Is it worth it to download mods?

[generation101]

I was thinking or downloading a few of Nraas's mods in particular, but when i tried this awhile ago on a different computer and with a different disc and it completely whacked up my computer. Now i have a better computer but i'm still debating on whether mods are worth the hassle of updating them and all that stuff. What do y'all think?

[twallan]

I suspect the answer you are going to receive from the audience at a Modding website is probably going to be a little biased, but maybe that's just me.

My mods can't mess up your computer... They can certainly mess up save-files though. And installing the wrong version can crash the game.

But mods in this game (at least in the context of tuning/scripting mods) cannot extend beyond the confines of the game engine, which is pretty restrictive. :)

[generation101]

Thanks!

[coltraz]

As soon as we introduce an unofficial mod to the game, we are taking a risk. Just a slight risk, perhaps, but a risk all the same. For me, the risk is worth it. I don't enjoy a vanilla Sims 3 game. I can't and won't play this game in its default state. But I do not recommend downloading a mess of mods, throwing them in your mods folder, and forgetting about 'em. Like Twallan said, they will not ruin your computer itself, but your save file could be doomed without a certain level of maintenance on your part. Running mods on the wrong patch level is the main concern.

For me, it's simple. If it's been a few days or weeks, before I even double-click my Sims 3 .exe, I go to Twallan's site and I check his recent updates where you'll find a nicely organized table indicating which mods have undergone changes or upgrades. If I know or suspect the version of an updated mod I have is old, I redownload and replace. Same with Awesomemod, which actually has an expiry built in so you are forced to redownload it even if you don't want to, assuming you haven't circumnavigated the expiry check. I also suggest reading whatever documentation is available on the mod you are considering downloading in the first place.

So, does that sound like more hassle than it's worth? If so, play it safe and stick with the vanilla game. There's no point in using mods if you're happy with the vanilla experience, and just a flat out bad idea if you have no intention of keeping them updated periodically.

[ninedoors]

I've certainly downloaded a couple of mods to help correct some gameplay or make certain things harder/easier. I have yet to fully immerse myself in the 'biggies' like MasterController, etc., but I find mods are never much of a hassle, so long as you're aware of which ones you have and how they might conflict with other things in game. And, of course, putting them in the right place certainly helps, too.

I've never had to worry much about updating unless a known bug has been fixed or a new patch is out. But even then, I wait to patch my game (unless I've installed an EP/SP and a patch is inevitable) until the mod's been updated or I temporarily remove the mod so I can play a patched game and wait for the modder to update.

If you're happy with your game as is, then by all means, continue playing it that way! Totally up to you. Or if you're worried about taking on too many updates/whatever (though, honestly, they're sparse to begin with), maybe start out small with one or two and see how you fare? They can be a great way to improve the game and, the beautiful part is, if you find yourself not benefiting from it, remove it from the game. It's that easy.

[QueenJimmyIV]

I can't play without Twallan's mods. I mean, I can, but it usually gets really boring really quickly or I end up with neighbors wearing Gaga hairs to work or something.

Of course, you have to update with each patch. Each patch comes out every 3-4 months or so.

Mods can really enrich a gaming experience and smooth out the wrinkles of vanilla while also squashing common bugs. However, there is always risk involved involved.

[Howabominable]

Mods are essential for me, and have been ever since ts1. The right mods take the things out of the game that are tedious, and add fun gameplay. I wouldn't be playing this game without mods such as Twallan's. They allow me to play the game the way I want it to be played. Many of them add to the challenge in a fun way while taking away the challenges that are only challenging because they are tedious or poorly implemented.

The trade-off is, of course, that my games are less stable and I experience more crashes. But it's so worth it.

[Chocklitkiss]

I played a vanilla game for over a year.....on purpose.

I now employ the NRaas mods. Easy to install. Easy to ask questions. You don't need to feel as if you have to be a 13 year old phenom to ask a question on the site.

I ALSO must comment on the fact that with the NRaas mods, you get to PICK AND CHOOSE to what extent you want to mod the game. I don't want EVERYTHING. My game is SPECIAL and UNIQUE....lol

Advice: READ EVERYTHING on your installed mods. EVERYTHING. All 300 pages, if need be. That way, you can see the issues the mod originally had, how the modder corrected it, and believe me it will save you EONS of time later.

Good Luck!!

[eskie227]

As Twallan pointed out, this is a modding and custom content community. We're people who enjoy pushing and pulling the vanilla game to suit our own vision as to how we want to play the game. Yes, it takes effort to read all the notes and posts and comments about the mods you might consider. Yes, a few of them (well, really just core mods like awesome) can alter the integrity of the game engine. The worst you can do is screw up a savegame, and at really worst (and it would take a bit of effort on your part to do so) mess up your vanilla game. In which case, you will have to experience the pain of reinstalling (you do save all your discs/product activation codes/downloaded EPs/SPs right?). So you waste 2 hours putting it all back (although as I said, unless you set out to really be malicious to your own setup, it rarely gets to this point).

The question for you is, are you happy playing TS3 the way it is out of the box? If so, stop, and just play the game. If you're tempted to try out some of the stuff you read about on forums like this, by all means, educate yourself about how the process works, and go for it. If you don't like it, just follow the uninstall directions for whatever mods you chose, and return to the vanilla game. Nothing lost, and maybe some new enjoyable gaming experiences gained.

[KGirl]

Without Twallan's mods or Awesome, I'd find the game unplayable. I need both to enjoy it as much as possible; but I could probably manage with just one or the other, if I had to.

I also find that other scripting/tuning mods (some of the tuning mods I make myself) add a lot to a game.

If I had to play pure vanilla, I wouldn't play.

[Chinchillagrl6]

I think the key is to go with known modders (i.e. Pescado, Twallan, HP). You can be sure that they now only test their mods for bugs, but they also fix any issues that may go wrong with the mod. I keep my mods in a separate folder and check them for updates every week.
I cannot play without Awesome or NRass mods in my game, they fix so much.

[Srikandi]

I was thinking or downloading a few of Nraas's mods in particular, but when i tried this awhile ago on a different computer and with a different disc and it completely whacked up my computer. Now i have a better computer but i'm still debating on whether mods are worth the hassle of updating them and all that stuff. What do y'all think?

It's an individual call... nobody else can figure out how much of a hassle it is for you, how much you mind the various limitations and bugs of the vanilla game, and how much you'd enjoy the additional features provided by mods.

But Twallan's right... you're at Mod The Sims ;) Once in a while there's a non-mod-user that posts here, for some reason, but by and large it's a community of mod makers and mod consumers. As a group we are pretty pro-mod ;) You want the other view, you'll find it well-represented at EA's forums.

[nikkiforest99]

Another point is that with mods like AwesomeMod, or NRaas Overwatch and/or ErrorTrap, you're actually prolonging the life of your save game. These mods either fix critical, game-breaking bugs or they help prevent or clean up corruption in your save. Of course, there is a risk of save corruption with any mod, but there are workarounds for that. I personally find using mods to be well worth any risk, but it's your call obviously.

[Elledee]

I can't imagine ever going back to the vanilla version either. I had so many problems in the past and foolishly thought EA would get around to fixing their bugs but eventually figured out that it was never going to happen. I stopped playing TS3 for months because I was so frustrated and sick and tired of the bugs and errors and decided to try the mods, at that point I just wanted to start fresh and see for myself. Ever since installing the mods I've had very few problems so I think if you're a person who wants to play for extended periods at a time then mods are definitely worth considering.

[Sunshine021]

I must be the only one in the community who plays with EA's story progression and prefers it. I tried AwesomeMod, but it ruined my game and forced me to reinstall twice (Pescado can harp on about how perfect his mod is, but it's so far from it that it isn't even funny). I just don't care enough about what's going in the neighborhood enough to install a whole other story progression mod to try and change it.

[twallan]

I must be the only one in the community who plays with EA's story progression and prefers it.

EA Story Progression has the benefit of being really fast, and works "most" of the time.

If you have never encountered an issue with it, then your game-play probably closely conforms to EA's original design tenets for this game : "A user should not care what happens to a sim once they are no longer part of the active family"

EA Story Progression only started falling apart when EA started adding protections for certain sims to stop emigration and random deaths. :)

[KGirl]

I must be the only one in the community who plays with EA's story progression and prefers it. I tried AwesomeMod, but it ruined my game and forced me to reinstall twice (Pescado can harp on about how perfect his mod is, but it's so far from it that it isn't even funny). I just don't care enough about what's going in the neighborhood enough to install a whole other story progression mod to try and change it.

EA's Story Progression is far worse than no Story Progression. If I couldn't use Twallan's Story Progression and couldn't use Awesome Story Progression, I'd have to just turn Story Progression off.

EA's Story Progression is just random stuff, whether random deaths or emigration, random moves, etc.. There's no reason behind what happens.

Is Pescado's Awesomemod perfect? Absolutely not. Is it better than vanilla EA? Easily.

In Awesomemod story, Sims do what they need to do. They seek romance by going out on dates, they get jobs if they need money, etc.. It does have the flaw of not being configurable (although many other parts of Awesomemod are).

The lack of configurability in Awesome Story is why I'm now using Twallan's story, which has so many configuration options some people get overwhelmed by them (personally, I like them).

Twallan's story, again, is based on Sims doing things because they (trait-scored) would be likely to want to do them. You can let there be deaths (and if you do, at least they won't be totally random) and let there be emigration in extreme circumstances, or you can just disable Sims dying (unless they actively screw up) or emigrating.

As Twallan wrote, if you plan to play just one household and don't care what else happens in your town, then I suppose EA Story Progression is fine. Otherwise, it's vastly inferior to either of the two alternatives.

[Inge Jones]

IMHO you can only be guided by your own experiences. If you experience mods crashing your game or even PC (whether they really did or you simply chose to blame it on them) then I guess you may feel it's not worth it. Anyone who thinks mods are messing up their game shouldn't use them - as you will feel happier without. What does it matter how other people experience the same game with the same mods?

[Sunshine021]

Re: AwesomeMod; my game didn't experience crashing until I had AwesomeMod installed. I know it wasn't an error on my part, because I was playing the game exactly as I had done before. I'm not the only one with that problem, but then again, this isn't MATY (thank god for that), so I'm just gonna drop that issue. I just wanted to get my two cents in that yes, some people DO use EA's story progression. Townies are townies, to me, so they only serve the purpose of populating the town, unless I absolutely have to use someone as part of my storyline. Admittedly, I have been a touch curious about Twallan's mods, but a lot of the descriptions seem vague, so I don't understand how it would work. Otherwise, it seems unnecessarily complicated.

I guess my Sims 3 experience has been different from everyone else's because I'm not a Über Hardcore player that feels the need to micromanage the hell out of everything, so anything out of my control doesn't bother me, really.

[Bejaymac]

Your not the only one Sunshine021, that's pretty much how I play the game.

I've tried most of the mods but still find myself playing a mostly vanilla game, I have five in the game, the two that come with the mod foundation (no intro & no sparkles), twallan's decensor, 1 that lets me make any lot size, and 1 to get rid of those bloody stupid memories.

World's and their CC that work for WA,AMB & LN are my downfall ;)

[generation101]

Thanks guys!! Im probably gonna start out small with mods as yall suggested and maybe work my way up to bigger ones... Just one more question, are all these mods compatible with mac's too?

[morphius1]

The question should be: is it worth not having [Twallan's] mods in your game. Like many others who have posted in this thread, I cannot play without Twallan's mods.
The game is just too...uh...too blah! without mods. :)

[eskie227]

As Twallan wrote, if you plan to play just one household and don't care what else happens in your town, then I suppose EA Story Progression is fine. Otherwise, it's vastly inferior to either of the two alternatives.

Actually, I'm a player who pretty much sticks to one family, and I find Twallan's SP invaluable, as I like my family to interact with a vibrant town. I want their friends and romantic interests to get promoted, demoted, marry, break up, have kids, and age along with my family. With EA's SP, the town really remains static, and I find myself losing interest in interacting with the residents. At which point, my interest wanes and it's on to a new game. With Twallan's, I can play a legacy, and see grandchildren becoming adults and having relationships with the grand-kids of other residents that I saw generated by SP. I don't have much experience with Awesome's SP, as when I did use it, I relied on Twallan's back then as well.

The only time I can see myself removing SP from my game would be if EA bought Twallan out, and made it the default SP. Then again,that will never happen, so Twallan it is (sorry Twallan, I know the money would have been good).

Still, just because I feel that way does not mean anyone else should (well, you should, but I can't force you :) ). Run your game as you see fit, and enjoy yourself.

[sheridanhoughton]

I also really enjoy twallan's mods, and find playing without them not as enjoyable.

Just a point, though - when you need to patch your game, remove/rename your electronic arts folder in your documents folder before you do the patching. So that the patching happens in a vanilla game. Then, after you have played the vanilla game for a few minutes, put back your original electronic arts folder, minus any mods that might need updating. Add them back gradually. That way you will know which, if any, mods are causing problems. And because twallan is so on the ball, he updates them very quickly. thanks twallan!

[Orilon]

The question should be: is it worth not having [Twallan's] mods in your game. Like many others who have posted in this thread, I cannot play without Twallan's mods.
The game is just too...uh...too blah! without mods. :)

I know I can't play without Twallan's mods. It is way too frustrating and error prone.

[Trizind]

NRaas mods work on Macs. The process of installing them is the same, just a slightly different directory.

MTS Game Help:Installing Sims 3 Package Files/Setup and Files (http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Installing_Sims_3_Package_Files/Setup_and_Files)

[High Plains Gamer]

EA's game, left unmodded is real buggy. Without mods it can be unplayable.

For example, one of the biggest problems I had with the game was population control. Before mods, and Twallan's story progression in particular, I had to constantly watch the town and make sure that the population was not too big or too small. If your town has too many sims, the game will go bonkers on you. When you go to a community lot, you find your sim being crowded out, with other sims blocking doors, making movement difficult if not impossible.

On the other hand, if your population is too small, you will find that there are no kids in town, meaning that your sims children have no one to play with. Your sim young adults may have no one to date.

And you can find yourself in a town filled with elders, who all die off and there are no children to replace them.

Mods make managing the game so much easier. Of course it can be done manually. I did it when the game first came out, but population management is very time consuming. If you don't manage your population and if you don't use mods, your game will die in a generation or two.

[Ranissa]

It is a personal choice to play with mods or without. I absolutely love how customizable Twallan's mods are and couldn't play without them. Heck, every new town gets new settings, based on what I'm looking for in that town (no celebrities, lots of vampires, etc). However, I understand why someone wouldn't want mods because they do require a little knowledge of how the game works, a little investigation into how to install and use them effectively, and a commitment to make sure you update them when they need/must be updated. Playing the Sims is a pretty personal experience, for sure.