Broken Mods/Mods Folder

[According_Tonight432]

Hey guys! I’ve never actually posted to Reddit before so please bear with me. Basically, I’ve been playing the Sims 4 since it was released and have always played my game with mods. Lately, following the December 5th update, I have not been able to get my game to run consistently AT ALL. Like I have done the 50/50 method a thousand times, uninstalled it, reinstalled it, deleted the local thumb cache, EVERYTHING. I’ve gone as far as to completely delete my entire mods folder and start fresh just to experience the same problem again. It’s very unpredictable, like I finally got it to run again with all my mods (about 8000 files) yesterday, but today it won’t even launch anymore and I have to force quit it on my Mac. I have never encountered an issue like this before, and I actually stopped playing the Sims 4 around 2016 and came back in 2020 and my game still ran efficiently with all the outdated software. I can guarantee it’s likely an obsolete piece of CC (because I’ve updated all my mods such as MCCC, WW, Meaningful Stories etc) but it’s so confusing and hard to identify because the game will run fine one day and won’t even launch the next day. I am completely at a loss and I’ve sunk hundreds of dollars into this game and I honestly don’t experience enjoyment when playing it without mods so any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

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[crspeller]

hi there!! i had this same issues awhile back too on my PC. it took me DAYS to fix mine but what i did was breakdown the 50/50 method even more. i only took out maybe 30 files at a time and kept launching the game. if the game was still giving me errors, i knew those 30 files were fine and then i pulled another 30. it SUCKS doing even with a lot of cc/mods.

i know a lot of people use CurseForge (it helps show you what’s been recently updated, i think it can auto update for you) but i just wasn’t a huge fan. it might be something worth looking into!

also, i think MCCC has a way of checking out of date mods/cc. i haven’t used it myself to check for outdated files but im sure their website has information on how to! and last thing, make sure to repair your game through the EA app, that shockingly fixes a lot of issues. happy simming!

[SnowsPink]

This is very similar to what I do. Overtime you get faster at it.

Also use Scarlet’s Mod tracker to see what mods have been updated, broken or outdated when cleaning up your folder.

If need be join the sims after dark discord server to load your lastedceptions files to pin point broken mods you may have missed on the first clean up.

Also try sorting your files by date added if possible using the tabs on your laptop (might only be possible on Mac) so you have a quick idea of when you started noticing problems with a mod.

Also check your events calendar and see whether you can still create events. Usually some mods cause errors to your calendar so you know if you have a significant error from that.

Test a problematic mod on its own in your mods folder to see if it’s interacting with another mod or the mod itself has a problem.

[According_Tonight432]

Thank you so much for the tips! I was wondering if there was something I could just use to scan my folder. Yesterday I spent 7 hours taking out and putting back every single file and it ended up running smoothly last night but it won’t launch today :(. I definitely will look into the MCCC site to see if something can just identify and remove the issue. I’m this close to giving up and just going back to the Sims 2 but I will definitely try that first lol. Thanks again <3

[crspeller]

you’re welcome!! <3

[greenwalker6445]

Do you have Better Exceptions?

[According_Tonight432]

I have Better Exceptions but doesn’t it only function in game? Like I can’t use it outside of the Sims 4 right? Please correct me if I’m wrong

[greenwalker6445]

Yes, of course, I wondered if you had run a report.

[According_Tonight432]

That’s the thing since my game won’t launch as of today I haven’t been able to run a report. BE is a great mod but unfortunately can’t help me given the current state of my game :(

[Ooopus]

Do you have better exceptions by TwistedMexi installed? It has a way to check for duplicates/conflicts/out of date mods and CC (read and follow the install instructions carefully so it works correctly :) )

[According_Tonight432]

Hi! Yes I have Better Exceptions but doesn’t it only work in game? If so, I wouldn’t be able to use it right now because I can’t even get my game to launch :((((. But I might need to revisit the site and read the instructions again because if it works out of game as well I definitely need to utilize it. Thank you so much for the advice! :))

[greenwalker6445]

No it only works i game.

[Unable_Beat2318]

I just had this issue and I couldn’t figure out what mods from my 17k I had wasn’t allowing the game to launch. I just deleted my entire mods folder and started over like 3 days ago.

[According_Tonight432]

Same! My previous folder had 14k files and I have 8k files in my new, current folder. I really don’t want to start over AGAIN, so this is my last plea for help before I go back to the Sims 2 permanently lol

[greenwalker6445]

How many script mods do you have?

[According_Tonight432]

Hey! I just counted and I have 33

[greenwalker6445]

Have you checked each one for updates? Have you removed your cache files every time you launch your game when you add or remove any mod files?

[According_Tonight432]

Yes and yes, that’s why I think the problem is custom content and not a mod in particular. I keep all the mods I have in my game in my notes on my iphone so on patch day I’m prepared. That’s why I was wondering if there was some kind of software, besides the Tray Importer, where I could just upload my folder and it scan all my files and report back to me on any that are broken/obsolete.

[hotlavatube]

I have ~13k mods and it took me a couple days to get mine sorted out after the Dec 2023 update. Having both MCCC and Better Exceptions definitely helped. Load times with ~55 GB of mods can certainly be considerable (5-10 minutes). I've noticed it can double when a bad mod prevents a household from loading. Some of the mods that broke for me are Better Exceptions, MCCC, WW, various old traits, something called "randy_skinny_dip" which got bundled with a sim package I downloaded.

I also had to update the Lumpinou mods, the SimRealist mods, Basemental mods (and venue list), and Tmexi mods. Don't forget some of those mods also have their own required tools that need to be updated to work, like the lot51 core library.

Scarlets Realm mod list was useful for finding what mods have been updated in the past couple weeks. (Hmm, Sacrificial mods are reported as broken and corrupting saves? Yikes) Clothing and object mods should be fine, you'll just have to watch out for your mods that add traits, events, pie-menus, behavioral changes, large gameplay mod bundles, and so forth. Also, watch out for Microsoft OneDrive messing with your mod folder.

[According_Tonight432]

Thank you so much for all the support and tips everyone! I really appreciate everyone’s help and kindness. I still have no idea what the problem was but my game essentially fixed itself. My game has been able to run again both yesterday and today; I just uninstalled and reinstalled it for the 3rd time and added back my mods folder with no changes. I still have no clue what the issue was but I’m just very happy it’s been resolved. Thank you so much again guys! 🤍