So, despite playing since I was a wee girl, I just recently found out that people actually Mod and make custom content for the sims. I was stunned, truth be told, because I always want *more* stuff to play with. But looking around, I have no clue where to start.

So, I figured I'd ask y'all. What is *must have* mods? What skin tones seem to be the most popular? What can you just not live with out in your sim world? Suggestions are loved <3

Well I'd use a different approach. Play, then identify something you want for your sim that isn't in the catalog. Or some annoying behaviour you wish was different. Then find out if there is a custom download or a mod that will sort it out for you. I wouldn't advise just going and downloading stuff cos it suited someone else's game

For me, a must have mod is definitely Twallan's Master Controller. Actually, a fair few of his mods make the game a hell of a lot better to play

I have Twallans Master Controller, Woohooer, Error trap, Overwatch, and Traveller. I also use Shimrods no emmigration/celeb/move to smaller house pack and a mod from Carrigon to enable LN bars with npcs on Showtime lots.
Those have all really helped me enjoy my game and it runs well.
I use Peggy default replacement skins at the moment and some nice default replacement eyes (not sure who created them though).

In addition to Twallan's mods, I refuse to play without a penis mesh. Just sayin'.

What mods are a 'must have' depends on your playing style. For a lazy player like me, I find Treeag's hack very useful- especially when you want to skill up or change life states without going through the long processes. I also focus on my Sims' appearances very much, so Slider hacks is definitely a must-have. Then, there's also Dexter the Bear, the Weapon Library (and phaser), and the Assassination Skill mod that I consider quite compulsory to satisfy my psychopathic tendencies

Oh, and don't forget the No Intro mod. I simply cannot play my game without those.

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=470689

Depends on what you're looking for in your game!
When I first discovered mods, and custom content, I downloaded everything I could get my hands on. My games exploded.

So just download mods (and CC,) that will actually suit your wants, and needs.

But if you're looking for a good set of mods to start off with, that are easy to navigate and use, I would suggest any of Twallan's mods, particularly MasterController and Story Progression.
Both will greatly improve gameplay without changing the game too much.

If you're talking about things to enhance your gameplay, then Twallan's mods all the way.

But the very first thing that popped into my head are these: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=384265
They're "contacts" that make the Sims' eyes really stand out and are completely CASt-able. (Found in the Costume Makeup section)

As someone else mentioned above, I refuse to play without Twallan's mods. There are a few others that I play with that you may or may not want. I use a no meteors mod to stop meteors from hitting and killing Sims, I've seen on this board that other people want more meteors. So Its up to you.

I use all of twallens and then just a few to tweak aspects of the game that I wasn't happy with. Like others have said, you need to identify what you don't like in the game/want to change and then have a look through the mods to see if any will do what you want.

Hmmm...I have yet to have a meteor strike any of my sims. I should add one of those mods before my luck runs out.

I use only romantic rep recombobulator and no intro.

I think that Inge gave the best advice, but one nice thing about Twallan's mods are that they are very customizable, so they can be useful to a wide variety of play-styles.

I would agree with Inge--get mods according to suit your play style--I would also recommend that you avoid starting off with too many "hack" mods that could potentially conflict with each other and mess up your games. It is better to start simple and then add mods one at a time, Troubleshooting problems in sims 3 can be difficult if you don't know how to manage packages, mods and custom content.

A few of my must haves:
--custom skin tones. Choose according to taste. Different skins give a different look. I use M.Calero strawberry, apple and mandarin skin tones
--slider mods to customize sims faces - can't play without this at all (along with that better makeup is good too)
--twallan overwatch, master controller and storyprogression. I much more, but I see those 3 as essential

aside from that, I don't have too many must have mods, although I have ALOT of custom content that I find myself unable to part with.

Thanks all! I'll have to check these out. As for what kind of player I am... It really depends on the character. I like building houses, and often just kind of go with what ever strikes my fancy. I'm a rather 'Chaotic' SimGod honestly.

Glad to see I'm not the only "late-bloomer" here when it comes to mods. ;p For me, it has to be Master Controller, ErrorTrap, Overwatch, Woohooer, and Story Progression from NRaas (Twallan). They made my playing time long enough (from sheer enjoyment) to get a save error now and then, lol! XD

Twallan's: Master controller, wohooer, traveler, debug enabler. Can' live without^^

I'm rather a minimalist when it comes to mods (too many tend to cause more trouble than they're worth), so most of the ones I use are "must haves." These are my top five:

Rick's No Intro
velocitygrass's No Automatic Memories
Twallan's Master Controller, Story Progression, and Woohooer

The first two for eliminating annoyances, and the last three for contol and added features.

Awesome mod, no intro, no memories, and that's all I can think of right now

I use most, all right, all of the NRaas mods mentioned, but one I can't live without that I haven't seen in this thread is Saver! I've accidentally lived without it and I've always regretted it

When I discovered The Exchange, I totally went crazy and downloaded a bunch of sims that I thought looked cool. Well that was a pretty big mistake and screwed up my game for a while... It was really junked up with weird-ass CC like this creepy vampire tee... So I un-cluttered everything, then I looked into this website a little more and decided to invest in some cool mods and CC. I usually only download CC if I need it to make a movie, but there are a few exceptions.

Must-have skintone: SBSkinV2.0. I. would. not. live. without this skintone. http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=470660

I also love the pose player by cmomoney, but that is just a bit personal since I ADORE making sims-version music videos.

Legit I wanted the twerk mod and the death note :
https://sims3fixes.wordpress.com/20...6/awesome-mods/

Absolute bare minimum essential mods I would never play without:

ErrorTrap and Overwatch, by NRASS.

Because they help keep your game stable, and just sit and run in the background.

All else depends on your playstyle. I, myself think that NRASS' Story Progression and Woohooer are great (on the "large" size of mods), as are the "smaller" mods I have like the "No Stretch Children Can" mod (which allows kids to do things like play musical instruments or order food at a bar), and one I have which keeps frugal sims from turning the lights off and then whining about the dark (both found here at MTS).

As far as CC, depends very much on your tastes. You'll know what you must have when you see it.

How do you even find a 5 year old thread? This thread can start school now.