Play Style: Mods or Clean Game

[Miriam]

I use a loooooooooot of mods and I'm pretty disappointed.
I simply can't play my game without it. :/
By the way, do you need to have no mods to play a legacy? I'm thinking about starting a legacy next month.

[TheTripWasInfraGreen]

You can use mods in a legacy, but not in the challenges/dynasties that are exclusive to this forum. Other forums are probably more lenient.

[angelcat621]

I voted for the following three choices: It depends on the situation, I've used them on and off, and Yes, but I'd like it if EA gave us the options instead. I only recently started using mods, starting with Master Controller + cheats module (which I love). I use mods sparingly, mainly to alter skill levels for new Sims I've created or to repair family trees bugged by a glitch. I have enough space on my computer to have a "clean" mod-free Sims 3 folder and a modded one, for purposes of experimentation. It would've been wonderful if testingcheats had allowed us to alter skill levels, but I'm not complaining.

At least when Seasons comes out we'll no longer need mods to disable the memory system. Yeah! One more reason to love the Seasons.

[Wench]

I voted "it depends" although I guess really it would be a "can't live without them situation"

I do have to turn them off to run Metro's challenges though, and that is the only time I play without them now.
However, when I say that I find them essential, its mods like Twallan's NRAAS Saver, Overwatch and Error Trap and a few others.  The reason I find them essential is that even with a cleanly installed game, my Sims games break within a few hours of playtime without them. For me it isn't an option, its having to use mods to fix things that EA should have fixed themselves. Without Overwatch to remove stuck sims, abandoned cars, etc. any save game becomes unplayable for me within a few weeks of sim game time. Doing Metro's challenges for me are so frustrating as I can guarantee my game is close to unplayable long before the end of the challenge time frame.  I also have to use a mod to allow several items I purchased from the EA Sim Shop to work. Without it, items like the Tree of Prosperity just sit there and do nothing for me. And these things happen regardless of whether or not I choose to use CC from other sources. Even on a fresh install with only one or two shop items its the same for me.

And this is with a computer that happily runs new games like Diablo 3 on best settings very well.

I've spent years tweaking settings, doing factory resets and tried every single suggestion I ever found on our technical forums (yes, that took forever). In the end, my choice comes down to running the game with a small selection of mods to fix it when it breaks, or never get to play. I would much prefer it if I didn't have to use mods for these reasons and could just rely on EA's game alone, but if it hadn't broken every single time I played it, I probably wouldn't have gone looking for help and found you all in the first place!

I do sometimes use mods to do fun things like story progression for example, but these I only use when I fancy a bit of a change. These are what I assume are the sort of things that most people are thinking of when they refer to mods. These I don't consider essential, I think of them as an interesting twist for a personal fun game.

[Sims_Lover]

I love the mods! It was like no babies/romance until SP Was added. It would be nice if EA could do what Twallan has done.

[Tin]

I prefer to keep my game clean. Downloads slow down my game, and i dont want to mess things up. I also like to play it normally, without mods. I used to have them in my TS2 game, but not in TS3.

[Frey]

I used a lot of mods in TS2 but in TS3 I've only tried a few: Over Watch, Master Controller, Error Trap, Story Progression. Oh, and one called No Intro or Skip Intro or something like that.

I'm currently using none of them since I'm playing the Animal Instincts challenge, and because it seems like my game is finally going through a phase of stability and I don't want to touch anything that could possibly make it crash again LOL. I know some of these mods could actually help me prevent the crashing issues, but since my problem seems to be lack of RAM I'm keeping it clean until I get more.

I'm dying to install Story Progression again though, it was the coolest thing ever. I only tried it for 2 weeks or so and then deleted it because of my RAM issues. I'm not sure if it's true, but I've heard that it's not a good thing to use this mod if you have too little RAM, so I just got rid of it just in case. Hopefully I will solve that soon!

[EnglishRose]

I voted 'no but I'd like to learn', which basically sums it up. I used to have a few items of CC but uninstalled them all when I cleaned up my computer, and since then I've had a clean game. I used to be very sceptical and suspicious but since so many people on this site seem to have confirmed how reliable some mods (mainly twallan's) are, I think I'd like to try them since the story progression in-game irritates me sometimes (like when hardly any sims ever get married or have kids).
All I'm worried about is them making my game slower; if I installed master controller and story progession (for example) how much difference would that make? I play on just a normal Dell laptop, but I have all expansion packs to date and mostly high/medium settings and everything is fine.

[ArianaJade]

I use a few select mods for free play games. Overwatch and Master Controller are the two main ones, but I also like twallan's Story Progression and Once Read. I've got my eye on a few others too but I'm going to hold off installing them until after the Supernatural patch/release.

I play my DecaDynasty mod-free, obviously. Most of the mod stuff I can live without in that game and I don't even notice it too much, but I'd love it if we could do things like take pregnant sims to the dresser without mods and if the EA story progression was improved. I find there's never any teens in school with my teens and that makes getting a partner for the heir in later generations that much harder.

[BlazeGirl12]

I really love to experiment with mods, but I can live without them. Some of my most fun files were played without mods, like my single dad and seven kids. But I do love adding new features to games I've already paid for, and I always have. Plus, I feel that sometimes there are too many constraints on how I like to play. For example, I never liked the 8 Sim limit per house. True, playing with more can get chaotic, but it's a fun kind of chaos. Goodness knows that mods make me lazy sometimes, but maybe that's a good thing, since I don't have as much time to play video games any more.

[Esther1981]

I found this site before finding other, modding sites. Back than, it was a no-no to talk about, and I heard they could seriously mess up the game. I've never used them and don't even want too. Even now, after all the talk about them being good for some things, I don't trust them. I'm aware that some "bugs" could be fixed by using them, but I'd rather wait for EA to fix it.

[twallan]

Even now, after all the talk about them being good for some things, I don't trust them. I'm aware that some "bugs" could be fixed by using them, but I'd rather wait for EA to fix it.

Each to their own.

Unfortunately I believe that EA is utterly clueless as to the various issues in this product, and will probably never correct most of them.

Take for instance the [Ambitions] Consignment error, where an object that stays too long on consignment will break the system.  When EA updated the game to include the [Supernatural] Potion Consignment system, they copied the entire [Ambitions] Consignment system verbatim, bugs and all.

There was no attempt to correct the issues with the system, honestly the copy was so complete, I don't believe they know it was actually broken to begin with.

You are not alone in your wait, there are many users on the Official Forums who still hold out hope that EA will come through in the end.

I wish you the best of luck.

[Sportsfan]

I have never played with mods. Probably because they would be super difficult for me to install more than anything else cause I need an admin password that I don't have to patch my game which is super annoying and I'd need the admin password to install a mod.

[twallan]

I'd need the admin password to install a mod.

One requires an admin password to create a new folder and place a file in your own "My Documents" directory ?

I must admit, that is pretty strict security you have on your computer.

[Sportsfan]

I cant access a lot of the game stuff on my account on my family's computer. My dad installed it on his account so only his account can modify it or add mods or anything like that.