that actually loads (a .ts4script more than one folder deep in Mods doesn't get loaded, so it's deprioritized)
2. A CC WhimWatch itself installed (so future updates can find it)
3. A CC without a "copy" marker in the filename (Pack (1).package, Pack - Copy.package, etc.)
4. The least deeply nested file
5. The oldest by modification time
6. Path string (basically alphabetically), as a final tiebreak

My reasoning for this ordering is if a user has some ordering or organization they already built into their mod folder, it made more sense for me to preserve their existing/older copy of the file vs. just always choosing the newest one so I didn't disrupt their organization.

 

Again, "old" and "new" are just file creation timestamps, not content since the content is identical.

 

Does that make sense? Or do you think it's worth changing in the next patch?

[xEmTee]

12 hours ago, forthewhimsy said:

 

1700!!! Wow, hats off to you, because you must have a lot of CC (I would love some recommendations lol)

On the defaulting question: The program detects duplicates via byte-by-byte comparison, meaning it's actually comparing to ensure the file is completely duplicative based on content alone (not on title or any other feature).

 

What that means is that neither file is "out of date" (since they are exactly identical in content), so I opted to choose the default to keep in this order:

1. A CC that actually loads (a .ts4script more than one folder deep in Mods doesn't get loaded, so it's deprioritized)
2. A CC WhimWatch itself installed (so future updates can find it)
3. A CC without a "copy" marker in the filename (Pack (1).package, Pack - Copy.package, etc.)
4. The least deeply nested file
5. The oldest by modification time
6. Path string (basically alphabetically), as a final tiebreak

My reasoning for this ordering is if a user has some ordering or organization they already built into their mod folder, it made more sense for me to preserve their existing/older copy of the file vs. just always choosing the newest one so I didn't disrupt their organization.

 

Again, "old" and "new" are just file creation timestamps, not content since the content is identical.

 

Does that make sense? Or do you think it's worth changing in the next patch?

Hey man youre the expert here. To me your reasoning makes total sense. 

 

As for recommendations i just checked the Sims 4 - CAS section on LL and checked for Creators that match my tastes and just download the whole Sim CC folder. Some of the great creators are Siamese Sims, Mervejuana and AvoidTheCrown. But of course there are plenty more which have some awesome Details but just dont fit my style.

 

One thing i forgot to mention is when you choose to update all you cant decide which files to download. Might be worth changing that since youre able to when updating each one by one. I was pretty shocked when i opened my game to see my loading screen being replaced by a big black dude with his shlong out staring at me because some random update added custom loading screens.

[forthewhimsy]

3 hours ago, xEmTee said:

Hey man youre the expert here. To me your reasoning makes total sense. 

 

As for recommendations i just checked the Sims 4 - CAS section on LL and checked for Creators that match my tastes and just download the whole Sim CC folder. Some of the great creators are Siamese Sims, Mervejuana and AvoidTheCrown. But of course there are plenty more which have some awesome Details but just dont fit my style.

 

One thing i forgot to mention is when you choose to update all you cant decide which files to download. Might be worth changing that since youre able to when updating each one by one. I was pretty shocked when i opened my game to see my loading screen being replaced by a big black dude with his shlong out staring at me because some random update added custom loading screens.

As soon as my sides stop hurting from laughing at that story, I’m going to cut a ticket to fix that - perhaps at least as an optional prompt. 
 

Sorry about the jump scare 😂😂😂