I thought it would be useful to make a mod list/resources page for Sprucebug! I’d like to do this for all my neighbourhoods, but Spruceburg is my “low-cc” neighbourhood so it’s a little less daunting :)
Gameplay Mods
“Gamesavers”
These are mods I consider essential and add to every save. Many help with corruption or performance issues.
Archfix - fixes the “broken” face templates, so newly created sims won’t have borked genetics
No Corrupt Death - stops the formation of new jagged-line invisible gossip memories formed by sim death.
No Unlink on Delete - character files no longer shredded if gravestones/urns are deleted
No Sim Loaded - supposedly fries tokens that cause lag.
No Trash Memories - reduces the amount of “silly” memories, so there’s less clutter if you want to look through a sims’ history
Creature Fixes - a bunch of fixes for supernaturals, most notably letting sims have normal skin but alien eyes
Dramafix - fixes some buggy memories involving the drama professor
Marriage Post-Mortem - marriage ties are no longer automatically disconnected after death. Makes family tree look nicer!
Population Control
These stop extra townies or NPCs from spawning. I like having a lot of control over my sim populations, so this is important for giving the neighbourhood a nice, cozy feel.
There Can Only Be One Professor
Townies, Downtownies and Service NPCs as Apartment Residents
No Vacation Locals & No Hobby Instructors regen
Townie Enthusiasm Seeder - makes it so custom townies will have enthusiasm points
No townie memory loss - townies get memory wiped when they are moved into a family by default, this mod fixes that so they keep their memories
Traits
TS2 Traits Project - I use some but not all of the mods related to this project, and I believe a more up to date list is here!
Color Traits - and while I won’t list them all, I use almost all of the mods Episims has made that go with this project
Romance & Relationships
ACR - Most people know this mod already, it gives sims the ability to woohoo without you directing them (among a bunch of other features like “risky” woohoo!)
Random Marriage/Proposal Rejection - adds some extra drama!
No Bi Gender Preference Decrease - bisexual sims will stay bi, even in long term relationships
Friendly Breakup - allows for more low-key and less dramatic breakups, when appropriate
Confess to Cheating - a little wonky, but in theory lets cheating sims confess to their partner
Just Be Friends - puts the breaks on unwanted romance
Ask to Leave Partner - has an autonomous version, too!
Jealousy Mod - allows sims to have open relationships, includes a “no jealousy” trait which should override any other jealousy settings
Midge’s Simplified Romantic Standards - quite a complex set of mods, read through the documentation!
Aging
Lifespan Mod - mine is tweaked to my preferences but uses Phaenoh’s as a base. In Spruceburg mine is set up to give adults 35 days, teenager 8, and the rest is as per Maxis defaults.
Smart Age Correct - this mod will automatically recalculate sims ages proportionally when you add a new lifespan mod. Useful for people like me, who tweak their age settings a lot!
Kids & Parenting
Chastise Unlocked - lets you lecture kids! Sometimes you want to play a strict parent or guardian
Higher Priority Homework Help - makes the “help with homework” interaction easier to execute so it doesn’t constantly drop out of the queue
Put Your Homework Away - lets you assign desks to kids, and they will put their homework there!
Crib Animation Teeth Fix - small fix to an annoying animation glitch
Age Interests - stops sims interests from changing when they age up
Careers & Lifetime Wants
TS1 Careers for TS2 - brings some of the cool careers from the Sims 1 over to the Sims 2, with chance cards & custom LTWs
Life Stories Careers - adds the “entertainment” and “game development” careers from Life Stories, with their corresponding LTWs
Get Uni Career Without Education - since Spruceburg doesn’t have a university. And the “university” careers aren’t exactly jobs you’d expect to need a degree for!
Community Lots
Community Time - causes time to pass on the home lot when sims visit community lots. I think I have the original version, although there is also a Chris Hatch version that fixes some thinga.
Community Lot Parties - allows you to throw parties on community lots (useful for weddings!)
Community Lot Skilling - allows sims to gain skill points on community lots, good for stuff like gyms or public art classes
Exercise Class - modded objects that encourage sims to work out, do tai chi, yoga, etc.
Exercise Equality - tweaks the maxis gym equipment so that sims will use it autonomously
Dining Group Mod - makes (not selected) playables sometimes sit with other sims in restaurants, which makes restaurants feel more lively
"Danger Mods"
These are mods I’ve collected to add some extra difficulty and chance of death to the game! It’s so rare to have sims die in ordinary gameplay, but I like a little random tragedy for storytelling reasons!
Disease Mods - make it more possible for sims to die of disease, and nerfs Grandma’s Comfort Soup
Useful Tools
The Sim Blender - everyone’s hero and most useful all-around mod, this object lets you do all sorts! I like using it especially for making townies, assigning random skill points and changing a sims age
FFS Debugger or “The Batbox” - has a bunch of useful debugging features
Seasons and Weather Controller - lets you change the season on a lot
Mortgage Shrub - lets sims buy nicer houses than they’d ordinarily be able to afford
Stay Things Shrub - stops objects from being sold when you move a sim out
Teleporter Shrub - there are loads of other teleporters, but I like using this one because it’s so easy to disguise
Clothing Tool - there are a few different mods that let you change sims clothes, most simmers seem to use gussy up, but I use clothingtool
Supernatural Transformer - lets you turn sims into witches/werewolves, etc.
Find-a-Mate Crystal Ball - shows which sims in the neighborhood your sims has the best chemistry with! Can be useful for matchmaking in big hoods, although I don’t actually use this much as it feels cheaty
Other Mods
Inventory Inheritance - makes sure items in inventories aren’t lost when a sim dies
More Types of Drink - adds some funky new drinks to the bar
Actual Alcohol - makes sims act drunk! I haven’t played with this yet, but am excited to try it out :D
Functional Knitting Mod - really cool mod that lets sims knit all sorts of objects!
Control This Sim - originally I got this mod because it was supposed to fix the super duper hug bug, but this was kinda debunked… still, it’s useful having a mod like this imo!
Nohumble - stops Rod Humble from visiting sims and giving them a free computer
Assault Rifle - lets you kill other sims, I think? I’ve never actually used it, but someday I feel there will be the perfect storytelling moment for this item
Build & Buy
I am keeping Spruceburg intentionally CC-lite, but do use a few objects and build sets that add features to the game or that I just can’t live without.
Converted Maxis Sets
Build Sets
Space Savers
Useful OMSPs and small pieces of furniture to help make the most of space in small houses. These things are all sooooo useful!
Functional Ladder - really useful for making use of extra space in smaller homes!
Loveseat OMSPs - great for letting sims do ACR’s “sofa woohoo” on single beds!
Functional Stuff & Modded Objects
Rabbit Pen Default - replaces the “toy dog” pet from apartment life with a little rabbit!
Pet Stories Dog Agility Stuff - cool objects with animations!
Invisible Pond - cool for fishing on a beach lot!
Animated Effects - recently discovered these, they can add a cool bit of extra life to a lot!
Sinclair ZX Spectrum - really cool little functional item, lets you write BASIC programs & play retro games
Buyable pizza & chinese food - these work even if you remove the mod, so are nice for cc-free building :)
Functional Cameras - they work like the telescope but give creativity skill points
More Functional Skilling Objects
IKEA Coffin - for your modern vamps
Functional Washer & Dryer - sims gain cleaning skill from using these! It’s fun making little laundromats for sims to visit, especially students :)
Plants & Garden
When it comes to plants, I try to make sure everything I have in my game is seasonal so that it doesn’t look off in autumn/winter! This limits my options a little but that’s probably a good thing since I go a little crazy with landscaping otherwise :)
Planting Overhaul - makes it so sims need to buy seeds to plant stuff, and adds some cool news plants! Requires other mods to work properly, read the description carefully
TVickiesims Plants - I like my plants to change with the seasons, so I use a ton of tvickiesims’ stuff! Custom versions rather than defaults, as I like the Maxis stuff too
Maxis Plant Fixes - adds winter states to the maxis flowers
Seasonal Bioshock Bushes - my favorite bushes of all time, made seasonal!
Lazy Gardener’s Delight - some “remixed” indoor plants, very Maxis-match!
Other Stuff
Bakery Awning - useful for making businesses look more “businessy”!
Record Store Set - I just really wanted Spruceburg to have a little record store!
Bodyshop
To keep custom content more minimal, I’ve embraced the “True TS2” aesthetic and try to only download hairs and clothes that match the original look and feel of the game.
Honeygold skinset - a nice set of defaults that also includes custom skintones, for more variety!
Eye Candy - I’ve been using these eyes since forever, I love how big & cartoony they are
Maxis Tattoo Box - makes tattoos stay on sims as an overlay, so they don’t disappear when sims change their outfit. These are ones based on the tattoos that come with maxis outfits, but there are a ton of cool custom ones out there too
As many custom sliders as I can get my hands on
Eyeglasses Unhidden - adds more Maxis-y glasses to the game
The Maxis Match Repository Project
Lots of clothes & makeup by Skell
Hair & clothes by Executables-Sims - they have a lot of lovely lots, too!
Pond Outfits for Ladies - this is just one small set but I have always loved it and think it fits the game wonderfully!
Sim Pools
UI
No pause frame - makes for prettier screenshots
CAS300Plus, ChangeAppearance1058 & Wide-BuyPlanOutfits - adds more columns when changing sims appearance, making better use of wider screens
TS3 Style Mood Background - makes it easier to tell when sims are unhappy!
Fix Subhood Selection - allows multiple shopping districts & downtowns to show up properly in the UI
Neighbourhood
I also use a ton of neighborhood deco, that is probably the least cc-lite thing about this neighborhood! I like arranging it to make the neighborhood look really detailed and filled out. It’s waaaaaaaaay too much to list it all here as I’m a total hoarder. But a few important things!
Terrain Default - there’s a lot of these out these, but this is my favorite and the one I use for most hoods!
Pond & Sea Water Overhaul - I don’t always keep this installed as it can be glitchy and my PC doesn’t love it, but it looks super pretty
Skyfix - lets you see the night sky
Greylings by Nimi - the original terrain Spruceburg uses as a base! I modified the roads and hills, but the river is all Nimi's gorgeous work.
This Hood Deco resource list is a good place to start if you want more hood deco in your game!