This forum contains user modifications for Virtual Families. These modifications (or Mods) have all been created by users and are not supported by LDW. Use these modifications at your own risk. If using them causes problems for your game, please do not request support from LDW. It is always a good idea to back up the game's original images before you install an image mod, which will allow you to easily restore the game's original images.

To back up the images folder and install image mods on a Windows computer, perform the following steps. (You may use any method of your choosing to back up the images, of course, but the procedure below is a very simple, step-by-step process for people who need some help backing up files and installing the mod.)

• Make sure that Virtual Families is not running (quit the game, if it is)
• Open My Computer and navigate to the folder where Virtual Families is installed (usually c:\Program Files\Virtual Families)
• Open the Virtual Families program folder
• Create a new folder and call it something like Images-Backup
• Open the Images folder
• Ctrl-A to select all of the images in the folder, then Ctrl-C to copy them
• Open the new backup folder that you created previously and Ctrl-V to paste all of the images into the backup folder
• Download the mod that you want to install and save it to a location of your choosing using one of the following methods:
  1. If the mod is a zip file, simply click on the attachment link to download the mod, following your browser's instructions.
  2. If the mod has been posted as image files, you will need to right-click on the image and select the option to save the image to your computer. The exact method depends upon the browser you're using, but a context menu should open giving you an option to save the image (e.g. Save Image As...).
• If the mod is contained in a zip file, follow these steps to extract the mod's images and apply them to your game:
  1. Right-click the downloaded mod file and select Extract all... from the popup menu
  2. Follow the instructions in the wizard and allow the wizard to show the extracted files
  3. Ctrl-A to select all of the images in the folder, then Ctrl-C to copy them
  4. Open the original Images folder and Ctrl-V to paste all of the images into the game's Images folder
  5. When asked if you want to replace the existing file(s), click Yes to All
• If the mod was posted as individual images, you will need to copy them into the game's images folder in a manner similar to steps 3 through 5 above
• Launch Virtual Families and enjoy the new images in the game!

To back up the images folder and install image mods on a Macintosh computer, perform the following steps. (You may use any method of your choosing to back up the images, of course, but the procedure below is a very simple, step-by-step process for people who need some help backing up files and installing the mod.)

• Make sure that Virtual Families is not running (quit the game, if it is)
• Open Finder and navigate to the game folder for Virtual Families (it is placed on the desktop by default, but you may have moved it to Applications or another location)
• Open the Virtual Families folder
• Create a new folder and call it something like Images-Backup
• Right-click (ctrl-click) on the Virtual Families application icon and click Show Package Contents
• Open the Contents folder, then the Resources folder, then open the Images folder
• Command-A to select all of the images in the folder, then Command-C to copy them
• Open the new backup folder that you created previously and Command-V to paste all of the images into the backup folder
• Download the mod that you want to install and save it to a location of your choosing using one of the following methods:
  1. If the mod is a zip file, simply click on the attachment link to download the mod, following your browser's instructions.
  2. If the mod has been posted as image files, you will need to right-click on the image and select the option to save the image to your computer. The exact method depends upon the browser you're using, but a context menu should open giving you an option to save the image (e.g. Save Image As...).
• If the mod is contained in a zip file, follow these steps to extract the mod's images and apply them to your game:
  1. If the zip file isn't automatically uncompressed, use an extraction application, such as BOMArchiveHelper or Stuffit Expander, to extract the mod files from the zip file
  2. Open the extracted folder to view the mod files
  3. Command-A to select all of the images in the folder, then Command-C to copy them
  4. Open the original Images folder and Command-V to paste all of the images into the game's Images folder
  5. When asked if you want to replace the existing file(s), click Apply to all and click on Replace
• If the mod was posted as individual images, you will need to copy them into the game's images folder in a manner similar to steps 3 through 5 above
• Launch Virtual Families and enjoy the new images in the game!

Note: If you did not back up the original game images, the easiest way to restore your game to original condition is to back up your savegame files using the procedure in this post and reinstall the game. You may also post a request for help on the game forum and you will usually get help from our community.


Special note for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users: Windows now incorporates security features that can interfere with installing, updating, or removing mods. Once an application is installed in Windows Vista or Windows 7, file changes may be "redirected" to a special user area called VirtualStore, and you may find that the image changes that you've made in Program Files/Virtual Families are not showing up in the game. You can correct this problem, but you will need to delete files from the VirtualStore to do it. The VirtualStore is a hidden folder, so you will need to change the folder view options to allow you to see VirtualStore. To do that in Vista:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Type "folder options" in the search field in the upper right of the window
3. Click on the Folder Options icon
4. Click the View tab
5. Click the radio button next to "Show hidden files and folders"
6. Click Apply

Now that you have the ability to view hidden files and folders, you can look at what's in VirtualStore. To see that folder, do the following:

1. Click Start
2. Click Computer
3. Open Users
4. Open the folder for your user name
5. Open AppData
6. Open Local
7. Open VirtualStore

If you see any files in VirtualStore that are mod images, you can safely delete those and cause the game to use the images that you put in the application folder in Program Files. If you make further changes to the mods that you have installed, you may need to check VirtualStore again to make sure that there aren't game image files there.

Windows 7 users simply need to display the Program Files directory and click on "Compatibility Files" located above the file list (if present). That will show you all of the contents of Virtual Store for the various programs that you have installed.