21 best Sims 4 mods in 2023 for realistic gameplay, CAS & more

If you’re looking for the best mods to download in The Sims 4, we have you covered with our comprehensive list that includes everything from CAS mods to gameplay mods and those all-important steps on installing them in your game.

Finding custom content in The Sims 4 can be a tad overwhelming due to the sheer amount that has been created since its initial PC launch in 2014, with modders adding new features or expanding on content found within the game’s many Expansion Packs and DLC.

To save you time sifting through a seemingly endless list, we’ve curated a rundown of mods which we think will have something for everyone. Whether you’re looking for new storyline opportunities, new CAS options, or simply want some quality-of-life adjustments in The Sims 4, we have you covered with our list of mod recommendations.

How to install mods in The Sims 4

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The first thing to note when downloading CC or mods is that they have the potential to cause game breaks or may affect your game in unforeseen ways. Due to this, it is always a good idea to back up your save files before downloading mods as a safeguard.

Once you have downloaded the mod (try to use reputable sites like CurseForge or Patreon), locate the file in your Downloads folder and follow these steps:

• Go to your Downloads folder and unzip the file if it’s a .rar or .zip file
• Move the mod or CC to your ‘Mods’ folder for The Sims 4, by selecting Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods
• Launch The Sims 4
• On the right side of the screen, select ‘Options’
• Click ‘Game Options’ and then ‘Other’
• Next, tick the box to enable custom content and mods as well as script mods
• Relaunch the game for the changes to take effect
• When you’re back in the game, a pop-up menu should appear listing all the mods you have installed

Once that’s all done, check the list to see if the mod has been downloaded, then proceed with your game.

• If you have a large number of mods, check out our guide to The Sims 4 Mod Manager, a mod that categorises your mods into folders and organises them for you

The best CAS mods in The Sims 4

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Below is our list of all the best CAS mods in The Sims 4, which we’ve picked based on how much the mods add quality-of-life fixes to the game.

Create-a-Sim is a great source of creativity for many Simmers, and certain features can be expanded upon by downloading the following mods to further aid in this.

7 – Height Slider Mod

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The height slider mod by Luumia, as the name implies, adds varying heights for Sims in The Sims 4. Although this may seem like a simple addition to the game at first, this can go a long way in helping to differentiate between the Teen and Young Adult Sim life stages.

Without this mod installed, there is very little visible change between Teen and Young Adult Sims, and many Teens can end up looking very similar. If you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, you can download the Height Slider Mod here.

6 – Stand Still in CAS mod

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Most of us have experienced the frustration of adjusting a Sim’s looks and having them constantly move, twitch, and pose. With the Stand Still in CAS mod by MizoreTukii, you can freeze your Sims in CAS, keeping them still enough to pick out their outfits without them reacting to body, facial, trait, or outfit changes.

There is an additional mod created by Shooksims and Shrimrod that’s available from the same page that negates all Occult animations, including the infamous hissing, giggling, spellcasting, howling, and other continuous animations that can interrupt you as you make Sims.

5 – TS2 CAS Background Room Replacement

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If you’re feeling nostalgic, TS2 CAS Background Room Replacement by Simsi45 replaces the neon green CAS background of The Sims 4 with a recreation of the dressing room in the previous entry in the franchise.

This is a fan-favourite mod within the community, with most agreeing that The Sims 2 Create-a-Sim menu offered better lighting and more personality with a studio setting theme.

Even if you’re not nostalgic for The Sims 2, the lighting has a warm, golden hue rather than the stark blue-green tint that can sometimes be hard to judge particular colours by. Often, you’ll create a Sim that looks perfect in the mode, only to then find out that they look drastically different when placed in-game.

What’s more, the mod is also compatible with The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs Expansion, so your Sim’s furry friends can also benefit from the screen!

You can download the TS2 CAS Background Room Replacement mod via the Patreon page here.

4 – Nose Tilt Slider Mod

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Image by Icecreamforbreakfast

Many of us play The Sims 4 for a sense of realism and enjoy living out the seemingly ordinary aspects of a Sim’s life. As such, by default, all Sim’s noses are always perfectly symmetrical, which can come off as quite unrealistic if you’re trying to emulate real people and real life.

The Nose Tilt Slider Mod by Icecreamforbreakfast allows the ability to adjust the nose position with a handy slider tool. To use the mod, you simply have to drag a Sim’s nose in Create-a-Sim to be able to create more unique-looking noses as a result.

3 – No EA Eyelashes mod

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Regardless of whether you’re already CC user, we’d say that the No EA Eyelashes mod by Cien Z Roza is essential.

As the name would suggest, the mod removes the eyelashes on Sim’s eyes, which tend to be cartoon-like and can come off looking more like line eyeliner than actual lashes.

With the No EA Eyelashes mod, the thick black band across all of Maxis’ eyes will be banished to the beyond. I’d also suggest pairing this mod with the Miiko 3D Eyelashes mod, which adds more 3D eyelashes to the game.

2 – Tidy Details & Tidy Tattoos mod

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The Tidy Details & Tidy Tattoos mod by soaringsparrows is essentially an organisation tool for any Sims players with more CC than sense.

If you love custom content, the chances are that you’ll have several skin overlays, which can be difficult to navigate through the CAS menu, especially as there are restrictions on what details can be layered on top of one another.

The Tidy Details & Tidy Tattoos mod adds labels on each CC category, meaning that you can more easily select the label and then the overlay you want. This means you can add several skin details on top of each other without them being replaced depending on which section they appear under.

What’s more, the mod also comes with variants for tattoos and accessories, so you can layer these in their CAS categories too.

What is the best Sims 4 CAS mod?

1 – More Columns Mod

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The Sims 4 More Columns Mod, created by Weerbesu, is a simple yet very effective mod. Adding an extra column or two to all Create-a-Sim menus, it allows you to see much more of the full range of CAS items on display at once.

This is a great companion mod in The Sims 4, especially if you have lots of custom content in your game, serving more as a quality-of-life addition when compared to the other gameplay mods listed here.

Best gameplay mods for The Sims 4

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Below is our list of the most essential gameplay mods to download in your Sims 4 game now. They vary from adding traits, gameplay, animations, skills, and more.

With this list, you can kit out your Sims 4 game and inject fresh gameplay if you’re waiting for new Expansion Pack releases with bated breath.

14 – No Mopping in Bad Weather

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This one may seem a tad mundane, but is a valuable quality-of-life mod if you have The Sims 4: Seasons installed. The No Mopping in Bad Weather mod by Vicky Sims will stop Sims from randomly mopping outside when it rains.

It’s a common thing that many players will likely experience, and it can get irritating beyond the first amusing time it happens – mostly due to the fact that it takes a while to quit the running action. Even then, Sims can get themselves hurt, put into a negative moodlet, or even killed in bad weather if it is a thunderstorm.

With this mod, you can avoid these dangers and keep your Sims firmly locked away inside during storms.

13 – Grannies Cookbook

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Add a sense of home and comfort to your Sims 4 game with the Grannies Cookbook mod by Littlbowbub.

This is a mod that is the perfect companion to The Sims 4: Cottage Living as it sets out to completely revitalise the cooking system in the game.

With it, you can inherit ‘Grannies Cookbook’, which contains recipes for a wide array of comfort foods and desserts, all with high-quality meshes.

If you want to find out more about the mod, check out our guide to the Grannies Cookbook recipes and give cooking a more well-rounded gameplay loop in your game.

12 – Realistic Childbirth Mod

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The Realistic Childbirth Mod by PandaSama offers new options for going into labour in The Sims 4. Before now, the process was strange, with pregnant Sims going into a large machine before exiting with their babies.

While you will need The Sims 4: Get to Work Expansion for this mod to work, with the Realistic Childbirth mod, Sims will now experience a more realistic process, including:

• Natural delivery animation
• C-section option at the hospital
• The sim will experience their waters breaking
• Sims may be in labour for up to two days
• Sims will have the option to receive an epidural which will affect moodlets
• Labour can be hurried along by performing activities such as taking a walk or bouncing on a birthing ball
• Sims may ask a close friend to accompany them to the birth instead of the natural parent
• Once a sim hits the second trimester they will have the option to ‘Call Obstetrician’ on their phone and select a birth arrangement from natural delivery, c-section or the original birthing machine
• Parents can take family leave after the birth

11 – ‘SimDa’ Dating App Mod

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Image via LittleMsSam

The ‘SimDa’ Dating App Mod by LittleMsSam aims to bring the modern age of technology into your Sim’s dating life. The mod introduces a dating app that Sims can use to organise either a blind date, a specific date, or a one-night stand.

The mod enables Sims to meet others in other ways than chance encounters, allowing for more dramatic gameplay and storylines to ensue. This is even more true if you download the pregnancy add-ons to the mod, which increases the percentage chance of a Sim getting pregnant after any WooHoo – not just via the ‘Try For Baby’ interaction.

10 – Better Babies & Toddlers

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The Better Babies & Toddlers mod by Caradriel adds a host of interactions Sims can do in relation to Babies and Toddlers, making for a great option if you’re looking for realistic gameplay mods.

Although Maxis has given Babies more attention lately and we’ve had the addition of the Infant life stage and milestones for them, they are still rather lacklustre, and let’s face it – most of us age up them as soon as possible to get to more interesting interactions.

With the Better Babies & Toddlers mod, however, Sims will get more moodlets from interacting with them, and will also be able to talk about Babies to other Sims and share parenting tips like:

• Complain about baby teething
• Complain about feeling exhausted
• Discuss about the first Christmas
• Debate about the best diaper brand
• Share self-care tips as a new parent
• Talk about returning to work

These are just a few samplings of interactions Sims can have with this mod, making the process of having babies in the game feel more realistic and meaningful.

You will also receive expanded moodlets, triggered by interacting with babies. You will need Lumpinou’s Mood Pack mod to use this feature as it contains additional moods like affectionate, proud and others not found within The Sims base game.

9 – Preteen Mod

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Image by a.deep.indigo

With The Sims 4: Growing Together and the Infant life stage, there has been a renewed emphasis on childhood gameplay and the process of raising generations of the same Sims family.

Whilst playing like this, you may notice that Teens look very similar to Young adults and the jump from Children to Teen Sims can be quite startling.

The Preteen Mod by a.deep.indigo sets out to address this issue, implementing an in-between life stage for Children to Teens. The mod introduces new gameplay mechanics, too, such as:

• Middle school with a separate homework system
• More behavioural changes and mood swings
• Shorter heights for pre-teens compared to other teens
• A hygiene system for puberty and self-care

8 – Risky WooHoo & Try For Baby Chances Mod

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The Sims 4: Risky WooHoo & Try For Baby Chances Mod by polarbearSims overhauls the current relationship settings found in-game.

With this mod, Sims have a percentage chance of getting pregnant every time they WooHoo, rather than just with the ‘Try for Baby’ interaction. Teens can get pregnant too and there’s a chance for some Sims to have infertility. 

The mod offers more realism and the chance for dramatic storylines. It introduces these key changes:

• Teens can get pregnant and will have specific pregnancy buffs
• WooHoo changed to ‘Risky WooHoo’ with a chance of getting pregnant
• Possible pregnancy difficulties
• All Sims will have a different fertility level based on age, with some Sims having the possibility of being infertile
• The wishing well fertility wish is not always a guaranteed pregnancy
• Certain traits will either increase or decrease risky woohoo chances
• Increased chance of fertility with a wishing well wish or fertility massage
• The location of the woohoo will increase or decrease the chance of pregnancy

7 – The Sims 4 Go to School Mod

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Image via Zerbu

The Go to School Mod by Zerbu emulates the same experience we had with the launch of High School Years. With this mod, you can send your children to elementary school, control them and live out a day at school in a similar way we can with teens in the Expansion Pack, rather than watch as your kids disappear into a rabbit hole for the school day.

Each day at school will host a different subject for your child Sim to explore and develop their skills. The mod also includes these key features (note that you’ll need The Sims 4: Get To Work expansion for the mod to run properly):

• A checklist of items needed to be included with a school build (alternatively you can download one from The Sims 4 gallery)
• Each day of the week will host a different subject, your sim’s mood will depend on their likes and dislikes and if they like the subject they are studying
• A teacher NPC at the front of the class and a Councillor NPC that children can visit for a moral boost
• Principal, Caterer and Janitor NPCs
• Children can complete daily tasks to boost their grades or slack off and see them deteriorate
• Lunch breaks are included, which offers the chance for kids to socialise and make new friends
• Achieving assignments rewards students with ‘Emblems’ which can be traded in for rewards traits
• Two new teaching aspirations

6 – First Love

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Experiencing your first crush as a Child can be an innocent whirlwind, coming-of-age experience. As of writing, however, there is no way of emulating this within The Sims 4 and all romantic interactions, even holding hands, is limited to the Teen life stage onwards.

The First Love mod by LittleMsSam aims to change this and introduces a ‘First Love’ section in the romance panel. Within this, once two children have a high enough friendship, they can confess to having a crush which will open these options:

• Exchange Numbers (this is a one-time interaction, once this is done, they can call and text the crush)
• Hug
• Visit Crush

The point of the mod is to add more realistic gameplay and introduce those formative relationships to The Sims 4.

As a bonus, if two crushes age up and interact within 7 days of each other, they will boost any romantic relationship going into teenhood and share the ‘First Crush’ memory.

5 – Expanded Mermaids Mod 

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The Sims 4: Island Living introduced Mermaids to the game, but came under fire for the lack of lore, skill trees, and other gameplay mechanics which left them feeling a bit, well, shallow – especially compared to other Occult Sims.

The Expanded Mermaids Mod by SpinningPlumbobs aims to rectify that. With this mod, you can do the following:

• Skill tree for mermaids similar to other occult Sims
• Mermaids can ‘dive for kelp’ and ‘Fetch Fish’, the fish they gather will change depending on the part of the world they are swimming in
• All swimmable lakes and oceans will have the ‘dive’ mechanic
• Rabbithole underwater adventures for rewards
• The ‘Dive Deeper’ option in Sulani and Tartosa yields extra-special rewards but does require Fitness level 3
• Mermaid Mythology skill
• Non-mermaid Sims can snorkel in swimmable bodies of water. If they purchase a rebreather from a scuba buoy they can ‘Scuba Dive’ in Sulani and Tartosa
• Building your Mermaid rank will unlock special mermaid powers and weaknesses like guilt when eating fish, moonspell (Sims will behave strangely under the influence of the moon), power over the elements, and siren’s voice which allows them to shriek at others
• Sims can become a sea witch an underwater sorcerer that can craft potions and spells with the help of Poseidon’s Grimoire
• Kelpies are a new variety of mermaids that look more fishy but can use shapeshifting to disguise themselves (similar to the alien powers)
• Mermaid-themed objects and other items

4 – Zombie Apocalypse Mod

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Image via SacrificialMods

The Zombie Apocalypse Mod by SacrificialMods introduces zombies to The Sims 4. If you’re a horror fan or wish to have a more extreme experience of The Sims 4: Strangerville this may be the mod for you.

The mod introduces the zombie virus which can target Children as well as Adult Sims and provides new weapons to help combat them to help you survive the night against the deadly horde: the Handgun, Shotgun, and Assault Rifle.

The mod is essentially a Sims 4 meets Resident Evil collaboration (albeit unofficially, of course) – you can even summon Jill Valentine as a partner through the Partner menu option to assist you.

Beware though, calling Jill for help will also alert Nemesis, who is on the prowl and following orders to eliminate all S.T.A.R.S members.

This is a must-have mod if you’re looking to inject a horror narrative focus into your game, if you’re a Resident Evil fan, or if you just want to experience a zombie simulation game.

3 – Wonderful Whims

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Wonderful Whims by TurboDriver has always been a firm favourite mod in The Sims 4 community, so it’s no surprise to see it listed second in our ranking of the top mods. The main driving force behind the Wonderful Whims mod is to make Sims feel more realistic to play, introducing the following features to gameplay:

• A player pose pack
• Compatibility that works in a similar way to The Sims 4 Growing Together if you don’t have that Expansion Pack. Sims will find other Sims attractive based on their characteristics
• Birth control
• Menstrual cycles
• Personality archetypes
• Open and polyamorous relationships
• Sweating mechanic for Sims

If this sounds like something you wish to add to your Sims 4 game, you can download the Wonderful Whims mod here.

• Check out our list of the best cosy games to play right now if you’re looking for something similar to The Sims to play

2 – The Slice of Life Mod

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Image via Kawaiistacie

If regular Sims 4 gameplay is getting a tad bland, The Slice of Life mod by Kawaiistacie may be just what you need. 

The mod has become immensely popular amongst The Sims 4 community – and for good reason. The mod adds real-life features to the game including the following:

• Sims will now be able to get drunk and will get associated moodlets, their cheeks will turn red, and they will have different ‘drunk’ personalities. This included custom animations and moods for when they sober up
• New emotions are added like sleepy, depressed, imaginative, fearless, in the zone and more Emotions will also be portrayed better by Sims, they will get teary eyes when sad and blushed cheeks when embarrassed, drunk or about to throw up
• Other status effects will be displayed, for example, a sim that’s been in a fight will get bruises or bandages afterwards
• Periods are introduced to the game, causing moodlet effects for the Sims that experience them
• More woohoo options

What is the best Sims 4 mod for realistic gameplay?

1 – MC Command Center

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Coming in first on our list of the best mods in The Sims 4, MC Command Center by Deaderpool is an absolute must if you’re looking to gain more control over your world – and it’s arguably one of the most popular mods overall.

This is because MC Command offers a whole host of different features, including:

• The ability to always have cheats enabled in your game
• Auto-cheats can be selected rather than typed out each time
• Teens can get full-time jobs
• Adjustment for more realistic pregnancies and pregnancy appearances
• Gives players the ability to blacklist items of clothing to stop townies from wearing them
• Allows non-played Sims to have babies, adopt, get into romantic relationships, change jobs and move houses autonomously so that neighbourhoods feel more alive
• Import family trees into new save games, a crucial mechanic for legacy players
• Can disallow homeless Sims from moving into certain lots
• Can introduce risky Woohoo so Sims will have a percentage chance of having a baby without ‘Trying for a baby’

These are just a few of the many features this mod can facilitate. For a more thorough rundown of the MC Command mod and how to download it, you can check out our guide to The Sims 4 MC Command Center mod here.

So, that’s our recommendations for the best mods in The Sims 4! Be sure to check out our homepage for The Sims, which has the latest guides and news – or check out the best Sims 4 Expansions to see which one you should pick up next.

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