How to Install Sims 4 Custom Content on Mac (2026 Guide)

Installing Sims 4 custom content on Mac is mostly the same as on Windows, but a few Mac-specific quirks trip people up: hidden folders, the EA App moving your Mods folder, and .package files opening in the wrong app. This guide covers all of it in plain English, with screenshots described in text.

If you’re brand new to CC, this guide assumes you already know what CC is. If not, read What Is Sims 4 CC first.

Before You Start

Custom content (CC) is fan-made Sims 4 stuff — hair, clothes, furniture, genetics — that creators share on Patreon and personal sites. sims4mods.cc indexes all of it in one searchable place.

One safety note: Always download CC from the creator’s official link or a trusted database like ours. Random file hosts sometimes bundle malware.

Step 1: Find Your Sims 4 Mods Folder on Mac

The Mac path is:

~/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Mods

To get there in Finder, open Finder → Go → Documents, then open the Electronic Arts folder, then The Sims 4, then Mods. If Electronic Arts doesn’t show up in Documents, see the troubleshooting section below.

Important: If you installed Sims 4 from the EA App (Mac), the Mods folder is sometimes in a different spot. Check both:

~/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Mods        ← Origin, Steam, EA App (older)
~/Library/Containers/com.ea.origin.mac/The Sims 4/Mods  ← EA App (newer, sandboxed)

The second path lives inside macOS’s Library folder, which is hidden by default. To jump there: in Finder press Cmd + Shift + G, paste the path, and hit Enter.

Step 2: Download the CC Files

Browse sims4mods.cc, find a piece you like, and click through to the creator’s Patreon post. Most public CC downloads as a .zip or .rar archive. Sometimes the file is a single .package already.

If you got a .zip, double-click it in Finder to extract. You’ll see one or more .package files inside (the actual CC). If you got a .rar, Mac can’t open .rar natively — install The Unarchiver (free) from the App Store and re-download the file.

Step 3: Move the .package File Into Your Mods Folder

Drag the .package file from your Downloads folder into Mods. You can drop it directly in Mods/ or organize it into subfolders like hair/, clothing/, furniture/ — Sims 4 reads all subfolders automatically.

A tidy Mods folder:

Mods/
  ├── hair/
  │   └── okruee-coco-hair.package
  ├── clothing/
  │   └── clumsyalien-denim-dress.package
  └── furniture/
      └── simpliciaty-modern-sofa.package

Pro tip: Do NOT put .zip or .rar files in your Mods folder — Sims 4 will ignore them and you’ll wonder why your CC doesn’t show up. Always extract first.

Step 4: Enable Custom Content In-Game

Open Sims 4. From the main menu click the three dots (…) → Game Options → Other, then check:

• Enable Custom Content and Mods — turn this ON
• Script Mods Allowed — turn this ON (needed for gameplay mods, not just CC)
• Showromtebuydebugpack: NO, leave this off

Click Apply Changes, then restart the game. Your new CC should now show up in Create-a-Sim and Build Mode.

Mac-Specific Troubleshooting

”Electronic Arts folder doesn’t exist in Documents”

EA hides the folder on first launch if you skip the account linking screen. Open Sims 4, complete the account setup, then quit. The folder appears.

If it still doesn’t show, the Electronic Arts folder might be hidden. In Finder press Cmd + Shift + . to reveal hidden files in the current window.

”My .package files open in Archive Utility when I double-click”

This is a common Mac annoyance — .package is a generic file extension that macOS doesn’t know about. It won’t hurt your files (extracting shows gibberish because .package is not a real archive), but it’s confusing.

Fix: right-click any .package file → Get Info → Open With → select Other… → change it to a text editor like TextEdit or BBEdit, then click Change All…. Now every .package will open in your editor (you’ll never need to, but the popup stops).

”Game Options is grayed out / I can’t enable CC”

You’re probably in the gallery view. Click the three dots (…) in the upper-right corner of the main menu, then Game Options. If the settings are still locked, make sure you’re not signed in as a child account.

”My script mods broke after a Sims 4 update”

Each major Sims 4 patch can break script mods. Wait 24-48 hours after an update, then check Sims 4 Studio Discord or r/TheSims4 for patch notes. Most CC (non-script) keeps working through updates.

You’re Done

That’s it. The whole process takes about 5 minutes once you’ve done it once. Sims 4 picks up new CC on every launch, so just drop more .package files into your Mods folder whenever you find them on sims4mods.cc.

If something still won’t work after following this guide, drop us a comment on the About page — we read every one.