The following are a few steps used to troubleshoot Mods. These steps can be used for mods that don't use The Sims 4 Community Library as well as those that do use The Sims 4 Community Library. Depending on how a Mod has been setup, these troubleshooting steps may or may not work for you!

• These steps may be used to track down rogue mods causing issues as well! (Even if unrelated to S4CL itself)

• Ensure you have the Custom Scripts option enabled in-game in the settings
  1. At the Main Menu Press Esc
  2. Open Game Options
  3. Open Other Settings
  4. Make sure the Enable Custom Content and Mods option is checked.
  • If it was not checked, restart your game.
• If you get a corrupted file error while unzipping, update the version of your 7-zip and start over
• Verify, that you have fulfilled all of the requirements and their specific versions for the Mod being troubleshooted.
  • It should be obvious, but if a Mod has directed you to these Troubleshooting Steps, ensure you have installed S4CL.
• Verify, that you have completed all of the steps in the installation process (Steps for installation are likely described in the description of the Mod)
• Ensure you have not accidentally installed duplicates of the Mod you are troubleshooting.
• Ensure you have not installed duplicates of the requirements of the Mod you are troubleshooting.
• If you have done all of the above and the Mod still does not work, move to Step Two

• Rename your Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 folder to Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4.bak
  • This will ensure Sims 4 will recreate the folder in a clean state.
  • You can always recreate your existing game by deleting the Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 folder and renaming Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4.bak to Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4
• Start Sims 4 and create a simple household with an Adult, a Teen, and a Pet (Cat or Dog, if you can)
  • If you cannot create a household or cannot load The Sims 4, skip this step.
• Save and exit the game
• Download and install the Mod (and all of its requirements) you are trying to get working
• Start the game with the household you created above (or create a new one, if the previous step was skipped)
  • Does the problem persist?
    • Yes:
      • Go to the next step
    • No:
      • You have some other Mod or a bad save that is causing you problems

• Add your other Mods one by one
  • Does the problem persist?
    • Yes:
      • You have found the Mod that causes things to break, report it to the author of that Mod
    • No:
      • Continue adding Mods one by one until the problem begins to appear
      • If you've run out of Mods to add, then it was probably just a fluke in the system. (Magic sparkle sparkle)

• Put half your mods in
  • Does the problem persist?
    • No:
      • This means the mods you haven't added contain the mod that breaks things.
    • Yes:
      • Repeat this step until it stops breaking.
  • If you've added all of your mods and it is still breaking, this could point to a couple of things:
    • A previous step may have been missed, which can sometimes happen.
    • There may actually be a problem with the mod you are troubleshooting and you should follow the Problem Reporting steps below.

• Send a message in the Discord server or Post in the Support Thread of the Mod being troubleshooted, while providing the following details:
  • A detailed description of the problem (Or your best guess at the time it occurred)
    • These are essentially the steps you took that led you to the problem, or a best guess of what you were doing at the time of the error.
      • Example: I clicked on the fridge to make a Sim grab a plate of leftovers, then they put it down and immediately began doing flips out of nowhere.
  • Upload the following files that are located in the Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 and Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\mod_logs folders
    • THESE FILES ARE ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED IF YOU HAVE AN ORANGE NOTIFICATION BOX IN-GAME
    • The lastexception.txt (lastexception) file
    • The <Mod Name>_Exceptions.txt (<Mod Name>_Exceptions) file
    • Only provide<Mod Name>_Messages.txt (<Mod Name>_Messages) files if asked for.
  • Information about the Sim(s) you are having problems with (Adult, Teen, Pet, etc.)
  • The current version of all requirements of the Mod you are troubleshooting that you have installed. ("Most Recent" or "Latest" are not valid answers)
    • This is an example of what you'd say if you are reporting the problem for the Custom Gender Settings Mod (Since it has a requirement of S4CL)
      • "I am using version 1.30 of S4CL and version 1.0 of Custom Gender Settings."
  • Your current Sims 4 version. Look at the bottom of the Main Menu to find the version.

• The mod is not working!
  • What about the mod isn't working and what do you mean by "not working"?
• The thing is not working!
  • What do you mean by "not working"?
• A screenshot of the orange "error" text box you get in-game telling you there is a problem
  • This does not contain any useful information to a Mod Author. What it does tell you is where you can find the file you need to upload.
• A "prettified" exception message.
  • Most of the time the most important details are cut out from the "prettified" exceptions which makes them useless for debugging issues.
• A one line statement only containing the main message of the exception.
  • Doing this tells me nothing about WHERE the problem is, it only tells me WHAT the problem is. I need the full details of exceptions to properly debug issues!
• A generic statement "I has problem, fix it please!"
  • I don't know what your problem is or if it is even related to the Mod (Mod Authors are not psychiatrists or mind readers!)
• A statement such as "I had a problem with your mod, so I uninstalled it, just wanted to let you know"
  • This doesn't help anyone and is very rude, even if you didn't mean it that way!
• If asked what version of something you are using, you answer with "latest" or "newest".
  • There are a couple issues by saying you are using "latest":
    1. Latest for me could mean a completely different version from you, you or I may not even know what the latest version is.
    2. Most problems occur due to a difference in versions. Saying "latest" makes this avenue of troubleshooting impossible.