There are a lot of mods for The Sims 4 that completely overhaul and expand on the game's existing systems; even new players are looking to the modding community to add depth to their Sims experience. That's great for a lot of Simmers, but what about those who prefer a more vanilla play style and like to play the game how it was made?
Luckily, a lot of creators are making mods that work with existing game systems, making them better, smoother, and sometimes more complex. For Simmers who want to enhance their vanilla-style gameplay, here are some mods that will do just that.
10 Have Some Personality Please! By PolarBearSims
Have Some Personality Please! expands on the existing Sims 4 personality system, making it so Sims' (and pets') autonomous actions line up better with their personalities. Instead of random, idle chatting, autonomous conversations and interactions will depend on the autonomous Sim's traits, emotions, and relationships. Mean Sims are more likely to be mean instead of always friendly, and Woohoo and Try for Baby interactions are limited to Sim partners with a high romantic relationship.
Zero's Social Interactions Autonomy mod similarly tweaks The Sims 4's autonomous interactions system, and is especially good for getting enemies to act like enemies, and stopping Sims from randomly (and constantly) flirting. It's also compatible with Have Some Personality Please!
9 Whim Overhaul, By Bienchens Mods
Whims were originally based on a Sim's emotions, traits, aspirations, and other in-game circumstances, and they were pretty cool! But, as more DLC was released, Whims became increasingly based on new game features and were less personalized for specific Sims. They were also automatically hidden in the Game Options menu a couple of years ago.
Now, even if players do turn them back on, Whims are not nearly as personalized as they were in the Base Game. Enter: Whim Overhaul. This mod creates new Whims based on all of the currently released packs, increases family-based Whims (with Parenthood activities incorporated), and decreases Whims to buy things... like Bee Boxes. Players can pick and choose which packages to install based on which packs they have, or which ones they want more Whims for.
8 Away Actions By Bienchens Mods
In The Sims 4, when some Sims in a family go to a community lot, clicking on the Sims left at home lets the player choose what they do when they aren't being controlled. Sims can Care for Self, Do Homework, or even work on skills. However, this feature does not always work as intended.
Away Actions ensures that when Sims Care for Self, their needs will actually be fulfilled, and that they'll really gain skills if that option is selected. The mod also adds more away choices, like building, pack, and age-specific skills (which can now also satisfy daily work tasks).
7 Parenthood - Autonomous Traits Interactions, Zero
The Sims 4 Parenthood is one of the most popular packs for The Sims 4, and for good reason; it adds great family-oriented interactions, new activities, and even Character Values. But, Sims never do any of these new actions autonomously, which makes it difficult to earn the Character Traits associated with these Values, especially Empathy and Conflict Resolution, which depend on emotional interactions.
Zero's Parenthood - Autonomous Traits Interactions makes your Sims have more autonomous emotional interactions. Sims Can Share, Question, or Calm Emotions, Rile Up, Unintentionally Crush Dreams, Point out Flaw, Mend Difference, and more - and all of these interactions will impact the Character Values of toddlers-teens.
6 Bite The Dust By Kuttoe
Kits have been a hot topic in The Sims community, and not in a good way; even the most avid Simmers were disappointed by them. Of the three released kits, the biggest letdown by far was Bust the Dust. Despite being the only kit that promised new gameplay, it became clear very quickly that Bust the Dust simply didn't work.
Bite the Dust adds a bunch of fixes and tweaks to make this kit both functional, and more fun. Sims will only check dust levels or vacuum autonomously if they have the Neat, Fastidious, or Responsible traits, clean and dusty homes no longer provide huge bonuses, and Dust Bunnies and Dirt Piles only spawn in dirty or worse conditions.
5 Get to Work Career Aspirations By Konansock
In previous Sims games, career-based aspirations have been a staple in the series. Career aspirations also make an appearance in The Sims 4, but for some reason, The Sims 4: Get to Work's active careers didn't receive the same treatment.
This mod adds four new aspirations for Get to Work's three active careers: "Hound" for the Detective career, "Guardian of Health" for the Medical Career, and "Top-Class Scientist" and "Frankenstein" for the Scientist career. Like the in-game aspirations, each aspiration also comes with its own reward trait, and new interactions and clothing to unlock.
4 Autonomy & Simulation Lag Improvements By Coolspear and Sim Unclogger, TURBODRIVER
These two mods are grouped together because they do similar things, and they function really well together in-game. Both of these mods do wonders for fixing The Sims 4's simulation lag.
Coolspear's Autonomy & Simulation Lag Improvements stops Sims from wasting time (hours, sometimes) idly standing around. The mod comes with a few different variations, but its basic function is to make Sims solve their needs autonomously, and follow players' instructions more efficiently. There are also add-ons that encourage Sims to seek out fun activities. Simulation Unclogger specifically finds and un-sticks stuck Sims, making them playable again.
3 Remove Sims from Conversation By MizoreYukii and thepancake1
Speaking of autonomy, Sims certainly don't seem to have trouble entering each other's conversations on their own. Especially during group outings (it's even worse on dates), it can be all but impossible for a player's Sims to have a conversation without a bunch of random strangers joining in.
MizoreYukii and thepancake1 have made it possible to remove such Sims from conversations with just one click. To remove Sims, just right-click on their photos in the conversation UI that pops up on the top of the screen. This will feel familiar for players who use UI Cheats Extension, which this mod is also compatible with.
2 Expandable Build-Buy Catalog By TwistedMexi
TwistedMexi's Patreon should be required reading for all The Sims 4 players, but their Build-Buy mods are especially good for vanilla-style players. The Expandable Build-Buy Catalog does exactly as its name implies - it makes the Build-Buy Catalog expandable, so players can see more rows of items at a time, without having to scroll.
In the vanilla game, Build-Buy only displays a couple of rows at a time, so players are at the mercy of the scroll function (which can be tedious with a lot of DLC installed. The game has a lot of items!) The mod is also easy to toggle on or off; just press "~" or "1" on the keyboard to expand or minimize the menu any time.
1 Emotional Interia By Roburky
Another modder whose page should be required reading, Roburky created Emotional Inertia as an older version of their Meaningful Stories mod, though Emotional Inertia is less of an overhaul and more of an enhancement.
With Emotional Inertia, a Sim's emotions last longer, are more difficult to get rid of, and less prone to change based on things like decorations, a Sim's environment. Inertia is also based on age, and can either be strong, medium, or fragile. There are exceptions, of cours - uncomfortable moodlets caused by a low bladder will go away when the bladder need is fulfilled, for example, and unflirty Sims will have less inertia for flirty emotions, which matches their personality well.