Using Expanded Active Households/Home mod by Savanita! 🏠
A new guide for Savanita's mod!
Download Expanded Active Household/Homes mod here! ◀
New updates: March 2026
New features including:
* Visits and Stayovers
* Active/Inactive Daycare
* Ask any Sim to babysit!
* Sim Needs>Handle Motives
* A Daycare Marker (yellow rubberducky!)
* Seperate bills!
This mod requires Lazy Duchess’ MonoPatcher!
🏠
Click on the contents for the full, updated guide and more gameplay ideas!
I've had many people ask me how exactly I make my sims. Well this video answers it with one simple word : proportions ! In this video I show you the step by step process I go through when making my sims, while showing certain sliders and why I use them ! Most of the sliders shown in the video are base game sliders.
Tumblr post mentionned in the beginning of the video
Recommended Custom Content + Mods :
Possible Question : Why did you not list all your CC ?
Answer : I only listed the most important ones because the custom content I use doesn't explain how exactly my sims look like that. I did list some of my favorite creators for bigger categories (hair, eyebrows, make-up). I do stand by the fact that the cc I use make my sims look from generic to LORD GAWD DAMN WHO IS THIS DIVVAAAAAAAAAA BUT it's also because the sims's proportions are just as DIVVAAAAAAAAAAA and that's exactly what I'm trying to show with this video !
In short terms : It's all in the facial proportions ! 🙂↕️
However, if you want to know about anything else that isn't listed, you can comment down below and I will answer !
*Note : my sim details, visual effects and texture quality in game settings are all set on high !
My Reshade Preset
HQ MOD - *kwimii (tutorial used : here)
Shader tweaks
Presets :
Hair Color Presets Replacement
Eye Color Presets Replacement
Face Presets Default Replacement V.2 : Headshapes, Eyes, Nose, Lips
Defaults :
Default Eyes (Redwood)
Default Skin + Asian Skins + No Skin Glow
Default Face Overlay (Replaces Default Eyelashes Texture)
Make-Up :
Main Favorite Creators : @sourlemonsimblr, @smallsimmer, @pleaseputnamehere (their make-up cc is like my religion deadass)
Eyelashes
Eye Contacts (all from @satellite-sims)
Hair :
Main Favorite Creators : @rollo-rolls, @nemiga-sims-archive, @lalasimmer, @cazysims (on TSR), @vmsims25
Eyebrows :
Main Favorite Creators : @sourlemonsimblr, @pralinesims (on TSR)
Main sliders :
*Note : most of the sliders I use are EA sliders, other sliders are just to make my sims look a bit more unique but these sliders I'm listing I always use them with no hesitation
You will need @flotheory's new dinner mod, download it here.
Depending on what you want, choose either
Version 1:
limited to 8 sims having dinner and sims will finish what they are doing before going to dinner
-> best for family gameplay when you only want your active family to have dinner together
or Version 2:
more than 8 sims can have dinner and sims will stop what they are doing and proceed to their chair once you direct them to do so
-> best if you also want inactive sims as guests at your dinner party
Step 1: Assign each sim a chair
Click on the chair
Select "Join dinner…"
Select the sim you want to sit in this chair
Repeat for all chairs/sims.
Sims will now proceed to their respective chairs and sit down at the dinner table:
Step 2: Get them to eat dinner together
If you're doing this with more than one table, pause your game!
You will have to repeat these steps for each table! Do not switch to a different table before you have done them all!
Place the group meal in the middle of the table
Click on the group meal
Select "Serve for dinner…"
Click on the table
Select "Eat dinner together…"
Select the sims sitting at this table
Click OK
Without un-pausing the game proceed to the next table and repeat for every table.
Once all tables have been served their dinner and the sims have been directed to dine:
Press play and watch them all eat at the same time!
Additional tips:
I found it is best to place the group meals on the table after all sims have been seated. If you place them before, you run the risk of a hungry sim grabbing a plate and blocking one of the chairs.
Once all sims are seated at the dinner table you can leave them sitting and just chatting for a little bit, but don't wait too long or they will get up again.
If you want more than 8 sims to dine together, you will need either a custom table seating more than 8 sims (don't know if they even exist…?) or you will need to place several tables. If you want to push them together to make a bigger table, use the cheat "moveobjects on". Take care not to push the tables into each other, or sims may not have enough room to sit down. It's best to leave a small gap.
If you want several tables to eat the same food, either prepare the same group meal for each table or use icarus_allsorts mod "Cook with any ingredient" in order to make a group meal with up to 16 servings. When serving several tables from the same group meal you will have to move the group meal to the table you want to serve before repeating step 2!
Average Polycount of EA Items in TS3: A Reference Sheet
I initially started this list as a personal “cheat sheet” that I could reference to ensure the custom content I'm downloading is appropriate for gameplay when it comes to polycount (and because I intend(ed) to learn how to make my own cc). I decided to share in case others find it useful.
I’m not a Maxis Match purist or anything like that, but purging high-poly CAS items from my cc folder eliminated in-game stuttering for me entirely. For some reason, this is rarely mentioned in discussions about gameplay optimization. Polycount does matter.
There’s a lot of absolutely gorgeous but incredibly high-poly cc out there that is simply not gameplay friendly for the average player. As we see an influx of first-time or rusty players migrating over from TS4, I think it’s important people are aware of this (both players and creators alike).
This might be a nonissue for those whose focus is on CAS and pretty screenshots, or maybe for those who have beastly gaming pcs/graphics cards etc.
But for players whose focus is on actual gameplay, high-poly cc can be detrimental.
With that said, below the cut you can find a list of average polycounts for some EA clothing/objects to use as a reference.
My method
I recorded the polycount of 10 items from each category below so that I could get a decent representation from each one to calculate the average. Since there is a wide range in some of the categories, I’ve opted to also include the minimum, median, and maximum for a clearer picture.
This list is not exhaustive; I feel like after a while, you kind of get the point. Also, this has been sitting on my computer for ages, and I don’t know if/when I will continue collecting data for it, so I figured I would just share what I have for now.
CAS
Tops:
Average polycount: 3538.4
Minimum polycount: 2868
Median polycount: 3443
Maximum polycount: 4872
Outfits:
Average polycount: 4281.8
Minimum polycount: 3865
Median polycount: 4205.5
Maximum polycount: 4932
Bottoms:
Average polycount: 1094.2
Minimum polycount: 770
Median polycount: 1016
Maximum polycount: 1768
Hair:
Average polycount: 4343.2
Minimum polycount: 2298
Median polycount: 4691
Maximum polycount: 6840
Shoes:
Average polycount: 621.6
Minimum polycount: 456
Median polycount: 594
Maximum polycount: 968
Accessories
Average polycount: 520.8
Minimum polycount: 118
Median polycount: 433
Maximum polycount: 1098
Objects
Dining Chairs
Average polycount: 806.3
Minimum polycount: 362
Median polycount: 799
Maximum polycount: 1054
Sofas and Loveseats
Average polycount: 1699.4
Minimum polycount: 958
Median polycount: 1414
Maximum polycount: 2920
Livingroom Chairs
Average polycount: 791.0
Minimum polycount: 290
Median polycount: 920
Maximum polycount: 1006
Beds
Average polycount: 3529.4
Minimum polycount: 1974
Median polycount: 3316
Maximum polycount: 5668
Plants
Average polycount: 746.3
Minimum polycount: 104
Median polycount: 801
Maximum polycount: 1998
Sculptures
Average polycount: 1659.3
Min polycount: 440
Median polycount: 1417.5
Max polycount: 5263
Misc
Average polycount: 914.4
Min polycount: 380
Median polycount: 988
Max polycount: 1926
Curtains
Average polycount: 762.4
Min polycount: 262
Median polycount: 802
Max polycount: 1438
Wall Art
Average polycount: 524.1
Min polycount: 62
Median polycount: 171
Max polycount: 2403
Dining Tables
Average polycount: 754.8
Min polycount: 468
Median polycount: 685
Max: 1262
For vehicles, check out this follow-up from @dhalsims
Further reading from people who are way smarter than me:
Polygon counts and Sims CC by @simlicious, plus their tutorial on how to check polycounts using TSRW. Edited to add: check out their newest essay about polycount vs vertices!
Let’s Talk Polygons by @mspoodle1 plus their tutorial on how to use S3pe to check polycounts.
A warning about high polycount custom content - for downloaders and creators by @tommeraas-cc (this post is for TS4 but still relevant for TS3 as well).
Maybe no one cares about cc polycounts anymore, but I sure do. 😅
Happy simming! I'm on a bit of a break from TS3 right now but I always come back. 🖤
Have you seen this post about using DXVK by Criisolate? But felt intimidated by the sheer mass of facts and information?
@desiree-uk and I compiled a guide and the configuration file to make your life easier. It focuses on players not using the EA App, but it might work for those just the same. It’s definitely worth a try.
Adding this to your game installation will result in a better RAM usage. So your game is less likely to give you Error 12 or crash due to RAM issues. It does NOT give a huge performance boost, but more stability and allows for higher graphics settings in game.
The full guide behind the cut. Let me know if you also would like it as PDF.
Happy simming!
Disclaimer and Credits
Desiree and I are no tech experts and just wrote down how we did this. Our ability to help if you run into trouble is limited. So use at your own risk and back up your files!
We both are on Windows 10 and start the game via TS3W.exe, not the EA App. So your experience may differ.
This guide is based on our own experiments and of course criisolate’s post on tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/criisolate/749374223346286592/ill-explain-what-i-did-below-before-making-any
This guide is brought to you by Desiree-UK and Norn.
Compatibility
Note: This will conflict with other programs that “inject” functionality into your game so they may stop working. Notably
Reshade
GShade
Nvidia Experience/Nvidia Inspector/Nvidia Shaders
RivaTuner Statistics Server
It does work seamlessly with LazyDuchess’ Smooth Patch.
LazyDuchess’ Launcher: unknown
Alder Lake patch: does conflict. One user got it working by starting the game by launching TS3.exe (also with admin rights) instead of TS3W.exe. This seemed to create the cache file for DXVK. After that, the game could be started from TS3W.exe again. That might not work for everyone though.
A word on FPS and V-Sync
With such an old game it’s crucial to cap framerate (FPS). This is done in the DXVK.conf file. Same with V-Sync.
You need
a text editor (easiest to use is Windows Notepad)
to download DXVK, version 2.3.1 from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/releases/tag/v2.3.1
Extract the archive, you are going to need the file d3d9.dll from the x32 folder
the configuration file DXVK.conf from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/blob/master/DXVK.conf.
Optional: download the edited version with the required changes here.
administrator rights on your PC
to know your game’s installation path (bin folder) and where to find the user folder
a tiny bit of patience :)
First Step: Backup
Backup your original Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path! The DXVK file may overwrite some files! The path should be something like this (for retail): \Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin (This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located.)
Backup your options.ini in your game’s user folder! Making the game use the DXVK file will count as a change in GPU driver, so the options.ini will reset once you start your game after installation. The path should be something like this: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 (This is the folder where your Mods folder is located).
Preparations
Make sure you run the game as administrator. You can check that by right-clicking on the icon that starts your game. Go to Properties > Advanced and check the box “Run as administrator”.
Note: This will result in a prompt each time you start your game, if you want to allow this application to make modifications to your system. Click “Yes” and the game will load.
2. Make sure you have the DEP settings from Windows applied to your game.
Open the Windows Control Panel.
Click System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings.
On the Advanced tab, next to the Performance heading, click Settings.
Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.
Select 'Turn on DEP for all programs and services except these”:
Click the Add button, a window to the file explorer opens. Navigate to your Sims 3 installation folder (the bin folder once again) and add TS3W.exe and TS3.exe.
Click OK. Then you can close all those dialog windows again.
Setting up the DXVK.conf file
Open the file with a text editor and delete everything in it. Then add these values:
d3d9.textureMemory = 1
d3d9.presentInterval = 1
d3d9.maxFrameRate = 60
d3d9.presentInterval enables V-Sync,d3d9.maxFrameRate sets the FrameRate. You can edit those values, but never change the first line (d3d9.textureMemory)!
The original DXVK.conf contains many more options in case you would like to add more settings.
A. no Reshade/GShade
Setting up DXVK
Copy the two files d3d9.dll and DXVK.conf into the Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path. This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located. If you are prompted to overwrite files, please choose yes (you DID backup your folder, right?)
And that’s basically all that is required to install.
Start your game now and let it run for a short while. Click around, open Buy mode or CAS, move the camera.
Now quit without saving. Once the game is closed fully, open your bin folder again and double check if a file “TS3W.DXVK-cache” was generated. If so – congrats! All done!
Things to note
Heads up, the game options will reset! So it will give you a “vanilla” start screen and options.
Don’t worry if the game seems to be frozen during loading. It may take a few minutes longer to load but it will load eventually.
The TS3W.DXVK-cache file is the actual cache DXVK is using. So don’t delete this! Just ignore it and leave it alone. When someone tells to clear cache files – this is not one of them!
Update Options.ini
Go to your user folder and open the options.ini file with a text editor like Notepad.
Find the line “lastdevice = “. It will have several values, separated by semicolons. Copy the last one, after the last semicolon, the digits only. Close the file.
Now go to your backup version of the Options.ini file, open it and find that line “lastdevice” again. Replace the last value with the one you just copied. Make sure to only replace those digits!
Save and close the file.
Copy this version of the file into your user folder, replacing the one that is there.
Things to note:
If your GPU driver is updated, you might have to do these steps again as it might reset your device ID again. Though it seems that the DXVK ID overrides the GPU ID, so it might not happen.
How do I know it’s working?
Open the task manager and look at RAM usage. Remember the game can only use 4 GB of RAM at maximum and starts crashing when usage goes up to somewhere between 3.2 – 3.8 GB (it’s a bit different for everybody).
So if you see values like 2.1456 for RAM usage in a large world and an ongoing save, it’s working. Generally the lower the value, the better for stability.
Also, DXVK will have generated its cache file called TS3W.DXVK-cache in the bin folder. The file size will grow with time as DXVK is adding stuff to it, e.g. from different worlds or savegames. Initially it might be something like 46 KB or 58 KB, so it’s really small.
Optional: changing MemCacheBudgetValue
MemCacheBudgetValue determines the size of the game's VRAM Cache. You can edit those values but the difference might not be noticeable in game. It also depends on your computer’s hardware how much you can allow here.
The two lines of seti MemCacheBudgetValue correspond to the high RAM level and low RAM level situations. Therefore, theoretically, the first line MemCacheBudgetValue should be set to a larger value, while the second line should be set to a value less than or equal to the first line.
The original values represent 200MB (209715200) and 160MB (167772160) respectively. They are calculated as 200x1024x1024=209175200 and 160x1024x1024=167772160.
Back up your GraphicsRules.sgr file! If you make a mistake here, your game won’t work anymore.
Go to your bin folder and open your GraphicsRules.sgr with a text editor.
Search and find two lines that set the variables for MemCacheBudgetValue.
Modify these two values to larger numbers. Make sure the value in the first line is higher or equals the value in the second line. Examples for values:
1073741824, which means 1GB
2147483648 which means 2 GB.
-1 (minus 1) means no limit (but is highly experimental, use at own risk)
Save and close the file. It might prompt you to save the file to a different place and not allow you to save in the Bin folder. Just save it someplace else in this case and copy/paste it to the Bin folder afterwards. If asked to overwrite the existing file, click yes.
Now start your game and see if it makes a difference in smoothness or texture loading. Make sure to check RAM and VRAM usage to see how it works.
You might need to change the values back and forth to find the “sweet spot” for your game. Mine seems to work best with setting the first value to 2147483648 and the second to 1073741824.
Uninstallation
Delete these files from your bin folder (installation path):
d3d9.dll
DXVK.conf
TS3W.DXVK-cache
And if you have it, also TS3W_d3d9.log
if you changed the values in your GraphicsRule.sgr file, too, don’t forget to change them back or to replace the file with your backed up version.
OR
delete the bin folder and add it from your backup again.
B. with Reshade/GShade
Follow the steps from part A. no Reshade/Gshade to set up DXVK.
If you are already using Reshade (RS) or GShade (GS), you will be prompted to overwrite files, so choose YES. RS and GS may stop working, so you will need to reinstall them.
Whatever version you are using, the interface shows similar options of which API you can choose from (these screenshots are from the latest versions of RS and GS).
Please note:
Each time you install and uninstall DXVK, switching the game between Vulkan and d3d9, is essentially changing the graphics card ID again, which results in the settings in your options.ini file being repeatedly reset.
ReShade interface
Choose – Vulcan
Click next and choose your preferred shaders.
Hopefully this install method works and it won't install its own d3d9.dll file.
If it doesn't work, then choose DirectX9 in RS, but you must make sure to replace the d3d9.dll file with DXVK's d3d9.dll (the one from its 32bit folder, checking its size is 3.86mb.)
GShade interface
Choose –
Executable Architecture: 32bit
Graphics API: DXVK
Hooking: Normal Mode
GShade is very problematic, it won't work straight out of the box and the overlay doesn't show up, which defeats the purpose of using it if you can't add or edit the shaders you want to use.
Check the game's bin folder, making sure the d3d9.dll is still there and its size is 3.86mb - that is DXVK's dll file.
If installing using the DXVK method doesn't work, you can choose the DirectX method, but there is no guarantee it works either.
The game will not run with these files in the folder:
d3d10core.dll
d3d11.dll
dxgi.dll
If you delete them, the game will start but you can't access GShade! It might be better to use ReShade.
Some Vulcan and DirectX information, if you’re interested:
Vulcan is for rather high end graphic cards but is backward compatible with some older cards. Try this method with ReShade or GShade first.
DirectX is more stable and works best with older cards and systems. Try this method if Vulcan doesn't work with ReShade/GShade in your game – remember to replace the d3d9.dll with DXVK's d3d9.dll.
For more information on the difference between Vulcan and DirectX, see this article:
Maternity Morphs & Bone Deltas Tutorial + Resources for The Sims 3
♦︎ Tutorial on how to add maternity morphs and correct maternity bone deltas to CC, Store or EA clothing. Clipping hands begone!
♦︎ Resources include 60+ EA maternity morph references and 90+ EA maternity bone delta references. Yes, that's how many EA made! I simply exported all of these from the game files and organized them with thumbnails for easy use.
Tutorial and resources download link can be found under the cut!
♦︎ You're probably surprised to learn that there are so many maternity references hidden in the game files, while in the actual game there's only a handful of maternity options. Well, EA was silly as usual and forgot to enable a majority of them for our preggo Sims to wear. What's even weirder is that there are a bunch proper maternity bone deltas for clothing without any maternity morphs. Even ones for female teens and elders! In case you didn't know, bone deltas are basically what communicate to the game the shape of a Sim's body. This is to prevent clipping issues like hands going through bellies.
♦︎ So most of the resources included here are for adult female Sims. Like I mentioned above there are some teen and elder maternity bone deltas too, but EA obviously never made any morphs. So for them I've included a few basic pregnancy morph references. These are edited by me, but based on and compatible with teen and elder maternity morphs by sweetdevil and SimplexSims. They should work alright for most clothing, but if you require more maternity morph references, then I recommend you use the ones from the EA conversions done by @sweetdevil-sims or by me. Nothing for males is included in the resources, but the tutorial does have a section for adding maternity bonedeltas to male Sims.
♦︎ Reminder that EA's maternity morphs don't just give your Sims a pregnant belly, but also make your Sims gain a small amount of weight overall. This is why it's very important to assign correct bone deltas alongside the maternity morphs. These not only prevents clipping issues with the belly, but also thighs, arms, hips, etc.
♦︎ I've tried to make the tutorial noob friendly. As such it's pretty long. If you're an experienced CC creator/converter, then you'll probably know how to do a lot of what's explained here.
♦︎ This tutorial has been split into multiple sections. This first section explains how to add maternity morphs to a finished CC or EA clothing package. If you already know how to do this, you can skip to the section about adding maternity bone deltas.
Creating maternity morphs using EA references
♦︎ First, open the package file of the clothing item you want to enable for maternity with S3PE. If you want to enable an EA item for maternity, then clone it with S3OC (Cloning > CAS Part > Select one > Clone or Fix > Uncheck Renumber > Start).
♦︎ If your package has no internal names for the resources inside S3PE, then make sure to generate these using Mesh Toolkit: Package Tools > Name Those Files.
♦︎ In S3PE select all the LODs under the GEOM tag (lod1, lod2, lod3) and export them to your WIP folder. If you see any with a morph name, like lod1-fat, then skip those.
♦︎ If you see any LODs with multiple groups (like lod1, lod1-1), then in Mesh Toolkit go to: GEOM Tools > Combine Meshes. Combine lod1 with lod1-1. Combine lod2 with lod2-1, etc.
♦︎ Next inside Mesh Toolkit go to: Auto tools for GEOM > Auto-create Morph Mesh. First select your LOD1 as the GEOM base mesh to morph. Then click Select file for the reference mesh. Now it's time to select a good reference.
♦︎ This is the way I like to do it. If I'm creating a maternity morph for an adult female top, I'm going to look in the af_Morph_Refs folder, which is inside the resources folder that I've provided above. In the search bar I type: afTop. Right click inside the folder and 'View > Extra large icons' and 'Sort by > Type', then at the bottom right of the window switch from 'GEOM mesh files' to 'All files' so you're able to see the thumbnails of all the references. Then I usually like to start up TS3 and go into CAS so I can compare these in-game to the top I'm adding the morph to.
♦︎ You'll want to look for a similar shape overall, especially paying attention to which parts of the body are bare. Using a long sleeved top as a reference for a top with bare arms isn't the best idea, but the reverse could work alright. With tops it's especially important to pay attention to whether the lengths of the tops match up. For the top shown in the preview I ended up choosing the highlighted reference in the image above, as it matches that top the closest.
♦︎ Right click on the thumbnail of the reference you want to use > Open file location. Inside this folder you'll want to select the lod1 simgeom file. Next select the file for the reference morph. Which is either also a simgeom or a blendgeom file and should have SPECIAL in the filename. Now click the 'Create Morph Mesh' button and save your new maternity morph. I usually name it LOD1_SPECIAL.
♦︎ Time to see how your morph looks. Open blender and head to Scene Properties. Under Sims 3 GEOM Tools click 'Import GEOM' and open your lod1. Then make sure to select it once it's imported and under GEOM Tools click 'Import Morphs'. In the window that pops up make sure to uncheck VertexID Lookup.
♦︎ Now it's time to inspect your morph mesh to check for any wonky geometry or messy normals. This mesh looks pretty smooth and requires no changes. If your morph has especially bad geometry, then you could try a different reference. It's likely that yours will at least have some weird normals (shadows) and you may want to fix that. I won't go over how to fix geometry in this tutorial, as that's more general blender knowledge, but I'll go over how to fix bad normals below. Lots of steps ahead, bear with me..
♦︎ Right, how to fix bad normals on a morph. First duplicate your morph in blender. Under modifier properties, select the 'Weighted Normal' modifier on the duplicate. Now take this duplicate into edit mode. Hover over and press the L key to select parts of the mesh which are supposed to smoothly join together. Press M > By Distance. Repeat until you're rid of the unnecessary seams. Next select all parts on which you'd see a Sim's bare skin, like hands and bare arms for example. Under Object Data Properties > Vertex Groups > Click + to add a new group. Now click on 'Assign' while you still have those parts selected. Now you'll want to import a bare reference. Import GEOM and choose from the resources folder an appropriate mesh. For tops I'd pick 'afTopBra_burnt'. Afterwards import it's morph too. Now on the duplicate mesh apply the 'Data Transfer' modifier. Source: the morph of the bare reference. Vertex Group: the group you added. Checkmark 'Face Corner Data', expand and click 'Custom Normals'. In the drop down below it select 'Nearest Face Interpolated'. Now exit edit mode and apply both modifiers. Go back to your original morph with the bad normals and apply to it the 'Data Transfer' modifier. Select the same options again, minus the vertex group, but this time Source: mesh with fixed normals, and under the dropdown select 'Topology'. Apply and the normals should be smooth now. To export the fixed morph you'll need to export it's base mesh. If you perform this method to smooth normals on a base mesh, then remember to delete the added vertex group before export!
♦︎ Now you'll want to create the morphs for lod2 and lod3. With maternity morphs it's generally fine to reuse the lod1 morph as a reference for the lower LODs. So repeat what you did before, but this time morph lod2, use lod1 as the ref mesh and then the lod1 morph as the ref morph. Now repeat with lod3 and you should have a morph for each LOD.
♦︎ In Mesh Toolkit go to: Morph Tools > Make Clothing/Hair BGEO. Here you'll put your new maternity morphs. Select your lod1, 2 and 3 morphs, then click 'Make BGEO'. Save to your WIP folder. Skip this if you're adding morphs to a clothing item from TS3 Store.
♦︎ Now inside your package file select the BGEO resource of the maternity morph. It's usually the last one and should end with '_special'. Right click > Replace > Select the BGEO you saved in the previous step. With clothing from TS3 Store morphs are saved as GEOMs, so to add those go to Mesh Toolkit > Package Tools > Add Morphs to Clothing/Hair. Tick 'Add as Morph Meshes' and untick the option above. If the LODs have multiple groups then you'll have to create the morphs again for each group, using the morph reference you just made.
♦︎ Congrats, your clothing item now has a maternity morph! Don't forget to click on the CASP resource inside the package > Grid > ClothingCategory > ValidForMaternity: True. You may now save your package or select the BGEO and export it to a new package to make it an override. Your clothing item will still need appropriate bone deltas, so make sure to follow the next section.
Replacing bone deltas using EA references
♦︎ Every clothing item enabled for maternity requires correct bone deltas to prevent clipping issues. You'll want to make sure the shape of the clothing item you're using it's bone deltas from is similar in shape. The shape at each area of the body matters. So for flared pants, you'll want to use the bone deltas of another pair of flared pants. It's NOT recommended that you use the bone deltas of a full body outfit for a top/bottom or vice versa. Teen and elder females have a lot fewer maternity bone delta references. In some cases the best option may be to use an adult female bone delta for them. You'll usually want to use the bone deltas of the clothing item you got your morph reference from, but this isn't always the case (some of them don't even have any, thanks EA).
♦︎ Open your package with S3PE. Select the maternity BOND (it's usually the last one and should end with 'BOND4' or 'special'). Right click > Copy ResourceKey. Then, right click > Replace. Go into the BoneDeltas folder inside the resources folder that I've provided above. Open the folder that matches your clothing item. So for an adult female top I'd look inside 'afTop'. Right click inside the folder and 'View > Extra large icons' and search '.png'. Make sure that at the bottom right of the window it says 'All files', so you're able to view the thumbnails of all the references. Pick one that matches your clothing item in shape. It helps to compare them in-game. Right click the thumbnail > Open file location. Now select the .bonedelta file. After it's replaced, click on Grid > Expand ChunkEntries > Expand again > Double click the value next to TGIBlock > Paste > Commit.
♦︎ Your clothing item now has correct maternity bone deltas, yay! You may now save your package or select the BOND and export it to a new package to make it an override.
There's a tiny summary of these steps inside a .txt included with the resources. Now, if you somehow still can't find the bone deltas you need along the 90+ references, then there's a painful process you can go through to convert the bone deltas of a full body outfit to ones suitable for a top/bottom or vice versa. This is only recommended if you're as tedious as I am. These steps are also included in the .txt file.
Custom bone deltas (male maternity clothing)
♦︎ If you'd like to give a male clothing item proper maternity bone deltas or if you'd like to edit female ones, then you'll want to use the BoneDeltaEditor tool. For males it will be a bit less straightforward without any already created references for you to use, but it's still doable. All existing male maternity clothes only seem give your Sim a pregnant tummy, without any weight gain on other areas of the body like with female Sims. Male maternity morphs are scattered all over by different creators, but they all seem to use the ones by our dear departed CmarNYC as a base. Right, let's get into it (yuh).
♦︎ First we'll have to replace one of BoneDeltaEditor's files. Otherwise the bones won't have proper names and it'll be impossible to determine what's what. At the bottom of this tutorial: LINK download the Pets_updated_bones.zip. Extract the bones.xml and replace the one in your BoneDeltaEditor folder with it.
♦︎ Open your package with S3PE and export the BOND that ends with 'BOND0' or 'normal'. Open BoneDeltaEditor.exe twice. Open the reference you want to use in the first window and the BOND that you just exported in the second one. Now, which bone delta reference to open in the first window is something you'll have to find out by doing a few comparisons. Either in-game or in blender. You must find a clothing item with a base mesh or morph that has a similar belly shape as your maternity morph. Which age or gender it's from and whether the rest of the body matches up doesn't really matter. You'll only be transferring over the bone delta values of the belly. Once you've found a match, it's time to transfer over some numbers. Copy and paste over the Offset values of R_frontBellyTarget_slot, L_frontBellyTarget_slot, R_BellyTarget_slot, etc. You get the deal. Make sure to do both R and L. Also don't forget to click Commit before selecting another bone. Repeat this with: R/L_carry_slot. Then File > Save (As). Now you'll have your male maternity bone delta ready for use. To correctly import it to your package, repeat the steps from the previous section.
That was a lot of yapping, but hopefully you'll find some of it useful! Feel free to ask me any questions if you have them. ✌
4to3 texture conversion with UV to UV baking method tutorial
4to3 texture converting through baking Written version of this video https://youtu.be/JofDMt7eYz0?si=zzZRLwlCSj1cExa7 Also touched upon in t
The doc might seem long/overwhelming, this is because I wanted to be very, very precise, truly step by step. Every single task by itself is just a matter of clicking buttons and takes a few seconds, except for altering the UV lay-out and the off-screen mesh editing. This is a repeat (but more precise) of things I wrote in this big 4To3 tutorial , as well as functioning as a written version of the contents of this video
I touch upon how to nicely convert the specular, normal map & main diffuse (and other swatches) of a TS4 item to the TS3. Because I only do maxis match/mix stuff it is done with that, but you could extrapolate this to different cc aesthetics & conversions from other games.
I use blender 3.6 and photoshop 2025.*
*for your photoediting program, a very important thing is that it allows you to open DDS files with the alpha layer shown as a channel you can disable/enable/remove/replace, instead of only being able to open it as the sheer image as-is.
