Troubleshooting Mods, Both Using Or Not Using S4CL - ColonolNutty/Sims4CommunityLibrary GitHub Wiki
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
- At the Main Menu Press
Esc
- Open
Game Options
- Open
Other Settings
- Make sure the
Enable Custom Content and Mods
option is checked.
- If it was not checked, restart your game.
- At the Main Menu Press
- 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 toDocuments\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 renamingDocuments\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4.bak
toDocuments\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
- Yes:
- Does the problem persist?
- 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)
- Yes:
- Does the problem persist?
- 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.
- No:
- 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.
- Does the problem persist?
- 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.
- 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.
- Upload the following files that are located in the
Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4
andDocuments\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."
- 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)
- Your current Sims 4 version. Look at the bottom of the Main Menu to find the version.
- A detailed description of the problem (Or your best guess at the time it occurred)
- 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":
- Latest for me could mean a completely different version from you, you or I may not even know what the latest version is.
- Most problems occur due to a difference in versions. Saying "latest" makes this avenue of troubleshooting impossible.
- There are a couple issues by saying you are using "latest":