Sims 4 Custom Worlds Mod – How to Add and Create Custom Worlds?

Are you tired of the same neighborhoods showing up every time you start a new save in The Sims 4? Follow our steps to get as close to having custom worlds as a player can get!

Players have argued back & forth over the years about how The Sims 4 is lacking compared to its predecessors. The game launched without basics like Toddlers and swimming pools, and players are still to this day begging EA for cars.

Another big feature that’s missing from this iteration of the game is the ability to create custom worlds. In the past, players had a lot of freedom on where lots were placed and they could even build their own worlds from essentially scratch, adding all the details from water towers and hot air balloons to fields and flowers. This wasn’t the case for The Sims 4 however, and like other features it was missing at launch, it’s safe to assume this is because it was originally intended to be a multiplayer game. The irony is that now, if you want to play a multiplayer version of the game, you need mods to do it. But, we digress.

So if there are mods out there which add back most of the features The Sims 4 is lacking, does that mean there’s a mod for custom worlds, too? Well, yes and no. Currently there are no publicly available tools for building entire custom worlds but you can still sort of get there with some tips, tricks, mods, and outside programs. Let’s go over the different options players have to customize their worlds, and look to the future for what’s to come.

Custom Worlds, The Sims 4 Style

Depending on the amount of time you want to dedicate to the endeavor, there are several degrees of customization you can achieve with your worlds in The Sims 4 to make them as unique as possible.

Difficulty Level 1: The Blank Slate

The most basic way to create a custom world for The Sims 4 is to start a new save and meticulously delete every building & household that populates with it along with all families in the household bin. Nothing will change in the exterior world itself but you will have a blank slate to build what you want on the empty lots provided.

Alternatively, you can download a blank world that somebody else has already created and skip this step altogether. There are many simmers who have shared blank worlds including us here at Snooty, though I recommend Srslys Blank Save as it’s the most up to date with all current worlds included.

Once you have a blank slate you can build whatever you want. Or, populate it with creations from other builders you like! I personally recommend the builds by Peacemaker_IC which covers almost every world in the game.

Difficulty Level 2: Replacement Maps

It’s incredible how different your worlds can look with a simple change to the map screen. A historical map can make your world feel like it’s in a completely different century, and switching Strangerville to nighttime really emphasizes how strange it really is. Changing your game’s maps really helps sell the custom world feeling before you even load into any lot!

Difficulty Level 3: Custom World Names

The next thing you can do to make your worlds feel more customized is to rename them completely. You will need the program Sims 4 Studio to do this along with a renaming mod, such as Srsly’s World Rename Tool or Change World Names by midnitetech. Something as simple as renaming a location can do wonders for making it feel customized, especially if you’ve already replaced the lots in it.

Difficulty Level 4: Add Details with T.O.O.L.

We’ve talked about the T.O.O.L. mod here in the past as it’s a really useful system for adding more objects to the world around you. The way the mod works is that you can place items on a lot, and then use T.O.O.L. to move the object anywhere you want, even outside the bounds of the grid! You can use it to add things like playground equipment to public spaces, enhance the town square with a lovely fountain, spruce up a path with more trees & flowers, or whatever else you can think of.

Just don’t forget that the items are still considered part of the lot they were originally placed on, so if you bulldoze the lot those items will go too! If you are creating your own custom worlds it’s a good idea to pick just a few lots that you use for T.O.O.L. object placement so you don’t accidentally delete anything down the line.

This method will take a long time no doubt, depending on how much you want to add to your custom worlds, but with enough patience you can really do a lot. Get the T.O.O.L. mod here.

Combine to Create Custom Worlds!

With this combination of tools & resources you can make pretty unique worlds for The Sims 4 with lots of variety and customization options. Start with an empty world, give it a unique name and map, add details and objects throughout the area, place some lots, and start playing!

More on SNOOTYSIMS: We can spare our spoiled sims from the uneasy experience of visiting hospitals by giving them a custom hospital that’s much more inviting.

Looking To The Future: Create-A-World Mod by TwistedMexi

In 2021, TwistedMexi announced a new mod he had been working on for a few years: Create-A-World. The mod is still currently in alpha and being tested by a dedicated group of fans, but it will go free to the public when it’s finally in a launch-worthy state.

From what I’ve gathered looking into the mod, it will bring the thought of blank worlds to a whole new level. The terrain models of each world will be the same but everything else—and we mean everything else—will be gone. You will have full control of where every tree, fence, light post, etc. is to be placed, and there are a suite of tools available to help streamline the process. Future plans for the mod include the ability to change where lots are located, new lot types, weather controls, and more.

You can see the mod in use as of 2022 in this demo video:

A lot of what’s shown here may have changed but it gives you a good idea of what the mod will do. There’s no release date for it yet, but with such a complex project it’s understandable that it will take a while to release.

In Conclusion

It’s unfortunate that The Sims 4 players don’t have the ability to make custom worlds in the game, but there are lots of ways to sort-of get there by using & combining our tips above. With time & patience you can create a world with a unique name & appearance, fill it out with objects for your sims to use while in the world, and one day we’ll even be able to edit them from scratch! Do you think you’ll try making a custom world? Is there one out there made by another simmer that you enjoy playing with? Let us know in the comments!

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