disclaimer: i have not fully tested every single mod as of posting this, so i'm unsure if they're still maintained or currently work. i also don't play with every single occult so i may miss/include some mods that could/couldn't be considered essential for said occult.

vampires.

blood bank by laurelie - allows vampires, and i believe non-vampires, to take blood from sims instead of having to buy plasma packs or create them via fish etc.

vampire small mods by nv. - a must have in my opinion, they're very minor and small mods but essential when playing with vampires.

vampires have bladders too! by daffodilyily - might seem silly but i personally don't like how motives were removed from vampires as i found it too easy to manage them, so this adds one back!

moonstone sun protection by asb - alternative to the sun reversal drink, allows sims to create jewelry with a moonstone that protects vampires from sunlight when worn!

vampires revamped by sweetsimmer - i haven't used this one myself yet but i definitely intend to. it seemingly adds new interactions for drink from sim types and more.

vampire energy decay by denoflions - i hate that vampire's energy bars don't decay unless powers are used, so this mod is a must for me to keep things from getting boring.

srsly's complete cooking overhaul by srslysims - a generic cooking mod that a lot of people already use, but this mod contains custom plasma recipes that i adore. see here for screenshot examples.

plasma fruit recipes by catdevpete - yet another essential in my game for vampire gameplay. i absolutely love cooking and baking in sims, especially with custom recipes, and this expands the plasma recipes options by A LOT. requires the sim to have maximum vampire lore skill to make any of these recipes.

spellcasters.

functional spell book by deathpoke1qa - a 100% must have in my game, it allows spellcaster sims to learn all types of magic, including alchemy, from a spellbook instead of a cauldron or on the spot.

fly on a broomstick by mercuryfoam - i looove this mod, it's so simple but it's fun to watch your sims zip around on their brooms! works for both adults and children.

spellcaster mods by kuttoe - potion making tweaks, spellcaster tweaks and new spells!

stonekeep cauldron by dennerian - more cc than a mod but here's a different type of cauldron that can be nice for a medieval witch or kitchen witch!

potions override by jarisimcc - this is just a visual mod but i love how they look, it changes the appearance of potion bottles!

spells cost energy by waffle - kind of self explanatory, if sims are overcharged/charged, their energy will decrease.

werewolves.

werewolf overhaul suite by waffle - i don't play with werewolves much but this is definitely a must-have for me. it makes a lot of adjustments to werewolves' fury and their autonomous interactions.

werewolf allies can pacify by thunder1143 - allows werewolf allies to calm down werewolves that need it!

occult socials from ts3 by kennetha_v - this mostly has socials for werewolves and they're very minor, but i think they're a nice addition!

misc.

various occult mods by baniduhaine - i thought i'd link this creator's entire page as there are many occult mods here, such as bloodlines for other occults, new death types and new plasma pack sources.

various occult mods by spinningplumbobs - this creator has many mods that expand on pre-existing occults and also creates some new ones. i personally haven't tried any of them but i wanted to include them as they seem very well made.

secret occults by janesimsten - i'm a big fan of this one as it allows some sims to be welcoming or skeptical of occults, and occult sims to choose whether or not to expose their occult type.

Dragon Age Origins Unofficial Remaster My pride and joy... I worked so hard on this project, and it was worth it. The current download is packaged to enable easy modification of files; you can choose whatever you want or don't want replaced. There is 1000+ textures upgraded using a combination of upscaling, redrawing by hand, and replacements from later games. It also includes my old "true colours" mod that increases the vibrancy of tints.

FtG UI Mod Improves the readability of all text in the game, setting it to better adapt to your monitor.

Real Pigment Ever notice how the base game face textures get really blotchy with darker skin tones? This mod fixes that!

HQ Eyebrow Stubble and Scalp Hair Replacers No more pixelated caterpillars on the face! This is my favourite eyebrow mod, because it maintains the general appearance of the original in size and shape of the different brows.

Pixelated Shaders Begone and Bugfix for Pixelated Shaders Begone Removes the pixelation in the shaders that control the effects like bloom and depth of field. If you like taking screenshots, these ones are especially great.

DoF Off This is more of a personal preference, but if you're like me and want to remove the background blurriness in cutscenes, then here's how.

TSM Vignette Be Gone Again, a personal preference to remove the black vignette corners.

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BONUS Screenshot helpers:

Cleaner Screenshots from Conversations

🏕️Expansions🌲:

Stardew Valley Expanded|Canon-Friendly Dialogue Expansion|The Ranch Expansion|Diverse Stardew Valley or Seasonal outfits Cuter Aesthetic|Seasonal Outfits SVExpanded|Platonic Partners and Friendships|DynamicNightTime|Earthy Interface

🏚️Farm&Town🍂:

Earthy Map Recolour|Way Back Pelican Town|Medieval SVExpanded|MiNi Farm|Medieval Farm Buildings|Relaxing Greenhouse|Tiny Farmhouse|Cuter Coops and Better Barns|Paths|Fences

🥞Items🍊:

DSHi Food, Fish, Minerals and Shipping Items Retextures|Museum Artifacts Reimagined|Medieval Craftables|Grandpa's Weapons and Tools|Totally Unnecessary Item Retextures

🦔Animals🦆:

Farm Animal Facelift|Pet Facelift|Butterflies|Wild Animals|Bicycle Instead of Horse

🧺Furniture🪴:

Earthy Town Interiors|Retro Style Furniture|@orangeblossoms7 Furniture Mods (any of them, they're all great ✨)| Antique TV Sets

⚒️Game mechanics& requirements📀:

SMAPI|CP|Alternative Textures|Farm Type Manager|Happy Home Designer| MailFramework|SpaceCore|Custom Fixed Dialogue|Custom Companions|Earthy for SDE Maps|Medieval DNT|Lumisteria ,Daisy Nicko's, and Alvadea's Tilesheets

📌 CRUCIAL FIRST STEPS

First, it's important to remember that The Sims Medieval is an RPG with specific goals, focused on completing quests.

✔️ STEP 1. DEVELOPER'S CODE How to activate the developer code?

After activation, a useful feature is unlocked that allows you to take control of any character. This means you can manage an entire family, including children.

To take control of any Sim: Click on them while holding Shift + Right-Click.

✔️ STEP 2. THE "FREETIME" QUEST

After completing the first tutorial quest, the "Freetime" and "Freetime & Responsibility" quests become available, allowing you to play at your own pace.

If you don't want to do the tutorial: In Kingdom Mode, enter the cheat code ShowAllQuests — it will unlock all quests available in the game.

📖 LIST OF MODS

There is no direct legacy mode in the game, but it can be simulated. Below is a list of essential mods to help with this task!

These mods fix some details, make children full-fledged Sims, and add interesting gameplay possibilities for managing a dynasty.

💡 Freetime Increases the time before the "Quest Slowdown" debuff appears. Complete quests whenever you want, combining them with family gameplay.

💡 More Sims 8 Increases the number of Sims on the left-hand panel from 4 to 8.

💡 Family Tree Adds a genealogy tree based on The Sims 3 family tree system.

💡 Important events Restores the balance of important life events such as first kiss, wedding, etc.

💡 Family Size = 10 Increases the family size limit from 5 to 10, allowing a couple to have up to 8 children.

💡 Pregnancy is longer/shorter Allows you to increase or decrease pregnancy length.

💡 Sweet babies Allows you to change the duration of the "Newborn" life stage and alters the crying system.

💡 No Pregnancy or 15% Chance Changes the base pregnancy chance from 50% to 15%, adding realism.

💡 Heir 5 lvl Heirs start their profession at level 5 instead of 2. This is much more logical, as they have observed their parents since childhood.

💡 More chance eaten forest Increases the chance of a child being eaten by a bear in the forest during a walk to 10% instead of 0.5%.

💡 Little helpers Adds more domestic interactions for children. They can now explore the market for their parents, go shopping, etc.

💡 Childhood Unlocks many hidden interactions for children: reading notices, throwing tomatoes, watching fights.

💡 ORPHANAGE Adds the ability to adopt a child or send one to an orphanage.

💡 Unlock Sliders For Children Edits FACE files, making bones and morphs available for children and allowing the use of most facial sliders.

💡 Urnstone Mod Adds ghosts and tombstones to the game, along with the ability to mourn the dead and pray.

💡 TSM Command Center

A comprehensive mod that gives you full control over the game. (Read more about the mod in its description). Here, we'll cover which features are useful for legacy-style play. Fixes a major game flaw: The lack of aging and other important life aspects. The mod corrects this and opens new possibilities.

⭐ Age up or retire / change profession at any time. ⭐ Kill a Sim (to simulate death from old age). ⭐ Manage population generation and numbers. ⭐ Age up the entire population / make all children adults. ⭐ Change family ties with another Sim. ⭐ Move to a different lot. ⭐ Adjust pregnancy settings. ⭐ Choose orientation / enable same-sex pregnancy.

LEARN MORE AND DOWNLOAD

🙌 GAMEPLAY HACKS

I've come up with a few small gameplay tricks you might not know! Even years after its release, TSM continues to surprise.

Click the left mouse button (LMB) on a Sim's portrait in the relationship panel — this will mark them with a tracker, so you can see where they are. Useful for large families.

Is your Sim pregnant? You can find out the baby's gender from the Healer (you need to have the Healer selected as your active Sim).

You can have children even if the family limit is reached. In this case, they will be sent to other lands.

You can assign several family members to the same profession, for example, two Monarchs.

Hover your cursor over the in-game time display — a counter of days lived will appear! You can use this to count days until aging up.

Looking to spice up your gameplay? Here's a list of interesting challenges adapted for TSM.

🌳 FAMILY TREE

Creating a family tree is an integral part of the game for any player who prefers legacy-style gameplay.

As is known, The Sims Medieval does not have a built-in family tree (unless you use a mod). However, there are various online services that allow you to create them. Even in other Sims games, in-game trees can break or delete Sims. Thanks to these services, you can permanently capture the history of your dynasty!

Here are a few popular sites: TheSimsTree, ThePlumTree, MyFamilyTree, FamilyEcho

💟 RECOMMENDATIONS

Take screenshots to capture important moments.

You can extract or replace your Sims' portraits (See guide).