Do you use the NRaas mods? Has the information on the NRaas website and forum ever been useful to you? If so, a moment of your time please!
I’d like to share the current situation with Simblr – which you can also read about directly from the site owner here:
https://www.nraas.net/community/topic15428
While it seemed like we were entering an era of old-internet revival and indie websites in the fight against the dead-internet, a significant road block has emerged. Prices have inflated drastically for server parts, memory, storage, and server-hosting itself. This puts all non-profit online communities in peril.
As a result, the site owner has opened a Patreon so that the community can help cover the costs of keeping us online.
Important clarification:
The NRaas mods are NEVER going to be paywalled.
The project will remain open-source and free for everyone. Donations are optional.
These mods are still in active development!
The site and mods have been maintained by Chain_Reaction since Twallan's retirement, providing countless updates and support. Lots of cool stuff over there if you haven't updated in a hot minute.
There is no pressure to donate if your situation does not allow for it. Thank you for the consideration!
Long post ahead with information on the situation and some incentives for reaching membership goals.
If you've had some trouble accessing the site over the past week or so:
The situation is directly caused by the greed and encroachment of something we’re all uncomfortably familiar with: AI companies and the companies investing in them (of simmer relevance, that includes EA and Krafton (InZoi)).
NRaas is not the first nor will it be the last to be affected. Website servers already suffer from bots trawling and scraping their content – including your content that you write and share just about anywhere. Now they’re being bought off entirely.
Archives and file-hosting are at high risk. Myrient is a recent example of an archive that went offline for this very reason.
It can feel a bit grim, but I want to assure you that the burden isn't yours to bear as an individual. As a community, it's actually quite easy to become hostile - and more important, unprofitable - to these invasive species as it were.
The past 26 years of modding and storytelling was OVERWHELMINGLY built upon free software, non-profit websites, and shared resources. A few unscrupulous paywallers and corporate greed isn't going to rewrite that history. Greed is the minority - but it does try to eat everything in its path.
That's all I ask - if you enjoy the fruits of The Sims community or enjoy being a part of it, make it just a little more inconvenient to swallow us.
Do not tolerate GenAI in our community spaces.
Do not support EA or Krafton. Let obscurity and irrelevancy devour them.
Do participate in the community wherever you think you'd find a little piece of purpose - make a blog for your stories, come chat with us in the Chatterbox forum at NRaas, make your first mod.
Lastly:
In a separate post, I'll be posting some CC incentives that will be released as milestones are reached. This content will not be paywalled - it will be posted for free as thanks to the community.
This is being offered on my own accord and is not the official reward for any particular tier. None of the proceeds are going to me!
Please look out for that over the weekend, I still need to take all of the preview screenshots which is perhaps the least exciting part of making CC.
And thank you, on behalf of the volunteers at NRaas.
Tutorial: How to Install TS3 with DXVK, Sims3SettingsSetter (S3SS), and ReShade in 2026
This is a long-overdue update of my previous, now obsolete tutorial on how to use DXVK and ReShade (d3d9). If you do not use ReShade, you can still follow this guide up until where it is to be installed.
At the time of writing (April 2026), this guide is compatible with and corresponds to Step 1 to 3 of The Sims 3 Performance & Bug Fix Guide 2026, featuring an extra step on how to install ReShade.
If you followed any other guide (including my own) on how to install DXVK and/or ReShade, it is strongly recommended that you start from scratch, meaning you should uninstall DXVK AND Reshade completely. Believe me when I say this: it will save you a lot of time, frustration, and make your life so much easier.
For the purpose of this tutorial, I am on Steam version 1.67.2.024037 on Windows 11, but it should work for discs 1.67 and EA App 1.69 versions, too. This guide does not cover GShade.
Without further ado, let's begin!
Backup your files, even the entire folder (EA Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin or steamapps\common\The Sims 3\Game\Bin) if you want to be extra safe; you will thank yourself later. If you do not wish to backup the entire folder, at the very least backup the following:
Keep them somewhere secure, for your peace of mind (and sanity).
Firstly, to fully uninstall DXVK, you should remove the following files:
d3d9.dll (if you hover your cursor over the file, it will read: Company: DXVK)
dxvk.conf
TS3.dxvk-cache (or TS3W.dxvk-cache)
Secondly, remove remnant files of previously installed ReShade (you did create a backup, right?):
d3d9.dll (located at the Bin folder, if you hover your cursor over the file, it will read: Company: crosire)
ReShade.ini
ReShade.log
⚠️There are a couple more steps. Please follow the instructions here.
Get the latest version here on GitHub:
Click on the version that has the 'Latest' tag next to it (2.7.1 as of now), scroll down to 'Assets', and click on dxvk-x.x.x.tar.gz to download DXVK.
Open dxvk-x.x.x.tar.gz, click on x32, and locate d3d9.dll from within.
Download a copy of dxvk.conf from this page by clicking on the tiny icon on the right.
Drag both d3d9.dll AND dxvk.conf to the Bin folder (EA Games\The Sims 3\Game\Bin or steamapps\common\The Sims 3\Game\Bin); that is where TS3.exe and TS3W.exe are located.
Open dxvk.conf with Notepad or Notepad++, 'Ctrl + A' to select all, and hit delete. Yes, delete everything inside. Once you've emptied the file, enter the following:
Copy your Options.ini from your backup folder (you did make a backup, right?) into your Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 folder.
Because we have 'tricked' the game into recognising our modern GPU as a GTX 580, we must edit one single line within the Options.ini to keep our preferred in-game settings intact.
Hit 'Ctrl + G', type in '150' to go to that line, and replace it with:
lastdevice = 0;10de;1080;65535
'Ctrl + S' to save.
⚠️Thanks to DXVK, from now on whenever there's a GPU driver update, we no longer need to keep the 'lastdevice' line up-to-date to prevent your in-game settings from being reset. You can leave it alone forever, once and for all. The last digit of '65535' is a placeholder value for driver versions and remains constant as long as you are using DXVK.
Launch the game to confirm that DXVK is working. By default, the debug HUD should show up in the top left corner of your screen. What's more, your graphics settings should not have reset.
If you're still not convinced that DXVK is working, go to your Bin folder and look for a file called: TS3_d3d9.log or TS3W_d3d9.log and inspect its content:
If you see these correctly documented in your log file, DXVK is working as intended.
⚠️ NB: This newer version of DXVK no longer generates a cache file by default, meaning that there will not be a TS3.dxvk-cache or TS3W.dxvk-cache any more.
Get the latest version here on GitHub:
Click on the version that has the 'Latest' tag next to it (1.5.0 as of now), scroll down to 'Assets', and click on Sims3SettingsSetter.asi to download S3SS.
An ASI Loader is required for S3SS to function properly, and now so we need to install it.
However, if you use any of the listed LazyDuchess mods:
Mono Patcher Library;
Pixel Shader Modding Framework;
Shadow Extender (TS3);
or Split Level Light Fix,
you should already have an ASI loader (in the form of wininet.dll) located inside your Bin folder, and you can use that instead.
As you can see in the screenshot below, LD's Shader Framework came shipped with an ASI loader, as the other 3 mods do.
If you do not use any of the mods listed above, or that you wish to get a newer version of ASI loader for the game, you can get it from here (Ultimate ASI Loader by ThirteenAG):
To install, drag Sims3SettingsSetter.asi AND wininet.dll to your Bin folder.
And that is S3SS and its prerequisite successfully installed, now we should launch the game (again) and check if it's working.
Once the game has launched, hit 'Insert' key to toggle on S3SS interface.
⚠️ If nothing happens after pressing ' Insert', remove a folder called 'S3SS' (located at: Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3) and reinstall from Step 2 again.
From S3SS interface, select 'Patches' on the top.
Here I recommend enabling all performances patches, but choose only one flavour for the Smooth Patch: Original or Precise.
Next, click on 'Other/QoL' tab, tick the box next to 'Enable Memory Warning', and increase the warning threshold to 3.8 GB.
Navigate downwards to 'Borderless Window' and choose 'Fullscreen' in the drop-down menu. This will allow you to play in borderless windowed mode.
⚠️ Please note that I do not play TS3 in exclusive fullscreen mode, nor do I recommend doing so; therefore, I cannot provide support for that.
Lastly, don't forget to click on 'File' on the top left corner to save any changes you've made.
Exit the game, it's time to install ReShade.
Download the latest version (with full add-on support) from the official site; it is 6.7.3 at the time of writing.
Select TS3.exe (EA App) or TS3W.exe (disc, Steam), and then choose Vulkan as rendering API, click 'Next'.
If you would prefer not to install any shaders/effects (i.e, you want to keep using your existing ones), click 'Skip'.
On the following page, you'll get to choose to install add-ons. Hit 'Skip', unless you know what you are doing.
Click 'Finish' to complete installation.
At this stage, a new, vanilla ReShade.ini file will be placed in the Bin folder; you may now replace it with the one from your backup folder to recover all preferred settings (such as hotkeys for taking screenshots, directory for shaders etc.). Same thing goes for your reshade-presets and reshade-shaders folder.
Launch the game (for the final time) to check that ReShade has been properly installed.
To toggle S3SS interface, press 'Insert' (or whatever hotkey you've set it to).
⚠️NB: under ReShade's 'Settings' tab you may need to change 'Input processing' to either 'Pass on all input' or 'Block input when cursor is on overlay' to tweak S3SS settings whilst ReShade's GUI is visible. Otherwise, you'll need to toggle ReShade's menu off first.
That is the end of this tutorial.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed DXVK, S3SS, and ReShade! You may now open dxvk.conf and remove line dxvk.HUD from it.
Whew, what a long tutorial. If you've made it this far, great job. 🎉
Hope you've found this helpful; comment down below, or send me an ask/DM if you've any questions. I'll try my best to troubleshoot with you. Happy simming! ⭐
Credits:
doitsujin for DXVK
ThirteenAG for Ultimate-ASI-Loader
@sims3fiend, just-harry, @lazyduchess, and swiffyjk for Sims3SettingsSetter
crosire for ReShade
@nectar-cellar @desiree-uk and @kevinvoncrastenburg for their help.
There were a couple of accounts that were compromised due to leaked passwords/emails from elsewhere.
New login security has been added to what was changed the last round of compromised passwords/emails.
Remember to change your passwords, do not reuse them, and enable 2fa when ever you can! Password managers are worth the money!
Check it out at MTS.
AND FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS ... REPORT IT INSTEAD OF FEAR MONGERING ALL OVER THE INTERNET!
yes this grinds my gears like no other, complaining every where and not proper reporting
Using advanced googling, the wayback machine, google translate, and then clicking through 14 links to finally get a download link to cc is the sims equivalent to finding buried treasure in an underwater cave using a pirate's map from 1645
Here is a list of tutorials from which I learn to convert/create sims 3 cc in a few months (and as a poor English speaker). I think it might help someone who also wants to try making things for sims 3 but doesn't know where to start, though it's been 15 years from the game release and even Inzoi is coming hahah.
The list covers objects, clothes, hairs and eyes. I know there're lots of tutorials not listed here, that's because I haven't tried them in my projects by hand. But The list will be updated with new things I learn. Most tutorials are in English. Thanks to all these creators for sharing their precious knowledge!
Sorry for the miserable format, cuz I wrote them in Patreon and paste here. You can also read it there, free of course.
Where I find tutorials
sims 3 tutorial hub
ts3 creators cave and its discord
Mod the sims tutorial wiki and the forum
pis3update tutorials tag
General
CC basic concepts by nightosphere (for clothes, most knowledge is shared with objects)
Tools
TSRW guide by apple (for objects, most knowledge is shared with clothes)
Blender
shortcut by Blender Guru
beginner tutorial for version 2.5, 2.8, 3.0, 4.0
3.5入门教程 (youtube / bilibili)
设置切换语言快捷键 change language shortcut settings
图片取色器网站
Mesh ToolKit with Seam Fixer for all ages
Topaz gigapixel AI guide / higher quality texture
Texture
Nicer bake / bake in blender 2.78
Bake in blender 2.93
Make normal map
small size blank texture
Reasons for black blocks on baked image
Adjust texture color without losing quality
Object
clone obejcts with S3OC
4t3
Functional Objects
Functional bed
TSRW setting
Combining Textures for Objects with Multiple Textures
Add normal map to objects
Introduction to slot categories
Add slots in TSRW
Edit in-door shadow or occluders in TSRW / Talks about 3 kinds of in-game shadow by Pocci
Clothes
4t3 by nightosphere
Reduce polycount / fix seams, holes, shadows or normals
Bone reference rule
Avoid milkshape workflow / adjust bone assignment and morphs in blender
It really rubs me the wrong way when I see people complaining about how others choose to play or style their games.
If you don’t like clay hair, don’t download it. If you don’t like alpha cc, don’t use it. If you don’t like how someone’s sim looks, you don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to download the sim. If you dislike how someone chooses to explore a townie’s storyline, no one is forcing you to read it or replicate it in your own game. 🤷🏻♀️ It’s really not that hard to be kind towards others, especially over a silly computer game.
PLEASE put your name in your filename. One, someone will have a clue who it's by when they go to find more by you or to finally organize their Mods folder. Two, you're less likely to end up with the exact same filename as another creator.
PLEASE put your name FIRST in your filename. Alphabetization is super useful. It's less useful to alphabetize by the cute name you gave that hair or set of chairs.
PLEASE, for the love of all things Sims, consider not only using your initials. My Mods folder now has three different creators whose files start "MM". There might be even more of you MM's out there.
I was 11 when this game came out, it was the first game my parents ever bought for me. Veronaville was my fave world, the drama between the Monchurrescos and Capulletos always pulled me in lool
If you ever feel bad for hoarding cc, remember that in like 5 years, when someone is wcif-ing a dead linked item, you can swoop in like a superhero and save the day.
gracieabrams
yousharknotpass
izzy806
pixelskylines
origamiaround
gummygunk
baratheonpilled
