10 Essential Mods for Every The Sims 4 Player

The Sims 4 is one of the most popular life simulators today, and even though some competition for the throne is arriving, such as inZOI and Paralives, there’s no denying that EA and Maxis’ game is an absolute success.

And a big part of its success can be attributed to the extensive community of modders who create new and interesting additions to the game (not to mention bug fixes) every day. The creators of The Sims mods improve the user experience, solve gameplay issues and still make most of the mods available for download and installation for free.

There are so many options when it comes to all of the available mods that it can be difficult to know where to start. So, for those of you interested in exploring the incredible The Sims 4 modding community, here’s a list of the must-haves for anyone looking to play with mods, and if you have any questions, leave a comment.

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This mod, More Columns for Create-a-Sim, is an essential addition to The Sims 4 for players looking to streamline the process of creating their Sims. By expanding the number of columns in the catalog panel from two to three-five, this mod improves the interface, providing a wider, more comprehensive view of the options available for customization.

Whether you’re adjusting facial details, experimenting with hairstyles, or selecting clothing, the wider screen reduces the need for excessive scrolling, allowing for faster and more accurate creation. This mod makes sure that creating the perfect Sim is not only easier, but more enjoyable too, making it an indispensable tool for players who value creating their Sims.

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If you want to redo the game’s personality system, then you should try Have Some Personality Please for The Sims 4. It encourages Sims to behave more in line with their characteristics, ages, moods, lifestyles, and with their relationships with other Sims. In addition to more realistic behaviors, players will also experience more autonomy so that their game feels less scripted.

Instead of having boring chit-chat with your neighbors and friends, this mod allows NPCs and other Sims NPCs to create more relationships and stories. They can choose social interactions they don’t usually do, such as being mean, telling jokes, kissing, and even WooHooing, letting players consider how their own Sim will react.

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Meaningful Stories is a mod that improves the game's emotions system and prepares players for better storytelling in The Sims 4. Without the mod, a Sim's mood can change in the blink of an eye, depending on the environment they're in. For example, sad Sims who are in well-decorated rooms can instantly change their mood from sad to happy; this makes the Sims feel robotic and breaks immersion.

This mod makes it so that Sims will only change moods and become happy if something good happens to make them so. Happenings such as perfect quality creations will make Sims feel good, making emotions more realistic. Other improvements to the emotion system include less predictable mood swings, decreases in the environmental effects, and changes to the strength of certain moodlets.

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The 100 Base Game Traits mod is a must-have for players looking to customize their Sims even further. This trait mod for The Sims 4 offers a wide selection of 100 unique traits and completely transforms the Sims’ personalities, adding new layers of complexity through emotional, social, relationship, physical, and talent/weakness traits.

Each modified trait has its own buffs, interactions and special modifiers, giving Sims a more dynamic presence in-game. Be it by selecting traits directly in Create-A-Sim or opting for a simplified experience by finding them in the rewards store, this mod offers endless possibilities for you to shape your Sims' behaviors and experiences.

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Sometimes, playing in simulation mode can get a bit boring and repetitive. Now, players can breathe some new life to their The Sims 4 neighborhood with the Life's Drama mod. The mod will bring a dash of controversy to every world, giving players a new popularity system and plenty of dramatic scenarios to experiment with.

The more popular Sims are, the more they'll be able to use new interactions, such as helping Sims who need advice, contributing to social movements, and uncovering dirty secrets for future blackmailing.

It's a great way to spice up the events of The Sims 4, allowing players to learn certain Sims’ dirty secrets and spread them around to create truly fascinating gossip. Of course, keep in mind that the person spreading this gossip can also become a target for other Sims if they're not careful enough!

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For players who love guiding their Sims throughout all aspects of life, the Turbo Careers Mod Pack is a dream come true. This mod brings back previously inactive careers, allowing players to clock in with their Sims as baristas, astronauts and a lot more with fully active workdays. Now, with this mod, nearly every job is an active career, just like the careers in the Get to Work DLC!

In addition, players can build or download customized workplaces, creating immersive environments where Sims perform tasks and achieve professional goals. The ability to interact with coworkers, customers, and exclusive environments increases storytelling opportunities and adds depth to career progression.

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The Slice of Life mod brings a new level of realism to The Sims 4, adding features that closely reflect everyday human experiences. With health mechanics such as diseases and allergies, Sims can now experience conditions which impact their daily lives. Beauty features allow for dynamic fashion, hairstyle, and skincare routines - all while receiving feedback from other Sims.

This mod also allows Sims to experience realistic states of drunkenness and its associated behaviors. Also, the menstrual cycle feature allows female Sims to go through their full cycle, complete with symptoms, remedies, and social interactions. With these immersive additions, Slice of Life greatly deepens the gameplay and improves how players interact with their Sims.

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Another success among Sims 4 storytellers, this mod from creator Turbodriver adds attraction preferences to the game. Sims can set their current character to those they find attractive, and players can set their Sims' gender preferences by percentage, allowing for stories with bi or pan Sims to feel a little more realistic.

There's also an option to set Sims' preference for an open or exclusive relationship (or both), allowing for non-monogamous relationships or creating great story potential when two Sims with different inclinations find themselves in a relationship. Because, of course, Sims have the option to ask other Sims about their preferences - even NPCs - and get answers they might not like.

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There’s a reason why the creator Deaderpool’s mod is such a hit with Sims 4 players. Up until EA released the latest update to its Neighborhood Stories system, Sims’ lives outside of their active family would remain static, aside from aging and dying.

But even after the update, Neighborhood Stories misses out on many of MCCC’s best features: for example, it doesn’t allow unplayed Sims to connect on their own with each other and marry or get pregnant by other Sims unless they’re already in a defined relationship.

The spontaneous scope of progression and story autonomy of MCCC makes for a complex narrative. When a Sim leaves their home for a long time and then comes back, finding out that the sibling they left behind has grown up and gotten a job is nice, but what about finding out that they’ve married someone the Sim hates? Much better.

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As the name suggests, this Sims 4 mod from Itskatato essentially adds an extra (but optional) life stage to the game. Instead of a Sim apparently jumping from ten to sixteen, they can age up and become a preteen.

They can experience their first crushes and search for them on Simstagram, or flirt with them and take great pictures. They'll experience moods that their parents can give them chill pills for (assuming the WonderfulWhims mod is also installed).

Players must manually set their ideal age range to preteen, and the Sim will automatically age up to a teenager after it goes by. In terms of storytelling, the mod offers a much more natural progression through puberty.