If your game won't start, you receive error messages or something goes wrong in the game after you've installed content, you could have a faulty mod. TSR checks uploaded content rigorously, but sometimes the game can be updated in such a way older mods can cease to be compatible, or you might have a conflict with another installed mod. Whatever the cause, you need to know how to find it.
Finding a faulty mod is massively time consuming (this is the same for ANY game with mods, especially if you download hundreds of them)! So you need a bit of patience!
1. First, check whether the fault is caused by a mod in CC Manager
- Find the TSRLibrary folder in Documents >Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods.
- Move it carefully to somewhere safe outside of your The Sims folder. You can place it anywhere provided it's not listed anywhere below The Sims 4 in your folder structure.
2. Try your game
If the fault is gone, then we know for sure the problem IS one of your TSR CC Manager mods and you can skip step 3 below. Jump straight to Step 4: Isolating the fault in TSR CC Manager.
However, if you still have a problem, there is still a bad file in your Mods folder somewhere. The fault might just be a loose mod and your CC Manager mods are okay, OR it could be that you have more than one faulting mod and the other is in CC Manager, so to troubleshoot, you will need to follow both steps 3 AND 4 below.
3. Troubleshooting loose mods
Important! Leave your TSRLibrary folder where you placed it. We'll be working with this in step 4 below.
You will now need to remove ALL other mods (except the resource.cfg) from your Mods folder to that same safe place. The only thing that should be left inside your Mods folder is the resource.cfg file and nothing else.
Test your game. It should now work (if it doesn't, then it's NOT a mod causing the fault after all and you'll need to reach out to Electronic Arts customer support.
Before you begin, in your Mods folder, make a new empty folder called Tested. Leave it empty for now.
- Now bring back a few of your loose mods to your Mods folder (not the Tested folder - leave that empty for now)
- Test your game.
- If there's a problem, one of those mods you just tested is the cause. You will need to remove those and just add back one at a time until you've found it, then continue testing in case you have more than one problem If there's not a problem, move those mods to your new Tested folder
Keep repeating these three steps until all your loose mods have been checked and are back in your Mods folder, and your game runs without problem.
4. Isolating the faulty file in TSR CC Manager
So, the fault appears to be a CC Manager mod? No worries. This is where patience comes in! The quickest way to find the faulty file is to test one or two archives at a time.
- Empty all Mods out of your Mods folder again and keep them somewhere safe (leave the resource.cfg file behind). This is just in case you have a mod that's incompatible with your CC Manager mods.
- Return your TSRLibrary folder back to the Mods folder (Documents >Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods)
- Open the TSRLibrary folder
- Sort the contents by Date modified (if you can't see any dates, click on the VIEW icon at the top of the folder and select DETAILS from the menu as shown on the right) Inside the folder, you will see lots of archives. An archive is a compact store of multiple downloads. One of these contains your bad file, but you won't know which right now. If you've only just started experiencing the fault, the file is most likely to be in one of the newest archives, so it would be worth testing those first.
- Choose the archive(s) you want to test, and carefully remove all the others out of the TSRLibrary folder to a safe place somewhere outside of The Sims folders (like a folder called "For Testing"). The only archives left behind in TSRLibrary are those you want to test.
- Try your game.If you experience the fault, there is a faulty mod in the archives you're testing. If there is no fault, these archives are fine and the faulty file must be in another archive. You will need to move out the archives that are fine to another safe place (maybe a "Tested" folder") then bring in another archive from the pile waiting to be tested.
- Keep repeating until you find a faulty archive!
5. Once you've found the faulty archive...
Finding the archive containing the faulty file narrows things down a lot!
- Open TSR CC Manager
- Switch to the LIBRARY tab - one of these files is faulty
- To find the faulty file, keep removing one of the listed files to your DOWNLOADS tab by uninstalling it (note which file you remove each time)
- Test your game.
- As soon as your game stops faulting, the last download you removed is the faulty file!
- Go to the DOWNLOADS tab and find the faulty file.
- Click the link VIEW ON TSR (see image below)
- Check that the file doesn't have any REQUIRED ITEMS you forgot to download
- If not, click the REPORT THIS DOWNLOAD on the web page (our submissions team will investigate)
- Delete the file from your DOWNLOADS tab of CC Manager
- Reinstall the other files still sat on the DOWNLOADS tab
- Now restore all your archives back into TSRLibrary and test your game again.
Note: it's possible there may be more than one faulty file! If after restoring your files, a fault recurs, then you have at least one other mod failing, in which case you'll need to follow the steps set out on this page again.
6. Putting it all back together
Once you know your loose mods aren't causing a problem, and your TSR CC Manager files are also trouble-free, it's time to put it all back together. Your TSRLibrary folder should already be back in your Mods folder. Now place all your loose Mods back into your Mods folder too. Everything is now restored.
Now it's time for one final game test!
It should be fine and everything should work. However, if for any reason the fault reappears (highly unlikely) then the cause isn't a faulty mod, but one or more mods being incompatible with each other!
The easiest way to find this is to:
- Leave your TSRLibrary folder where it is (in the Mods folder)
- Repeat Step 3: Troubleshooting Loose Mods above until you have retested all loose mods
Note: the mods listed on this page are not faulty - they were just used to create the much-needed image examples!