Mods Folder, What's Your Setup?

[MrsFlynn]

Updated ~ Sept.2021

I'm trying a new way of organizing my mods folder. Thanks to a suggestion from Nindigo.

Click image to see larger view.

My packages folder looks like this:
- \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods



\Overrides - Empty folder
\Packages - In packages folder we have (so far):



\CustomContent (merged cc files)



\MTS  -- Mods that are mostly from MTS.



\Nraas -- Mods that are from Nraas



\TFM -- Mods that are from TFM/Simsasylum



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Nindigo does something similar with her mods folder. No need to edit the resource.cfg as the game can see several subfolders inside the Package folder. You can create different subfolders to meet your needs - up to 15, possibly more.  If you start running into problems take a look at the amount of custom content and mods you have.

[Nindigo]

Thank you for this post.

I have had as much 15 subfolders no problem. If there is a problem, it is more likely due to the amount of mods/CC in itself.

[MrsFlynn]

Thank you for sharing the idea to organize the Package folder, confirming you can have as many as 15 subfolders and mentioning that if there's problems it's more likely that it's due to the amount of mods and custom content. Which I've run into before. *Blush*

I'm hoping this new method might help me add some more mods and/or custom content. lol Within reason of course

[MrsFlynn]

It looks like you can put a sub-folder within a sub-folder. -- I know this is probably a duh thing

Example:

\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages\CC\Hair - add all your CC Hair here.
\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages\CC\Furniture - add furniture objects here

Better to organize all the custom content.

This makes me so happy to know we can do this. However it does make me question how much do I want to micro-organize my .package files. Or maybe how much can I micro-organize them. lol

[MrsFlynn]

Over the last few days, I've learned that there might not be a limit to how many sub-folders we can have in

\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages folder.

While organizing my CC, I had 46 folders in a sub-folder in the Package folder. Of course the game was slower to load... I knew it would be. I still think limiting the sub-folder count is a great idea!!  Better to help find a happy medium between how much content is added and how long the load to main menu and then save file is.

If you'd like a copy of my mods folder, please see my post about it here. Add your own mods and custom content files.

[MrsFlynn]

This question has crossed my mind, specially over the last few or so days.

When you come across issues such as stuttering or lag it's good to check what custom content and mods you have installed. Specially if the stuttering or lag has just started after adding CC or mods. As you might have too much for your computer to handle.

There isn't any real limit to how much CC and mods you can have installed into the game. It's more about how much your computer can handle, your tolerance level and game configuration. Game performance is definitely affected by your configuration, the number of EPs/SPs you have. This varies computer to computer.

Keep in mind, adding any content to game, whether it's custom content, mods, or even store content leads to longer loading time with possible lag and stutter. Having 2-3GB or more of CC will cause longer loading times of 5+ minutes.

    – Rule of thumb: Keep mods folder in total to 2GB-3GB range, (on average) with laptops it may need to be a lot lower amount depending on what your computer can handle and your tolerance level of long loading times, lag and stuttering.

To get information on your mods folder - Right-click on Mods folder and select Properties. Look in the General tab, which should open automatically. Look at Size, Size on disk and Contains.



   ✽ A tip I'd like to add is, it may be a good idea to limit the amount of files in each sub-folder. Right now, some have up to 20 files and some have as little as 6 files.

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What lead me to ask myself the question of how much custom content is too much is because I was having stuttering issues. It was the worst I had ever experienced. -- At the time, I had about 600mb of mods and custom content.

The stuttering was happening in Live mode and in map view and while I was on the lot regardless of in Live mode or Build/Buy.

Game loading to main menu and to the save is fine. About 5 minutes at most, usually shorter.

This was happening regardless if I had a new folder, new save - didn't matter what town.

A new folder, new save with no CC or mods was working fine no stutter. Going through my CC and mods, getting rid of what I wasn't using helped quite a bit. I now have about 300mb of mods and CC and the game seems to be running a lot better.

It's really all about finding a happy medium between what your computer can handle and what you can tolerate.

[Mpart]

I completely agree with you, Mrs. Flynn! As someone who runs 8 GB's of CC....I definitely recommend stay in the 2 -3 GB range. While there is no limit to the amount of CC the game can handle, the more CC you add the more chances of something going wrong are going to happen. As for subfolders, usually if enough packages end up in them then I take that as a sign to merge them. After that, I put all my merged files into a subfolder called "compressed CC." The file itself is labeled with what's contents are in it EX) Hairs - Chazy. Backing up the merged files before compressing them is a good idea too for when you have to eventually sort through them again.

I play with a lot of CC in my game (I thought it was 5 GBs at most until I checked it recently...  ) so my game (likely) requires more maintenance than the average players'. For example, I am constantly moving my sims due to lag, however, I did have to do that even before I started adding CC to my games.

Here's some things I do once I notice loading times are getting longer:

- Clear caches (I try to do this before every play session but I get lazy some times)
- Clear sim inventories
- Use Save Cleaner by Kuree (This has SIGNIFICANTLY helped to prolong the my save files but I know that some people have had mixed results with it)
- Move towns (As mentioned above)
- Disable certain weather (rain, hail, etc)
- Slowly lower the amount of high detailed lots
- Set the game to a singular lunar phase (full moons can cause problems in my game)

Things I have automatically done to improve loading times:

- Disable memories
- Disable interactive screens
- Added NRAAS mods (even if you play in a full vanilla game, they are a LIFESAVER. They fix so many issues that the game itself causes)

Some content is harder on the games than others. As a general rule of thumb, I have noticed that store content/sims 3 packs effects the game worse than sims 3 packages. I'm not sure why though.

Another note is that the more intensive the game is (as Mrs.Flynn said, the amount of expansion packs and stuff packs in your game definitely effect your ability to play with large amounts of CC) the less CC you will be able to run. This goes along with towns.

In my experience, these are the towns that heavily modded games do well in and heavily modded games DO NOT do well in:

Download CC to Your Heart's Content (Within Reason):

- Dragon Valley
- Sunset Valley
- Sunlit Tides

It's Response to CC Varies:

- Midnight Hollow
- Twinbrook
- Monte Vista

These Towns Hate You:

- Isla Paradiso
- Bridgeport

*Again, this is just based on my own personal findings. Results definitely vary from computer to computer. A lot of towns aren't included because I haven't done enough research in them*

My games on average take 5 - 6 minutes to load. Usually during that time I will just do other things because I like playing a heavily modded game. Another thing to note though is to do what I say and not what I do; I am the definition of "this player added too much CC to their game and is holding it together with duct tape." Also, I bought my gaming PC specifically to run the sims...so I could install more custom content.

I hope this helps!