The Sims 4 launched on September 2nd, and one of its most notable differences from The Sims 3 is the loss of the Create-A-Style function. With Create-A-Style, players could recolor almost any texture in the game to express their personal creativity with custom clothing and furnishings. The feature’s absence leaves The Sims 4 feeling somewhat limited with its smaller handful of color swatches for each item.
The good news is, like The Sims 3, The Sims 4 does include powerful modding support. Ambitious creators are already churning out new fashions, recolored hairstyles, gameplay mods, and more to enhance your game. Learn how to install custom content here, and follow the links below to the communities and artists who bring it to life!
To install custom content, you’ll need to find the Mods folder for your game. The default file path for this folder is:
My Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods
This is where you’ll be dropping your custom content. Note that many content creators compress their creations as ZIP or RAR files to make sharing easier, so get one of these free file extractors to unpack your content before you place it in the folder.
Once you’ve added any mods to The Sims 4, the game will show a mod browser by default when you launch it. This will let you know exactly what the game has recognized and implemented at launch, so you can know that your files are in the right place.
When you dive into the world of custom content, be aware that you’ll be handling items that haven’t been vetted by the game’s creators. This means you’ll occasionally run across misidentified, offensive, or buggy material in your hunt. Take these recolors of the buzzed up hairstyle that I downloaded. They look fine on a static Sim’s face, but once the characters start making expressions, the hair separates from itself in a visual glitch. If I want corrected hairstyles, I’ll have to keep an eye on the creator’s blog to see if she publishes an update, and manually replace the files if she does. Managing custom content requires extra effort, but if you feel stifled by the game’s existing options, it can be worth the trouble.
So now that you know how to add custom content, where can you find it? Here are a few places you can start exploring.
Many creators share their work without ever posting to one of the popular custom content hubs. Their Tumblrs, or Simblrs as they’re fond of calling them, provide links to the file sharing sites from which you can nab their finished products. If you just want to browse the vast variety available to you, search for one of the following terms: Sims 4 Custom Content, S4CC, or Sims 4 Mods. Any of these will pull up a healthy list of options. That’s where I found NYAMI SIMS’ Cat Ears. They’re perfect for your more childish or goofy Sims.
While following individual creators can help you find cool things, you may also want to follow a few aggregators too. Take this Tumblr by Emily CC Finds. It’s almost like a Pinterest board, with lots of pictures of content spread across several columns to make your browsing easy and fun.
At time of writing, Mod The Sims already has over 120 different files hosted for The Sims 4. You’ll have to create a login to download things from the site, but once you do, the process is straightforward. Does the funny waddle Sims do when they really have to find a bathroom turn you off? Turn it off with this mod! Add some heavy metal t-shirts for your rock fan Sims, or crank up the manliness with body hair for your gentlemen.
The Sims Resource won’t ask you to make an account to get access to their huge pool of downloads, and what a pool it is! You’ve got everything from fun metallic eye shadows, to classy recolors of existing dresses. Ever wanted to dress up like the game’s Grim Reaper, complete with spooky hover effect? Consider it done.
The Simsperience is a new blog that launched alongside The Sims 4’s Create-A-Sim demo earlier this year. It only showcases the custom content of one particular creator, but it’s already packed with gorgeous recolors of existing clothing items. This classy pack of 10 recolored scoop neck tees was the first item to catch my eye, and it piqued my interest in checking out more of the blog’s quality content.
This is the time when your official Sims 4 options will be most limited. There’s no microtransaction shop up yet, and no expansions to diversify your gameplay. Custom content creators are eager to give you more mods and fashions, many of which perform just as well as official content, without charging you a penny! Try some of them out, and make The Sims 4 play the way you like it.
Are you a Sims 4 custom content creator? Can you think of any popular creators whose work our community should see? Share the best of the best in the comments so we can all find more awesome Sims 4 mods!
Want to enhance your Sims 4 houses with real world interior design ideas? See our look at the RoomReveal home design community!
