How to Prepare Your Sims 4 Mods for the September 22 Update

Sul Sul, Simmers! On September 15th, Electronic Arts released the laundry list for the upcoming update. The update goes live on September 22nd. This update includes 95+ fixes, ranging from Sim behavior to game stability. This will be a heavy hitter for mods, so if you’re a mod user, be sure to prepare!

Creating a backup of your mods before an update is extremely important. A broken mod can do irreparable damage to your save if you don’t handle it correctly. But don’t worry! We’re here to teach you how to back up your mods and safely put them back into your game.

How to Back Up Your Mods

Backing up mods is pretty simple. Locate your Mods folder, which should look like this: Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Mods. Once you’ve found it, make a copy of the folder. Paste it somewhere safe, like your desktop or a hard drive. If The Sims 4 is running or using a mod manager, close both.

It’s highly recommended to have a very organized mod folder. This can be as simple as a Word file with all the creator names/objects, or separating the mods into separate, titled folders. This will help you save a lot of time. Trust us.

What To Do After Updating The Sims 4

Now that you’ve backed up your mods, you’re ready to update The Sims 4. Once the download is complete, launch the game. Automatically, mods will be disabled. This is standard after an update. Load into a save and enter Live Mode. This ensures the game runs on the new update.

Exit the game without saving. You mustn’t save the game. If you do, the game will strip the modded content. For example, a Sim designed using CC will lose all their CC if you save while the game is loaded in vanilla.

After exiting the game, delete localthumbcache.package, which is in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4. Do this whenever changing mods. Once deleted, load The Sims 4 and re-enable mods and CC. You can do this by going to Game Options > Other > Enable Custom Content and Mods. Also enable Script Mods. Then restart the game.

What To Do With The Mods Now

Now, search for updated versions of your mods. Scarlet’s Realm keeps an updated list of common mods and shows you whether each one needs an update. Download the updated files and replace all outdated mods to avoid issues. Don’t forget to check if the mod depends on another mod. Update them all.

Prioritize UI and gameplay mods, as they’re most likely to break the game. If you’re unsure whether the mod is a UI mod, UI mods change or expand the game’s interface, including anything that alters the layout in Create‑a‑Sim or Build/Buy mode. Mods like More Traits in CAS or More Columns in CAS are examples of UI mods.

If, after replacing all the updated files, something isn’t right, it’s time for the 50/50 method. Move all content out of the mods folder. Add half of your mods back in. Make sure these are the mods you depend on. Always do the important mods first. After loading the game with this half, if something is still wrong, the problem is in the current version of the mods folder. Close the game and halve what you have in the folder once more. Repeat this until you find the issue.

Good Luck

Good luck, players. We expect the update will do quite a bit of damage to mods on September 22nd. However, now you’re prepared and know what to do! Updating your game and everything else may be a challenge, but it’s better than having a broken game, right? Dag Dag!

Until Next time, if you are looking for MORE Community Moments in The Sims 4, check out This Blog: Laundry List: The Sims 4 September 22 Update Will Fix 95+ Bugs