Used & unused CC
How SimSweep figures out which CC is actually in your saves, what unused really means, TSR source filtering, thumbnails, and how to read reclaimable space.
Having 10,000 CC files is fine. Having 10,000 CC files and not knowing which ones your actual households are using is a different problem. SimSweep scans your save files and cross-references them against your library so you can see what's working hard and what's just sitting there.
How used and unused detection works#
SimSweep scans your .householdbinary, .trayitem, and .save files and matches their IDs against every CAS and build/buy package in your library. The matcher checks both little-endian and big-endian patterns to catch everything the game might write.
A few things to know about how categories get assigned:
- CAS CC is only counted as Used if it appears in an actual save file. Tray items alone don't qualify.
- Build/Buy items without a save match stay in the Build/Buy category rather than moving to Unused, because they're available for any lot you build.
- Presets are handled separately because save files don't store preset IDs directly.
- Animations stay in their own category for the same reason.
Tip: Enable Include save files in scan in Settings before running a scan. Without it, used and unused results will be incomplete.
Categories in My CC#
Open My CC after a scan and you'll see these categories in the sidebar:
| Category | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Used | CAS CC that appears in at least one save file |
| Unused | CAS CC with no save match |
| Presets | Saved presets (CAS and build mode) |
| Protected | Files SimSweep has marked to keep during cleanup |
| Mods | Script mods and gameplay mods |
| Build/Buy | Objects, furniture, and architectural CC |
| Animations | Animation packages |
| Disabled | Files in a disabled subfolder |
Reclaimable space#
The Home dashboard shows your total library size, how many items are Used and Unused, and an estimate of reclaimable space. Reclaimable is based on CAS files in the Unused category that aren't protected or otherwise flagged as needed.
Before deleting anything in the Unused category, read what it actually contains. Build/Buy, Presets, and Animations won't show up as Used even if you use them constantly.
TSR source filtering#
If some of your CC came from The Sims Resource (TSR), SimSweep indexes it separately and lets you filter by source. In the My CC filter sidebar, look for the Source section:
- All sources shows everything
- TSR only shows just TSR-sourced files
- Non-TSR shows everything else
TSR detection handles both loose TsrDownloads files and items backed by the TSR Manager database, preserving creator and item metadata where available.
Thumbnails#
File cards in My CC show thumbnails when available. SimSweep pulls previews from three places, in order:
- Embedded images inside the package file itself
- TSR item images (if the file came from TSR)
- The game's local thumbnail cache (
localthumbcache.package)
If none of those produce a preview, the card shows a missing thumbnail state. Clearing the game's thumbnail cache can cause previews to temporarily disappear and reload.
Next up#
Once you know which CC your saves are using, Save health lets you go deeper: analyzing individual saves, checking for corruption, and seeing exactly which packages each save depends on.