Sims 4 Retail Mods
I can assure you that if you mention The Sims to anyone in your immediate vicinity, they would know what it is. Yes, we are talking about those virtual people that you control; from their food and water intake to their careers and love lives. I’ve seen some awesome (and brutal) stuff that you can do with just the base game, from creating massive buildings of wonder to enjoying the miracles of birth and raising a family. There are also ways to turn people into vampires and make them swim to death, but that’s for a later list.
Although The Sims is great as is, what if we can enhance the base playing experience by adding mods into the mix?
The Sims games are always better with some high-quality, custom user-created content, also known as CC. The Sims 4 has a large variety of CC now that its been out for a few years, but there's so many different websites and blogs that you can find CC on, and if you're new to CC (or just don't have any favourite creators/sites yet), it can be overwhelming to find the best stuff. Scrums Sims has free custom content and mods created by me for The Sims 4. Mods and cc for retail and restaurants. Free download. Includes objects for your GTW bakery and diner. Cakes, pastries, pictures, signs, neon signs and custom objects including a 50s Pump and a Glow Burger.
Modifications provide an additional layer of fun made by us: the fans and players. These can include automating gameplay, subtly changing the look and feel of the game and its characters, all the way down to controlling every aspect of the game itself. To help you along with your Sims 4 experience, here are 10 MUST have mods for The Sims 4!
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10. Daily Save Mod
I’m sure there are many times in your gaming career where you would like to be duking it out in a fight or to be in a very stressful moment which requires meticulous finesse, only to have yourself get killed or fail the mission.
If the feeling of failure wasn’t bad enough — wait for the sinking feeling of forgetting to save!
The Sims 4 base game offers an autosave which isn’t at all robust. However, Daily Save Mod (coded by temptest) can save your progress every game day, using seven rotating slots. This ensures you have many chances to undo your mistake whether you have killed your Sim or destroyed your house!
NEXT: The Sims: 25 Tricks From The Series Players Have No Idea About
9. Emotional Inertia
For various reasons, people want their gameplay to have more depth or be more immersive. As we all know, The Sims 4 has personality algorithms that can place Sims in moods depending on conversations and the environment. However, these feelings and moods can be predictable and not feel genuine (to the more hardcore players).
To enhance the immersion, roBurky coded the amazing Emotional Inertia Mod, which manipulates the moods of Sims. This extends the duration of certain moods depending on their levels of feelings, to deliver a more authentic feel to the emotions the Sims have. Emotional management takes a bit more planning and makes the Sims more human and relatable.
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8. Teen Careers For All Ages
Don’t you hate growing up? Having to get an ‘adult job' and forgo the fun and exciting times when you were working in fast food or as a babysitter? Well, with this mod by plasticbox, Teen Careers for All Ages allows Sims (regardless of their age) to apply for any previously labeled ‘teen’ job.
For those hardcore role-players out there, this provides a perfect opportunity to create some additional stories for the Sims. Besides, why can’t a 60-year-old Sim be a burger-flipper or a retail assistant? Ageists!
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7. Default Easel Paintings Replace
When going through some games, do you look at their art and go 'YUCK'? The Sims 4 is the same. Some of the generic artworks don’t really suit the theme or the aesthetic of what it should be.
A coder by the name of DaisyTighfield has made a simple mod named Default Easel Paintings Replaced. Within the pack, they have replaced the standard ‘meh’ paintings with an amazing range of artwork to really pop your décor. You can even replace some paintings with your own!
6. Fairies Mod
Humans — BAH! So boring right? Some gamers like to stretch the realms of reality and enter a fantasy land of their own making. Nyx has created a magical mod aptly named Fairies Mod, which allows the player to turn their Sims into fairies.
Any Sim can be blessed (or cursed) with this gift by pleading with the new addition, the fairy tree, and be transformed into a winged wonder. Awesome features (such as having auras, both good and bad, which affect the moods of all immediate Sims around them), customizable wings, and even magic, adds an additional layer of creativity and playthrough.
5. Get To College Mod V2
I remember playing The Sims 2 and 3 and thoroughly enjoying the playthrough of taking my Sims on their journey for higher education with its trials and tribulations. It is a shame that EA isn’t releasing (in any foreseeable future) an expansion pack like The Sims 2 and 3 for university life. However, we have the next best thing.
Started by simmythesim and revived by itasam2, Get To College Mod V2 allows The Sims 4 players to experience life in a college as close as possible. This heavy and packed mod includes three majors that the Sim can choose from, class schedules, and, of course, graduation. I must warn you though, it is a heavy mod and requires a lot of investment, but it is worth the work!
4. Gender Preference Mod
Love is love in the real world, right? Why shouldn’t it extend to our Sims as well! Azoresman has coded a simple mod called Gender Preference Set, which allows the player to change—you guessed it—the gender preference for your Sim.
There are four options that the player can choose from: male, female, both, and none. In recent updates to the mod, the player can dictate the percentage of preference via a slider; evermore increasing the flexibility the player has in creating the perfect Sim that fits their story (if there is one).
MORE: 10 Reasons You Need The Sims 4 MC Command Center Mod
3. Height Slider
The Sims have always prided themselves on the ability to fully customize characters; from their body type to their hair to their facial features. But the one thing that you cannot do in The Sims 4 is changing the height! How bizarre is that? Not to fear though; GODJUL1 has coded a small mod called Height Slider, which allows you to change the height of a Sim with a simple drag of the mouse.
This mod will help create a bit of difference and uniqueness between your Sims. As a reminder, this is a custom mod. Actions, such as kissing and hugging, may look strange as the characters aren’t the same height (duh).
2. Custom Food Interactions
Bored of the same food that your Sims can make? Want something new and exciting? Never fear, Custom Food Interactions is here to save you from boring food. This mod allows your Sim to create delicious meals such as tandoori chicken, peach pie, and apple salad just to name a few. When you install this mod, be sure to check out the #Custom food tag on modthesins.info to get the latest and greatest of custom foods!
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1. MC Command Center
We've finally made it to the end-all, be-all; the best of the best. These are some of the phrases uttered by many Sims players when it comes to this mod.
MC Command Center by deaderpool is a mammoth of a mod, which came highly recommended by colleagues, friends, and random Internet dwellers. This mod allows the player to take control of very finite features of the game; from lifespans to bill frequency, even down to pregnancy chances! There are too many things to list here, however, it allows granular control over your Sims playthrough, which is perfect for those wanting to tell a story that is precise and particular.
You can find this amazing mod here with all its documentation and FAQs.
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The best Sims 4 mods can completely change and expand your game. New ones appear all the time on ModTheSims—which has long been the go-to hub for creators—every week. There, you’ll find everything from minor tweaks (like making medicine cabinets actually dispense medicines) to complete reworks of major systems.
It can be hard to keep track of which of the best Sims 4 mods are working because some of the best mods haven’t been tended to in years, and official game updates can break them or add features that make them obsolete.
With that in mind, here’s a collection of the best up-to-date mods for the Sims 4, from the tiny to the virtual life-changing. Make sure you read the installation instructions for each one, and check for any conflicts to make sure you’re not running two that will clash.
To get even more out of the game check out our round-up of the best Sims 4 expansions and game packs. If you want immortal Sims, free houses, and infinite money, check out our list of Sims 4 cheats.
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Players are adding new careers to ModTheSims every week, so if you’re ever looking for inspiration on which direction to steer your Sim in, give it a browse. The imagination behind them is impressive, and most of them give you a fully-fleshed out path to follow. Whether you want to become a bowling champ, game developer, professional hacker or private investigator, you can now follow your dreams. We especially like transforming our sim from a basketball draft pick to league MVP in the SBA Baller career.
A word of warning: these custom careers won’t work with most career overhaul mods, such as Turbo Careers—but don’t let that put you off.
Emotional Inertia
Sims are an emotional bunch, and their moods flip like a light switch. Just doing the simplest of activities—having an good meal in a well-decorated room—will fill them with joy for a few hours, but then the feeling will vanish. If that’s not to your taste, or if you think the system is just too easy to control, then you might want to download Emotional Inertia.
It makes emotions more meaningful: they’ll last longer, it’ll be harder to override them, and it will take more effort to reach the upper ranks of each one. You’ll no longer have an iron grip over whether your Sims are up or down, which makes them feel a bit more like real people.
Custom food interactions
If you want more culinary creativity, then Custom Food Interactions is the only place you should start. It doesn’t add any ingredients or recipes to the game—it just adds new possible interactions to cooking equipment along with a menu framework that lets you craft a fridge-full of custom meals from other modders’ kitchens.
With it installed, you’ll want to head over to the ModTheSims custom food section and pick from the menu. You’ll find recipes for everything from Chinese dumplings to beignets, blueberry cheesecake to biriyani. Grab an optional bib to make sure you don’t accidentally salivate on your keyboard.
Have Some Personality Please!
This is one of our favourites on the best Sims 4 mods list. It's a huge overhaul of—as you can probably guess—the way Sims’ personalities work. It changes lots in the background (read the description on the mod page for an exhaustive list) but the best thing about it is that it eliminates all idle conversations. Never again will two Sims blab aimlessly to each other about nothing in particular: instead, they’ll be forced to choose an interaction, which is far more interesting.
Those interactions aren’t random, either: the mod will select them based on traits, moods and the existing relationships between the two Sims in question, which will give them a greater sense of autonomy than ever before. Expect more kisses from love interests—and more sucker punches from your enemies.
Become a Sorceror
Do you miss the magic of previous Sims games? Become a Sorcerer adds a hearty serving of the supernatural, letting your Sims sling magic spells that can either suck the sadness out of a friend or strike down an enemy with a bolt of lightning.
You just need to touch lump of clay, choose one of three rituals—they’ll determine which Needs are replaced with new magical ones—and get to casting. Using magic strengthens your powers and unlocks new spells, but it also depletes your “Magical Connection” (a mana bar, basically), and you’ll have to drain either yourself or another Sim to replenish it.
Depending on your choices, you’ll lean towards good or evil, which changes the type of spells you can cast. Do-gooders can eventually bring ghosts back to life, but if that doesn’t sound like fun, just set fire to a table instead. If you’re bored of your current playthrough, then this is bound to liven it up.
New personality traits
Many of the best Sims 4 mods affect the ways Sims interact with each other. The Sims 4 has a long list of traits that change the way a Sim behaves, and because they’re relatively easy for modders to create you can quickly expand that list through custom content. The Gamer trait, for example, lets Sims improve their gaming and programming skills faster, while the Functional Robots group of traits lets you spawn human-machine hybrid Sims, or just full-on robots who must visit a recharging station every few hours.
There are tonnes of individual traits available on ModTheSims, or you can grab pre-made packages of traits, like this one from modder KawaiiStacie. It will make your Sims natural salespeople, born artists, or slick dancers. Get ready to bust a move.
Want to try out several new traits at once? This mod lets you add more than three traits at a time: you just need to type a quick cheat code including the name of the desired trait to add it to your Sim. It’s all explained on the mod page.
Build your own houseboat
If you’re tired on living on land then this mod lets you take to the water, transforming the game’s decorative boat models into full-on houseboats. They look pretty, and the limited space means you’ll have to get creative with what furniture you try to pack into them. It’s a good choice for a minimalist designer. Click here for a download link alongside instructions on building your first boat.
If you’re feeling particularly outdoorsy, then this separate mod will let you add a custom fishing location off of the side of your new home.
True Happiness
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Enjoy the Sims 4's wonderfully jaunty soundtrack with the best gaming headsets out there.
The idea behind this mod from roBurky is to make your Sims’ happiness “fleeting, meaningful, and personal”. In the normal game, ‘happy’ is the default state, but with this mod your Sims will have to make do with simply being ‘fine’ most of the time. They’ll only be truly happy when something special happens to them such as meeting a new partner, ripping through a good workout or eating a tasty meal. These events, of which there are many, will boost their mood considerably for a short period of time, which feels a bit more realistic.
Don’t worry, the ‘fine’ change doesn’t mean they’ll be grumpy by default—it still counts as a positive mood state.
Old French Village
Bring the Alsace to the Sims 4 with this charming village of old-fashioned cottages. There are ten houses to choose from of varying grandeur (the mansion at the top of the hill is particularly spacious) as well as a pub and café for when your Sims feel peckish.
Somehow, modder catdenny has made the village only using default assets from the game, which is impressive. It does mean that there are slight variations in style, but unless you’re a stickler for European architecture then it probably won’t bug you. It just looks like a nice place to live.
You can add the village in ‘Manage Worlds’, but it will only fit in a vacant 64x64 lot. Sadly, there are no lots big enough in the base game, so you’ll have to travel to Brindleton Bay (part of the Cats & Dogs expansion) or Windenburg (from Get Together) to find a viable plot.
Get to college
We’ve mentioned simmythesim’s Get to College mod before because it fills a gap that those who played The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 will keenly feel. The mod hasn’t been updated in many years, but luckily another modder has come along and patched it up. Grab it here.
Maybe one day we’ll get an official university expansion for The Sims 4, but for now this addition to the best Sims 4 mod list will let you pick one of three majors, carry out related activities and attend lectures, and study to get a good grade.
If the mod doesn’t work for you, then this University Career mod is a decent alternative, although it won’t actually let you visit the classroom. Those interested in the academic lives of their younger Sims may also want to check out Zerbu’s Go to School mod—just make sure you add a new Elementary School or High School to the neighbourhood for it to work.
Less 'Musical Chairs'
This sounds boring, but Sims’ seating habits are so weird that Chris mentioned them in our Sims 4 review. Particularly annoying is the way they move around mid-conversation; when there are several Sims involved normal conversation can look like an elaborate game of Musical Chairs. Shimrod101 has built a mod that fixes that, making it far more likely that Sims will just stay put.
The mod’s download links are outdated, but thanks to another helpful player you can grab an updated version from here (scroll down to LittleMsSam’s comments). By default, it’ll also disable the occasionally infuriating group conversations Sims have around the table, which can override any one-on-one chats you’re trying to have. If you prefer, you can grab a version that keeps group conversations intact.
Sims 4 Retail Mods 1
Turbo Careers
Another one from Zerbu, the Turbo Careers mod makes all adult (and two teen) careers function like the active careers from the Get to Work expansion. You can download work venues from the Gallery, including ones with a combined function, or make your own—just make sure they have the right objects for Sims to do their job.
The necessary activities for career progression are naturally related to the career—programming, cooking, exercising—and sometimes Sims will receive fieldwork. An athlete might have to go to the gym and show off her muscles, while a Sim who works in business might have to offer career advice to those running retail venues.
You can browseall available careers here and the venue requirements for every job here.
MC Command Center
MCCC is a mega-mod that lets you tweak virtually aspect of your Sims’ lives, giving you godlike control over them and others in their world. You can blacklist certain clothing items, even on Sims you aren’t controlling. You can set employment rates for Sims of different ages, scan Sims to find out if they’re pregnant, or even terminate the pregnancy.
There are also lots of automatic settings geared towards letting non-controlled Sims live full lives without you, getting married and having babies of their own volition, and you can also use the mod to adjust the in-game time settings so your Sims don’t take half a day to shower and have breakfast.
Heights
With the new Create-a-Sim tool in The Sims 4, you can spawn Sims of many different widths, but you can't alter how tall they are. This height slider from GODJUL1 lets you adjust the height of your Sims so that the world looks more naturally varied: just click and drag their feet in Create-a-Sim to stretch or shrink them.
Replacement paintings
Once your artist Sim has churned out five paintings a day for a week you start to see the same images coming up again and again. This mod, from DaisyTighfield, replaces those default paintings across all categories with images from around the web, featuring lots of fanart from popular movies and video games.
If you like what you see, you can follow the links provided to find the original images on Deviantart or other sites. You can even create your own masterpieces for your Sims to paint in-game—the instructions are on the mod page.
Gender Preference mod
The Gender Preference mod lets you change the preferences Sims have for romantic partners of particular genders (in The Sims 4 currently that’s just two, female and male). You can adjust the numbers to set your Sims to prefer one gender to the exclusion of the other, to prefer one but also like the other, or to like both equally. Romance away.
Risky WooHoo
Another mod bringing The Sims closer to real life is one from PolarBearSims. It introduces a chance that female Sims who WooHoo rather than explicitly Try for Baby will still fall pregnant. The mod comes with a variety of different percentage risks and adjusts the chances based on where your Sims are getting it on as well as the traits they possess. It also reworks aspects of pregnancy, introducing complications and possible infertility for some Sims.
It should be noted that you can also manually adjust the chances of getting pregnant in MCCC. Risky WooHoo is compatible with that mod, but MCCC will overwrite the percentage chances.
If you’re looking to change the game even more, have a proper dig into the Create a Sim ‘custom gender settings’ in the base game. They were updated a while back and now provide you with more options, such as the ability to allow same-sex couples to fall pregnant.
Sims 4 Retail Overhaul Mod
And for even more control, check out artulwww’s Pregnancy Mega Mod, which lets you do things like give birth to quintuplets.
For more on the Sims, check out our Sims 4 review and our account of the Sims 4's terrifying first-person mode.