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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 9th Jul 2016 at 4:33 PM Last edited by pinkjellybeans : 9th Jul 2016 at 4:48 PM.
Best way to organize mods folder?
Sorry if someone asked this already in the past. I haven't played TS4 for some time now because I think it's still quite boring and I'm still waiting for certain content to fully enjoy it. But while I wait, I still like to look for CC (I'm a hoarder) and update my Mods folder as much as possible.

Now, I have a few questions to those who use tons of CC themselves so if you can give me some quick answer it would mean the world to me!

1. What is the best way to organize your mods folder?
I like to have everything in subfolders, for example one of my more extended ones is Mods/Clothes/Female-adult/Sleepwear. Sometimes I might have another folder inside Sleepwear which contains a certain set with multiple packages as well. But I never go more than 4 subfolders inside the Mods folder. Do you think that's too much and should narrow it down to 2 or 3? Or it doesn't impact performance at all as long as it's no more than 4 or 5?

2. Is it true long files names and special characters (even spaces) slow the game down?
I've been renaming my files to avoid this and it's a really tedious process, so I'd like to make sure it does indeed help and it isn't just a myth. And does this also applies to the subfolders? Or can they have spaces and dots and stuff like that?

3. Having images of the CC inside the mods folder slow the game down?
I like to have pictures with the same name of the CC so I can easily identify it, but I'm pretty sure that's not a good thing.

4. Can a piece of CC have the same name as another but be in a different folder?
For example, having a towel.package inside my kitchen folder and have another with the same name in my bathroom folder. Will the two of them still load alright even though they have the same name?

5. What are the best programs to deal with CC and mods?
Like a conflictor program where I can see if I have any corrupted or duplicate CC or an easy way to delete unwanted CC without having to go to the folder and determine which one is it. That kind of thing. I already use the Sims Studio to merge certain packages.

6. Speaking of merging. Does merging packages improve performance at all?

Thank you in advance! :D
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Forum Resident
#2 Old 10th Jul 2016 at 1:11 AM
One thing to note.. you should not put script files more than 1 subfolder level deep.
These would be indicated as TS4SCRIPT files or zip files that contain PY or PYO extensions in them.

When an engineer says that something can't be done, it's a code phrase that means it's not fun to do.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 10th Jul 2016 at 11:40 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Lodakai
One thing to note.. you should not put script files more than 1 subfolder level deep.
These would be indicated as TS4SCRIPT files or zip files that contain PY or PYO extensions in them.


I'm a bit of a noob, as you might have noticed, but script files are the mods that change gameplay, right? I usually have those in one single file called "game mods". I only have lots of subfolders for the .package ones.

Anything to add to my other questions?
Forum Resident
#4 Old 11th Jul 2016 at 4:22 PM
Script files are type TS4SCRIPT or any zip file containing .PY or .PYO files within them.

I typically organize my own folders by type.
Clothing / Hair / Skin / Scripts / items / buildmode /makeup / eyes

You want to make it easy to Debug when things break ( and things WILL break)
Usually after a patch, clothing hair, skins etc are fine and a script file gets broken.. or an item.
By organizing them separately, you can simply remove the folder to a holding area in order to see if the game works again when you take it out.

It is also a good idea to further breakdown clothing into specific parts so that if you see a glove or hat that you thought you liked... but now it annoys you.. you can easily find it.

When an engineer says that something can't be done, it's a code phrase that means it's not fun to do.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 11th Jul 2016 at 5:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Lodakai
Script files are type TS4SCRIPT or any zip file containing .PY or .PYO files within them.

I typically organize my own folders by type.
Clothing / Hair / Skin / Scripts / items / buildmode /makeup / eyes

You want to make it easy to Debug when things break ( and things WILL break)
Usually after a patch, clothing hair, skins etc are fine and a script file gets broken.. or an item.
By organizing them separately, you can simply remove the folder to a holding area in order to see if the game works again when you take it out.

It is also a good idea to further breakdown clothing into specific parts so that if you see a glove or hat that you thought you liked... but now it annoys you.. you can easily find it.


Ok, thanks!
Like I said in my post, since the beginning I have been putting all the CC into subfolders to keep everything organized and mainly to make it easier to spot a broken CC. Do you know the answer to question 4? And do you know if there's a program where you can see all of the CC and when you click on it it shows an image of that CC? It's hard to keep track what is what after a while. I do keep images for each CC in a separate folder though but maybe there's an easier way to check?
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 17th Jul 2016 at 11:02 PM
My mods folder is pretty intensive, given that I have a lot of CC and, when cleaning my folder in case of patches/packs making mods and content obsolete, or narrowing down what files are causing game-breaking errors and bugs, it helps to know what and where everything is.

WARNING: LONG LIST

Test Subject
#7 Old 11th Jun 2018 at 6:36 PM
Default wooow
Quote: Originally posted by stupidname
My mods folder is pretty intensive, given that I have a lot of CC and, when cleaning my folder in case of patches/packs making mods and content obsolete, or narrowing down what files are causing game-breaking errors and bugs, it helps to know what and where everything is.

WARNING: LONG LIST




i just love you so much for this right now ... SIMtatstic!!!! :lovestruc
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 11th Jun 2018 at 11:37 PM
I personally have sub folders such as "Male Clothing, Female Clothing, M & F Accessories, my mods (my own CC i created,) buy mode, build mode, i have seperate folders for head accessories, like ear rings and hats and glasses, i have a tattoo folder! i personally have a ton of guns, knives, cars/motorcycles so they each have separate folders! a folder called "Misc Non Script" mods where i keep the non script mods that arent considered CC but one is "All club perks cost nothing," and another is the "Breast, hips, and legs" mod witch makes females more curvaceous or not depending how big or small they were already.. its really more of a personal kind of set up i think!? It depends on how much CC you use, and what it is exactly.. i of course have my script mods in the folder except MCC and the others that specify not to! I know for a fact you can have 2 folder deep on any non script mod package file and it will show up, anymore idk! When adding new mods tho, i have a folder called "New Mods" i stick them all in there, so if i have an issue i can take em out one by one to find the messed up one, then when its working fine, i add them to the correct sub folder,,, I also hve "Female hair & Male hair" since all the maxis hairs are pretty much undesirable! (other than the few really cute female ones) so it really is up to you, i have a folder for "Bodyshop" witch ifu played sims 2 ull get, but its skin tones, eyes, makeup, things like that! When you have a hundered or so u start losing track.,, i have about 15,000 diff mods and/or Custom Content files sooo this system has worked well for me..

Im travis tremonti on tso no longer travis b and live in bf im gf of tremonti mafia : )
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 11th Jun 2018 at 11:41 PM
Default p.s.
Quote: Originally posted by TravisB/tso/jollypines
I personally have sub folders such as "Male Clothing, Female Clothing, M & F Accessories, my mods (my own CC i created,) buy mode, build mode, i have seperate folders for head accessories, like ear rings and hats and glasses, i have a tattoo folder! i personally have a ton of guns, knives, cars/motorcycles so they each have separate folders! a folder called "Misc Non Script" mods where i keep the non script mods that arent considered CC but one is "All club perks cost nothing," and another is the "Breast, hips, and legs" mod witch makes females more curvaceous or not depending how big or small they were already.. its really more of a personal kind of set up i think!? It depends on how much CC you use, and what it is exactly.. i of course have my script mods in the folder except MCC and the others that specify not to! I know for a fact you can have 2 folder deep on any non script mod package file and it will show up, anymore idk! When adding new mods tho, i have a folder called "New Mods" i stick them all in there, so if i have an issue i can take em out one by one to find the messed up one, then when its working fine, i add them to the correct sub folder,,, I also hve "Female hair & Male hair" since all the maxis hairs are pretty much undesirable! (other than the few really cute female ones) so it really is up to you, i have a folder for "Bodyshop" witch ifu played sims 2 ull get, but its skin tones, eyes, makeup, things like that! When you have a hundered or so u start losing track.,, i have about 15,000 diff mods and/or Custom Content files sooo this system has worked well for me..


I should add as well, that it may take a little time to create all the diff folders you need, and to sort all the files to the correct one? But in the long run, you will be greatful you listened when you get a broken mod, or need to find one for another reason..

Im travis tremonti on tso no longer travis b and live in bf im gf of tremonti mafia : )
Test Subject
#10 Old 13th Jun 2018 at 5:55 PM
6. Speaking of merging. Does merging packages improve performance at all?

I am also very interrested in a reply to this^
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 14th Jun 2018 at 11:12 PM
Default my experience on merging packages
6. Speaking of merging. Does merging packages improve performance at all?

In my experience, merging packages just makes the game load a lot faster. For example, if you have like 6 or more GB of cc it can take quite a while to load (at one point I had ~30 GB and it took around 20 minutes to load) but by merging, you can cut that time by half (it depends like anything else, but this was my experience). But you should make sure to only merge things like CAS stuff, since build/buy and especially mods can break with patches and CAS stuff is a lot less likely to break. Always remember you can unmerge packages if you need to in Sims 4 Studio. In my opinion, it is definitely worth it and you should do it if you can!
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 20th Jun 2018 at 9:40 PM
Quote: Originally posted by dinacaliente
6. Speaking of merging. Does merging packages improve performance at all?

In my experience, merging packages just makes the game load a lot faster. For example, if you have like 6 or more GB of cc it can take quite a while to load (at one point I had ~30 GB and it took around 20 minutes to load) but by merging, you can cut that time by half (it depends like anything else, but this was my experience). But you should make sure to only merge things like CAS stuff, since build/buy and especially mods can break with patches and CAS stuff is a lot less likely to break. Always remember you can unmerge packages if you need to in Sims 4 Studio. In my opinion, it is definitely worth it and you should do it if you can!


I personally didnt know you could merge CC, but it does make sense? Maybe a turtorial link would be helpful for those less experienced with S4S? I would even need to look up how to do this, even though im pretty sure i know.. you DEFF wanna be cautious doing anything with mods, because u never know!

Im travis tremonti on tso no longer travis b and live in bf im gf of tremonti mafia : )
Test Subject
#13 Old 15th Jun 2019 at 5:42 PM
This is kinda late, but I just wanted to add something for organizing your folder. If you have an extension, like Dogs & Cats, for example, it would be good to add a subfolder for that too. Stuff like Vampires and (maybe) Aliens could have something too, but I don't have Aliens or Vampires so I can't speak from experience.
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