Play Style: Mods or Clean Game

[thesweetestpea]

I use Twallan's mods in my non-dynasty games, which are wonderful for me. I have several folders with different mod settings. My dynasty folder has no mods, my legacy folder has ErrorTrap, Overwatch and Saver, then I have a story folder which has all my CC and poses, and a casual gameplay folder which is built for my simself family and uses NRaas Story Progression, ErrorTrap, Overwatch, Saver and a mod that unlocks all the traits for babies. The only thing that I find annoying about playing multiple folders is that I have to install everything I want manually to each folder. I do plan on doing a library clean up, but I haven't in quite a while.

[Seabody]

I have three setups - my Dynasty, my Casual, and my Challenges. I play with MasterController (+ Cheats), Overwatch, StoryProgression (+ Extra and a tuning package from twallan), Traveler, Vector (+ Goofy, Long Term and Minor), WrittenWord, an Evening School Mod, plus my own Mod to fix the Gym Bug.

[Tealeaf]

One mod I would hate to do without is the Decensor one.  I don't know why, but the privacy grid really breaks sense of game immersion for me.  Yes, The Sims are and always have been somewhat cartoony.  Without the grid, when naked they have more in common with Ken and Barbie dolls than actual human anatomy.  But still, having that grid pop up sets off alarms in my brain that scream "This is super fakey fake fake!  Don't you have my something actually constuctive to go do?"

   Yes, my brain is something of a buzzkill sometimes.  But it's easier to just use Twallan's mod then to try to slap some sense into my brain.

[NonaMena]

I never play without at least one mod, and that mod is ErrorTrap. Usually that's only for testing purposes anyhow. If I had to stop using mods, I would probably never play Sims 3 anymore. I take offense to an unmodded game being called clean :p My games are not dirty because they have mods! 

[Castaras]

I used to use Nraas' storyprogression. However, after deleting it to start doing challenges again, I realised that it was slowing down my game too much for me to want to install it again. Nowadays, I just use Mastercontroller, Overwatch, and nointro. Plus quite a bit of CC to get me some good curls for my girls, and a floor-length skirt.

[Korva]

When I first got the game, I played it purely vanilla. Now I refuse to play without some of Twallan's great work: Story Progression (so much better than the default in every way), Master Controller, Traveller, Error Trap, Overwatch. I also have a mod that fixes the bugged gym moodlet. Not only do these mods help when the control freak in me kicks in, the main appeal is the bugfixing. For example, why should I risk my game messing up every time I travel, or avoid using the content of an EP I paid for altogether in fear of ancient bugs, just because EA still hasn't fixed them? That's not fun. Enter Error Trap and Traveller. Thank you Twallan!

[wednesday21]

I use mods and I'm glad I do, because being able to pick and add interactions/features to my game myself is huge freedom. My game has never slowed down because of mods, and I doubt I can play this game without at least one or two mods. I use numerous mods from NRaas, ModTheSims, Sims Asylum and individual modders.

[CSquared2]

I usually play with mods unless I'm playing a challenge that requires I not use them, in which case I remove them.  I find certain mods very, very useful.  Master Controller is by far my favorite.  When I want to change something about the way EA has presented the game, almost anything I might want changed can be done with Master Controller.  There are a few exceptions.  I enjoy certain features of Woohooer, like being able to overstuff households and the availability of a matchmaker.  I only use a handful of mods, though, because when I put a bunch in, my game actually went slower.  What the mods were doing was hurting while it was helping, if that makes sense.  I removed the ones I needed less.  I also don't like to use too many because I could never possibly remember what all the settings are and what they do.  Even with the mods I have, I change only a handful of options and even those I don't change all the time.  Lastly, I'm not someone who feels the need to control everything in my game.  That's not what makes the game enjoyable to me.  I want it to be unpredictable and to struggle somewhat to send things in the direction I desire.  There are mods for virtually everything, but if I used all of them, I don't think the game would be the same one I enjoy.

[smartburn]

I chose "no, but I'd like to learn more" & "it depends."

My take on it is somewhere between Fez & Pam, maybe slightly leaning towards Fez, even though I don't use any mods at this time. At the moment I tend to play in large chunks and then go a long time without playing. While I'm not a complete dunce when it comes to computers, I'm a little impatient, so having to figure out and go through the process of uninstalling/reinstalling/etc/etc a mod or whatever every time there's a new patch when all I want to do is play doesn't appeal to me. I also like the option of playing some of the tournaments here, and I don't want to worry about not having a mod-free game if I decided to participate in a challenge on this site. At the same time, Overwatch and Error Trap sound more and more appealing the more I play, and there's a couple of saved games I'd like to continue playing the way they are without ripping my hair out which I believe these two mods will help make happen. I also figure that once I've tried almost everything the game has to offer, Master Controller and eventually Story Progression will be key to keeping my interest. I get the feeling that Sims 4 will come out long before I'm ready to be done with Sims 3 so these particular mods will help keep that interest going.

I'm very leery of custom content though (meaning non-store items, skins and eyes) - before Supernatural was announced I was very tempted by it, but I've heard of one too many problems to truly consider using it. Now that more skin colors will be a feature in Supernatural, I won't be drooling as much...

[sims4ever]

I prefer to keep my game clean.

[MoMoll]

I love my mods and could never go back to the clean game after using them. I have fewer glitches now, and story progression is more real to life. I have more career choices and can control immigration and emmigration.

[Phoenix]

  @Nona  lol   I agree!

  I voted, Yes I can't live without them.  I played Sims1 without mods, Sims2 without mods, and I started Sims3 without mods, and I wasn't even interested in them.  Then came LN with its vampires and celebrities, that kept overtaking my games. ( One was my legacy game, and I was on generation5, how do you cure vampires when you're not supposed to make any other family active?)

   It was quite frustrating.  I spent all my time dealing with the vampires and celebrities and the game ceased to be fun.  I was about to walk away from Sims3, but decided at the last moment to give mods a try.  What did I have to lose?  The game was broken for me anyway.  I started with Twallan's StoryProgression, which took care of the vampire/celebrity problem, and it took care of a few other problems that I didn't like about EA's Storyprogression.  Like emigration, and the *killing* off of babies and toddlers.

  Now I have several of his mods, and I can't imagine playing without them, they make the game fun again.

[ErinIsNice]

I voted 'can't live without them'. I loved a lot of things about Late Night, but without mods to keep vampires and celebrities to a reasonable level, I would have had to uninstall it. I also love Twallan's Story Progression, and Register (to cut down on the number of stray/wild animals). Oh, and the ability to get rid of memories! I hated EAs memory feature.
I also have a ridiculously huge collection of CC that I never want to be without.

[TallStar]

I voted No, I Keep It Clean For Metro's Challenges. Though once I finish my Immortal Dynasty and a Decadynasty ( if I do one) I'll probably throw a few in just to test them out because I would really like to use Twallan's Story Progression.

[donatello]

I voted I'd like EA to supply fixes, thank you very much... Because the arsenal of additional body shape sliders just give me so much more realistic scope for creating Sims. I do feel that with the cheats available I have no real need for other mods. Though I must admit I only have Ambitions and WA. And being a graphic designer, I'm busy trying out creating my own patterns and clothing before considering CC.