Another approach to implementing 5-4-4-4 systems is to use a tighter ladder for balanced hands without a five card major:

11/12-13: Open lowest four card suit with 1C, 1D, or 1H. Pass any 4-3-3-3 if 11-12.

13/14-16: 1NT. All 13s with a five card minor open 1NT, and 4-3-3-3 exactly & 13 opens 1NT.

16/17-17: Open 1 of a minor, and rebid 2NT, except if 4-4 in the majors and balanced, open 1H.

18+: Open at two level using 2C, 2NT, and BRASS 2C or Mexican 2D

So we have this 1 level framework:

1C/1D:
a) 4 or longer minor, unbalanced
b) 4 or 5 in the minor, balanced, 11/12-13, not 13 if five in the minor, can be 3-3-4-3 or 3-3-3-4 only if 13.
c) balanced, 16/17-17, if 1C 3 to 5 Cs, if 1D 4 or 5 Ds

1H:
a) 5 or longer Hs
b) 4Hs balanced, 11/12-13, no 4 card minor, can be 4-4 majors, can be 3-4-3-3 only if 13.
c) balanced, 16/17-17, 4-4 in the majors.

1S: 5 or longer Ss

1NT: 13/14-16, includes 13s with a five card minor, and 4-3-3-3 exactly and 13.

1m-1NT: is to play opposite 11/12-13
1m-2NT: is natural, game force balanced
So by using the tighter range there is no game invite - assume opener has a 12 count and either go to game or stop in 1NT.
1m-3m is to play opposite 11/12-13, forcing to 3NT opposite 16/17-17. So 7/8-11 points and a 4 card or longer suit.
In responding to 1m, one will usually have 6+ points, so if opener rebids 2NT showing 16/17-17, then 2NT is reached with 6+17=23, so should be an ok spot - however the field is opening a 15-17 1NT and playing there so if 2NT fails it is a terrible result - this is a function of the notrump range structure, which will produce anti-field results that can be quite good and really bad.

1H-1NT: is to play opposite 11/12-13 & 4Hs, has fewer than 4Ss (bid 1S over 1H with 4Ss)
1H-2NT: is game forcing, balanced/semi-balanced, can have 3Hs.

So the framework is a 5-4-4-4(3) system, with the 3 being a balanced 17 hand with 3Cs and a four card major (4-3-3-3 or 3-4-3-3 exactly). However one idea is to downgrade these into 1NT, producing this pure 5-4-4-4 framework:

1C/1D:
a) 4 or longer minor, unbalanced
b) 4 or 5 in the minor, balanced, 11/12-13, not 13 if five in the minor, can be 3-3-4-3 or 3-3-3-4 only if 13.
c) 4 or 5 in the minor, balanced, 16/17-17.

1H:
a) 5 or longer Hs
b) 4Hs balanced, 11/12-13, no 4 card minor, can be 4-4 majors, can be 3-4-3-3 only if 13.
c) balanced, 16/17-17, 4-4 in the majors.

1S: 5 or longer Ss

1NT: 13/14-16(17), includes 13s with a five card minor. Can be 17 if 4-3-3-3 or 3-4-3-3 exactly.

In this scheme, pass in 1st and 2nd seat if 4-3-3-3 exactly and just 13, for otherwise with 4-3-3-3 exactly one would be opening 1NT with the too wide of a range of 13-17: however in 3rd or 4th seat do open 1NT if 4-3-3-3 exactly and 13 since one needs to get this hand in somewhere - sometimes this will get one too high but most of the time it will land in the right spot, and 1NT on this 13 count can function as a blocking bid on the opponents - if one opens 1C with this shape in standard, the opponents will have the rest of the one level to come in.

So what we have here is a pure 5-4-4-4 system with a 2NT response to a 1 level suit opening being natural and game forcing: tres natural.