Must-Have Mods for The Sims 4: Part 2
The Sims 4 has so many mods and custom content (cc) available to add to your gameplay. For me, playing with just base game or whatever comes with each pack and kit I purchase is not enough to have great let’s play (LP) storylines. Plus, those who make mods and cc are hella talented and the additional context or creativity their mods and cc bring to playing The Sims 4 could never be replicated by EA. Sorry, not sorry. If you want to learn more about my main favorite mods, check out My Fav Mods Pt. 1 before you dive into this complementary two part.
Here are additional mods that I love and will continue to play with as long as the brilliant modders continue updating and revising them:
1. Basemental Drugs Mod by Basemental
Basemental Drugs is such a great mod for those who want to add the use of drugs into their gameplay. Again, I am a chaos simmer who plays very adult themed LPs — if you are not, this mod is not for you. For my weed heads, this will be your favorite mod ever. With Basemental Drugs you can have weed, coke, speed, pills, and much more in your gameplay.
You can start weed farms, have dispensaries, and much more. Like real life, when you sell drugs you could end up attracting the law. Through settings you can decide which worlds you want to have heavier police presents in, and how others will respond/act to drug usage. You can even assign randomly or specifically who you’d like to be addicted to what and at what levels of addition. Want a coke head who can’t get enough of the booga suga? Or what about someone who is hooked on prescription drugs? You can make it all happened however you wish with the settings for Basemental Drugs in game.
Elisha Michaelson earned the right to spark a J whenever she wants — lvl 10 PhD botanist and weed empiress.
For my LPs, I have two that particularly focus on drug selling more than my others. With the Gates and Locklears LP, Elisha Michaelson is a weed empire boss. She recently has accepted that opening a dispensary is the next course of action for her family’s business to grow. For awhile I had Elisha growing her weed at home in a greenhouse. You can do a farm, a grow room in a dispensary, or get even more creative than me. With the Hoskins LP, Orson Hoskins used to sell coke through the mail. He got arrested, yes that can happen with Basemental Mods, and did 3 days in Sim jail for a misdemeanor. Eventually I had Orson sell direct to customer by throwing Cookouts for Cokeheads at his house.
As a drug dealer, you need to level up in your craft regardless of which drug(s) you decide to have your Sims sell. You can level up by reading books about each drug, up to level 3 just like any other skill in The Sims 4. You can also become friends with an NPC drug dealer (you’d have to assign them randomly via settings for this mod). They will be your supplier and give you tidbits on which worlds are best for scoring, selling, or avoiding. If you decide to also get Basemental Gangs Mod, you could likely have your gang members do all the selling for you so you don’t have to get your hands dirty.
If you have Sims who are addicted to a giving drug, or even tobacco, vaping, you can have them go to rehab by having Basemental Drugs in your game too. I have sent at least two Sims to rehab outpatient. They will get clean if you are consistent with rehab, but they can get hooked again if you put them back on any given drug or tobacco use regularly.
2. Healthcare Redux Mod by a.deep.indigo
If you want your Sims to have real health conditions like colds, sinus infections, high blood pressure, and more, you need a.deep.indigo’s Healthcare Redux Mod. From chronic conditions to deadly diseases, you can allow you Sims to experience health issues like any regular degular human. While there is no gore to this mod, your Sim could die if their condition is left untreated.
I love that my Sims can go to the doctor via rabbit hole trip for OB/GYN, specialist, therapist, acupuncturist, and more too! Once you send a Sim to figure out what is wrong with them, or a for a check up with a particular medical provider, they can then order their prescriptions online or “go in person” via rabbit hole. For recurring conditions, you can even refill prescriptions!
This Sim can’t go to the doctor with Healthcare Redux for their ass beating, but they could for a cold!
Most of my Sims to end up pregnant in my LPs, so I enjoy having them go for their little pregnancy checkups. I also have children in most of my LP families, so getting vaccinated is kinda fun because Townies will often be sick with a cold or COVIDA as I like to say when playing.
For more of the granular details of this mod you will likely need to be a patron member rather than use the free public version. Even still, there is enough context with Healthcare Redux to add to your gameplay.
3. Divergent Sims Mod by a.deep.indigo
Another great mod from a.deep.indigo in the health area is Divergent Sims Mod. The world is made up of millions of people with different ways of thinking. Why shouldn’t your Sims also be able to have different neurological aspects to them?! With this mod you get a ton of neurodiversity along with medical treatments and evaluations. As a neurospicy person, I like to have this mod in to automatically assign my Sims with different disorders.
If you have children in your Sims’ household, when they age up to a preteen they have the age chance of triggering an assigned disorder, such as Autism, ADHD, or others. The impact of this is caused by how that Sim child grew up, but the Divergent Sims mod doesn’t rule out them having a neurological condition later in their Sim life. What’s helpful is that you can use menu options such as Youth Developmental Services or Mental Health Services to get evaluations done for your Sims from toddler to elder age. You can also access these options via the phone in gameplay too.
Skyler Aviles found out she was schizophrenic hours before this kick happened…
I’ve been most happy to see my Sims that are diagnosed as neurodivergent be able to get actually prescribed with medications for their disorder(s) and/or go to group or individual therapy thanks to this mod. For instance, Skyler Aviles from my Sophie + Skyler LP has schirophrenia and didn’t get diagnosed until after her fiance died of a heart attacked in her home. I can have her on appropriate meds because of her evaluation, and send her to group or regular talk therapy.
Beyond having these conditions be auto assigned or you select yourself, you can also have your Sims discuss their conditions with others via the pie menu options. Another great additive with this mod is the option modules! Your Sim can any or everything from generalized anxiety to body dysmorphia is available with it.
As with any a.deep.indigo core mod, you get additional levels to this mod when you’re a patron member compared to the free, public version.
4. Grannie’s Cookbook by Littlebowbub (LBB)
All Sims eat something! With the Grannie’s Cookbook Mod by Littlebowbub you can have more detailed, culturally unique, and specific meal options for your Sim to cook or bake. This allows the food pie menu to be more expansive than what comes with base game or any pack and/or kit you might purchase too. I love the variety and how incredibly real food looks in my game because of this mod.
There are over 15 recipes available with this mod that you’ll need to download and install for your game separately from the mod itself. I think this is better because it means you control exactly which recipes you want in your game versus having to have everything the creator made installed at once. And if you want a little cutesy look for your cookbook to show up as custom content (cc) in game, you can find some alternatives to the standard book that comes with the main mod.
Skyler Aviles can throw down in the kitchen! She loves making healthy food for herself.
I find this mod quite wholesome compared to all of my other primary mods, so even if you aren’t a heavy mod or cc user with your Sims gameplay, this one will feel lightweight to use. I haven’t had many of my Sims become focused on anything food or chef career oriented in my LPs, but I can say that if you try any freelancer chef mods that are out there this mod paired nicely when I used it.
5. Steady Sit & Seat Any Sim Mod by Amellce
Sims that won’t sit their asses down are so annoying! This is why I love the Steady Sit & Seat Any Sim Mod from Amellce. You can direct any Sim in your household or on a lot to sit their ass down wherever sitting is possible. I have used this so much in my LPs to have Sims sit down for dinner together, birthday parties, to talk on the couch without immediately talking about gibbish, and much more.
Another key part to this mod that I love is the ability to sit all diners down when you’re out to a restaurant or bar to sit down at a table together. This is incredibly helpful when you have clubs or have made personalized clubs for family or friend activities for your Sims. There are no wild bells or whistles with this mod, it’s actually as it’s defined.
The Hoskins at a nice Turkey Day celebration for once —before Orlando and Omari were born.
Again, if you don’t really like playing with mods but find you do big functions or want more control over your Sims when it’s time to sit down, this mod would be ideal to give a try in your game.
6. Better Build Buy Mod by TwistedMexi
Any Simmer who is a builder more than likely has the Better BuildBuy Mod by TwistedMexi in their game. Even though I am not a builder, I do like to design my lots and homes with my 100s of files of custom content (cc) that I use in game. Using BBB helps me hide the content from Maxis and highlight more quickly my custom content furnishings and things.
The filtering is only a tip of the iceberg with this massively helpful mod. You can expand your catalog by pressing the ` or ~ keys on your keyboard, which allows you to see a large view of all of the items you’re searching through when in Build Mode. There is a nifty BuildMode FreeCam, which now EA has introduced something similar a few patches before For Rent was released.
Similar to other UI and functionality mods, Better BuildBuy is a mod that is straight to the point without complexities to understand. The only thing you’ll need to remember is short keys to use with it when you’re in Build Mode. Another positive is if you have the T.O.O.L. mod from Twisted Mexi it can be used effortlessly with BBB too!
Want to see this mod in action by experienced builders in Sims? Here are a few clips from those I enjoy downloading lots from via EA’s in-game gallery for The Sims 4:
7. Smarter Pie Menu: Searchable Interactions Mod by TwistedMexi
Last but certainly not least is a mod that makes it super fucking easy to use the pie menu. After EA launched the Growing Together Expansion Pack it felt damn near impossible to find menu options, that was until the Smarter Pie Menu Mod by TwistedMexi came out. Now this one might take time for you to get used to because we’re all likely programmed to keep clicking til we find the pie menu group we’re looking for during gameplay. All of that is no longer necessary with this mod! You can just TYPE what you’re looking for and presto, you’ll be taking to the narrowed down pie menu group instantly.
This is great for a neurospicy simmer like me because I often forget all of the mods I have added to my game and their pie menus show up in the same place as all other regular game menus. You don’t even have to type the full word out! For example, looking for something in Lumpinou’s Relationship & Pregnancy Overhaul mod pie menu? Type ‘preg’ or ‘fert’ and those menu options will definitely be top returns with Smarter Pie Menu. This works whether you have mods installed in your game or not — even you vanilla Simmers can use this mod!
Like many of TwistedMexi’s UI and functionality mods, there is no hiding trick you have to understand to have this mod in your game. There are many videos on Twisted’s YouTube channel if you want to learn more about how to use any of their mods.
