Modding The Sims isn’t new to later generations of the game. The Sims Resource alone has nearly 100,000 uploads just for The Sims 1, from custom clothes to hacked items and bespoke buildings, dating back to the series’ early days. This kind of custom content is a fun way of mixing things up. And, in some cases, it can be really helpful for making The Sims 1 a bit easier, too.
Whether you’ve just picked the game back up since the release of the 25th Anniversary Legacy Editions, or if you’re a long-term player who wants to grab your Sims some nice new things, then you might be wondering how to mod your new game. It’s not the most intuitive process, but it’s fairly straightforward once you know roughly what you’re doing.
Adding custom content to Buy/Build Mode in The Sims 1
Depending on what types of custom content you’re loading into your game, you’re going to need to load them into different folders. In some cases, you might even need to make a new folder. Don’t worry, though – this is pretty easy.
How to add custom items
Found some cool items you want to decorate your Sims’ homes and gardens with? Great!
You’ll need to download them, and if they’re in any kind of compressed file – like a Zip or Rar file – extract them. Extract them directly to this folder:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Downloads
If you have the Legacy Edition of the game, this folder might be stashed away in a slightly different folder. Try checking out these places:
- C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims Legacy\Downloads
- C:\Documents\EA Games\The Sims Legacy\Downloads
The Downloads folder might not exist for you yet, but if you’re using software like WinRar then it should create the folder as you extract it. If not, head over here and make that folder first:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims
or
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims Legacy
Make sure you name it Downloads.
Sometimes, custom items for The Sims 1 are called hacked items. You’ll load these items into your game using exactly the same method.
What are item sets?
Want to download a whole bunch of new items, but don’t want to spend ages zipping and unzipping folders? Try getting some item sets. They’re basically bundles of custom content organised around a theme, kind of like Kits in The Sims 4.
How to add custom walls and murals
When it comes to basically any items except for furniture, you’re going to be making a lot of use of the Game Data folder. You need to place any custom wallpaper, paint, or murals you want to add to Build Mode here:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Walls
Or
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims Legacy\Gamedata\Walls
How to add custom floors
Flooring is just wallpaper in another direction, right? You’ll need to load floors into your game in almost the same way you loaded the wallpaper in:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Floors
Or
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims Legacy\Gamedata\Walls
How to add custom roof textures
Roofing in The Sims 1 is certainly limited. You can load different textures to change how they look a little, though:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Roofs
Or
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims Legacy\Gamedata\Roofs
Adding custom content to Create-a-Sim in The Sims 1
The Sims 1 may still be a brilliant game, but its character builder really leaves something to be desired. At the very least, it does in its most vanilla form. But, thankfully, you can change up your Sims’ appearances with the help of custom content.
How to add custom heads, outfits, and skins
I appreciate this one sounds a little creepy, but I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds. Create-a-Sim items in The Sims 1 are usually called skins or heads. Skins can be whole body appearances, and heads are, well, heads including faces and hair. This is probably the case because in The Sims’ early days, you would change entire outfits and bodies at the same time with one button, and heads/faces with another.
Custom skins, of both the human (Are Sims actually humans?) and animal variety, alongside heads, should be placed in this folder:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Gamedata\Skins
Or
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims Legacy\Gamedata\Skins
Loading custom Create-a-Sim items into The Sims 1 isn’t so bad, since they all follow the same steps and go in the same file location.
Customising neighbourhoods and downloading new lots
One of the more challenging aspects of using custom content in The Sims 1 comes around when you want to download new lots or custom houses. This is because each lot on every map has its own number.
When you go to download a lot, you’ll usually be able to find which lot it’s for in the description. For example, this one is meant for Lot 26. If you download lots correctly, then they’ll automatically replace whichever lot was on that map originally. This is because The Sims 1 doesn’t have any kind of gallery or library function that works for buildings. You can find a fully annotated version of each map in The Sims 1 here, so you know where each lot will be placed.
Before we get any further, there’s some important info you need to know before downloading new lots or houses: adding them to your map will overwrite whatever building is already there. So, choose wisely and move your Sims into the family bin.
Grab your custom lot and go to this folder:
C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Userdata\Houses
Or
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims Legacy\Userdata\Houses
And paste the file in there. Make sure the name of the file is exactly the same as the lot you’re downloading.
Next time you boot up the game, the pre-existing lot should be replaced with your custom lot. But remember, it’s going to replace whatever lot was there first, so don’t do it without moving Sims out to the Family Bin first, or if you don’t want to get rid of the original lot.
If you want to use custom lots, but don’t want to permanently lose the lot that was in the same spot originally, you can always back up the file. Do this by going to the folder location above, locating the file with the correct lot number, and copying or cutting it and pasting it somewhere safe.
