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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 25th Oct 2017 at 9:44 PM Last edited by phatbroccoli : 25th Oct 2017 at 9:57 PM.
How did you organize your mods folder?
So, i thought today would be a good day to organize my EXTREMELY messy mods folder for Sims 4. I started to get into it by downloading TSR Mod Manager, but i just found it to be easier to just do it all in my mods folder without the manager, Mainly because right now I didn't have the patience to learn all about it. After I started to organize some things, I realized i have like 1,947 downloaded mods and custom content downloaded and that even in some of them there is broken content and such. I was/am even tempted to delete most if not ALL of it and just start over so it can be organized from the get -but- Re downloading seems like a tedious task but also seems kind of like a fresh start. ANYWAYS, I was wondering what anyone else has done when organizing their mod folder and if they chose to organize them by items example: Clothing, Shoes, Hair, Furniture -or- by Creator example: Severinka, MXIMS, Kardofe. And whatever else seemed to work for you???
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Inventor
#2 Old 25th Oct 2017 at 10:20 PM
I have mods organized like this:
Accessories (inside separated folders for hats, necklaces, rings and earrings)
Eyebrows/beards/eyelashes (and inside there are separated folders for these)
Shoes (folders for female, male, children and toddler)
Full sets (inside some random files with full merged packs or when I was too lazy to segregate them, placed in separated folder with mod name or creators)
Roofs
Decorations (just random stuff like mirrors, pictures, lightning, carpets, plants and other stuff like that)
Doors, windows
Careers
Make-up (folders for lipsticks, blushes, eyeliners, eyeshadows, facepaint)
MCCC
furnitures (folders for kids, toddlers, kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining room, bedroom)
Eyes
Garden
Floors
Poseplayer & animations
skin and skin details
Walls
Tattoos
Clothes (separated same like for shoes)
WW mod
Hairstyles (same as clothes and shoes folder)
But below these files I have some mods, not cc, like 'more todlers in parks' and other altering game.
Smeg Head
#3 Old 25th Oct 2017 at 11:24 PM
Accounting for every iteration of the game and how mods might be (and must be) applied for best results, it's become something of an art form to have the perfect mods folder for each version of the sims. Whereas mod merging became a very helpful practice for TS3 mods and CC, all hell breaks loose if doing the same for TS4 mod organization. Here's a screen pic of my TS4 mods folder -

I advise do absolutely no mod or CC merging for TS4 as it's more trouble than it's worth.

Some of those folders have "nested" folders within folders. Meaning if you open up one folder, you'll only to find yet more folders, before you actually get to any package files or script mods. As well as some great advise and tutorials on Mod The Sims links how to best achieve nesting, I have also made a helpful mod here - http://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php...th-for-folders/ - to help with Resorce.cfg folder nesting for best results and more nesting depth with your Mods Folder upkeep and regular maintenance.

In summary, be as efficient and numerous as your imagination wants in dividing and sub-diving mods into easier-to-find folder categories. Just don't ever merge the buggers like you might have done for TS3. It will break the mods and the game.

"Become a government informer. Betray your family and friends. Fabulous prizes to be won!" Red Dwarf - Back to Reality.

Find all my TS4 mods and lots here: Main Website - simsasylum.com My Section - coolspear's Mods & Lots
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 26th Oct 2017 at 12:20 AM
Mine's pretty simple I guess? I do use folders within folders for some things, but I'm hesitant to do it to most of them because CC has gone missing in-game because it was "too deep" into folders (it wasn't even that deep, like probably three folders deep? I had my Resource.cfg set up properly too).

Anyway here's a pic:
Scholar
#5 Old 26th Oct 2017 at 12:50 AM
Mods (82 files atm) I put straight into the same-named folder, my cc is sorted like this:

0_Untested
1_Accessoires
1_Andrew_vfxplayer
1_Bodyparts
1_Buildmode
1_Clothing
1_Foods
1_Furniture and objects
1_Hairs
1_Poses
1_WickedWhimsMod
1_WickedWhimsStuff
Star Trek

The last one is an example of "seasonal" cc, folders specific for certain saves. If I don't play these saves I take out the respective cc folders to lighten the load. These folders are bit of a grey area, because f.e. the Star Trek TOS uniforms are in the "clothes" folder for my geek sims to use.
Instructor
#6 Old 26th Oct 2017 at 5:31 AM
Quote: Originally posted by craftyplumbob
Mine's pretty simple I guess? I do use folders within folders for some things, but I'm hesitant to do it to most of them because CC has gone missing in-game because it was "too deep" into folders (it wasn't even that deep, like probably three folders deep? I had my Resource.cfg set up properly too).

Anyway here's a pic:

nice to meet a fellow iconholic!

Mirror floors, sexy mirror silhouettes, adult DVD, legend of zelda items and more ALL FREE AT: XTRA SIMS!
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 26th Oct 2017 at 6:45 AM Last edited by craftyplumbob : 26th Oct 2017 at 6:57 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by XtraSim
nice to meet a fellow iconholic!

Cheers!

They're just so much more visually pleasing to look at than the folder ones. Plus it helps me differentiate the categories in my mind better. Icons ftw!

Lab Assistant
#8 Old 26th Oct 2017 at 7:45 AM Last edited by GrumpySuzy : 26th Oct 2017 at 9:22 AM.
lol @coolspear1 I merged all your mods and I use your Resource.cfg, luckily I have not noticed any significant glitches with them, interesting to know you yourself do not even merge. What problems did you have?
I have Testing folders for CAS and objects to weed out problems and gather them there before merging, MCC and scripts are separated in their folders. I had to divide Clothing and Hair into smaller categories because the merged packages got too big, over 1 GB . WIth a total of 16GB CC, my loading time is 2 minutes.
I always try to save a screenshot or photo of the item I download, as well as including name of the creators and the creation so browsing what CC I have become much easier. This could be done if you choose to start over rather than gasping at the CC piling up in your Mods folder.

Scholar
#9 Old 26th Oct 2017 at 8:59 AM
I just rename every filename the same way Maxis names its own stuff

examples:
yfTop_YourNameHere.package = A Female Adult top
ymHat_YourNameHere.package = A Male Adult Hat
cuShoes_YourNameHere.package = Child Unisex Shoes
pfHair_YourNameHere.package = Female Toddler Hair
yfMakeupLipstick_.YourNameHere.package = Adult Female Lipstick
yuMakeupFacePaint_YourNameHere.package = Adult Unisex Facepaint

If you notice the pattern, this is music to Maxis.

Also I've stopped using subfolders to ensure I get the maximum shortest loading time.
Theorist
#10 Old 26th Oct 2017 at 9:03 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Citysim
I just rename every filename the same way Maxis names its own stuff

examples:
A Female Adult top = yfTop_YourNameHere.package
A Male Adult Hat = ymHat_YourNameHere.package
Child Unisex Shoes = cuShoes_YourNameHere.package
A Female Toddler Hair = pfHair_YourNameHere.package
Adult Female Lipstick = yfMakeupLipstick_.YourNameHere.package
Adult Unisex Facepaint = yuMakeupFacePaint_YourNameHere.package

Also I've stopped using subfolders to ensure I get the maximum shortest loading time.

As someone who prefers Sims 3 I don't mind the loading times (I just wish there were fewer of them) and i'd rather have things organised. Also there is NO way I'd have the patience to do that when downloading 400 items in a siting. power to you, dude.
Scholar
#11 Old 26th Oct 2017 at 9:09 AM
It took me many paintful months to rename everything, but now it just

download
preview (identify)
rename

there's no more patience here...
Smeg Head
#12 Old 28th Oct 2017 at 11:08 PM Last edited by coolspear1 : 28th Oct 2017 at 11:31 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by GrumpySuzy
lol @coolspear1 I merged all your mods and I use your Resource.cfg, luckily I have not noticed any significant glitches with them, interesting to know you yourself do not even merge. What problems did you have?


The problem of merging TS4 is mostly to so with CC stuff. Cas package files that are absolutely fine on their own, tend to go wrong when merged with others. The end result is often the game just does not load beyond the start up black screen.

With tuning mods and their XMLs it's not really a problem. Given the small file size of this type of mod you would have to have them in the thousands to make merging them a noticeable time saver regarding game loading speeds. If you take into account the original Maxis XML game files are already in the many thousands. and what ever tuning mods and the XMLs they consist of are in your mods folder are not going to be anywhere near that amount, loading times are not impacted in a significant degree with this type of mod.

Then, of course, if a monthly patch breaks even one of them, that's another job merging them all again after the one or two are updated. Not worth the hassle in my opinion. Maybe after Maxis have finished patching the game, it might be worth it just to reduce the amount you have to look at in the mods folder. But not really before then. No true need.

And for my own PC, I have an SSD drive specifically for TS4. its packs and the mounting mods and CC. So loading times are not (yet) painful enough to drive me to file merging.

"Become a government informer. Betray your family and friends. Fabulous prizes to be won!" Red Dwarf - Back to Reality.

Find all my TS4 mods and lots here: Main Website - simsasylum.com My Section - coolspear's Mods & Lots
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 2nd Nov 2017 at 1:25 PM
Quote: Originally posted by coolspear1
Cas package files that are absolutely fine on their own, tend to go wrong when merged with others. The end result is often the game just does not load beyond the start up black screen.

Thank you for your explanation, now I am much less worried about merging mods, I am pretty relaxed when merging CAS stuffs though because I have not encountered the starting up problem, there were a few times that I have the infinite loading screen when opening old saves due to my excessive experimental edit on the CC CAS items used in those saves, but temporarily moving them to a no CC game folder then Save As and return them to the original CC folder seems fine, now I have learned my lesson and save every household I create. I use SSD too, so the merging for files under 1GB feels like just seconds, its much faster than what I remember from TS3 and no error whatsoever.
One of the biggest advantage for me when having two separate merged and premerged folders is to browse the premerged one and edit them while playing, for example when I see a townie with weird outfit combo, I would go to the individual packages and disable them for random. Plus the merged ones look neat for my OCD eyes, like what you said

Quote: Originally posted by coolspear1
it might be worth it just to reduce the amount you have to look at in the mods folder.


Forum Resident
#14 Old 2nd Nov 2017 at 1:49 PM
I didn't sort my mods for the longest time. Last year I started with one folder where I put all mods that can break the game with new updates. And this year I finally spend a while to sort it a bit more (for TS3 and TS4).
Now it looks like this:

- accessoire, skin, face etc (subfolders: eyes, jewelry, piercings, makeup, nails, skins, tattoos)
- clothing (subfolders: bottom, top, whole outfits, shoes/socks, hats)
- furniture
- general mods
- hair
- traits
Lab Assistant
#15 Old 2nd Nov 2017 at 2:33 PM
For both Sims 4 and Sims 3 I use hierarchy that's loosely based on the one here at ModTheSims, with Script mods, Config mods, Overrides, Build mode, Skintones, Clothing, Hairs, etc. at the top. Some from MTS's first level, some from the second level. And then the hierarchy continues inside those. Mods and CC from other sites are also sorted into this hierarchy, although some larger mods like MCCC get their own directories.

One important detail is that I always add a code/number to the mod's zip/rar/7zip file when I download it, a code that tells me where I downloaded the file from. For mods here from MTS it's simply the download page's id (e.g. 571322 is the id for "Neia's More Clubs Per Sim"). For other sites I also add a prefix that tells me which site it is from, like "TSR" for TheSimsResource or "S4S" for Sims4Studio. Then when I unpackage the file into my Mods directory, I always choose to unpackage it to a new directory of the same name, so that this code is retained. That makes it easy for me to relocate the site/download page whenever I need to revisit the mod to check for an update. Especially since my browser usually remembers the URLs - if I type in that id from the download page, my browser can usually find it directly.
Test Subject
#16 Old 2nd Nov 2017 at 3:42 PM
For the Sims 4 specifically, my mod folder looks like this:
#NewCAS
#NewGameplay
#NewObjects
Aspiration
Buildmode
Books
Career
CAS-Clothes
CAS-Sims
CustomLotTraits
Emitter
FixesAndPatches
Gameplay
MC Command Center
Objects
Plants
Seasonal
Skills
Traits
Undertale(Because I've currently a savefile for that and I don't want it mixed up with my regular CC Xb)
yamina(Basically any modifications I've made for personal use)

Some of them have subfolders, mostly by creators.
The ones with the # are new mods that I'm including and want to test. Makes it easier to find and remove new troubblemakers. Xb
dodgy builder
#17 Old 3rd Nov 2017 at 12:40 PM
I organize according to creator and set name. If rarely they don't belong in a set, I just drop them in the creator folder.

Consequently I don't really knowwhat it is, when it come to cas items what it is, so when I need them I just redownload.

Furniture might be updated too, so the file I downloaded earlier and saved in my massive backup folder might be outdated.

I always take out all mods in the mods folder before starting a new project ... unless I just make something from what I'm using already.

What programs do you use for inspecting random files? I want something small and simple.
Lab Assistant
#18 Old 4th Nov 2017 at 10:45 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Volvenom
What programs do you use for inspecting random files? I want something small and simple.

Sims 4 Studio is the essential program when it comes to inspecting and managing CC, it has 3D render that tell you instantly what the item is and even tells you if it fits if you switches male to female and vice versa (thats how I discovered I can just enable my favorite socks, tights, makeup, eyebrows, facepaints, freckles, skin details... for toddlers and children because they are just "painted" on sim skin and display normally in S4S). You sometimes can get creator name if the creator cared to put in their name correctly when they started using S4S, their name shows in the data. They also provide batch fixes for CAS and objects alike, they save me lots of headaches when it comes to random CC showing up on townies for example (or CC not showing at all in the catalog) and batch fixes all the broken stuffs after patches too. A big bonus is S4S also runs super smoothly and quick.
Lab Assistant
#19 Old 8th Nov 2017 at 6:58 PM
I organize mine by forcing a load order by sub-directory name, pre-fixed by a 3-digit number. I have removed certain directories from the list below, but you get the idea.
The 000_Dependencies directory contain all of the Sims4Studio items that other items are built off of and are required by in the 550_Megapacks and 2000_Me directories.
Not listed between 000 and 040 are the mod directories that I removed from the game for being incompatible.
The directories listed 1000-1200 house content from various sites, and once I have used them in my game for a while, I shove them into megapacks using Sims4Studio.

11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 000_Dependencies
11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 040_No Mosiac
11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 045_No Privacy
11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 050_Billionaire
11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 550_Megapacks
03/26/2017 07:39 AM <DIR> 1000_Custom Content_MTS Buy Build
07/26/2016 01:47 PM <DIR> 1000_Custom Content_MTS CAS Clothing
02/21/2016 06:36 PM <DIR> 1000_Custom Content_MTS CAS Eyes
02/21/2016 06:36 PM <DIR> 1000_Custom Content_MTS CAS Hair
02/21/2016 06:36 PM <DIR> 1000_Custom Content_MTS CAS Skin
05/19/2017 07:07 AM <DIR> 1100_Custom Content_Other Buy Build
08/27/2017 03:29 PM <DIR> 1100_Custom Content_Other CAS Clothing
02/21/2016 06:37 PM <DIR> 1100_Custom Content_Other CAS Eyes
11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 1100_Custom Content_Other CAS Hair
03/26/2017 07:53 AM <DIR> 1100_Custom Content_Other CAS Skin
03/26/2017 07:39 AM <DIR> 1200_Custom Content_TSR Buy Build
11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 1200_Custom Content_TSR CAS Clothing
02/21/2016 06:35 PM <DIR> 1200_Custom Content_TSR CAS Eyes
11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 1200_Custom Content_TSR CAS Hair
03/26/2017 07:53 AM <DIR> 1200_Custom Content_TSR CAS Skin
11/07/2017 04:45 PM <DIR> 2000_Me
Test Subject
#20 Old 22nd Aug 2018 at 10:05 PM
Quote: Originally posted by GrumpySuzy
lol @coolspear1 I merged all your mods and I use your Resource.cfg, luckily I have not noticed any significant glitches with them, interesting to know you yourself do not even merge. What problems did you have?
I have Testing folders for CAS and objects to weed out problems and gather them there before merging, MCC and scripts are separated in their folders. I had to divide Clothing and Hair into smaller categories because the merged packages got too big, over 1 GB . WIth a total of 16GB CC, my loading time is 2 minutes.
I always try to save a screenshot or photo of the item I download, as well as including name of the creators and the creation so browsing what CC I have become much easier. This could be done if you choose to start over rather than gasping at the CC piling up in your Mods folder.



Hey thats a great idea! Ive set custom folder icons before so will be easy
Screenshots
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