Mods are a great way to get the best out of The Sims 4. Even if the game is quite nice as it is, The Sims modding community has been producing wonderful additions to the game since its release. The amount of custom content out there is really overwhelming and sure to satisfy all kinds of tastes.
Since the base game became free for everyone, in this guide we focus on mods that don’t require any additional content. In any case, the amount of available DLCs is incredible. By focusing only on the vanilla version, we make sure that the mods in this list are compatible with all kinds of setups.
The custom content in this list will provide you with some basic utilities and help you improve the gameplay. You can also find some great tips if you are looking for custom lots, houses, and careers.
As they are very taste-subjective, we didn’t include any specific suggestions about clothing, body parts, and decorations. However, we will refer you to a couple of websites that offer a huge selection of these items.
Video by Deligracy
How to Install The Sims 4 Mods
There are two main ways of installing mods for The Sims 4: manually and with Vortex Mod Manager.
For manual installation follow these steps:
- Download the mod
- Unzip the mod content into a folder of your choice
- Copy or cut the content
- Paste the content into the “Mods” folder that you find in “Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4”
- Start the game
- Go to “Options” > “Other”
- Tick “Enable custom content and mods”
- Restart the game
This method is quite handy if you don’t plan to install many mods or you know your way around in case of conflicts. Otherwise, you can use Vortex Mod Manager. Whether you download mods from Nexus or other sites, you can install and manage all kinds of mods with it. The best feature is that it recognizes conflicts and gives suggestions on how to solve them. If the suggestion doesn’t work, at least you can easily find the culprits and deactivate what’s causing the issue.
Best Sims 4 Mods: Vortex Mod Manager Overview
Here’s how to install mods with Vortex:
- Download and install Vortex
- Download the mod
- Open Vortex
- From “Games” select “The Sims 4“
- Go to “Mods”
- On the top left corner click on “Install from file”
- Go to the folder containing the mod you downloaded
- Double-click on the mod file
- Select “Enable”
- Once finished, click on “Deploy Mods”
If you download files directly from Nexus, you can select the option “Download with Vortex” at the top of the mod page. Once downloaded, you just need to select “Enable” and then “Deploy Mods”.
The Sims 4 Mods Utilities
One of the best things about The Sims 4 mods is that they rarely have hard requirements, if not for DLCs or Packs. Thanks to this, there is only one essential mod that needs to be installed in order to make sure that everything else works properly: Xml Injector.
Another mod that it’s quite handy is MC Command Center. Its purpose is to increase the number of commands, or cheats if you want, applicable to sims; either controlled or NPCs. With this mod, you can modify the aspect, relationship, clothing, and much more of all Sims.
The last mod in this category is MorphMaker. This utility gives you the freedom to create morphs of all kinds, limited only by your creativity. The only downside of this utility is that it might be a bit hard to learn how to use it. If you’re into it, though, you can find a few guides on the linked page.
Best Sims 4 Mods: MorphMaker Utility
The Best Gameplay Mods
The mods in this category improve several aspects of the gameplay that, for some reason, were either left behind, not considered, or just needed some tweaks. Here’s the list:
- Wonderful Whims
- Kids Keep Skills
- SimCity Loans 2.0
- Faster Interactions
- Sims 4 Multiplayer Mod (S4MP)
Wonderful Whims
The first mod on this list is one of the most popular on all platforms: Wonderful Whims. It introduces plenty of social and personal enhancements that make our sims more realistic and deeper. Also, it fixes some minor bugs. Sims have now various preferences that influence their liking and disliking of other Sims based on personalities feats and physical appearance. Romantic relationships also have more options, including open relationships, one-night stands, and birth control.
Best Sims 4 Mods: Wonderful Whims
Kids Keep Skills
This mod tackles one very bizarre aspect of the passing of age from Child to Teen: the loss of all their skills. Kids Keep Skills links together some child and adult skills so that what was learned as a kid won’t go to waste when becoming an adult. The connection is as follows:
- Creativity > Painting
- Motor > Fitness
- Mental > Logic
- Social > Charisma
SimCity Loans 2.0
If you don’t like cheating but still need money for your Sims, then why not take a loan? SimCity Loans 2.0 allows you to take loans from as little as §1000 up to §500,000. You can also choose how long you’ll take to repay it. Very realistically, this mod adds some stress levels to your Sims if they skip payments and cannot be removed until the debt is sealed.
Faster Interactions
Sometimes, it seems like Sims take forever to do simple activities that would require just a few seconds. Faster Interactions reduces the time needed for some actions like washing hands, brushing teeth, making coffee, eating, and drinking.
Sims 4 Multiplayer Mod (S4MP)
As the title suggests, Sims 4 Multiplayer Mod (S4MP) lets you play with your friends over a LAN connection. You can interact with Sims in the same household at the same time with up to 12 people. Make sure to follow the installation instructions on the mod description!
The Sims 4 Career Mods
The Sims 4 has some cool careers available but it’s easy to think that many options are missing. Thankfully, you can find loads of career mods online. We selected some of the most popular, interesting and bizarre ones. They all come with multiple tracks available and chance cards. We also made sure that they aren’t “cheating careers” giving a ridiculous amount of money for the job done.
Click on the titles to download the mods!
- Architecture
- Basketball Player
- Dancer
- Education
- Graphic Designer
- Ministry of Magic
- Modeling
- Mortician
- Racing Driver
- United Nations
Best Sims 4 Mods: Ministry of Magic Career
The Sims 4 Lots and Houses Mods
Houses are among the best The Sims 4 mods. It might be because they are easy to create or just because the game makes it a great house-builder simulator. In any case, we selected some great additions to populate your Sim world. We divided the house categories into “Starter”, “Medium”, “Mansion” and “Lots”. So, you can find houses for all kinds of situations as well as some custom public places for your Sims to have fun.
If, on the contrary, you are looking for a complete makeover of the base game world areas, check AW Base Game Renovation. It’s a save file that contains a completely revolutionized world with new houses and lots.
Starter Houses
In this category, you can find nice houses that can be purchased as you start the game. They are all provided with the essentials but are still pretty enough.
- PUR Starter Home
- Urban Valley Starter
- 12 Midtown Garden
- Tranquil Crab Cottage
- Tiny Split Level Starter
Best Sims 4 Mods: Tranquil Crab Cottage Starter House
Medium Houses
Once your Sims start to settle down with their careers, it might be time to move to a more comfortable place. This is a selection of medium-sized houses perfect for middle-class Sims.
Best Sims 4 Mods: Grandma’s Yurt Medium House
Mansions
Whether you reached the peak of your career or you just cheated for extra money, here you have a list of the coolest, biggest, and most ludicrous houses you can find online.
Best Sims 4 Mods: Skyrim’s Dragonsreach Mansion
Lots
These are public spaces where you can send your Sims to have some fun and meet with other Sims. This selection includes some quite large areas full of shops, pubs, clubs, and activity centers like gyms and pools.
- Small Venice
- Atlantis – Underwater Nightclub
- Bourbon Street
- Blue Gym and Pool
- La Selena: A Modern-Classic Restaurant
Best Sims 4 Mods: Small Venice Lot
Extras
The list of mods for The Sims 4 could go on for a very long time and include all sorts of categories. We excluded some of them since they’re purely aesthetic and thus very personal. If you’re interested in adding custom house decoration, clothing, body parts, and Sims, you can check on Nexus, Mod the Sims, and The Sims Catalog. On these websites, you can find a vast selection of mods and filters to make sure that they’re compatible with your game set.
Finally, if you want more suggestions about The Sims 4 don’t miss our Cheats Guide where you can find loads of codes to make the life of your Sims a bit easier.
