Sooo just saying that if you don't want to update your TS4 game, but the app forces you to update... you can always make a copy of your game, let it do its thing, and then just use the old files in offline mode.
There is a file in the folder above your mods folder called GameVersion.txt and if that were to mysteriously get deleted it just makes a new one that matches whatever version you are using.
With that new and huge patch coming soon I think it would be just the right time to make a backup.
The most disgusting thing about the Marketplace is that they've finally made an official modding tool for their 12-year-old game only to gatekeep it for the illusion of exclusivity and profit.
Wait, no the more I think about this the angrier I get:
You have to prove yourself a competent CC creator using fan-made tools for a chance to even be invited to join the exclusive club. It's the fucking equivalent of needing experience to get experience.
This further puts way too much emphasis on a few creators EA deems worthy of sitting at the table at the expense of literally everyone else.
The Sims 2 fucking shipped with the ability to make custom clothing recolors and genetics by literally anyone, and The Sims 4 can't even be assed to throw a bone by creating an official recoloring tool usable by everyone.
God just like fuck EA.
Also like fuck the creators going along with this scheme.
With DXVK and S3SS living their high days, older Sims 3 installment guides are rapidly starting to become outdated. So here's a brand new and up-to-date step-by-step guide to go through when you do a fresh install of your game that will help you get the best performance you could possibly imagine for this old and laggy gem of a game.
Have Sims 3 installed, but is it performing abhorrently? I highly recommend a fresh install. You don't have to delete your saves or mods. Just get yourself a fresh bin to work with by uninstalling, going into your program files The Sims 3 folder and deleting any remnant files still in there. Then follow my guide!
All of the steps to follow are below the line ->
Step 1: install your game through your respected platform.
Just follow the regular steps and install the game without adding any other stuff yet whatsoever.
(I personally have a legit copy of the Sims 3 on Steam. If you use another app and have any questions, I'll probably not be able to help you.)
Step 2: run the game once through the official launcher. Once you get to the main menu, you can quit again.
It is very important you run your game through the original launcher at least once after installing it. Not doing so can cause problems with programs like CC magic. You only need to do it the first time. After that, we'll be skipping the launcher entirely.
Step 3: Create a short cut of TS3W.exe on your desktop.
You'll be skipping the launcher from now on. This helps with performance and it starts up your game much faster. It is also important to do this because of DXVK.
You can find TS3W.exe in your bin folder. For me (Steam version) it's in this location:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 3\Game\Bin
Right click TS3W.exe, click 'show more options' and choose 'create a shortcut'. Place this shortcut on your desktop and Run Sims 3 from there from now on.
Step 4: Run the GPU Add-on Support patcher
You can find this patcher here. It is essential to run this because Sims will otherwise not recognize your graphics card unless it's over 10 years old. This patcher helps to get your GPU recognized.
The patcher will create a new Graphicsrules.sgr and new Graphicscards.sgr for you in your bin folder. After installing this, you can move the ones that have _old behind them somewhere else (or delete them).
P.S.: if you pirate your game you'll have to do this manually, there's guides online for it but since I have a legit copy I can't help you here.
Step 5: Install DXVK
Make sure you follow this guide by Nornite and do every single step. Don't skip anything!
I'd say DXVK is pretty essential nowadays, especially if you have a modern graphics card with 6GB of VRAM or higher. It'll greatly help to keep your game stable and can prevent a lot of crashes. The way Dxvk works, is that it loads textures through your VRAM instead of your RAM. Especially when you use a lot of CC or HD textures, this will make a huge difference for your RAM usage. Sims 3 can only use 4GB of RAM at once and will start crashing once you hit the 3GB mark in your task manager. With DXVK, you will use a lot less RAM and it'll take much longer for your game to reach this hard cap.
When not to install DXVK: if you have a shitty GPU (like an integrated graphics card on a laptop, or one with 4GB of VRAM or less).
Step 5: Start up the game
Use your new desktop shortcut that also has 'run as administrator' permissions now if you followed the DXVK guide properly.
Step 6: set up all your settings through the ingame options menu
The best graphics settings for you will highly depend on what computer you're using. But there are some things you should always turn off because they negatively affect performance. I will share my (relevant) settings with you (I use a custom UI so your screen style will look a little different from mine). Click on the images to enlarge them so you can read them:
Things of note about these settings:
I recommend you play in windowed mode, especially if you plan to use ReShade. Playing fullscreen is possible, but it does make Reshade presets behave differently in your game. I will include a step in this guide that you can follow to play windowed borderless. So, when you plan to do this: make sure you set the resolution to your display resolution.
Enable object hiding helps with performance. Advanced rendering is essential because otherwise your game looks like absolute shit.
Set your High Detail Lots to any value between 2 and 4. Don't go lower or higher, because you'll get rendering issues that lag out your game.
All other graphics settings can be set to your heart's desire. I'd say start with the highest settings and only go down if you notice your frames per second are bad.
Disable shop mode and lessons and fully disable memories or use this mod to severly limit them. Disable interactive loading screens as well. These are all performance eaters. Interactive loading screen also causes crashes. Memories also don't do anything for your sim, it's just a scrap book with no in-game effects.
Disable any online mode feature. This also lags out your game. Unless you really want to use these features it's best to just play fully offline.
Save your settings, close the game again.
Step 7: Install Sims 3 Settings Setter
This is the most recent magic genie that Sims 3 was blessed with. Especially combined with DXVK it is a life changer. Installing it is simple. You download the most recent version here and drop the .asi file in your bin. Also grab 'wininet.dll' from here and drop that one in your bin too.
Start up your game and load up a save. Once you're inside your save, you press 'insert' to open up the menu for Sims 3 Settings Setter. Go to the 'patches' tab and enable what you like. These are my enabled patches and they all work really well for me, but feel free to experiment with them to find your own performance sweet spot:
Only enable uncompressed textures if you have a GPU with at least 8gb of VRAM. My game will use over 6gb of VRAM easily with this enabled, so you've been warned.
Once you have everything you desire enabled, press 'file' in the top left corner and click 'save settings'.
Step 7.5: if you're playing windowed mode: go into the Other/QoL tab and enable 'Borderless Window'. Set it to 'Full Screen'.
Save your settings and close your game again. No need to save the game you entered for this unless you want to.
Step 8: Install Nraas Errortrap, MasterController and Overwatch
These 3 mods by Nraas are pretty much essential to keep your game from breaking down in the long run. You can download the mods here. Have you never installed a mod for Sims 3 before? Here's a guide (skip the part about Sims3pack and go straight to the part where it explains how to install .package mods).
That's it! You can now play The Sims 3 and it'll be as smooth and stable as it'll ever be. From here on, you can stock your game with more mods and CC (check out my mods masterlist!), or you can install Reshade (here's a guide).
Some important things to keep in mind while playing:
Clean up your game regularly. You can easily do this by using Regul Save Cleaner.
When you install a new mod or update/change Sims 3 Settings Setter, always restart and clear your caches.
Use CC Magic for installing CC, because it merges your files and this really helps with performance. Here's a handy guide on how to use it. Don't put your script mods in here, just your CC.
If you plan to travel to vacation destinations in the EP World Adventures, Nraas Traveler is a must to prevent most of the bugs and crashes that happen in this expansion.
Always keep in mind: mods and corrupt CC can still break your game, make it laggy or unplayable. Always be mindful of the mods you add, so you can always trace any issues you're having back to the mod causing it. I highly recommend not downloading a ton of mods in one session, but adding them step by step and see what they do to your games performance.
Use 'Reset the entire town' from Nraas MasterController at least every other sim week. It'll help clear up any lag that happens because of NPC sims getting themselves stuck routing or annoying stuff like that.
Got a slow CAS? Use Nraas MasterController Compact mode! (Make sure you have the Nraas MasterController Integration module installed).
Navigate to NRaas > MasterController > Settings > CAS.
Set the following to True:
Show in Compact Form: Accessories
Show in Compact Form: Clothing
Show in Compact Form: Hats
I just did a full PC rebuild this year for the first time in like 10 years so that means I had to get the Sims 3 stable again. I got it running pretty fast but it was still not as stable as I would like so I wasn't playing it too much.
I hadn't gotten around to trying S3SS and this guide got everything set up super easy. My game does feel a lot smoother now.
With DXVK and S3SS living their high days, older Sims 3 installment guides are rapidly starting to become outdated. So here's a brand new and up-to-date step-by-step guide to go through when you do a fresh install of your game that will help you get the best performance you could possibly imagine for this old and laggy gem of a game.
Have Sims 3 installed, but is it performing abhorrently? I highly recommend a fresh install. You don't have to delete your saves or mods. Just get yourself a fresh bin to work with by uninstalling, going into your program files The Sims 3 folder and deleting any remnant files still in there. Then follow my guide!
All of the steps to follow are below the line ->
Step 1: install your game through your respected platform.
Just follow the regular steps and install the game without adding any other stuff yet whatsoever.
(I personally have a legit copy of the Sims 3 on Steam. If you use another app and have any questions, I'll probably not be able to help you.)
Step 2: run the game once through the official launcher. Once you get to the main menu, you can quit again.
It is very important you run your game through the original launcher at least once after installing it. Not doing so can cause problems with programs like CC magic. You only need to do it the first time. After that, we'll be skipping the launcher entirely.
Step 3: Create a short cut of TS3W.exe on your desktop.
You'll be skipping the launcher from now on. This helps with performance and it starts up your game much faster. It is also important to do this because of DXVK.
You can find TS3W.exe in your bin folder. For me (Steam version) it's in this location:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 3\Game\Bin
Right click TS3W.exe, click 'show more options' and choose 'create a shortcut'. Place this shortcut on your desktop and Run Sims 3 from there from now on.
Step 4: Run the GPU Add-on Support patcher
You can find this patcher here. It is essential to run this because Sims will otherwise not recognize your graphics card unless it's over 10 years old. This patcher helps to get your GPU recognized.
The patcher will create a new Graphicsrules.sgr and new Graphicscards.sgr for you in your bin folder. After installing this, you can move the ones that have _old behind them somewhere else (or delete them).
P.S.: if you pirate your game you'll have to do this manually, there's guides online for it but since I have a legit copy I can't help you here.
Step 5: Install DXVK
Make sure you follow this guide by Nornite and do every single step. Don't skip anything!
I'd say DXVK is pretty essential nowadays, especially if you have a modern graphics card with 6GB of VRAM or higher. It'll greatly help to keep your game stable and can prevent a lot of crashes. The way Dxvk works, is that it loads textures through your VRAM instead of your RAM. Especially when you use a lot of CC or HD textures, this will make a huge difference for your RAM usage. Sims 3 can only use 4GB of RAM at once and will start crashing once you hit the 3GB mark in your task manager. With DXVK, you will use a lot less RAM and it'll take much longer for your game to reach this hard cap.
When not to install DXVK: if you have a shitty GPU (like an integrated graphics card on a laptop, or one with 4GB of VRAM or less).
Step 5: Start up the game
Use your new desktop shortcut that also has 'run as administrator' permissions now if you followed the DXVK guide properly.
Step 6: set up all your settings through the ingame options menu
The best graphics settings for you will highly depend on what computer you're using. But there are some things you should always turn off because they negatively affect performance. I will share my (relevant) settings with you (I use a custom UI so your screen style will look a little different from mine). Click on the images to enlarge them so you can read them:
Things of note about these settings:
I recommend you play in windowed mode, especially if you plan to use ReShade. Playing fullscreen is possible, but it does make Reshade presets behave differently in your game. I will include a step in this guide that you can follow to play windowed borderless. So, when you plan to do this: make sure you set the resolution to your display resolution.
Enable object hiding helps with performance. Advanced rendering is essential because otherwise your game looks like absolute shit.
Set your High Detail Lots to any value between 2 and 4. Don't go lower or higher, because you'll get rendering issues that lag out your game.
All other graphics settings can be set to your heart's desire. I'd say start with the highest settings and only go down if you notice your frames per second are bad.
Disable shop mode and lessons and fully disable memories or use this mod to severly limit them. Disable interactive loading screens as well. These are all performance eaters. Interactive loading screen also causes crashes. Memories also don't do anything for your sim, it's just a scrap book with no in-game effects.
Disable any online mode feature. This also lags out your game. Unless you really want to use these features it's best to just play fully offline.
Save your settings, close the game again.
Step 7: Install Sims 3 Settings Setter
This is the most recent magic genie that Sims 3 was blessed with. Especially combined with DXVK it is a life changer. Installing it is simple. You download the most recent version here and drop the .asi file in your bin. Also grab 'wininet.dll' from here and drop that one in your bin too.
Start up your game and load up a save. Once you're inside your save, you press 'insert' to open up the menu for Sims 3 Settings Setter. Go to the 'patches' tab and enable what you like. These are my enabled patches and they all work really well for me, but feel free to experiment with them to find your own performance sweet spot:
Only enable uncompressed textures if you have a GPU with at least 8gb of VRAM. My game will use over 6gb of VRAM easily with this enabled, so you've been warned.
Once you have everything you desire enabled, press 'file' in the top left corner and click 'save settings'.
Step 7.5: if you're playing windowed mode: go into the Other/QoL tab and enable 'Borderless Window'. Set it to 'Full Screen'.
Save your settings and close your game again. No need to save the game you entered for this unless you want to.
Step 8: Install Nraas Errortrap, MasterController and Overwatch
These 3 mods by Nraas are pretty much essential to keep your game from breaking down in the long run. You can download the mods here. Have you never installed a mod for Sims 3 before? Here's a guide (skip the part about Sims3pack and go straight to the part where it explains how to install .package mods).
That's it! You can now play The Sims 3 and it'll be as smooth and stable as it'll ever be. From here on, you can stock your game with more mods and CC (check out my mods masterlist!), or you can install Reshade (here's a guide).
Some important things to keep in mind while playing:
Clean up your game regularly. You can easily do this by using Regul Save Cleaner.
When you install a new mod or update/change Sims 3 Settings Setter, always restart and clear your caches.
Use CC Magic for installing CC, because it merges your files and this really helps with performance. Here's a handy guide on how to use it. Don't put your script mods in here, just your CC.
If you plan to travel to vacation destinations in the EP World Adventures, Nraas Traveler is a must to prevent most of the bugs and crashes that happen in this expansion.
Always keep in mind: mods and corrupt CC can still break your game, make it laggy or unplayable. Always be mindful of the mods you add, so you can always trace any issues you're having back to the mod causing it. I highly recommend not downloading a ton of mods in one session, but adding them step by step and see what they do to your games performance.
Use 'Reset the entire town' from Nraas MasterController at least every other sim week. It'll help clear up any lag that happens because of NPC sims getting themselves stuck routing or annoying stuff like that.
Got a slow CAS? Use Nraas MasterController Compact mode! (Make sure you have the Nraas MasterController Integration module installed).
Navigate to NRaas > MasterController > Settings > CAS.
Set the following to True:
Show in Compact Form: Accessories
Show in Compact Form: Clothing
Show in Compact Form: Hats
as a freelance artist i understand the need to proliferate your work but im so glad we’re finally tearing up the addition of “reblogs > likes” for being lame and entitled as fuck
taz: Your mod can be downloaded for free. Why? You would certainly earn more with a paywall.
Turbodriver: I don't think so – on the contrary. There is social pressure in the modding community to make content accessible to everyone. That creates respect and trust. Especially when it comes to sexual needs that people fulfil with the mod, I don't want to be accused of profiting from those needs. A paywall would probably cost me a lot of supporters.
taz: Making legal abortion available as a game option is definitely a political decision today.
Turbodriver: Obviously, my mod is a product of my political convictions. Feminist beliefs also influence my work, but not exclusively. Every component of the mod is the result of individual considerations.
taz: Do you give the [scene] creators guidelines?
Turbodriver: At least I have some guidelines. But I find it difficult. When it comes to sexuality, on the one hand, you want to give people the freedom to express themselves. On the other hand, there is so much that can shock, mislead or hurt people. Before I invite creators to my platform/website, I take a very close look at how they present themselves. How do they present their content? What is their tone of voice like?
taz: What are your next plans for ‘WickedWhims’?
Turbodriver: I don't usually reveal what I'm working on; otherwise, the community immediately has expectations that I may not be able to fulfil. But because I'm already very far along with my current project, I'll give you a spoiler: I'm working on a new profession: camgirl.
Pacosims is making threats to patrons sharing their paywalled content!
TW: Graphic sexual messages and threats of doxxing
If you can, please reblog for visibility. We need creators like this shamed and off the platform. And they definitely don't deserve to be making money.
I still can't believe the audacity of some creators, like your cc isn't even that good first of all, second you're going against EA's TOS and using their resources so it's technically not fully yours! You don't get to lock it behind a perma-paywall and then threaten people who release it for free. I thought people would've learned their lesson after 2022 with the cowbuild/begdorf/leosims fiasco🙄
I saw this screenshot posted today on reddit r/sims4cc posted by u/meepcity-122. I don't take credit for it, I just wanted to share it here so other people can learn about it. Apparently the messages are from 2024 but maybe the person decided to speak out about it now? Idk but either way it should be exposed. I searched tumblr and I don't think this has been talked about before, but if it has let me know and I'll remove my post.
"What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo."
I feel like creators should just follow the rules. You can still make money within that 30 days so I don’t get it. if you make cc because you want to live off of it or do you actually love the game & community ??
Yes I 100% agree! I can tell which creators genuinely love the community and which ones only do it for money. We don’t need that second group in our community.
I miss pre-2020 Simblr where most cc was free and creators had ko-fi for donations. I loved being able to download cc for free while also giving support to creators through tipping. Many of those creators are long gone now :(
Humans really evolved just to become more and more greedy… and somehow we lost the real meaning of community. We’re supposed to be here to chat, make friends, help each other, share our gameplay and have fun — not to compete over who has the most followers, the prettiest game, the most Patreon supporters, or who makes more money.
There are so many simmers nowadays acting like Instagram influencers — living only for likes, followers, and money.
“But I don’t get much engagement, I don’t get a lot of likes...”
Why do you care so much about that? There’s always someone out there who’s gonna like your content. There are so many simmers around the world — but the Sims community shouldn’t be just about that.
If a simmer talks to me in their own language, it’s totally fine. We have translators — especially screen translators. Not everyone speaks English, and that’s okay! Translators exist for a reason.
I don’t support creators on Patreon because — simple — the price in my country is expensive when converted. What’s like $1, $4, or $10 for you is not for me. Not everyone can afford that. People have lives, bills to pay, responsibilities. Some people can pay, sure. But Honestly, creators should go back to using Ko-fi like before — it lets people choose how much to give.
“But creators spend time making content…”
Yeah, but this isn’t an office job with deadlines and a boss breathing down your neck. This is a community! No one is forcing you to make Sims 4 content every day or every month. You’re not chained up — unless you’re chained by your own mindset, right?
Let go of the greed!!
You’re missing the best part of it all: enjoying your own game and having fun.
That’s all. Don’t trap yourself in invisible chains, and have a good day. 😊
Pacosims is making threats to patrons sharing their paywalled content!
TW: Graphic sexual messages and threats of doxxing
If you can, please reblog for visibility. We need creators like this shamed and off the platform. And they definitely don't deserve to be making money.
I still can't believe the audacity of some creators, like your cc isn't even that good first of all, second you're going against EA's TOS and using their resources so it's technically not fully yours! You don't get to lock it behind a perma-paywall and then threaten people who release it for free. I thought people would've learned their lesson after 2022 with the cowbuild/begdorf/leosims fiasco🙄
I saw this screenshot posted today on reddit r/sims4cc posted by u/meepcity-122. I don't take credit for it, I just wanted to share it here so other people can learn about it. Apparently the messages are from 2024 but maybe the person decided to speak out about it now? Idk but either way it should be exposed. I searched tumblr and I don't think this has been talked about before, but if it has let me know and I'll remove my post.
I play other games that are modded, and I never see their CC community like what I see when it comes to sims. ALL the big heavy modded mods are never behind paywalls. All the popular moders never ever put their mods behind paywalls, its all FREE with an option for those who want to support their work through donations from whatever platform they use. Sure they're might be perks like beta testing an upcoming update before releasing the mod to the public, but still its FREE in the end. Never did I see creators DEMANDING to be paid, or act like an entitled 4 year old throwing a hissy foot, when someone stands up for their shitty ass attitude. The sheer amount of toxicity among certain creators is giving the community a bad name, so yes I think its time to stand up and start calling people out for it. And those problematic creators who-shall-not be named all rip meshes from other games or 'buy' meshes to convert them for Sims for profit only so technically they don't "own" those meshes or the images.
Pacosims is making threats to patrons sharing their paywalled content!
TW: Graphic sexual messages and threats of doxxing
If you can, please reblog for visibility. We need creators like this shamed and off the platform. And they definitely don't deserve to be making money.
I still can't believe the audacity of some creators, like your cc isn't even that good first of all, second you're going against EA's TOS and using their resources so it's technically not fully yours! You don't get to lock it behind a perma-paywall and then threaten people who release it for free. I thought people would've learned their lesson after 2022 with the cowbuild/begdorf/leosims fiasco🙄
I saw this screenshot posted today on reddit r/sims4cc posted by u/meepcity-122. I don't take credit for it, I just wanted to share it here so other people can learn about it. Apparently the messages are from 2024 but maybe the person decided to speak out about it now? Idk but either way it should be exposed. I searched tumblr and I don't think this has been talked about before, but if it has let me know and I'll remove my post.
