We know that for many of you, Mods are an important part of your game experience.  That’s why we support a framework in The Sims 4 that makes it easier for you to install and use Mods.

The Sims team doesn’t pre-screen, endorse, or specifically support any particular Mod. You should use Mods with caution and understand there may be risk.

We have a long tradition of supporting creativity in our community.  We do not object to Mod developers continuing to share their amazing content, subject to the following:

1. Do not promote your Mods in a way that suggests they are endorsed by or affiliated with The Sims, Maxis, or Electronic Arts. This means you cannot use any game logos or trademarks, including versions of the plumbob, or key art designs to promote your Mods. You may state that your Mods are for The Sims 4 and/or for a specific game expansion pack.
2. Mods must be non-commercial and distributed free-of-charge. Mods cannot be sold, licensed, or rented for a fee, nor can Mods contain features that would support monetary transactions of any type.
   
   Note, The Sims recognizes that creating Mods takes time and resources. To recoup these development costs, Mod developers may:
   • Offer an early access incentive for a reasonable amount of time. After a reasonable early access period, all users must be able to access the Mods in full for free regardless of whether they donate.
   • Run passive advertisements and requests for donations so long as they are limited to the Mod website or distribution site, and do not appear within the Mod itself.

We reserve the right to address any inappropriate Mods, including Mods that infringe the intellectual property or privacy rights of others, contain obscene, objectionable, or harmful content, jeopardize the integrity of The Sims 4 gameplay, or otherwise violate the EA User Agreement.

We strive to create a positive environment for players, which we outline in the Positive Play Charter. It’s possible that community-created Mods could go against these guidelines. If you come across any Mods that break the rules of the Positive Play Charter, you can report them to us.

To report Mods, give us the details right here on EA Help:

1. Select the available contact method.
2. Fill out the webform to let us know more about what happened. Please provide a link to the Mods you think break the rules, and as much detail as you can about why. Your report will be reviewed by our team.
3. Select Send and we’ll take it from there.

How to report CurseForge mods

If you find Mods hosted on CurseForge that break the rules of the Positive Play Charter, these can be reported directly through their platform.

To report Mods on CurseForge:

1. Open the Mod that you want to report.
2. Make sure you are logged in to your CurseForge account.
3. Click Report which can be found in the About Project section.
4. The Report pop-up will appear.
5. Select a Reason and leave a Description.

We can’t screen or support any Mod, so there’s no way for us to know if a Mod that previously didn’t cause any issues for players may cause them now.

By disabling Mods when we update, we hope to limit any issues or problems with your gameplay. You can check with Mod creators to find out if they are still compatible after a patch.

A Mod may need to be reinstalled entirely to be compatible with the latest game patch. Keep in mind that it can take time for modders to update their content for a new update, so please be patient with them.

You may re-enable Mods that were disabled during an Update via the options menu, but you should use caution and understand there may be risks.

1. Run The Sims 4 with Mods disabled. Go into gameplay mode to make sure everything is working correctly.
   • Note: If you have installed Custom Content, it's been disabled. Check that the game is working correctly, then close the game without saving.
   • If you save your game before re-enabling the Custom Content, content may be removed from your saved game.
2. Visit the Mod creator’s site to verify that the Mod works with the latest The Sims 4 Update. Check to see if there's an updated version of the Mod.
3. Re-enable Mods via the options panel. The setting can be found in Game Options > Other > Enable Custom Content and Mods.
   
4. Restart the game.
5. Start the game and check that the game is working correctly. If you need help troubleshooting, find out how to tell if Mods are causing problems.
6. If there are Mods causing problems, remove those Mods and visit the Mod creators’ site to see if there's an updated version.
   • As a member of The Sims Community, you may also wish to contact the Mod creator to let them know their Mod is causing issues.
   • Be sure to include your current game version number when you let them know. It can be seen on the lower left hand side of the Main Menu.

Mods can cause issues and conflict with The Sims 4 game in many different ways, so there's no single way to determine if problems exist.

The easiest way to see if there’s an issue is to play the game. There may be very obvious problems, such as the game failing to boot or save games fail to load, but other small issues can also indicate the Mod is causing problems.

• If you’re using Custom Content, check out the content like items or clothing and make sure it’s acting normally. If your Sim’s hat is floating above them, that’s a type of sign that something’s wrong. 
• If you’re using Game Mods, make sure everything is functioning like it’s supposed to. While Sims love to ignore us, if they’re walking up walls or have been eating dinner for 24 hours, that may be a clue the Game Mod is causing an issue. 

Once you've identified that one or more of your Mods is creating issues, you then need to determine which Mods are the problem. Since you could potentially have many Mods in your Mods folder, this could take time. Here are some tips to speed things up:

• Remove all your Mods from the “Mods” folder and add them back in batches.
  • After adding each batch, run the game to see if the problem persists.
  • Once you determine that a particular batch contains a problematic Mod, remove half of that batch and see if the problem still exists.
  • If it does, then remove another half of the batch and try again.
  • If it doesn't, add back in half of the removed Mods and try again.
  • Repeat this process until the problem Mod is identified. This type of searching is sometimes referred to in The Sims community as the “50% method.”
• Remove Game Mods first. These are more likely to cause issues, so start by just removing those Mods (if you have them) to narrow down your search.

If you are struggling to find the Mod causing you issues, it’s worth checking in on what each Mod does. A good indicator is if you have a Mod that adds menus to an item or Sim, and the menu won’t open, this could be the Mod that’s creating the issue. These gameplay clues can be a good place to start when deciding which Mods to remove from the game first. 

If you’re using lots of Mods this may lead to performance issues. We don’t limit the amount you can install, but as they may require more memory and CPU resources they can impact your game.

To speed up game startup, you can turn off the Show at Startup option which lists the Mods you currently have installed, and can slow down the process of opening up your game. Here’s how to turn this off:

1. Load up The Sims 4.
2. You will see the Mods list pop-up on screen once the game has loaded.
3. Click the Show at Startup button in the bottom left corner of the pop-up.
4. This will deselect this option so the Mods list no longer appears at startup.