I'm an organizing freak, but for some reason a late bloomer when it comes to package merging. Guess I've been afraid of tampering with the game. Lately I've spent (too) many gaming hours though, merging and reorganizing packages, as I heard it could make the game load faster. It did help me with TS3 lag A LOT, but now I've stumbled upon a few little things that bugs me in TS4 and I am starting to concider if it is really worth it.

- I don't notice a big difference in the game's loading time
- I downloaded TSR CC manager and redownloaded all my TSR custom content again for that. As I've understood it merges the packages for you? Now these objects are of course disorganized in my catalogue again. I need my kitchen clutter in the kitchen categories!
- TS4 comes with lots of new updates (unlike the older games), so I guess merging certain types of content comes with a risque? I remember when all counters in game dissapeared etc. And then it was sofas.
- I notice that I have very similar items that I don't need two of, and the ones I want to keep are ofc in the merged packages. I try to remove as much CC as I can, as I suddenly find myself downloading tons of stuff again.
- If I want to recolor and remove swatches from something that is merged I guess this is now impossible

My questions is, do you merge or not? What's your "merging rules"? Do you use TSR CC Manager, and does it do any difference to your game play? I am currently thinking of rather focusing on hiding objects, as that's another thing that clutters up the game. Cats and Dogs came with tons of stickers that clutters the wall art section, while the gnome figurines are the fugliest things ...

I do not know how many products there are out there that create package files when merging. I only know of three: s4pe, sims4studio, and TSR manager. I do not use s4pe because I cannot figure how to unmerge a package if need be after using it. Sims4studio cannot seem to unmerge such packages made by it. I do not use TSR manager because it merges and catagorizes according to what's being downloaded and how the creator of the CC classifies their CC. In other words, I have found dresses classified among shoes for example after using it. They say they have an updated version which is better. I have not tried it.

So, I use only Sims4studio for my merging. It does a good job, and if needed, I can unmerge the files to add, remove or rearrange the CC very effortlessly. I also use Sims4studio to check new CC to make sure it is classified by the creator correctly. Hence, less chance of dresses ending up amongst the shoes. That's how I organize my mod folder: dresses, shoes, makeup, sofas, pants, etc. Hence I know where to go if I find bad CC in my game and need to remove it. I also regularly check for duplicates. It is a necessary evil if you do a lot of downloading.

I didn't use to merge my packages, but continued to add more. And as I did, I couldn't understand why my game's loading times kept slowing down more and more. I blamed it on Maxis - their lousy game - until I eventually learned about merging. Now, despite how much CC I have, my game loads almost as if I have no CC at all (and I, too, have a lot of CC - downloading more every day). Hence, I cannot figure why your game seems to make no difference in loading time even though you have merged files. There must be something else going on (a mod, perhaps?)

In any case, keep merging - it does help.

And use Sims4studio.

I merged all the sets from Aroundthesims as that's where I download most from, just to realize there's a sofa I haven't updated amongst other things. I do think the TSR manager is practical to use, but when I realized that all the content I had sorted earlier are now cluttered up again I almost dread starting up the game. Sucks that you can't sort it there. I honestly didn't think about it! I got all hyped about reducing lag as it worked wonders in TS3. I've downloaded so much food and kitchen stuff from TSR which I like to keep in small appliances, but that are now both in clutter, misc and even in the plants category.

Sims 4studio is amazing! For sorting, deleting and keeping track of what content you actually have. I even love that you can remove swatches you don't like!

I have a backup for ever package that's merged and I am reconsidering separating them again, and only merge recolors and smaller sets. Like the alphabet neon signs. Don't need a package for each letter, and I doubt I ever need to delete the "Q" etc

My aim now is to pause merging and rather start the time consuming hiding of objects. Need to get those gnomes who fills the sculpture catalogue gone!