With the help of the brilliant TeaAddict, HugeLunatic, Nopke and Lamare, we wanted to compile a modern up-to-date masterlist for the most essential mods with the main focus to make The Sims 2 run smoother for everyone in 2025!
Click here to read/download as a Google Docs!

(0) Introduction:
Following the re-release of The Sims 2, we've got a bunch of new simmers playing The Sims 2 for the first time! And we understand that it may be confusing at the beginning for newcomers, as well as simmers who've played The Sims 2 a long time ago before but recently returned to the sims community! As you might know, a lot of information in general about The Sims 2 and corruption has changed over the years, thanks to April Black's research. So, we wanted to clear some of the confusion here of what's "essential" for the game and what's not.

(1) The Essentials

(1.1) Essential for better / smoother gameplay, less bugs, corruption prevention, etc:

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
FFS “batbox” lot debugger: As Batbox | As Vase | Choosable Model	Pescado	For clearing various lot errors, deleting trash memories, and more
Stuck object remover	Pescado	For deleting invisible stuck objects such as flu marker spots and more
SuperDuperHugBugTest OR use NoSimLoaded (see below)	Chris Hatch	For removing a bug that can infect lots when mods and interactions are removed
Sim Shadow Fix	Nopke	(if not playing with DXVK or Legacy Edition) - self explanatory
First Born Syndrome Fix: UC Version | Legacy Version	LazyDuchess	Fixes a bug where a couple’s babies will all be clones of each other unless the pacifier is rolled in CAS
Face Template Fixes	Argon	Fixes broken Maxis face templates
Hood Checker	Mootilda	Tool to clear/fix corruption from sim neighborhoods and possibly retrive lost tombstones.
Sims2 Pack Clean Installer	Mootilda	An improved Sims2Pack Installer which lets you pick and choose what CC to install, essential for TS2 Legacy edition since the game doesn't come with a sims2pack installer at all!
Hack Conflict Detection Utility (HCDU)	Pick'N'Mix	Detects possible mod conflicts in your Downloads folder and indicates the load order
What Caused This	Pick'N'Mix	Reads object error log files, extracts some information from it and then looks in every mod in your Downloads folder to see if it can identify the suspect mod(s).

(1.2) Essential for Legacy Players:

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
Audio Quality Fix for TS2 Legacy Collection	LazyDuchess	Fixes the terrible crunchy audio in Legacy Edition
Abduction Reaction Fix	kestrellyn	Fixes a bug relating to sims reacting to an alien abduction and hence breaking it

(1.3) Very useful to prevent save bloating:

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
Anti Redudancy	Pescado	Stops the game from spawning redundant NPCs
No Townie Regen	Pescado	Stops the game from constantly spawning townies and filling your game with characters. If using, occasionally creating new townies via in-game tools is recommended
No Strays Respawn	originally by Pescado, tweaked by MidgeTheThree	As above but for stray animals
There Can Only Be One Professor	Cyjon	Prevents spawning more University Professors than necessary
Apartment Residents	MidgeTheTree	Tells the game to fill apartment lots with existing townies instead of spawning new sims
Nodormiespawns	Pescado	Stops the game from constantly spawning new dormies for University. If dormies are made playable and graduate, you may need to manually create new ones using in-game tools.
No Secret Society Respawning	Pescado	Prevents new Secret Society Members from being generated. You may need to manually assign a few dormies as Secret Society Members for the Secret Society Event to work.

(1.4) Probably should have:

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
BO’s NoSimLoaded	BoilingOil, tweaked by MidgeTheThree	Fries various tokens and bugs that can lead to lots becoming unloadable, also fixes hug bug mentioned above (includes SuperDuperHugBug fix)
Chris Hatch's LotCleaner (post 4)	Chris Hatch	A tool for cleaning lots from other hidden bugs and tokens. Very useful for strange lot glitches, and essential for downloading shared lots. Also recommended: use this on a lot before uploading to share.
Smarter EP Check	Cyjon	(if using other Cyjon mods)
Pie Menu Strings Fix	Lord Darcy	Especially useful for simmers playing in foreign languages

(1.5) Non-Consensus (maybe essential, maybe not, probably good to have them anyway)
- see April Black’s videos on corruption

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
No Corrupt Death	Pescado	Stops the formation of new jagged-line invisible gossip memories formed by sim death. With additional bonus that when non-family sims hated by the witnessing sim die, the death memory is green.
No Unlink on Delete	Pescado	Stops irreversible character-file shredding when tombstones are accidentally (or intentionally) deleted. May also prevent mysterious destruction of tombstones during move-to-cemetary process.
No Auto Urn Clean Up	Cyjon	Cleaning up smashed urns is like deleting tombstones (see above). This mod prevents sims from doing so automatically.

(1.6) Useful for in-game “modding” (under construction)

Mod	Creator	Mod Descriptipn
Sim Blender	version upgraded by PickNMix & Gummilut	similar to NRAAS “Master Controller” in TS3 or MC Command Centre for TS4
Visitor Controller	originally by TwoJeff, tweaked by MidgeTheTree	handy tool for customizing who can visit lots

(2) Bug Fixes

(2.1) Great to have (for fixing Maxis “Quirks” and non-game breaking bugs):

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
Vacation Fixes	Pescado	Fixes various bugs relating to Bon Voyage
OFB Fixes	Pescado	Fixes various bugs relating to OFB
Exercise Bike Fix	Nopke	Stops sims from using the exercise bike until they die
Child Ghost NPC Summon Fix	beestew	Fixes a glitch where child ghosts will be collected by an NPC “parent” if they stay on the lot too late which can lead to baaad things
Ghost Children Float	Early Pleasantview	Necessary for child ghosts to behave properly
Business CLP Fix (post 7)	Chris Hatch	Fixes an error on owned OFB community lot businesses where the lot will fail to fill with customers
Physiology Fix	Gummilut	Fixes a bug where if a sim has learned physiology, their body skill will max out within 2 minutes of exercising
Townie Aspiration Aging	Nopke	Fixes a bug when townies are aged up with a playable sim and do not receive an aspiration
Aging Baby Fix	Simler90	Fixes a bug where sims attempt to age up a baby over and over again and keep failing
Apartment Nanny Controller Fix	Beck	Fixes an apartment lot glitch relating to nannies. Always make sure to “Dismiss” nannies on Apartment Lots!
Apartment NPC Move Out Fix	MidgeTheTree	Properly resets an apartment lot after a townie or NPC moves out so it is actually usable for playable sims
Creaturefixes	originally by Pescado, tweaked by MidgeTheTree	Fixes various bugs relating to supernaturals
Get Parents Fix	Tunaisafish	Fixes bugs that occur when playing a family with no adult sims present on the lot (i.e. Newson family in the Sim Bin)
Butler Fix or this version	Cyjon, LazyDuchess	Fixes bugs relating to butlers and cooking
Breadfruit Tree Fire Fix	Cyjon	Fixes a bug where the Breadfruit tree will catch on fire during a thunderstorm and never go out
Genie Initialization Fix	Cyjon	Fixes a bug relating to Genie’s not spawning correctly
Ghost Hack - Bug Fixes	Cyjon	Fixes various bugs relating to ghosts
Random chance card fix	dickhurt	Fixes bugs relating to Maxis chance interactions and encounters
Timing Fix	LazyDuchess	Fixes bugs relating to hidden Maxis timers
Architecture Chance card fix	kestrellyn	Fixes a bug relating to a chance card in the Architecture career
Crumplefix	Pescado	Fixes an error where sims cannot successfully complete a bug collection
CAS Makeup Lag Fix *UC / Starter Pack only! Currently unavailable for Legacy*	LazyDuchess	Fixes the lag experienced when using “change appearance” and accessing makeup / accessories
"Too Many Iterations" Fix (RPC Lib)	LazyDuchess	CURRENTLY only for UC / Starter Pack, no Legacy Edition - Fixes an annoying bug
Bug Collection Fix	Cyjon	Fixes an error where sims cannot successfully complete a bug collection
Novel Royalty Fixes	Nopke	Fixes various bugs relating to novels, particularly if there is no phone present on a lot when a sim finishes a novel
Apologize Fury Fix	Cyjon	Fixes the “apologize” interaction so it works as originally intended
Business Uniform Fix	Unknown	Fixes the “face 1 glitch” when an OFB employee is set a Uniform. Note: will only apply the NEXT time the employee comes to work after setting their uniform
Restaurant Food Bar Drink Fix	Simler90	Fixes a timing delay that enables other sims to steal your sim’s food and drink
Memory Fixes... here, here, here, here, here, here and wohooltwfix	maybesomethingdunno, MidgeTheTree, TwoJeff, Nopke	Various fixes for Maxis memory bugs
Pet Pregnancy Fixes	TwoJeff	Fixes Pet Pregnancy bugs
Lot Transition OFB Motives Fix	Simler90	Fixes a bug where a sims needs will reset travelling to a business lot
Bladder Init Fix	Nopke	Fixes a bug where a lot or sim will always initialize with a sim’s bladder need at half
ComLot Arrival Delay Fix	BellaDovah	Fixes the lot prepopulation lag when travelling to a community lot (can also help prevent some crashes)
Date Stood Up Fix	LazyDuchess	Fixes the timer for a sim meeting another sim at a community lot for a date

(3) Visual Upgrades

(3.1) UI Fixes - to improve compatibility with modern systems

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
Widescreen CAS + More CAS Columns	Chris Hatch	Moves UI elements to the right for better visibility + adds more CAS columns
Widescreen Change Appearance	Chris Hatch	Adds more columns in change appearance UI
Widescreen buy/plan outfits	Chris Hatch	Adds more columns in buy/plan outfit UI
Widescreen Collections	Chris Hatch	Wider UI for managing collections
Wider design tool	Lamare	Makes design tool UI window wider.
Improved Family Tree	SixAM!	Expands the family tree UI for better visibility.
UI Text Font Fix	DanTheMann15	Fixes UI Text Font in some UI windows.

Note: Clean UI | Starship UI | Pink UI - all incorporate many of the above fixes. Untested for Legacy Collection players.

(3.2) Other:

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
Fix Subhood Selection	Mootilda	Fixes a UI bug when selecting subhoods to add on/enabling custom subhoods to be added
Plant Fixes	Voeille	Fixes seasonal plant appearances for Maxis plants
Bright CAS Fix	LazyDuchess	Fixes an issue in CAS where sims will appear overly bright if using shaders
Sky Fix	Nopke	Fixes several issues with the sky in the lot view

(4) Gameplay Upgrades

(4.1) Common popular mods & Useful mods for smoother gameplay:

Mod	Creator	Mod Description
CEP	Numenor	Enables extra custom recolourable subsets on Maxis objects
CEP Extras	HugeLunatic	Additional extra custom recolourable subsets that the original CEP didn't include
CommLotSkilling	Pescado	Enables sims to gain skills on community lots
Community Lot Time (currently not working in Legacy)	ChrisHatch	Introduces a timer token so that a sim who visits a community lot will not return home at the same time as they left
Df_water_inaccessible_flowers_fix	dumbfool	Enables sims to water inaccessible flowers
Trim Inaccessible Bushes	Cyjon	Allows sims to trim bushes even if they can't reach them.
HomeworkAssignmentMod-PlacementVersion	Simler90	Makes sims smarter about where they put their homework down after returning home from school
Rug fixes	HugeLunatic	Enables placement of rugs on Quarter Tile / Snapping off
Faster University Education mod	Dave Luv	Reduces the time it takes to complete a Uni degree. For some players, this is essential
Chair Fix: Allow Use 45° Angle	Honeywell	Enables sims to watch TV from a chair placed on a 45 degree angle
Sleep in your own bed	Simler90	Enables sims to actually remember which bed is their bed instead of constantly picking a random one
Maxis Modular Stairs Passage Fix	Lord Darcy	helps prevent traffic jams on modular stairs
Stairs Mods	simler90	same as above for the staircase objects
Maxis Infant Face Templates	Meowingcookie	gives babies individual genetic faces instead of all looking the same
Use Inaccessible beds	Lamare	enables sims to use a double bed pressed against a wall
Accessible toddler high chairs from sides	Lamare	enables sims to access high chairs from the side instead of only from the front
Enthusiasm Overhaul	tunaisafish	Various changes and fixes to FreeTime hobbies
Interest Ages Mod or Interests Overhaul Mod	equinoxts2, simsfreq	All sims’ interest levels are truly randomized. (Helps with preventing sims from having similar to almost identical interests always)
Clean templates	MeetMe2TheRiver	Fixes a load of bugs that exist in the premade neighbourhoods. Highly recommended if playing Premade neighbourhoods (Pleasantview, Strangetown, etc)
Shiftable everything	Lamare	enables *most* objects to be shifted up and down using [ and ]
Non-Townie Outfits	Cyjon	disables some of the more “interesting” Maxis outfits from appearing on townies
Townie Body Diversity	Nysha	allows some townies to spawn as “fat” instead of all being “thin”
Waiter NPC Outfit Fix	Jawusa	Recommended if you get Townie Body Diversity mod - prevents "fat" waiter NPCs from "exploding"
Stuff Pack Objects Fix Collection for Apartment Life	Lord Darcy	Various fixes for Maxis objects from Stuff Packs and various extra gameplay options
3 Base Game Bars Fix	Lord Darcy	Adds NL/OFB functions to base game bars
Maxis Centerpiece… as Centerpiece!	Lord Darcy	enables you to place deco items in the centre of a dining table without rendering the dining table unusable
Apthack	Pescado	Various fixes and tweaks to the behaviour of apartment neighbours + adds option to rent apartments furnished
Marriage Post-mortem	Pescado	Tweaks and fixes to a sim’s relationships and family trees after a sim dies
Call NPCs Fix	Cyjon	Allows sims to call various NPCs
No Wolves	Cyjon	Prevents wolves, including the Leader of the Pack, from appearing on properties at all.
No Hobby Stalkers	Nopke	Prevents the game from generating Hobby Instructors outside the secret hobby lots.
No Greeting NPCs	Nopke	Prevents the Matchmaker and the Garden Club Member from showing up to greet your sims when you first load a household. They can still be called on the phone, and the Matchmaker can still spawn in Downtown.
No Humble	Pescado	Prevents Rod Humble from showing up when you first load a household. It also makes Humble's computer avaliable in buy mode.
Hobby Lot Visitors Fix	Lamare	Tweaks who can appear on special hobby lots
Select Your Cemetary	Arek_91	Enables you to move graves to other lots
No Death Type Loss When Moving to Community Lots	SixAM!	Fixes a bug where a ghost will lose its death type when the grave is moved to a different lot. Use in conjunction with Select Your Cemetary.
Window Fixes	Honeywell	Allows roofs and windows to intersect, smoothing out the building process
Bodyshop Sliders Added to CAS	Aaroneous	Adds all the sliders that were originally only for Bodyshop to CAS.

(4.2) Featured & Picked Downloads on MTS

Phew, now that we've got the essentials out of the way, feel free to also browse through our download page for more additional content for your TS2 game! We especially recommend having look in the Featured Downloads section, as well as Picked Downloads section, where we list all the best, most popular and creative downloads available on MTS for you to enjoy!

This is not an exhaustive list! That would take pages. See something that was missed that you find important for your gameplay? Let us know! With a link hopefully, others might want it too.

Just wanted to say a big BIG thank you to you Jawusa, HugeLunatic, TeaAddict, SimNopke and Lamare, as well as all the other modders out there who are also providing fixes, for all your hard work and efforts! Putting this list together will help so many players! You guys are doing the work that should've been done by a certain game publisher - who shall not be named because at this point they don't deserve any credit, recognition or acknowledgement but I digress - long before the games were re-released. Bravo!

For anyone coming in from newer iterations, four default skins is going to be somewhat limiting, so my recommendation as important for gameplay is Phaenoh's correlated skins, mostly because their page explains how that works and has links to some correlated skin defaults.

https://modthesims.info/d/481205/co...nniversary.html

I'm very surprised that this program was not listed as an essential one:

Mootilda's Hood Checker: keeps the corruption level down-removes bad memories and other stuff.

https://modthesims.info/d/456523/ho...ry-11-2013.html

That's a very helpful list! Thank you!

My little suggestion to this would be adding some essential programs to help manage other mods, namely HCDU and What Caused This! I know there's lots of versions of HCDU, but the one I use is from Pick'N'Mix:

https://www.picknmixmods.com/Sims2/...s/HcduPlus.html

https://www.picknmixmods.com/Sims2/...CausedThis.html

A heads up - Midge's NPC Apartment Neighbours doesn't block initial creation of 50 Apartment Life social townies.

To do this, you need another townie-blocking mod, such as NoTownieRegen, which prevents initial pool creation of both regular and AL Social Group townies (and, I believe, Downtownies, Garden Club members and vacation locals and tourists).

When Midge's NPC Apartment Residents is used with NoTownieRegen, Social Townies will be created as needed to fill empty apartments if no other suitable sim is available.

Cyjon's Townie Apartment Residents - Does not block initial AL social townie spawn (?) Apartment residents will be regular townies, spawning if necessary (even with NoTownieRegen)

Nysha's No Townie Neighbours - Keeps vacant apartments vacant. Only playables can live in apartments. Does not block initial Social Townie spawn.

xndrot (MTS) No Townie Apartment Neighbor Spawning - Blocks AL Social Townie spawn. Vacant apartments fill with social townies if they already exist, but they won't be created at all (even to fill vacant apartments). A second version allows regular townies to also be used as neighbours.


So to summarise:

To block initial pool creation of AL Social Townies (bloat reduction): NoTownieRegen or xndrot's mod

To change which type of sim the game chooses as apartment neighbours (flavour tweak):
Cyjon's mod (uses townies instead, can spawn townies)
Midge's mod (uses NPCs, townies and social townies. Can spawn social townies)
xndrot's mod (Uses social townies (and optionally, normal townies) but will leave units empty, rather than spawning)
Nysha's mod (only playables can live in apartments)

I believe this to be true looking at the resources each modify. I can test them in game but it will take me a while to do this.


Nopke's apartment resident gender fix is recommended if you let the game generate apartment neighbours, whether it is generating social or regular townies.

****

Can I also suggest my own interest mod as an alternative to equinox's?

Theirs removes the age change component, but due to a quirk in EA coding where they attempted to balance high and low interest, interests tend to "bunch" at the end (so on average sims end up very interested in sci-fi and not very interested in politics) whereas mine keeps the age change component but still makes it random, and fixes the bunching issue although the downside is that sometimes, sims may end up with unbalanced interests e.g. all very low or all very high (though this is not that common).

I think the mod description isn't that clear; I will probably go and rewrite it :P

Thank you for the list! And, just a quick heads up, when you click the link for BO’s NoSimLoaded, it takes me to the site, but the 'Download' link for MidgeTheThree's tweaked mod itself isn't working.

Is there any mods that un-genders the hair styles?

hey the stuck object remover zip download doesn't work !! I really need it too Is there anywhere else I can get this??

Thanks a lot for this list, it would have been impossible to find all these posts individually without it! I did the legwork myself and individually put all these mods the OP listed into one zip file if anyone wants it: https://www.mediafire.com/file/0voo...npacked.7z/file

It's because we originally only want to list mods, not programs. But I agree, it's an absolute must-have!! I also added a few more essential programs to the list.



Done! Thanks for the suggestion!



No Townie Regen was already on the list
But thanks a lot for your detailed post! It's especially useful for newcomers who have never played TS2 before. We decided to still keep the list as simple as possible, so the combination of MidgeTheTree's apartmentresidents + No Townie Regen should be enough. In case the game doesn't have any townies/NPCs left to be picked as apartment residents, the apartment units will be just left out empty.

As for the interest mod, sure! I've added your Interest Overhaul mod as an alternative as well.



I just tested it out but it's working just fine for me? Try this link instead. https://www.simfileshare.net/download/1660690/



Try this link instead. This should directly lead you to the file. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/f...kobjremover.zip

Under game play and homework placement I like Pick 'n Mix's mod. It allows placement of homework anywhere - table, desk, or the floor. To me this is much more convenient when there's not enough space for a desk, especially with multiple children in the household.
Homework Folder

Thank you for this list it's helped me a lot!!

It sounds lame but...How am I supposed to install all of them? lol
Recently downloaded the legacy version and last time I played Sims 2 was like...15 years ago? thanks lol