Despite enjoying great popularity and still getting new content packs, The Sims 4 has been out for almost six years now.
And the graphics have begun to show their age despite the game’s cartoonish style slowing the process(and everyone waiting for Sims 5 details).
Luckily, Sims lovers in the fandom have always been a fertile breeding ground for passionate modders. They stay hard at work improving the game’s functionality, and more importantly, its looks.
This is generally achieved with a combination of tweaked graphic effects and updated textures in the form of custom content, either hyper-realistic or following the game’s original clay-like art style.
The sheer amount of variety can make modding appear to be a daunting task, so I’ve put together this list ranking all the best graphic-enhancing mods that can make your game more aesthetically pleasing.
But I’ve also dropped in a few options for the hardcore mod-enthusiasts out there too. Enjoy!
12. ReShade
ReShade isn’t exactly a mod, but a graphics injector that works on many games.
It lets you tweak several effects like chromatic aberration, lighting, and a whole other slew of visual options.
While playing around with the program’s settings will eventually give you the perfect look for you, this can be a very time consuming trial-and-error process.
So most people prefer downloading presets uploaded by other users.
This is hardly the least important tool on this list, but it’s necessary to understand before we take a look at some of the best presets available online.
11. Pixelore’s Drama ReShade
One of the most well-known presets used by Sims 4 players is Pixelore’s Drama ReShade, which lends your game a very cinematic feel reminiscent of something released in the mid-2000s.
Light sources look much brighter, as if your game was being shot from an actual camera.
This same effect also highlights your Sims’ facial features thanks to the light being reflected off their skin.
This preset is ideal for storytelling screenshots too. And it comes in both day and night versions for an easier setup.
10. Honeybodies Nostalgia ReShade
Another very popular ReShade preset is this melancholic, nostalgia-inducing one by creator Honeybodies.
It gives your game the look of old pictures, the kind you took with a disposable Kodak camera back in the ‘90s and have lost some color over time.
Your Sim probably has a picture that looks like this stored somewhere deep within a drawer in their bedroom.
It’s ideal for storytelling screenshots and just making your game look very, very dramatic. The sepia filter is optional.
9. Money and Milk ReShade
If rather than nostalgia you’d rather add a warm, homely feeling to your game, then the Money and Milk ReShade by Midpoosimmer is your best bet.
This makes heavy use of focus effects, blurring far-away backgrounds, and giving your game a decidedly photographic look.
Which is amazing for photoshoots depicting your Sims having wholesome fun with family and friends. Or something more depraved, up to you.
If your Sims could post this to social media, it’s safe to say they’d get a lot of likes.
8. Clear Bloom ReShade
The most versatile preset I could find that’s fit for gameplay rather than screenshots is Clear Bloom by creator Amoebae.
This ReShade will make your game look bright and colorful in a way the vanilla game just can’t achieve.
It’s also relatively discreet, so it’s perfect if you just want to give your game a slight facelift.
It’s also one of the easier presets to understand & edit, if you don’t mind opening ReShade from time to time so you can tweak it.
This will let you have a custom look to suit your tastes without having to dive so deep into the program.
7. Stealthic’s Hair Mods
Among a Sim’s customizable characteristics, their hair is one of the most influential in their overall look.
We’ve covered a huge list of hair mods for Sims 4, but this one definitely deserves a mention as a graphics enhancer too.
Proficient creator Stealthic offers a wide array of extra hair swatches to use in CAS with a much more stylish and realistic look than vanilla.
It’s what’s known by the community as an “alpha” CC.
While originally made to go with hyper-detailed skin and eye textures, they look just fine when coupled with the base game’s cartoonish look.
These elaborate hairstyles are ideal for Sims with a very active social media presence, vampires with a penchant for the dramatic, and just Sims who use a lot of hair conditioner.
6. Hair Physics Simulation
And if you’re getting better hair for your CAS, you can’t miss the chance to also give it some mobility.
This mod by creator GuiMerman_Z tweaks a Sim’s rig, the “skeleton” that controls their movements and joints.
By doing so, most hair types will sway as they walk, run, or dance. Immersive!
Luckily, most CC hairstyles are built on top of vanilla rigs by default. So they’ll all be equally enhanced by these newly introduces hair physics.
5. Encore Eyes
According to William Shakespeare, the eyes are the windows of the soul.
Which makes them key in establishing a Sim’s look and personality. I mean, if they weren’t weird digital creatures living in your computer.
Encore Eyes by Kelly-Hannah is one of the most versatile eye-enhancing mods available for Sims 4, because it lets you replace all of the vanilla eyes for this bright and detailed version.
It feels much nicer than just adding them as extra swatches to your CAS – which you can also do. But go with Encore Eyes for the full effect.
4. Kijiko’s 3D Lashes
And if you’re making eyes look so much better, it would be too jarring not to also replace the default cartoony eyelashes for something a bit more sophisticated too.
Kijiko’s 3D eyelashes are the most popular and widely recommended CC to give your Sims some gorgeous eyelashes, which look great on both alpha-looking Sims and more vanilla-friendly ones.
There’s even a version made specifically for kids!
3. PralineSims’ Eyebrows and Make-Up
Once you’ve seen what some small changes can do towards making your Sims beautiful, you won’t be able to stop yourself from completing the transformation.
Famous creator PralineSims has tons of CC to make your Sims look better. Including much-needed HD eyebrows and make-up that’ll give them a more lifelike appearance.
Whether you want matte or glossy lipstick, glitter in your eye-shadow, or just picture-perfect influencer eyebrows – it’s all there!
2. Luumia’s Vanilla Skin
There’s a truly immense variety of skin-replacement mods available for The Sims 4.
You’ll find stuff ranging from very mild enhancements to hyper-detailed alpha CC.
Luumia’s Vanilla Skin belongs somewhere inbetween, enhancing the overall texture quality and detail of your Sims’ epidermis while maintaining the original game’s somewhat clay-like look so they don’t appear out-of-place in the game.
This also lets you experiment more with different kinds of CC, as both alpha and more traditional additions to your CAS will both work pretty well with this skin tone.
1. HQ Mod
If you truly want to take your Sims world to the limit, you’ll want to get the HQ Mod.
This lets the game load 4K textures among quite a few other graphical things.
It’s generally only used for screenshots, as it not only requires you to replace every single texture for HQ-compatible versions, but can only be run by truly powerful gaming rigs.
I mean 4K is no joke.
That said, if you’ve got an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti hooked up to your computer then it’s worth pouring in time to get all the textures and effects you need.
Nothing is stopping you from turning your Sims 4 playthrough into a truly sublime piece of eye-candy.
