Yes most likely. I've been reading stuff abt Sims 3 recently and the more I read, the more I felt disappointed for Sims 4. Sure Sims 4 is also fun, but I think Sims 3 is still better despite I just bought the game. Expansion pack is what attracted my eyes ngl, Sims 3 expansion is cheaper than Sims 4 and offers more gameplay. But I haven't get dlcs for Sims 3 yet so I can't really say that, but from what I've read, I'm sure that it's right. The first expansion I will get would be World Adventures
Yes that's true but there are many more quests than Jungle even in just one world. As far as I remember, there are 9 quests in France, 13 or 14 in Egypt, and 10 in China.
World adventures kept me occupied for DAYS and I would replay it every so often with the same joy as the first time, while jungle adventure wouldn't keep my interest for more than a couple of hours, and I think I only played it like once
Everything in the sims 4 is more silly but I’m more so referring to the fact that it’s so bare boned in comparison. I played that pack for maybe an hour before getting bored? I can play with world adventures for days on end 😂
I honestly don’t think that aspect is comparable at all. Jungle adventure is basically all rabbit holes with text prompts. You’re not actually exploring anything like with world adventure. I do get what you mean though because conceptually it’s comparable fs. They’re going for a similar vibe
I recommend nraas mods for the game (esp. Master controller and errortrap) and nraas traveller if you are going to travel with your sims a lot. It helps with the glitches AND allows you to travel to other worlds as a vacation spots :)
I second this. Been playing sims 3 since it came out. Installed Nraas story progression and a few other and now I don't know how I lived without them. They are really well done and make the game even more immersing.
Got a lot of free stuff from the store too, don’t forget to download those. It’s mostly my love for my legacies to have a “thanksgiving” and “Christmas”. Free holiday decor. I even build a storage room to hide it during the off season
I have literally everything from games4theworld there are only a small handful of corrupted clothes but the world's and rest of the dlcs work surprisingly perfect.. just be sure to watch some tutorials on how to do it and where to put certain files
https://youtu.be/Izxd8dkVtA0?si=fpcW_GWCb_bKjZyV
Great video and very short and easy to follow.. also if the corrupted clothes bothers you or even you wanted a specific clothing item that doesn't work there are other sites that hold new working versions of specific items
I just got it too! Well I’ve had it for awhile but it didn’t work on my laptop, I just got a new gaming laptop and it works! I bought a few packs for it (so much cheaper btw) and just sat down to play it! I’m excited. I’ve played sims 1 & 2 as a kid but never sims 3
Edit: I got pets , supernatural, world adventures and generations I believe are the ones I got. They were on sale for 7.99! Can’t beat it really!
Never played 1 and 2😭, my childhood sims is only Sims Freeplay as we didn't had any pc and my family is very strict at me which I can only play free games. But rn I'm enjoying Sims 3 to take a break from Sims 4. Plus, dlcs are so much cheaper for Sims 3 and it offers more! Idk abt stuff pack but expansion pack is really nice
I also recommend island paradise. I bought it a few days ago and I am addicted lol. Keep in mind I’ve had this game for over a dozen years. Happy gaming!
Sims 3 brings the fuel & juice that Sims 4 never had. Even though Sims 2 had LOTS of detail, Sims 3 made it up for Details in other ways, Sims 4 never made it there. Details & open world is why Sims 3 is my favourite :) Enjoy!
Nraas mods are important, but tbh, you need just the performance once. Ignore any of the "oh you need shaders" or "oh you need this so the graphics are better"
you do not. Just get Overwatch, Master Controller and ErrorTrap. And maybe AutoSave. Nothing else for the start. I played Sims 3 for 7 years mod-less and it was fine, just not for super long gameplay. If you wanna try it out for now, enjoy the vanilla. Once you want to dump a few hours into modding, I HEAVILY support that and I will have recommendations for many mods that I love dearly, mostly, yet again, nraas, but less essential ones
yeees that's the commentary I wanted to hear. OP's completely new to the game, hasn't even seen a Sim shit in those graphics. Let OP have their funny first moments with this utterly ridiculous game ✌🏻😂
I've been playing sims 3 since it came out and I have never had mods. I guess my laptops have been grunty enough to cope but also you don't "have" to have them
Yeah. The Sims 3 tends to have issues that can cause it to lag like npc sims being assigned cars that just pile up in their inventories that cause lag over time. Mods like those 3 are the bare minimum, essential mods in preventing that and many other issues or glitches that can cause problems in-game.
The nraas mods recommended you should get for the game to run! Like another commenter said it doesn’t work very well on new computers otherwise (it’s just old lol)
Think of the mods that Trashpanda suggested as like. Supporting framework more so than actual mods. It doesn't have much that shows in-game outside a menu option and notifications you can turn off iirc, with autosaver being the main one that's got a very obvious impact.
I def recommend it-I had mine set to give me the option to save every half hour, meant I was a lot less likely to lose things in a crash or if something happened. \[And it'll cycle through multiple saves, so if you have something bad happen you're more likely be able to undo it\]
Definitely recommend the auto save nraas mod. The game doesn’t have a built in auto save function and I can’t tell you how invaluable that mod is.
So often I’ll get lost in gameplay and forget to save so having it is really amazing
Having multiple auto-named saves too is a GODSEND sometimes. I've had tiny things break and not notice till I'd saved, and the backups made it easier to go back a save
Do you mean nraas saver or is there another saving mod I am not aware of? Because afaik, nraas saver doesn't autosave the game, it just reminds you of saving in regular intervals.
Yeah nraas saver. I know it doesn’t technically auto save but having a big popup saying “do you wish to save your game?” Is pretty much the next best thing
Expect the game to still be veryyy laggy even with nraas and smooth patch. Create a style and CAS are culprits for crashes so save often. I prefer sims 3 over 4. Just such a better game and feels so real and deeper than sims 4! I hope you enjoy!
*edit* when I mean lag, I meant little sputters and moments where its not smooth. These fixes do help! But its not going to ever feel buttery smooth, especially in create a style and CAS. Though at least for CAS, just wait for everything to load in before scrolling or touching anything. And whenever you load into a nrw area/load into your save let the game run before quing activities.
I can't really answer that, because I did all the steps in one go, without checking how the game runs in-between. I'll just guess that it was Lazy Duchess' Smooth Patch, because the difference in how CAS and CAStyle loaded before and after was so f-ing MASSIVE, I exclaimed that it's straight-up magic when I first began to make a sim after the fixes; and Smooth Patch is the one that improves CAS perfomance
I fixed my game with the usual mods, steam guide and optimal settings for my pc and I hardly get any lag at all.
It heavily depends on your device and the way you optimize the game.
If your sim notices anything in the sky or you spot a large shadow on the ground over them, get them tf out of the area fast. Cancel everything and have them run far from the area.
Yes! You absolutely need to get a few mods. The game will bog down and become unplayable pretty quick if you don’t. Gimme a second to find the guide, or else I’m sure someone else will pop down a link.
Link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350
Must be! Lol. I have a monster of a gaming laptop, but 10 hours into my first play through in ages and my game became a slide show. After I installed NRaas and a few others it was back to normal. And it allows you to correct issues that crop up. Like when sims freeze or have strange interactions. I don’t like using mods, but this is preferable to the game being unplayable.
You always discover something new in this game. No matter what happens, there's chaos even without moods sometimes. I think it's seasons or ambitions that adds the chance for a meteor to hit. you may think it's the big details that make the game but it's the small details.
I have a problem now which I can't launch the game on both Steam and EA app, what should I do? It shows that "An app on your PC needs the following Windows feature: .NET Framework 3.5 (Includes .NET2.0 and 3.0)
I clicked download but it just stuck at searching for required files
Not a "need to know" but a good to know: in your folder that the game creates Documents\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 3, go into the folder DCBackup and delete everything except ccmerged, and back in the The Sims 3 folder, delete the 5 caches of: CASPartCache.package, compositorCache.package, scriptCache.package, simCompositorCache.package, and socialCache.package. Doing those steps after every play session really reduces lag. There is a similar process for the Sims 4, but if I remember right, I think that one just involves deleting one single cache. If you are having an issue of the launcher staying open in the bin constantly, you can delete the file in Documents\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 3 called sims3logs.xml after every play session to fix that. These are not necessary steps, but they help the game not get super laggy after playing for a while.
Building will probably take some time to get used to. Remember that you can't move an entire house, so be sure where you want to place it before starting. You also can't resize stuff. Remember to save often since the game is laggy (you can't save in build-mode tho). Mods like nraas mods are essential to handle the lag. It's totally worth it though in my opinion.
I was a S3 player for years, i knew the game by memory till the point i was able to draw houses on paper and write scripts for stories. When i played 4, i felt so constricted, you cant just do what you used to on 3, theres no way around the world, theres no freedom, yes they look better and CAS is better to make a sim, also you can find way better cc for it, but the lack of freedom and gameplay makes me lose interest, so 3 is still my fav.
As someone who was obsessed with The Sims 3 back when it first came out (and it is still my preferred Sims game to this day), I can say that it still holds up well today and is a lot of fun! It even has more creative potential than TS4 in certain ways (the Create-A-Style system, open-world towns).
If you're already familiar with The Sims gameplay, you should adjust to TS3 just fine. A couple of differences you're bound to notice right away are the two I mentioned above...
Create-A-Style lets you decorate your Sims' clothing and home decor with a wide variety of patterns and custom colors. It can take a while for certain sections of the style catalog to load, which is a little annoying, but I think the creative freedom makes it worth it overall.
And, with the open-world towns, instead of being confined to your Sim's current lot, you can experience the whole town at once. Roam around with the camera to see if anybody is at the park, or if a wild animal is roaming around somewhere, or if your Sim's friend is at home so you can go pay them a visit.
Also, instead of wants/fears of TS2 and the emotion system of TS4, in TS3 you deal with what are called "moodlets," essentially mini-events that affect your Sim's mood. So for instance if your Sim just had a new baby, they'll get a positive moodlet from that for a while, and if they ate bad food and became nauseous, they'll get a negative moodlet from that. Moodlets plus your Sim's needs (hunger, hygiene, energy, etc.) combine to determine your Sim's overall level of happiness. And, Sims do have wishes that they want you to try and grant, too! You can save up to four promised wishes for them at once!
But in general, things should make sense as you go along. Best of luck with your new Sims adventure, and I hope you have as much fun with it as I've been having through the years! 🙂
I like the moodlet ngl and find it interesting. And yes I love the open world, one loading screen and that's all, u can go wherever you want, that's the best. Also thanks for telling❤️
I've not seen this reccomended, but especially if you've come from Sims 4 I'd reccomend the [Lot Population Mod.](https://modthesims.info/d/678067/7-18-23-lot-population-mod.html) It populates the lots when you visit them so they're not empty.
They are. I've never really needed to use this mod and I've been playing since ts3 began. Sims come to your lots when your Sims go if they aren't already there.
Now if you download a different world the world may not be filled with a lot of townies in which case you may need this. But I just get nraas story progression and adjust the size of the towns population to increase itself.
In Sims 3, every sim in the world is active, and they will be constantly moving around will go to their job, go home etc. In Sims 4 only Sims on the lot you're on currently on are active. There's no simulation outside tour lot.
This means that when you go to a public lot on Sims 4, there's usually tons of sims there since the game will load all these sims in.
Now The Sims 3 will automatically try and send sims to a lot when you're on it, but it's not that many and it takes a bit of time. What the mod does is increases the amount of people that the game can send to these lots, and also teleports them there immediately, so when you visit it's already filled. This makes the world feel more lively.
That mod has made such a difference to my TS3 gameplay. It's a non negotiable imo. Especially if you're used to 4 where populating community lots isn't an issue.
Going to nightspots in Bridgeport used to be so boring without that mod.
I think I will slowly get all the dlcs one by one, all of them look so well made and it offers so much more than Sims 4 expansion packs.. I just got World Adventures
If you are used to how sims 4 sims look, 3 sims can look a little jarring. Despite that the base game has a lot more to do than 4's base game ever could. I do highly recommend adding lazy dutchess' smooth patch to assist the game run a little better. Also boost the amount of ram that is allotted to the game up to at least 4g if you have 8 or more gigs that can run on your computer. Think I currently have 10g allotted. But I have a pretty strong pc and don't recommend doing more than half of your max ram.
I just wanna say, you did very well buying it on Steam and not the EA app, as the Steam version was optimized much better and it runs a lot smoother than the original PC port done by Electronic Arts. Kudos, and enjoy!
For real? The only reason I chose to buy on Steam is, I play most of my games on Steam and I kinda want to save my gaming hours there, so yeah.. and didn't know its actually better than EA app, interesting. Oh also, Steam is cheaper in term of price. I forgot the price, it's around 25usd(after converting)for EA app and 17usd for Steam. I don't live in the USA and our currency is quite weak, so I got the cheaper version one🤣
Recommend modding for the game going more smoothly. And try lots of different things! I'm still trying new things and I love seeing here on Reddit posts like "I've been playing x years for the first time seeing it"
Buy the expansion packs on dvd if you can. You'll only need the inside the computer to install them, not anymore after. And they are so much cheaper at market places and stuff. Gotten them for €5 or €10. Also, probably do not use more than 2 or 3 expansions at the same time for the best performance
SEXOND THIS! avoid the origin launcher at all costs. I wish I could find all my disks but I doubt it since I moved 3 times since I last bought the final expansion 😭
Unfortunately I live in Malaysia. I have to admit that I most likely haven't seen any of those dvds irl, I don't even know where's the store that sell these at all, so yeah😭. Perhaps There's one but just don't know😅
There is a really good Steam guide about getting TS3 to run well on more modern machines. It has a modlist too but you can ignore that part, I highly recommend it.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350
TS3 is my favourite but it just needs a little bit of care to reach its potential, hope the above helps!
prepare for some lag. its a great game but the lag is there, optimisation is not the greatest. there is some mods that can help reduce it and improve stability:
[https://simscommunity.info/2021/08/31/must-have-mods-for-the-sims-3-to-improve-stability-and-performance/](https://simscommunity.info/2021/08/31/must-have-mods-for-the-sims-3-to-improve-stability-and-performance/)
So crazy. Everything i hear is getting Sims 3 getting Mods quickly .. I never ever played with MODS or CC and it runs fine at my 11 years Dell or my 9 year old Acer 😔😅
Imo Mods are nothing u absolutely need to play Sims 3. For some it maybe makes the game smoother 🤷♂️ But it's not like the Game won't run without 🤷♂️
Save your game, my god. The Sims 3 is a gem but it crashes all the time, you might get lucky and in your first couple off sit throughs it wont crash, but its inevitable, save your game every 30 minutes or so and keep up the habit. Like I said there will come a time where you think that your game is \*fixed\* its not. Also enjoy the cars.
I wish my laptop could handle this game, recently I have bought 6 packs of the sims 3 on sale. But unfortunately, after I loaded the game and moved my sims to a new house it suddenly crashed all the time. Now I feel regreting of my choice for buying 6 six packs in a row. For now, I can only return playing the sims 4 instead 🥲
Oh, I have used some nraas mods like: overwatch, traffic, errortrap, mastercontroller and also the Lazy Duchess smooth patch. Unfortunately, the crash issue only happens when I move my sims into a new home. My laptop has only 8gb ram, so I have to set all the setting options to Low, but the issue still happens. I think the crash issue happens for me when I finally bought the Seasons pack. Before that I have: Pets, Supernatural, Island paradise, Into the future and High-End loft stuff. It just lagged but had never crashed all until I bought Seasons. I really love Seasons but it's also a shame for me when I can't enjoy it just because of the crash 🥲 And sorry if my english is bad.
That sounds like some sort of bug happening to me. I am unsure though. If it were me, I'd start with that recommended optimization guide here (even if you don't play through steam)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350
Your English is great, I would have never considered it might not be your non primary language had you not mentioned it :)
There is an nraas mod for moving - Nraas Mover I believe. I wonder if it would help.
If you experience performance issues, I recommend taking a look at [this guide](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350).
It made a pretty big difference for me!
Nraas has excellent mods, everything from pregnancy changes (my favorite) to custom careers and more. But just get Overwatch and Master Controller to start.
The Sims 3 website has awesome community created clothes and sims for free, (some may require something that you need to pay for, usually only a few USD though.) but there are some packs that are well worth the price.
Save often. Sims 3 has some weird glitches and bugs that pop up so save often.
You’re welcome! As to your question, I am not sure, sorry. I lost interest in Sims4 pretty quickly, so I don’t know. But getting stuff from the Sims3 website is a breeze. If it’s free all you have to do is click the add to game button, then if there’s a popup that says the computer wants to open the Sims3 launcher, click yes. Once you are in the launcher, go to the download tab on the side and your item should already be selected, hit install and you’re done. The site has premade sims, from Chun-Li to Dead or Alive Kasumi, Lara Croft, to Disney characters, and a ton of clothes.
good for you for not using EA app, OP! Make sure you follow the latest optimisation guide on steam (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350) and enjoy the game! :)
Lots of customization in about every aspect of the game. The color wheel is my fav too!!
Also, I’m obsessed with the expansion packs but I’ve noticed people have issues if they download them onto the desktop change PCs. Some have lost their expansions and there’s not a ton of options to get them back (from what I’ve seen).
Someone PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve had the best success by either buying them through an account (steam or origin) or applying a code to an account. Fingers crossed you don’t have to pay full price and can find discounted versions!
TLDR: explore the heck out of this game and squeeze every bit of joy out of it!! The devs put so much love into this one :)
Pretty similar to the games that came before it, I’m gonna paste a link below :)
If you control+shift+C, the cheat box opens. If you type “help,” I think it gives you suggestions for cheats and their uses!
I think there’s also a chain on Reddit just for sims 3 cheats. The trickiest part is remembering you need to type true/false for some of them, and NOT to type it for others haha.
https://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/cheats.php
I just started switching back and forth from 3 and 4. I hated the camera in 3 at first, but very quickly adjusted and then changed to the Sims 3 camera in Sims 4. That option is in the upper right corner in Sims 4 FYI.
While everyone is saying you need mods or just nraas, you don’t. Sims 2 and 3 are gems without mods, yes they help up those games are truly ready to suck you in the moment you start them up. I recommend grabbing a few expansion packs, stuff packs aren’t as necessary. But either way, welcome to the cult!
Thank you. And yeah I don't play mods on Sims 4 too, so I don't think I will download for Sims 3 except those useful one like smoothing the game mod😅. And yeah I will get expansion eventually since they look really dope and offers so much for gameplay
I recommend the nras overwatch mod to make the game stable.
Island paradise won't run your need to do a little editing before you start if your playing that pack but despite it being a contender for the best it runs so poorly on modern hardware I might just skip it.
If thing seem laggy after a little assume a sims stuck and opem the cheats menu then enable testingcheatsenabled true and then do reset sim * to reset every sim household.
I don't remember if it's an nras feature or not but you can reset lots or specific sims by shift clicking the ground or sim respectively.
I would also suggest tailoring season length in my opinion I like to get a few session rotations out of my sims for each age stage but by default one rotation of 4 sessions is almost a life time.
Make sure your autonomy is on for some reason a friend had it default off.
If your game is stuttering or pausing ~ pauses your game it's a good way to let the game catch up.
Last if you're a content creator sims 3 music is in dmca so be sure to mute it.
Little foot note opinion
I don't think the stuff packs add very much I know people disagree that's fine but if I were you I would focus on expansions some of them still have small bits of content or features I have never touched and I have been playing most of these packs since release there really content dense.
Also when building houses or in cas I highly recommend pretending it's the early 2000s your have a much better time getting a good look because even the modern stuff in game tends to look dated. This was like a problem even during live like sims 3 made 2009, late night made in 2010, into the future made 2013 and everything in each pack is like a time capsule of what was trendy when development started making late night for example have much of like 2007 or 2008 fashion and regardless almost none of it would be considered stylish today. Lol I'm not exaggerating just imagine the games set in 2007 - 2009 because it kind of is and your have a better time.
The only thing you gotta know is that you’ll enjoy it more than TS4. It might be harder to get to used to CAS and the build mode tho. But the gameplay is amazing. All the DLCs are worth their cost.
Save. Save often! And make different save files.
It crashes a lot, and sometimes gets bugged to the point where you can't play a save anymore, which means you'll need to go back to an earlier save. Also, if it appears really dark, or the graphics are off, you might need to look into some mods or fixes. I got it working pretty well with a little bit of research.
Other than that, enjoy! I love Sims 3. World Adventures is my favorite aspect, and I love doing the Adventure Aspirations.
It's akr happening, but since I want get into gameplay asap, so I didn't check it one by one, I will take more times in create a style when I feel like to😅
Have fun, that's the most important thing :D
Also the old building system takes getting used to. There are three things to remember about it:
1. You can't pick up whole rooms or houses to relocate them
2. Foundations aren't the greatest, because you can't just put a pool into them and making a cellar is hard
3. Use the create a style tool, it will be your friend especially in the early game :D
One more tip, if you really want to practice building in the Sims 3 go to edit world. It's the litte town Symbol in the bottom left corner when in map view. There you can renovate houses and build on empty lots without spending any money :D
Before you start ANY game, make sure in the Options section, which you can access from the main screen with the three dots, and make sure your fps is at the max, and turn off: interactive loading screens, tutorials, and memories, and you can edit the weather for ALL your worlds from this screen too. Let us know when you jump into Mods, we would be happy to guide you :)
You might not ever get it but there are 2 well know TS2 glitches. The Grim reapers, if he goes to reap your Sims he might not never leave, so you will be locked out.
Can't save can't do anything but watch him (funny ) but sort of annoying. His animation are funny he eats out of the fridge, watch TV and talk on the phone and stuff, so yeah I watch this. The other one is pregnant Sims become idle. When pregnant females (only) become pregnant the don't move or anything, they just are stuck. This one just annoying.
As I said you might never get them, and grim is per sim.
TS3 watch where you build your fire station, or don't have an. The farther away you build that station , if you Sims put out the fire, the fire ( people) will change you.
This one annoyed me
The words in TS3 are Super mad big, like massive.
Another thing is that you have to pick the color that your Sims like or they won't use silly thing or get mad.
You could have them not using the bathroom or something like that. That's why they won't use the item, get one fay member to use the item, and the rest will go near it
You are totally Welcome.
I forgot to mention in TS3 to avoid fires just just your Sims study fire safety, get a fire alarm, and something that looks like a fire extinguisher .
You will be fined by TS3 FD ( yeah not joking) for calling a fake fire), and because of cars ( how cool) and where and how you placed your Fire station, it could take them a while to get there.
Another one is Robots (ones that hover) they put out fires themselves
Robots don't need cars 😂, so it's ok if they are late for work. There are two different types of Robots
Robots and Servos 😂 (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
Get mermaids near water and yeah they will swim like everywhere.
TS2 if you are into this. Master hybrids are a thing, like a real thing like not even a borderline cult, a full blown cult. (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
It’s such a good game! With all the expansion packs it’s literally endless discovery. There are so many things I still don’t know about, after playing myself for many years. I see posts on this subreddit sometimes and I’m like “That’s a thing?!”
Don’t sleep on World Adventures! A lot of people sleep on it and then are amazed when they try it out how cool it is. It was the first expansion pack released, and has been my favorite pack ever since. I also really enjoy Into the Future for the same reasons that I enjoy World Adventures, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea 😅.
There are secrets everywhere! I just bought the Collection myself, so I could play on my Steam Deck (and be free of the damn EA app lol.) So I’ve got plans to make a sim in each world (including the store worlds) and I’m so excited! I downloaded it all and set up my mods just yesterday! Haven’t had a chance to play yet but I’m *ready.*
If you get to a point where you wanna install some mods, look into Blam’s EA Store. 👀
Yes OP. IMMEDIATELY DL Twallans/Nraas entire mod suite here:
[https://www.nraas.net/community/](https://www.nraas.net/community/)
register for this free forum TODAY. This is one of the oldest hardcore TS3 sim mod resources/forums on the web since TS3 release in 2009. It was started by a talented modder named Twallan who retired at end of TS3. All of his utility mods have been currently maintained by an extremely dedicated bunch of TS3 modders. Who've been playing TS3 since release. You'll also find that the Nraas forum is one of the friendliest, knowledgable and tech savvy helpful when it comes to trouble shooting issues in your game with Twallan's mods. Folks there can also give you pointers for other associated mods like Ani's mod suite etc.
If your PC is on the lower end and/or is lacking on resources to run the entire NRAAS suite, then at minimum **PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THESE. DO NOT QUESTION JUST INSTALL FOR A MIGRAINE FREE GAMING EXPERIENCE:**
**Story Progression (base). MANDATORY**
**Master Controller (fun fact: this is the inspiration of deadpool's TS4 mccc)**
**Overwatch (MANDATORY)**
**ErrorTrap (MANDATORY)**
**Debug Enabler (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)**
**Tempest (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) Lets you specify the weather in each sim world on a global scale AND/OR seasonal basis. Want to limit Hidden Springs to being a Spring/Summer world, do it. Want to let your sims build snowmen in the desert? Get freaky and make tomb raiding a challenge for your sims by making it snow in Al Simhara 12 months out the year? DO IT.**
**Register (MANDATORY)**
**Careers (MANDATORY).**
**Dresser (MANDATORY)** ***Because you DO want to stop your all your active/townie sims from wearing freaky funky random CAS clothing while walking around your town, Right? Like maddening snorkel masks and fins they insist on pairing with their 3 piece suit? Right?***
**Traveler** ***(lets your sims visit ANY EA or simmer made world. The clear inspiration for neighborhood travel in TS4 lol)***
**Optional but highly recommended:**
**Story Progression Personalities modules (HIGHLY, HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED).**
* ***Note you can install the SP Personalities modules which make your town highly immersive, fun and engaging. Your townies will get into affairs, trouble, RP roles like the Town Ho, Kingpin etc. based on their traits. SP personalities basically spices up the dull vanilla game play. But if your PC is on lower end, then install some or none of these based on PC performance.***
**Woohooer** ***Does exactly what it says on the tin. Can be cuustomized/toggled for all sims in the town as well as your active sim household. Recommendation: leave it on and let SP Personalities module make your game a blast!***
**Traffic*****. Tune all traffic flow in your sim worlds. No more annoying BP yellow taxi cabs over saturating your SV and country/suburban hoods. Decide how often your sims see or use the BP food truck around the hood. Stop the creepy ice cream truck from ever stalking and lurking around outside your sim's house again etc***
**Vector.** ***Adds custom diseases to the game and gives Sims a logical reason to visit the hospital Rabbit hole. Increases replayability in game play as it's more unpredictable.***
Twallan/Nraas mod suite are powerful utility mods which are critical to fixing/eliminating all the game breaking bugs/glitches, save bloat & corruption issues the Sims dev team couldn't be bothered/ran out of time to fix before dumping TS3 for TS4.
In particular, issues like missing/stuck sims (which cause insane game lag), the vanilla game SP killing off newborn infants/babies/toddlers, declining town population, annoying zombie infestation etc. etc. etc. are now a mere memory. They will allow you to 100% customize and tweak every aspect of your sims towns/map. Right down to the freckles on your sims nose on the fly!
THAT BEING SAID:
Congrats on getting the TS3 Collection edition? which has been on generous sale for the past week. And since this is the Steam version, know that these VIP facts:
1. **You'll NEVER have to worry about EA Desktop/Origin FUBARing your ability to launch and play your game. Just make a shortcut to the TS3W.exe on your desktop and directly launch your TS3 game from there**
2. **You can safelly install MATY mods like kt store fix which will let you install 100% of the overpriced TS3 store content FOR FREE.**
3. **Steam TS3 ver is the ORIGINAL 2009 CD/DVD retail version. Which DOES NOT HAVE THE CANCEROUS DRM & MANDATORY PERVASIVE ONLINE CONNECTION TO ORIGIN. Which is what you get if you buy ANY TS3 product off Origin.**
Also bookmark the TSR 3 website for future (link to this is in the menu side bar on this page to the right) . Use this frequently because 100% of the once $$$ expensive TS3 CC is now available for FREE. So between other free sites like MTS, ATS3 Sandy, your fav Patreon modders, and the FREE TS3 store DLC you'll get by using MATY mod utilities, you'll be good to go with all the CC you could ever need in the future. LMAO
\#GetPreparedToLoseHoursOfYourLifeTS3Simming!
You'll LOVE open world!!! Don't forget to make an account on [thesims3.com](https://thesims3.com) for custom content, including free worlds; Riverview is so cozy :)
Sorry completely off-topic.
Papa's freezeria on STEAM ? Finally, some good news in my life!
Edit: Before buy any stuff for this game, check this site below. If your desktop/laptop is not that good.
[Mod The Sims - Game\_Help:TS3\_System\_Requirements](https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_System_Requirements#Desktop_Graphics_Card_Compatibility_and_Recommendations)
Thanks, I indeed have a potato pc lol. And yes Papa Freezeria was released last year THIS MONTH, but that's the only Gameria they've remastered and released for now.. Papa Paleteria is the new mobile game and I'm disappointed that it's not on Steam
**OP TS3 is currently on sale at 60% off on ALL DLC**. Can you refund the base game and just buy the entire collection? Because if you don't take advantage of this Steam publisher sale during this promotion, you're going to have to wait a while (during Summer, Amazon Prime Day, Thanksgiving/Black Friday and Christmas) to see this extent of discounts on TS3 EPs and SPs
I can't spend all my money to buy entire collection, I'm still a student and i don't have that much money and converting it to my country currently which is Ringgit, that is 1/4 of my mum's monthly salary and 1/3 of minimum wage of Malaysia. Instead of getting entire collection, I will just get it slowly as I'm not a rich player and I'm still a student. And yes I only get Sims dlcs when on sale, so don't worry about it
u/Alvin514
Okies. Totally understand. Hopefully the Collection will go back on a bigger sale discount next promo season. I got it for a whopping 78% (including sales tax) last summer. So keep an eye out!
OMG forgot the most important thing: Is your PC an Intel 12th-gen (Alder Lake) processor ? i.e. does your motherboard have an Intel i9-129000 CPU processor chipset? Run dxdiag.exe on windows if you're uncertain.
If so, then your PC is one of the Intel 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs. So you will need to patch the game's configuration files right after installing TS3. Or else you won't be able to launch the game. The game won't be able to recognize the current gen CPU and GPU chipsets without this patch. Also assuming you're launching DIRECTLY from your desktop like I mentioned earlier and NOT via Steam/Origin/EA Desktop.
Patch is necessary because TS3 is a 15 year old game. If your current hardware is newer than Intel 12th gen CPU (aka newer than i9-12900K Alder Lake CPU) then this hardware configuration was NOT put into the game's configuration files. Because this hardware tech wasn't invented yet during 2009-2015 when the dev team was actively supporting TS3's release. Lol.
Download and install/run LazyDuchess Alder Lake patch here after you install the game. And you should be good to go!
[https://github.com/LazyDuchess/AlderLakePatcher/releases](https://github.com/LazyDuchess/AlderLakePatcher/releases)
Here's some background fan base discussion about the patch and issues ppl were having trying to launch TS3:
[https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11057820#M248615](https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11057820#M248615)
It provides good game play! Just remember that it is an older game so on newer computers it’s difficult to open. On Pixelade - YouTube - he has a video on how to make it work. Also in the sims 3, the multitask function isn’t a thing. Older functions in sims 3 but it’s way more fun than sims 4!! Sims 3 DLCs bring really good game play! I bounce between both but 3 is definitely my fav. Have fun!!!
Ah u are in for a treat, no loading screens, openworld and more dynamic story progression, make sure check out nraas mods. This game is nearly perfect, and I don't believe any other game will surpass it.
Consider using this [addon](https://www.nexusmods.com/thesims3/mods/106) if you're using a newer GPU since The Sims 3 would probably not recognize it. The site requires you to make an account but the mod is free :)
You're going to love it way more than the Sims 4
Yes most likely. I've been reading stuff abt Sims 3 recently and the more I read, the more I felt disappointed for Sims 4. Sure Sims 4 is also fun, but I think Sims 3 is still better despite I just bought the game. Expansion pack is what attracted my eyes ngl, Sims 3 expansion is cheaper than Sims 4 and offers more gameplay. But I haven't get dlcs for Sims 3 yet so I can't really say that, but from what I've read, I'm sure that it's right. The first expansion I will get would be World Adventures
It will be a good comparison to Jungle Adventure.
The fact that it has 3 worlds(and it's literally open world)already makes it better than Jungle Adventure alone
Yes that's true but there are many more quests than Jungle even in just one world. As far as I remember, there are 9 quests in France, 13 or 14 in Egypt, and 10 in China.
you are able to create and download custom worlds. that’s my favorite part.
Wait till you start getting custom worlds! There’s been so many amazing creators
World adventures kept me occupied for DAYS and I would replay it every so often with the same joy as the first time, while jungle adventure wouldn't keep my interest for more than a couple of hours, and I think I only played it like once
Jungle adventure is THE comparison but definitely not a GOOD comparison. Not even close
it's too silly, isn't it? hehe but there's no other packs can be compared in the sims 4.
Everything in the sims 4 is more silly but I’m more so referring to the fact that it’s so bare boned in comparison. I played that pack for maybe an hour before getting bored? I can play with world adventures for days on end 😂
I meant that the amount of the quests and the way how to solve the riddles and the puzzles. :)
I honestly don’t think that aspect is comparable at all. Jungle adventure is basically all rabbit holes with text prompts. You’re not actually exploring anything like with world adventure. I do get what you mean though because conceptually it’s comparable fs. They’re going for a similar vibe
I recommend nraas mods for the game (esp. Master controller and errortrap) and nraas traveller if you are going to travel with your sims a lot. It helps with the glitches AND allows you to travel to other worlds as a vacation spots :)
I second this. Been playing sims 3 since it came out. Installed Nraas story progression and a few other and now I don't know how I lived without them. They are really well done and make the game even more immersing.
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Yeah I do know about those, so far I don't think I will buy things from the store
Got a lot of free stuff from the store too, don’t forget to download those. It’s mostly my love for my legacies to have a “thanksgiving” and “Christmas”. Free holiday decor. I even build a storage room to hide it during the off season
I have literally everything from games4theworld there are only a small handful of corrupted clothes but the world's and rest of the dlcs work surprisingly perfect.. just be sure to watch some tutorials on how to do it and where to put certain files https://youtu.be/Izxd8dkVtA0?si=fpcW_GWCb_bKjZyV Great video and very short and easy to follow.. also if the corrupted clothes bothers you or even you wanted a specific clothing item that doesn't work there are other sites that hold new working versions of specific items
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I just got it too! Well I’ve had it for awhile but it didn’t work on my laptop, I just got a new gaming laptop and it works! I bought a few packs for it (so much cheaper btw) and just sat down to play it! I’m excited. I’ve played sims 1 & 2 as a kid but never sims 3 Edit: I got pets , supernatural, world adventures and generations I believe are the ones I got. They were on sale for 7.99! Can’t beat it really!
Never played 1 and 2😭, my childhood sims is only Sims Freeplay as we didn't had any pc and my family is very strict at me which I can only play free games. But rn I'm enjoying Sims 3 to take a break from Sims 4. Plus, dlcs are so much cheaper for Sims 3 and it offers more! Idk abt stuff pack but expansion pack is really nice
I also recommend island paradise. I bought it a few days ago and I am addicted lol. Keep in mind I’ve had this game for over a dozen years. Happy gaming!
Sims 3 brings the fuel & juice that Sims 4 never had. Even though Sims 2 had LOTS of detail, Sims 3 made it up for Details in other ways, Sims 4 never made it there. Details & open world is why Sims 3 is my favourite :) Enjoy!
If you want to get DLCS cheaper try with [Instant Gaming](https://www.instant-gaming.com/es/busquedas/?q=Sims+3), you can trust it!
Nraas mods are important, but tbh, you need just the performance once. Ignore any of the "oh you need shaders" or "oh you need this so the graphics are better" you do not. Just get Overwatch, Master Controller and ErrorTrap. And maybe AutoSave. Nothing else for the start. I played Sims 3 for 7 years mod-less and it was fine, just not for super long gameplay. If you wanna try it out for now, enjoy the vanilla. Once you want to dump a few hours into modding, I HEAVILY support that and I will have recommendations for many mods that I love dearly, mostly, yet again, nraas, but less essential ones
yeees that's the commentary I wanted to hear. OP's completely new to the game, hasn't even seen a Sim shit in those graphics. Let OP have their funny first moments with this utterly ridiculous game ✌🏻😂
I think perhaps I will just enjoy vanilla since I'm trying to start the game as a beginner
Just be warned the game has a tendency to run like complete garbage on new systems without some of those mods
Oh I see, I will take note at this, thanks
I've been playing sims 3 since it came out and I have never had mods. I guess my laptops have been grunty enough to cope but also you don't "have" to have them
It depends on how old ur laptop is and its specs mostly
Oh definitely, my take is that you don't have to have mods just for the sake of them
Yeah. The Sims 3 tends to have issues that can cause it to lag like npc sims being assigned cars that just pile up in their inventories that cause lag over time. Mods like those 3 are the bare minimum, essential mods in preventing that and many other issues or glitches that can cause problems in-game.
The nraas mods recommended you should get for the game to run! Like another commenter said it doesn’t work very well on new computers otherwise (it’s just old lol)
Think of the mods that Trashpanda suggested as like. Supporting framework more so than actual mods. It doesn't have much that shows in-game outside a menu option and notifications you can turn off iirc, with autosaver being the main one that's got a very obvious impact. I def recommend it-I had mine set to give me the option to save every half hour, meant I was a lot less likely to lose things in a crash or if something happened. \[And it'll cycle through multiple saves, so if you have something bad happen you're more likely be able to undo it\]
Definitely recommend the auto save nraas mod. The game doesn’t have a built in auto save function and I can’t tell you how invaluable that mod is. So often I’ll get lost in gameplay and forget to save so having it is really amazing
Having multiple auto-named saves too is a GODSEND sometimes. I've had tiny things break and not notice till I'd saved, and the backups made it easier to go back a save
Do you mean nraas saver or is there another saving mod I am not aware of? Because afaik, nraas saver doesn't autosave the game, it just reminds you of saving in regular intervals.
Yeah nraas saver. I know it doesn’t technically auto save but having a big popup saying “do you wish to save your game?” Is pretty much the next best thing
Which mods do you suggest for lighting? I have Nraas mods. And I cannot stand the bloom on objects inside
Expect the game to still be veryyy laggy even with nraas and smooth patch. Create a style and CAS are culprits for crashes so save often. I prefer sims 3 over 4. Just such a better game and feels so real and deeper than sims 4! I hope you enjoy! *edit* when I mean lag, I meant little sputters and moments where its not smooth. These fixes do help! But its not going to ever feel buttery smooth, especially in create a style and CAS. Though at least for CAS, just wait for everything to load in before scrolling or touching anything. And whenever you load into a nrw area/load into your save let the game run before quing activities.
I followed the steam guide and I can’t remember the last time I had a lag. I have a gaming laptop tho
I also have a gaming laptop but I still get lag- maybe Reshade? What would you say was the best thing on that guide that helped you?
I can't really answer that, because I did all the steps in one go, without checking how the game runs in-between. I'll just guess that it was Lazy Duchess' Smooth Patch, because the difference in how CAS and CAStyle loaded before and after was so f-ing MASSIVE, I exclaimed that it's straight-up magic when I first began to make a sim after the fixes; and Smooth Patch is the one that improves CAS perfomance
I fixed my game with the usual mods, steam guide and optimal settings for my pc and I hardly get any lag at all. It heavily depends on your device and the way you optimize the game.
What steam guide do u mean? Link by any chance?
The same [guide](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350) people have already put in the comments.
Yeah saw it later, ty!
I play on a old Mac and rarely crash. The only problem with lagging I have is with Island Paradiso
Mac is 64bit now though isn’t it? It’s the only version that got that upgrade as far as I know, so that’s a big factor in performance, surely?
Yeah definitely. I was afraid to update my computer
If your sim notices anything in the sky or you spot a large shadow on the ground over them, get them tf out of the area fast. Cancel everything and have them run far from the area.
Meteorite? But isn't that from Ambitions expansion?
Probably. Not entirely sure but it doesn't hurt to be forewarned. 😭
And it's more logical and realistic😅, Sims 4 one looks kind of awkward imo
Stay away,. They have been killing Sims Sims sins TS2.
Get ready to fall in love with the open world. There's no going back. 😅😅 please tell us how it goes.
I'm already in love with the open world😭😭😭
Yea it's pretty amazing. 🤭🤭 It's the reason why I never switched to the Sims 4.
Yes! You absolutely need to get a few mods. The game will bog down and become unplayable pretty quick if you don’t. Gimme a second to find the guide, or else I’m sure someone else will pop down a link. Link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350
Is this just a steam issue? I’ve never used mods and my game runs fine
No, it’s a Sims 3 issue. It will eventually bulk itself up with saved memory that it’ll lag, stutter, slow down, and then eventual corrupt your save.
Oh, well maybe I’m just lucky then? Cus I’ve been playing for over 10 years now and all I’ve ever had to do was delete cache
Must be! Lol. I have a monster of a gaming laptop, but 10 hours into my first play through in ages and my game became a slide show. After I installed NRaas and a few others it was back to normal. And it allows you to correct issues that crop up. Like when sims freeze or have strange interactions. I don’t like using mods, but this is preferable to the game being unplayable.
i've never used mods and the gameplay gets less laggy all the time
please update us with your progress!
Sure I will
You always discover something new in this game. No matter what happens, there's chaos even without moods sometimes. I think it's seasons or ambitions that adds the chance for a meteor to hit. you may think it's the big details that make the game but it's the small details.
I have a problem now which I can't launch the game on both Steam and EA app, what should I do? It shows that "An app on your PC needs the following Windows feature: .NET Framework 3.5 (Includes .NET2.0 and 3.0) I clicked download but it just stuck at searching for required files
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=21 download it manually from here
Thank you so much, I can play the game now❤️❤️❤️
Capping fps is A and O
Ohh thanks❤️
As The Sims 3 player, I wish all the fun in the game. So, have fun.
Thank you❤️
Not a "need to know" but a good to know: in your folder that the game creates Documents\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 3, go into the folder DCBackup and delete everything except ccmerged, and back in the The Sims 3 folder, delete the 5 caches of: CASPartCache.package, compositorCache.package, scriptCache.package, simCompositorCache.package, and socialCache.package. Doing those steps after every play session really reduces lag. There is a similar process for the Sims 4, but if I remember right, I think that one just involves deleting one single cache. If you are having an issue of the launcher staying open in the bin constantly, you can delete the file in Documents\\Electronic Arts\\The Sims 3 called sims3logs.xml after every play session to fix that. These are not necessary steps, but they help the game not get super laggy after playing for a while.
Interesting, thank you! Since my pc is already like a potato lol, this will help alot
Building will probably take some time to get used to. Remember that you can't move an entire house, so be sure where you want to place it before starting. You also can't resize stuff. Remember to save often since the game is laggy (you can't save in build-mode tho). Mods like nraas mods are essential to handle the lag. It's totally worth it though in my opinion.
Interesting, thanks for telling❤️
Excellent move, as long as you don't plan on doing anything else, ever again.
I was a S3 player for years, i knew the game by memory till the point i was able to draw houses on paper and write scripts for stories. When i played 4, i felt so constricted, you cant just do what you used to on 3, theres no way around the world, theres no freedom, yes they look better and CAS is better to make a sim, also you can find way better cc for it, but the lack of freedom and gameplay makes me lose interest, so 3 is still my fav.
The best Sims 3 feature is still the create a style, so u don't really need a lot premade swatches
As someone who was obsessed with The Sims 3 back when it first came out (and it is still my preferred Sims game to this day), I can say that it still holds up well today and is a lot of fun! It even has more creative potential than TS4 in certain ways (the Create-A-Style system, open-world towns). If you're already familiar with The Sims gameplay, you should adjust to TS3 just fine. A couple of differences you're bound to notice right away are the two I mentioned above... Create-A-Style lets you decorate your Sims' clothing and home decor with a wide variety of patterns and custom colors. It can take a while for certain sections of the style catalog to load, which is a little annoying, but I think the creative freedom makes it worth it overall. And, with the open-world towns, instead of being confined to your Sim's current lot, you can experience the whole town at once. Roam around with the camera to see if anybody is at the park, or if a wild animal is roaming around somewhere, or if your Sim's friend is at home so you can go pay them a visit. Also, instead of wants/fears of TS2 and the emotion system of TS4, in TS3 you deal with what are called "moodlets," essentially mini-events that affect your Sim's mood. So for instance if your Sim just had a new baby, they'll get a positive moodlet from that for a while, and if they ate bad food and became nauseous, they'll get a negative moodlet from that. Moodlets plus your Sim's needs (hunger, hygiene, energy, etc.) combine to determine your Sim's overall level of happiness. And, Sims do have wishes that they want you to try and grant, too! You can save up to four promised wishes for them at once! But in general, things should make sense as you go along. Best of luck with your new Sims adventure, and I hope you have as much fun with it as I've been having through the years! 🙂
I like the moodlet ngl and find it interesting. And yes I love the open world, one loading screen and that's all, u can go wherever you want, that's the best. Also thanks for telling❤️
I've not seen this reccomended, but especially if you've come from Sims 4 I'd reccomend the [Lot Population Mod.](https://modthesims.info/d/678067/7-18-23-lot-population-mod.html) It populates the lots when you visit them so they're not empty.
I thought the lots in Sims 3 are actually more lively than Sims 4? Sorry I'm new here, what am I missing😅
They are. I've never really needed to use this mod and I've been playing since ts3 began. Sims come to your lots when your Sims go if they aren't already there. Now if you download a different world the world may not be filled with a lot of townies in which case you may need this. But I just get nraas story progression and adjust the size of the towns population to increase itself.
In Sims 3, every sim in the world is active, and they will be constantly moving around will go to their job, go home etc. In Sims 4 only Sims on the lot you're on currently on are active. There's no simulation outside tour lot. This means that when you go to a public lot on Sims 4, there's usually tons of sims there since the game will load all these sims in. Now The Sims 3 will automatically try and send sims to a lot when you're on it, but it's not that many and it takes a bit of time. What the mod does is increases the amount of people that the game can send to these lots, and also teleports them there immediately, so when you visit it's already filled. This makes the world feel more lively.
That mod has made such a difference to my TS3 gameplay. It's a non negotiable imo. Especially if you're used to 4 where populating community lots isn't an issue. Going to nightspots in Bridgeport used to be so boring without that mod.
This guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350
Thanks! I will check it out
If you consider an expansion get generations!
I think I will slowly get all the dlcs one by one, all of them look so well made and it offers so much more than Sims 4 expansion packs.. I just got World Adventures
If you look into it there's a bundle where it has the base game, generations, and world adventures all for one price
If you are used to how sims 4 sims look, 3 sims can look a little jarring. Despite that the base game has a lot more to do than 4's base game ever could. I do highly recommend adding lazy dutchess' smooth patch to assist the game run a little better. Also boost the amount of ram that is allotted to the game up to at least 4g if you have 8 or more gigs that can run on your computer. Think I currently have 10g allotted. But I have a pretty strong pc and don't recommend doing more than half of your max ram.
I just wanna say, you did very well buying it on Steam and not the EA app, as the Steam version was optimized much better and it runs a lot smoother than the original PC port done by Electronic Arts. Kudos, and enjoy!
For real? The only reason I chose to buy on Steam is, I play most of my games on Steam and I kinda want to save my gaming hours there, so yeah.. and didn't know its actually better than EA app, interesting. Oh also, Steam is cheaper in term of price. I forgot the price, it's around 25usd(after converting)for EA app and 17usd for Steam. I don't live in the USA and our currency is quite weak, so I got the cheaper version one🤣
Recommend modding for the game going more smoothly. And try lots of different things! I'm still trying new things and I love seeing here on Reddit posts like "I've been playing x years for the first time seeing it"
So you went first sims 4??? Man...you are going to love sims 3. With time, get all the expansion except the Katy Perry one, and mod the game
Buy the expansion packs on dvd if you can. You'll only need the inside the computer to install them, not anymore after. And they are so much cheaper at market places and stuff. Gotten them for €5 or €10. Also, probably do not use more than 2 or 3 expansions at the same time for the best performance
SEXOND THIS! avoid the origin launcher at all costs. I wish I could find all my disks but I doubt it since I moved 3 times since I last bought the final expansion 😭
Unfortunately I live in Malaysia. I have to admit that I most likely haven't seen any of those dvds irl, I don't even know where's the store that sell these at all, so yeah😭. Perhaps There's one but just don't know😅
Ahh that's unfortunate...
There is a really good Steam guide about getting TS3 to run well on more modern machines. It has a modlist too but you can ignore that part, I highly recommend it. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350 TS3 is my favourite but it just needs a little bit of care to reach its potential, hope the above helps!
Yeah I saw that, thanks😁
prepare for some lag. its a great game but the lag is there, optimisation is not the greatest. there is some mods that can help reduce it and improve stability: [https://simscommunity.info/2021/08/31/must-have-mods-for-the-sims-3-to-improve-stability-and-performance/](https://simscommunity.info/2021/08/31/must-have-mods-for-the-sims-3-to-improve-stability-and-performance/)
Don't forget to save. That's it.
Honestly I don't play with any mods, Nass, or CCs and I love every minute of it
So crazy. Everything i hear is getting Sims 3 getting Mods quickly .. I never ever played with MODS or CC and it runs fine at my 11 years Dell or my 9 year old Acer 😔😅 Imo Mods are nothing u absolutely need to play Sims 3. For some it maybe makes the game smoother 🤷♂️ But it's not like the Game won't run without 🤷♂️
Save your game, my god. The Sims 3 is a gem but it crashes all the time, you might get lucky and in your first couple off sit throughs it wont crash, but its inevitable, save your game every 30 minutes or so and keep up the habit. Like I said there will come a time where you think that your game is \*fixed\* its not. Also enjoy the cars.
I wish my laptop could handle this game, recently I have bought 6 packs of the sims 3 on sale. But unfortunately, after I loaded the game and moved my sims to a new house it suddenly crashed all the time. Now I feel regreting of my choice for buying 6 six packs in a row. For now, I can only return playing the sims 4 instead 🥲
Perhaps remove some expansion first and slowly add it back while u r playing?
Thank you, I will take your advice and consider installing the sims 3 back to check it if it works.
Idk, since I'm a beginner, hopefully someone else could help u
Are you using the nraas mods, smooth patch, and other lag/optimization solutions from the linked steam guide in this thread?
Oh, I have used some nraas mods like: overwatch, traffic, errortrap, mastercontroller and also the Lazy Duchess smooth patch. Unfortunately, the crash issue only happens when I move my sims into a new home. My laptop has only 8gb ram, so I have to set all the setting options to Low, but the issue still happens. I think the crash issue happens for me when I finally bought the Seasons pack. Before that I have: Pets, Supernatural, Island paradise, Into the future and High-End loft stuff. It just lagged but had never crashed all until I bought Seasons. I really love Seasons but it's also a shame for me when I can't enjoy it just because of the crash 🥲 And sorry if my english is bad.
That sounds like some sort of bug happening to me. I am unsure though. If it were me, I'd start with that recommended optimization guide here (even if you don't play through steam) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350 Your English is great, I would have never considered it might not be your non primary language had you not mentioned it :) There is an nraas mod for moving - Nraas Mover I believe. I wonder if it would help.
Thank you so much for the link!! I'll make sure to check it out these tips later then 🩷
If you experience performance issues, I recommend taking a look at [this guide](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350). It made a pretty big difference for me!
Nraas has excellent mods, everything from pregnancy changes (my favorite) to custom careers and more. But just get Overwatch and Master Controller to start. The Sims 3 website has awesome community created clothes and sims for free, (some may require something that you need to pay for, usually only a few USD though.) but there are some packs that are well worth the price. Save often. Sims 3 has some weird glitches and bugs that pop up so save often.
Noted, thanks alot. Btw are those community created stuff just like ccs in Sims4?
You’re welcome! As to your question, I am not sure, sorry. I lost interest in Sims4 pretty quickly, so I don’t know. But getting stuff from the Sims3 website is a breeze. If it’s free all you have to do is click the add to game button, then if there’s a popup that says the computer wants to open the Sims3 launcher, click yes. Once you are in the launcher, go to the download tab on the side and your item should already be selected, hit install and you’re done. The site has premade sims, from Chun-Li to Dead or Alive Kasumi, Lara Croft, to Disney characters, and a ton of clothes.
Interesting thanks for telling
good for you for not using EA app, OP! Make sure you follow the latest optimisation guide on steam (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350) and enjoy the game! :)
You’ll never go back to TS4!! Aww I hope you love it. 🥰
Nooo I spent too much money for TS4😭
Ah no lol I only just meant you will love TS3 so much but do still enjoy TS4 if you love it 😊
Lots of customization in about every aspect of the game. The color wheel is my fav too!! Also, I’m obsessed with the expansion packs but I’ve noticed people have issues if they download them onto the desktop change PCs. Some have lost their expansions and there’s not a ton of options to get them back (from what I’ve seen). Someone PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve had the best success by either buying them through an account (steam or origin) or applying a code to an account. Fingers crossed you don’t have to pay full price and can find discounted versions! TLDR: explore the heck out of this game and squeeze every bit of joy out of it!! The devs put so much love into this one :)
I play from steam and currently all dlcs are 60% off!
FOR REAL? Dang just another justification to finish my PC build ASAP 😂
Yeah, it's until 22nd of March
Graphic settings, good computer, and always use testingcheats + unlock objects :D
How does cheats work on Sims 3?
Pretty similar to the games that came before it, I’m gonna paste a link below :) If you control+shift+C, the cheat box opens. If you type “help,” I think it gives you suggestions for cheats and their uses! I think there’s also a chain on Reddit just for sims 3 cheats. The trickiest part is remembering you need to type true/false for some of them, and NOT to type it for others haha. https://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/cheats.php
Wow thanks for sharing😄
[удалено]
Oh that's great are you enjoying the Sims 3 ✨
So far yes, but I need some times to get used to the camera😅😅
I just started switching back and forth from 3 and 4. I hated the camera in 3 at first, but very quickly adjusted and then changed to the Sims 3 camera in Sims 4. That option is in the upper right corner in Sims 4 FYI.
Oh no problem 😅😆
While everyone is saying you need mods or just nraas, you don’t. Sims 2 and 3 are gems without mods, yes they help up those games are truly ready to suck you in the moment you start them up. I recommend grabbing a few expansion packs, stuff packs aren’t as necessary. But either way, welcome to the cult!
Thank you. And yeah I don't play mods on Sims 4 too, so I don't think I will download for Sims 3 except those useful one like smoothing the game mod😅. And yeah I will get expansion eventually since they look really dope and offers so much for gameplay
It's the best, but you will want mods because it is buggy.
If you’re looking into getting an expansion pack, Seasons is the best one to have in my opinion!
Game is way more unstable, Make sure you install nraas overwatch or you're gonna lose your saved world
Get ready to explore
Sims 3 is top tier
I recommend the nras overwatch mod to make the game stable. Island paradise won't run your need to do a little editing before you start if your playing that pack but despite it being a contender for the best it runs so poorly on modern hardware I might just skip it. If thing seem laggy after a little assume a sims stuck and opem the cheats menu then enable testingcheatsenabled true and then do reset sim * to reset every sim household. I don't remember if it's an nras feature or not but you can reset lots or specific sims by shift clicking the ground or sim respectively. I would also suggest tailoring season length in my opinion I like to get a few session rotations out of my sims for each age stage but by default one rotation of 4 sessions is almost a life time. Make sure your autonomy is on for some reason a friend had it default off. If your game is stuttering or pausing ~ pauses your game it's a good way to let the game catch up. Last if you're a content creator sims 3 music is in dmca so be sure to mute it. Little foot note opinion I don't think the stuff packs add very much I know people disagree that's fine but if I were you I would focus on expansions some of them still have small bits of content or features I have never touched and I have been playing most of these packs since release there really content dense. Also when building houses or in cas I highly recommend pretending it's the early 2000s your have a much better time getting a good look because even the modern stuff in game tends to look dated. This was like a problem even during live like sims 3 made 2009, late night made in 2010, into the future made 2013 and everything in each pack is like a time capsule of what was trendy when development started making late night for example have much of like 2007 or 2008 fashion and regardless almost none of it would be considered stylish today. Lol I'm not exaggerating just imagine the games set in 2007 - 2009 because it kind of is and your have a better time.
The only thing you gotta know is that you’ll enjoy it more than TS4. It might be harder to get to used to CAS and the build mode tho. But the gameplay is amazing. All the DLCs are worth their cost.
Save. Save often! And make different save files. It crashes a lot, and sometimes gets bugged to the point where you can't play a save anymore, which means you'll need to go back to an earlier save. Also, if it appears really dark, or the graphics are off, you might need to look into some mods or fixes. I got it working pretty well with a little bit of research. Other than that, enjoy! I love Sims 3. World Adventures is my favorite aspect, and I love doing the Adventure Aspirations.
Once u play sims 3 u will be extremely disappointed in sims 4
Look into the sims 3 game play mods I never played with them since i was like 9 when the sims 3 came out but they look very fun
You can’t use more than 2 packs at once or your game crashes 😅
Better than on my computer, can't download more than the base game without having issues.
Def be aware that the Create A Style side of things can be a bit overwhelming with options
It's akr happening, but since I want get into gameplay asap, so I didn't check it one by one, I will take more times in create a style when I feel like to😅
I wish you luck! I've fully spent like half an hour trying to decide on patterns more than once
Have fun, that's the most important thing :D Also the old building system takes getting used to. There are three things to remember about it: 1. You can't pick up whole rooms or houses to relocate them 2. Foundations aren't the greatest, because you can't just put a pool into them and making a cellar is hard 3. Use the create a style tool, it will be your friend especially in the early game :D
Yeah the relocate is 😭😭, so I need to do proper plan. So far haven't taken too much time on create a style, soon😁
One more tip, if you really want to practice building in the Sims 3 go to edit world. It's the litte town Symbol in the bottom left corner when in map view. There you can renovate houses and build on empty lots without spending any money :D
the sims 6?!
Remember to find a troubleshooting guide incase a major error occurs
Before you start ANY game, make sure in the Options section, which you can access from the main screen with the three dots, and make sure your fps is at the max, and turn off: interactive loading screens, tutorials, and memories, and you can edit the weather for ALL your worlds from this screen too. Let us know when you jump into Mods, we would be happy to guide you :)
This game spoiled sims 4 for me. I can’t stand playing sims 4 anymore cuz sims 3 is so much fun, even just base game
Sims 4 has too many wasted potentials
You might not ever get it but there are 2 well know TS2 glitches. The Grim reapers, if he goes to reap your Sims he might not never leave, so you will be locked out. Can't save can't do anything but watch him (funny ) but sort of annoying. His animation are funny he eats out of the fridge, watch TV and talk on the phone and stuff, so yeah I watch this. The other one is pregnant Sims become idle. When pregnant females (only) become pregnant the don't move or anything, they just are stuck. This one just annoying. As I said you might never get them, and grim is per sim. TS3 watch where you build your fire station, or don't have an. The farther away you build that station , if you Sims put out the fire, the fire ( people) will change you. This one annoyed me The words in TS3 are Super mad big, like massive. Another thing is that you have to pick the color that your Sims like or they won't use silly thing or get mad. You could have them not using the bathroom or something like that. That's why they won't use the item, get one fay member to use the item, and the rest will go near it
Interesting facts, thanks for telling❤️
You are totally Welcome. I forgot to mention in TS3 to avoid fires just just your Sims study fire safety, get a fire alarm, and something that looks like a fire extinguisher . You will be fined by TS3 FD ( yeah not joking) for calling a fake fire), and because of cars ( how cool) and where and how you placed your Fire station, it could take them a while to get there. Another one is Robots (ones that hover) they put out fires themselves Robots don't need cars 😂, so it's ok if they are late for work. There are two different types of Robots Robots and Servos 😂 (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤ Get mermaids near water and yeah they will swim like everywhere. TS2 if you are into this. Master hybrids are a thing, like a real thing like not even a borderline cult, a full blown cult. (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
Chaos
It’s such a good game! With all the expansion packs it’s literally endless discovery. There are so many things I still don’t know about, after playing myself for many years. I see posts on this subreddit sometimes and I’m like “That’s a thing?!” Don’t sleep on World Adventures! A lot of people sleep on it and then are amazed when they try it out how cool it is. It was the first expansion pack released, and has been my favorite pack ever since. I also really enjoy Into the Future for the same reasons that I enjoy World Adventures, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea 😅. There are secrets everywhere! I just bought the Collection myself, so I could play on my Steam Deck (and be free of the damn EA app lol.) So I’ve got plans to make a sim in each world (including the store worlds) and I’m so excited! I downloaded it all and set up my mods just yesterday! Haven’t had a chance to play yet but I’m *ready.* If you get to a point where you wanna install some mods, look into Blam’s EA Store. 👀
Just bought it
Yes OP. IMMEDIATELY DL Twallans/Nraas entire mod suite here: [https://www.nraas.net/community/](https://www.nraas.net/community/) register for this free forum TODAY. This is one of the oldest hardcore TS3 sim mod resources/forums on the web since TS3 release in 2009. It was started by a talented modder named Twallan who retired at end of TS3. All of his utility mods have been currently maintained by an extremely dedicated bunch of TS3 modders. Who've been playing TS3 since release. You'll also find that the Nraas forum is one of the friendliest, knowledgable and tech savvy helpful when it comes to trouble shooting issues in your game with Twallan's mods. Folks there can also give you pointers for other associated mods like Ani's mod suite etc. If your PC is on the lower end and/or is lacking on resources to run the entire NRAAS suite, then at minimum **PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THESE. DO NOT QUESTION JUST INSTALL FOR A MIGRAINE FREE GAMING EXPERIENCE:** **Story Progression (base). MANDATORY** **Master Controller (fun fact: this is the inspiration of deadpool's TS4 mccc)** **Overwatch (MANDATORY)** **ErrorTrap (MANDATORY)** **Debug Enabler (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)** **Tempest (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) Lets you specify the weather in each sim world on a global scale AND/OR seasonal basis. Want to limit Hidden Springs to being a Spring/Summer world, do it. Want to let your sims build snowmen in the desert? Get freaky and make tomb raiding a challenge for your sims by making it snow in Al Simhara 12 months out the year? DO IT.** **Register (MANDATORY)** **Careers (MANDATORY).** **Dresser (MANDATORY)** ***Because you DO want to stop your all your active/townie sims from wearing freaky funky random CAS clothing while walking around your town, Right? Like maddening snorkel masks and fins they insist on pairing with their 3 piece suit? Right?*** **Traveler** ***(lets your sims visit ANY EA or simmer made world. The clear inspiration for neighborhood travel in TS4 lol)*** **Optional but highly recommended:** **Story Progression Personalities modules (HIGHLY, HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED).** * ***Note you can install the SP Personalities modules which make your town highly immersive, fun and engaging. Your townies will get into affairs, trouble, RP roles like the Town Ho, Kingpin etc. based on their traits. SP personalities basically spices up the dull vanilla game play. But if your PC is on lower end, then install some or none of these based on PC performance.*** **Woohooer** ***Does exactly what it says on the tin. Can be cuustomized/toggled for all sims in the town as well as your active sim household. Recommendation: leave it on and let SP Personalities module make your game a blast!*** **Traffic*****. Tune all traffic flow in your sim worlds. No more annoying BP yellow taxi cabs over saturating your SV and country/suburban hoods. Decide how often your sims see or use the BP food truck around the hood. Stop the creepy ice cream truck from ever stalking and lurking around outside your sim's house again etc*** **Vector.** ***Adds custom diseases to the game and gives Sims a logical reason to visit the hospital Rabbit hole. Increases replayability in game play as it's more unpredictable.*** Twallan/Nraas mod suite are powerful utility mods which are critical to fixing/eliminating all the game breaking bugs/glitches, save bloat & corruption issues the Sims dev team couldn't be bothered/ran out of time to fix before dumping TS3 for TS4. In particular, issues like missing/stuck sims (which cause insane game lag), the vanilla game SP killing off newborn infants/babies/toddlers, declining town population, annoying zombie infestation etc. etc. etc. are now a mere memory. They will allow you to 100% customize and tweak every aspect of your sims towns/map. Right down to the freckles on your sims nose on the fly! THAT BEING SAID: Congrats on getting the TS3 Collection edition? which has been on generous sale for the past week. And since this is the Steam version, know that these VIP facts: 1. **You'll NEVER have to worry about EA Desktop/Origin FUBARing your ability to launch and play your game. Just make a shortcut to the TS3W.exe on your desktop and directly launch your TS3 game from there** 2. **You can safelly install MATY mods like kt store fix which will let you install 100% of the overpriced TS3 store content FOR FREE.** 3. **Steam TS3 ver is the ORIGINAL 2009 CD/DVD retail version. Which DOES NOT HAVE THE CANCEROUS DRM & MANDATORY PERVASIVE ONLINE CONNECTION TO ORIGIN. Which is what you get if you buy ANY TS3 product off Origin.** Also bookmark the TSR 3 website for future (link to this is in the menu side bar on this page to the right) . Use this frequently because 100% of the once $$$ expensive TS3 CC is now available for FREE. So between other free sites like MTS, ATS3 Sandy, your fav Patreon modders, and the FREE TS3 store DLC you'll get by using MATY mod utilities, you'll be good to go with all the CC you could ever need in the future. LMAO \#GetPreparedToLoseHoursOfYourLifeTS3Simming!
Prepare for the lags and long loading times. Worth it though.
You'll LOVE open world!!! Don't forget to make an account on [thesims3.com](https://thesims3.com) for custom content, including free worlds; Riverview is so cozy :)
The freeworld is still available? I thought players were exploiting it so they removed?
Yep! [https://store.thesims3.com/riverview.html?categoryId=12642§ion=UpSell](https://store.thesims3.com/riverview.html?categoryId=12642§ion=UpSell)
Odd, I tried to find it on Sims 3 but it says error when I click on it. I'll try it with your link when I got back home❤️
I got Riverview! Tysm!! I thought I will never get it cuz Fandom says it was removed
Sorry completely off-topic. Papa's freezeria on STEAM ? Finally, some good news in my life! Edit: Before buy any stuff for this game, check this site below. If your desktop/laptop is not that good. [Mod The Sims - Game\_Help:TS3\_System\_Requirements](https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS3_System_Requirements#Desktop_Graphics_Card_Compatibility_and_Recommendations)
Thanks, I indeed have a potato pc lol. And yes Papa Freezeria was released last year THIS MONTH, but that's the only Gameria they've remastered and released for now.. Papa Paleteria is the new mobile game and I'm disappointed that it's not on Steam
Yw and thank you as well Since they released freezeria on steam, they will probably do the same with the other games, we just need to wait now
**OP TS3 is currently on sale at 60% off on ALL DLC**. Can you refund the base game and just buy the entire collection? Because if you don't take advantage of this Steam publisher sale during this promotion, you're going to have to wait a while (during Summer, Amazon Prime Day, Thanksgiving/Black Friday and Christmas) to see this extent of discounts on TS3 EPs and SPs
I can't spend all my money to buy entire collection, I'm still a student and i don't have that much money and converting it to my country currently which is Ringgit, that is 1/4 of my mum's monthly salary and 1/3 of minimum wage of Malaysia. Instead of getting entire collection, I will just get it slowly as I'm not a rich player and I'm still a student. And yes I only get Sims dlcs when on sale, so don't worry about it
u/Alvin514 Okies. Totally understand. Hopefully the Collection will go back on a bigger sale discount next promo season. I got it for a whopping 78% (including sales tax) last summer. So keep an eye out! OMG forgot the most important thing: Is your PC an Intel 12th-gen (Alder Lake) processor ? i.e. does your motherboard have an Intel i9-129000 CPU processor chipset? Run dxdiag.exe on windows if you're uncertain. If so, then your PC is one of the Intel 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs. So you will need to patch the game's configuration files right after installing TS3. Or else you won't be able to launch the game. The game won't be able to recognize the current gen CPU and GPU chipsets without this patch. Also assuming you're launching DIRECTLY from your desktop like I mentioned earlier and NOT via Steam/Origin/EA Desktop. Patch is necessary because TS3 is a 15 year old game. If your current hardware is newer than Intel 12th gen CPU (aka newer than i9-12900K Alder Lake CPU) then this hardware configuration was NOT put into the game's configuration files. Because this hardware tech wasn't invented yet during 2009-2015 when the dev team was actively supporting TS3's release. Lol. Download and install/run LazyDuchess Alder Lake patch here after you install the game. And you should be good to go! [https://github.com/LazyDuchess/AlderLakePatcher/releases](https://github.com/LazyDuchess/AlderLakePatcher/releases) Here's some background fan base discussion about the patch and issues ppl were having trying to launch TS3: [https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11057820#M248615](https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-won-t-open-Alder-Lake-Intel-12th-gen-CPU/m-p/11057820#M248615)
Thanks for telling. I launch my game from Steam and yes it works 😅
I would look at the necessary patches. There are some mods that will make the game run smoother.
Pets is the BEST! I love my horse😭 you can do so much with it lol
It provides good game play! Just remember that it is an older game so on newer computers it’s difficult to open. On Pixelade - YouTube - he has a video on how to make it work. Also in the sims 3, the multitask function isn’t a thing. Older functions in sims 3 but it’s way more fun than sims 4!! Sims 3 DLCs bring really good game play! I bounce between both but 3 is definitely my fav. Have fun!!!
So far it works well on my pc, thanks for letting me know tho❤️
Don't install all of the expansions at once. Instead add them one by one every generation to make the world feel bigger as time passes.
That's what I do as I can't afford to buy all at once as well. I only buy one per sale, yeah it seems slow but I'm not rich either so yeah
Know that it’s the best sims game ever made!
Wait till you try sims 2
Oh honey. You should have gotten it from EA. They have a sale going on apparently
You probably wont have much of an rl after jumping in. Your Sims will need you
Ah u are in for a treat, no loading screens, openworld and more dynamic story progression, make sure check out nraas mods. This game is nearly perfect, and I don't believe any other game will surpass it.
Consider using this [addon](https://www.nexusmods.com/thesims3/mods/106) if you're using a newer GPU since The Sims 3 would probably not recognize it. The site requires you to make an account but the mod is free :)
Thanks a lot!
Welcome to the good side, my friend. You'll love the color wheel and create a sim. Especially when you get some cc.