Should I use CC?

[Matthew]

I know that this site heavily disencourages the usage of CC, and this is the first Sims 3 site I stumbled on, so I now have a mindset of "NO!  Not a single CC!!".  There are bad custom contents out there, that may crash your game or whatever, and I've downloaded a house that also attatched CC objects, which me feel like cheated as the uploaded did NOT mention about the CC used.  At MTS, I often find good CC which lured me to download... What's so bad about CC?  And do you guys use them?  Thanks so much

[Turoskel]

I've downloaded a house that also attatched CC objects, which me feel like cheated as the uploaded did NOT mention about the CC used.

This I feel is some of the problem, getting things you never asked for, which is why I only download lots from here as I know they wont come with any nasty surprises, plus there are some really good builders on this forum.

For myself I do use a custom skin that I have used for a long time but it isn't that far removed from the EA default just a little smoother looking, the same subtle makeup I put on my sim with that skin makes her look like a clown with EA's skin for some reason so I use it mainly because it makes her face look better to me.

I have looked at the more realistic style skins as they look nice on the pictures but in game they never look the same, perhaps it's my graphics but they always look smudged and like my sim needs a good wash.

Other than that I don't use CC because I don't feel the need to, EA have provided more than enough items for my needs.

I've had one experience of a bad hair some time ago though, whoever made it had obviously flagged an adult hair for children so I had some newly aged up townie kids with a wig floating at adult height above their heads, was sort of funny at the time and thankfully not game breaking but that was when I gave up trying CC hairs.

[Pam]

Hi Matthew.

Not everyone on this site is against the use of CC.  Even some of the Moderators use it.  I personally do not use it at all.  As Turoskel said, I find that Electronic Arts has more than enough items to keep me satisfied without resorting the use of possibly risky third party content.  The reason that it's risky is because you really don't know what you're getting.  With the house you downloaded, for example, you have no idea where that content came from, who made it, and whether it's good quality.  It's not as bad if you're downloading from a site you absolutely trust to have good content.  Even then there is still some risk to your game.  Our policy here is to be as honest as possible about things that can cause problems for your game and we're just not a site that promotes third party content.  On the other hand, we have had discussions among the staff about it and we're working on having a dedicated thread that will explain our position more thoroughly and possibly offer some information on how to find trusted content. 

Thanks for your question and I hope this helps. 

[Namaya]

I'm addicted to CC hair... In sims 2 I had over 10.000 CC but I have to be honest, it did harm my game. Whenever I tried to go to a community lot I had to be very quick in making friends because if I had too many sims with CC looks on the lot it would crash. In sims 3 I decided not to have as many CC as I had in sims 2, but I do have around 100 hairstyles, a custom skinset, some makeup and eye contacts. I also downloaded 2 or 3 houses witch included custom content but I haven't experienced any troubles yet. Of course, I might just be lucky that I've downloaded only not-broken stuff, so it's always good to be careful and not go overboard like I did with sims 2. The only solution they always give is sort out the mods and find out which one is the bad one, but when you have over 10.000 CC files, that is just an impossible task.

The skinset I use is a very pretty and realistic one. The main character in my story is using it, and I think she is one of the prettiest sims I ever made. I still recommend you not to use any at all though, if you're not addicted to them yet (like me).

[Seabody]

There are bad custom contents out there, that may crash your game or whatever, [...]  At MTS, I often find good CC which lured me to download... What's so bad about CC?  And do you guys use them?  Thanks so much

First of all, I personally do use CC, but not extensively. I have a few custom objects and hairs, but that's about it.

When I first joined the forum, I was in the same mindset as you are. I actually never used Mods or CC until the rules were changed (that's also about the time I got really interested in programming, so I started taking a look at how the game ticks).

The real risk with CC is that someone made a mistake when making it. Take, for instance, the Girl Doll Dressed object. If you're unaware of what it was, a modder was making a custom teddy bear and added an interaction. However, she didn't add it in properly, which caused it to essentially act like a self-replicating virus -- if you exported an object from the game, a copy of the Doll got added on to it, causing it to spread, all the while inflicting bugs onto your game (and at this point I will mention the Doll has since been fixed). This was a prime example of the negative effects of CC -- if badly made, it can be dangerous.

As for MTS -- there can occasionally be oversights, even on large sites such as this. Imagine I'm a trusted hair creator and I make ten perfect hairs in a row (ie no adverse effects to using it). I might, when making my eleventh hair, accidentally do something and fail to notice -- for instance, I might misspell "world" or something. This misspelling could be the difference between another perfect hair, and a glitchy pile of pixels. I might not even notice that particular oversight until I see that people are getting errors.

I know that this site heavily disencourages the usage of CC,

I wouldn't say that the staff discourages the use of CC -- simply that they try to remind you that while you will get the feeling of "ooh... shiny CC", you should also be aware that there is the risk of glitches when using it.

[Saltypaws]

I am like a few others on here, I just recently started using mods and CC and have been very fortunate.  I love the hair and small household objects, but I also did a lot of research as to which sites to go to.  I only trust a couple of creators, but like Seabody said, it just takes one small slip up, without the creator even knowing what has happened. I tried skin one time and it just didn't look right, so I stick to hair and some eye contacts.  Just be careful and if you do decided to install something, install items one at a time, play the game and if it works, then you do don't have to worry as to which item was a problem.  As always, it is risky, so always be aware.

[Aspen]

Good CC is the difference between me still playing this game 3 years later and giving up after 3 weeks of game crashes, vanilla clothing/hairstyles and bland doughboy looking faces
I find the exchange is the #1 place to go if you want to ruin your Sims game, as one single download there could have multiple pieces of bad CC- you just have to know who you're d/l from imo.
There's nothing wrong with CC- packages dont include in this discussion do they?

[intl_incident]

I am somewhat biassed because I make CC and post it on MTS, and I enjoy the process of making it almost as much as the process of using it. I appreciate that it gives the opportunity to customize the game even further than you can do it with CASt and the other EA tools.  But as for whether or not you should use it, well, that's a matter of what you want out of it. 

I think that CC which is either creatively made or which serves some real purpose in your game can add a lot of functionality and enjoyment.  Things like the "One More Slot Package" or the rabbit hole rugs, or even some of the simple CASTable paintings and carpets that I do, can give you a lot of new possibilities in very few packages.  And if you are thoughtful about which CC you want to use, you can keep your CC to a minimum but still enjoy what it has to offer.

In my opinion, what you don't want to do is fall into the trap of thinking "ooh! new hair!" or "ooh! shiny object!" for every piece of CC you find.  It's very easy to start wanting all of the free, amazing stuff on a site like MTS, but honestly, I don't even have all of my own stuff loaded, because it just gets to be too much after a while.

So if I were you I would think about what you want out of CC -- Let's say your character is an elf, and you spot the elven build set that is out there.  You would probably get a ton of use out of it, have a lot of fun building with it, and generally think it made your game a lot more realistic (well, in a LOTR fantasy kind of way) than without it.  But let's say your character is a singer, and you find 325 different dresses and hairs that would look good on stage. You can bloat up your CC folder with all the dresses and hairs, but how often are you really going to use each one of them, and how much do they really add to the game?  If you do a ton of screenshots for stories, maybe a pose player will offer you all kinds of new ways to be creative and/or save your sanity.  But maybe you don't really need 50 new cars for your Sim to drive around in.

As others here have said, CC will sometimes be buggy, or break with a patch.  (I haven't personally experienced any such bugs, and in my experience, that has more than occasionally been true of the official EA content as well, but your mileage may vary.)  Most of the bugs will be harmless and can be fixed by just pulling out the CC object.  But especially if you are using newly scripted objects (i.e., objects with new actions) or brand new cc that has not been playtested by thousands of people for months, you have to go into it with eyes open, knowing that you might conceivably screw up a save game with an error somewhere.  If you are really thoughtful about what you're choosing, and careful about where you get it, then IMHO it's worth the risk.

[Nancy1989]

I started using mods and CC well back in the days of the Sims 2. I never had any problems during my time with it. However, I have had problems with Sims 3 third-party content (i.e. crashing during the loading screen). Luckily I only have a couple of mods so if the issue is with those (as I find that most of the time the issue lies with actual mods and not CC) it's not so much of a hassle to find out which one is the problem. Also, most of the time it's just a matter of updating them after a new patch. If the creator has updated them that is. If not, I just take them out and wait for it to happen. If the issue does happen to lie with CC however, that's a whole different story. Especially if your mods folder is cluttered like mine was. These days, they're nicely organized into categories. That way, if an error occures, I can test per folder where the issue is and progress from there.
So, the question is, are you willing take on the tedious task of managing CC? I have spent entire nights without playing the Sims, just managing mods. Because trust me, more often than not after you downloaded something you want more. So usually it does not stay with one or two items.
If you don't think you feel like keeping it organized than my advice is; Don't use it. But note, this is only my advice. You are of course free to do as you please.

[azokka361]

When I first started playing Sims, I downloaded lots of Sims from the Exchange with CC attached. Back then, I didn't have a clue about the Store or Expansion Packs, or even what CC was, so I just used all of the new items that "magically" appeared. Then it started completely destroying my game: Sims running around naked (no pixelation), deformed babies and toddlers, and eventually the game was completely unplayable. I ended up ignoring Sims for a few years, then went back in and purged the game of CC. Now, I'm very relieved I did so, because there are way fewer glitches and it plays more smoothly.

I've just recently started using mods, with good results, but I still don't download CC. I'm just satisfied with the expansion and store items I have, and don't want to risk messing up my game again. Besides, I don't really like CC anyway--it just looks too "Barbie doll" to me. So, in my opinion, avoid CC, or at least make sure that it's from a good CC website and not bugged.