Hiya y'all,

I noticed there seems to be a lot of confusion on how to successfully enable testingcheats or load mods for TSM so I blatantly copied some info in an attempt to help beginners to get everything to work properly. I hope this is useful to anyone.

First steps:

1) patch your game. Rick's Debug Enabler does not work with the unpatched game.
2) Set up your Mod folder. To do this, open your TSM installation folder and create a new folder named "Mods". Important: Mods do not (as of yet) work in the \My Documents\ folder where TSM saves some data, so be absolutely certain to go to your installation folder!
Now create a new folder within the "Mods" folder called "Packages".
3) Now you need to add a resource.cfg file to your main TSM install folder, so the game knows you have mods and where to look for them. It is basically a text file that serves the same function it did in TS3 and contains the following:



4) Now you're all set up! This will load most of the current TSM mods. Put the *.package files into your Mods\Packages\ directory. You can use subfolders if you like. Subfolders will not work if your resource.cfg does only contain PackedFile Mods/Packages/*.package! Some Mods will create subfolders when you unzip them. If they do not show up or work this may be the reason why!

5) If you want to use Rick's Debug Enabler and/or TSM's testing cheats you will need to enable TestingCheatsEnabled as described in this post in order to enable the debug commands.

6) Script Mods will require d3dx9_31.dll to work. Chances are you're going to need this in the future as more Mods are made. d3dx9_31.dll goes into your \TSM Install Folder\Game\Bin directory.

Last edited by Rockerduck : 1st Dec 2012 at 05:32 PM. Reason: On request, removed typo and changed title

Thank you! I try to explain why files go where they do and what they contain so it won't be a mystery to newcomers. I found that some guides provide you with the files but they don't explain why you need them and what they're for - resulting in a lot of people needing help because they simply do not understand how it works, thus being unable to figure out a solution themselves. If you know that subfolders of \Mods\Packages\ won't work if your *.cfg doesn't contain the proper lines you might be able to figure out that your subfolders were causing your mods not to show up, for example. Glad you found it helpful!

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your instructions here and on other threads. You are so concise and easy to understand resulting in hassle free game play. I'm sure YOU are greatly appreciated by everyone who benefits from your knowledge. Thanks again :D

Was about time I contributed something after 7 years of lurking, no? ;-) Welcome, and thank you! *feels flattered*

Thank you so much! This is much easier to understand

intensely noobish question, i know, but what does the debug enabler do? what does debug mean?

Hiya vera!

Debug commands are essentially console commands that were used by the programmers to test certain game functions. They enable you to do stuff a user isn't normally able to do in the game, such as make Sims selectable, modify their traits, teleport Sims to the mouse pointer, build in otherwise locked locations, etc.
Those functions are still in the game, and by enabling them you have access to certain debug commands.
I hope that answers your question!

Question! When you say "install folder," do you mean the folder "The Sims Medieval," or the folder "The Sims Medieval\Game\Bin?"

Hiya!

The base install folder, so just \Whatever Your Medieval Directory\

\Game\Bin\ is only for the *.dll

Mods, Is there any reason why this cannot be 'sticky-ed' to the top of the TSM topic, along with the other Mods thread? I think many people would find it helpful, and there would be fewer queries posted in the other threads.

I concur with the sticky request, very handy and elegant tutorial. And a critical step in the addition of mods to your game.

One thing that may be tripping folks up is:

If I were just scanning the post and not reading it thoroughly I might latch onto "This is basically the same as in TS3" and make an incorrect assumption that it means "Just do everything like you do for TS3 mods."
Of course your meaning (I think) is that the resources.cfg file does the same thing it does for TS3, nothing to do with placement of the file.
That could be confusing some folks.
Another way to put it could be:
"3) Now you need to add a resources.cfg file to your main TSM install folder, so the game knows you have mods and where to look for them. It is basically a text file that serves the same function it did in TS3 and contains the following:"

@ garghuul

Thank you! Not a native English speaker, so ... yeah, I may not make perfect sense sometimes. ;-) Thanks, I will rephrase that.

n/p and y/w.
English is my primary language, and I only make sense half the time anyways.

In all of the post for changing the TestingCheats command one thing has been forgotten and that is - How to Save the changed file. I have tried several times but have not be able to do so. Can you please help me

I have done all the steps that you have listed and I still can not get the buydebug to work. I don't know what I am doing so wrong.... please help

Copy the commands.ini to somewhere like your desktop or Documents folder, make another copy of it as a backup, do the editing to one of those copies, then copy and paste it back over the original. That should work in Windows OS.



In the ctrl+shift+c console line are you typing buydebug on or just buydebug?

After I type the Testingcheatsenabled true I type Buydebug and nothing happens. after I have downloaded and put all the folders up.. So I don't know if I am putting something in the wrong file or folder. Or if I just can't get my game to work with the mods..

is there a "buydebug on" mod here for 1.2 version?

I use WinRAR to open the file, but when I go to place it in C/programs/EA/Medieval I get an "access denied" error message and I can't place the file anywhere.
What am I doing wrong??

Okok, do you put the Resource.cfg into the Mods folder or into the Package folder? If I remember correctly, in Sims 3 It was into the mods folder, but is this different?



Edit: Durrr I figured out what I did wrong; thanks!

ok, i apparently did something wrong here...i've only tried 1 mod cause the game is so horrible at randomly crashing i didn't wanna add much, but here's what i did, & my 1 mod that i put in is not working anyway

i have windows xp..

i went to my computer/c drive/program files/electronic arts/the sims medieval to get to any of the folders you list above, is this not correct? in there is where
i put the new folder called mods...in THAT mods folder is where i put the folder called packages

my computer/c drive/program files/electronic arts/sims medieval/game/bin --i put the dll file there

the resource file i put in the main folder above: my computer/c drive/program files/electronic arts/sims medieval, (i put it right next to my newly created mods folder)

the mod itself (no mosaic) i put in the packages folder that i had created in the mods folder, which i had created in the main folder

& yet, i still get pixels in-game..so what did i do wrong?

I believe you need to type "buydebug on" not just "buydebug"
Doublecheck that you extracted the resource.cfg file from resources.rar before putting it in Electronic Arts/The Sims Medieval? You seem to have done everything correctly, but that might be something that got overlooked.

Ok, so when I download Resourse.rar, WinRAR shows a file and what looks like a sheet of paper, both with the name resource...do I place the file, the "paper", or both into my bin?