I’m excited to share my first-ever lighting mod, named "Dive into Sky". True to its name, it aims to create a vivid, immersive atmosphere where intense sunlight merges sky and sea into one seamless view. After nearly a month of development and about 70 revisions, I’m finally happy with how it looks. Feel free to share your feedback or screenshots if you try it out!
This mod is a rework based on @boringbones ’s V2-Brighter-Lighting mod, specifically adopting his "Left-side Lighting" parameters,which is truly a brilliant innovation—it dramatically improves in-game shadows and contrast, adding depth and realism. It makes The Sims 3 look almost as visually stunning as The Sims 4! A huge thanks to Boringbone for generously allowing me to use his lighting settings.
Building on his left-side lighting, I customized the sky and water colors to better suit tropical/island maps. I also edited sunrise and sunset transitions: golden shines at dawn, shifting into dreamy pink-purple twilight. The mod includes a dynamic weather system—sky color, cloud shapes, and light intensity change in real time with the weather.
This mod comes in 13 variants for you to mix and match:
Water Colors (3 options):
Light Blue
Default Blue
Emerald Green
Light Blue and Default Blue work well for coastal maps, while Emerald Green looks great on islands or lakes.
Night Sky (3 options):
Dark Blue Night: Brighter evenings
Black Night: Denser stars
Aurora Night: Black Night version with a 30% chance of aurora displays.
Recommend use with vaddish's star replacement (click here download)
Day Length Options:
Long Days (6:00–19:00)
Short Days (7:00–18:00)
*Aurora versions simulate higher-latitude lighting with even shorter days (6:00–17:00).*
⚠️ Important: Only one lighting mod can be active at a time—whether it’s different versions of this mod or other creators’ work. They are not compatible with each other.
Installation:
Place the .package file in:
Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Overrides\
Not sure which sky, water, or night version you prefer? I’ve included a quick reference chart to help you pick the right file.
Download Info:
V1 (Default Blue water + Black Night, no aurora) is public version to Download here
The Sims 3 Living World Overhaul Mod
(Sample part 1)
It has been a minute since my last update, but I have a massive reason for the silence. I have been deep in the game's core files building a new mod that completely overhauls The Sims 3.
I initially started out just combining all of Simler90's fixes for the current game update. However, after hours of tinkering, it evolved into a massive project to make the game run flawlessly and feel incredibly alive.
In this preview video, you can see an alien autonomously deciding to invade a community lot. You will also notice firefighters acting much more dynamically, wearing various outfits and dealing with fires that can now start directly on windows.
My goal is to give you a mod that significantly improves game performance while making the world completely autonomous. We are talking optimized neighbor AI, fully overhauled routing to eliminate lag, and unlocked interactions that create spontaneous scenarios throughout your town.
This is just Part 1 of what I will be showcasing. Here is a taste of what is coming:
Bachelor party dancers autonomously showing up at the club your Sim is visiting.
Thieves actively robbing neighbor houses, complete with actual police responses.
Neighbors, children, and teenagers are also pursued by the police if they are out on the street too late after curfew.
Neighbors hire cleaning ladies and butlers to clean their dirty houses.
Fires breaking out organically anywhere in the world + fire at the window, and new animations of the NPC firefighter putting out the fire at the window..
Autonomous Ghost Hunter scenarios.
AND MANY MANY MANY MORE
Basically, imagine an optimized NRaas Story Progression mixed with Simler90's core optimizations and complete route and lag fixes, all packed into one single mod.
A samll modern flat with glsass roof that the sunslit can get inside,but notice the rain and snow will also drop inside,if you dont like it place the roof top manually .hope you guys love it，enjoy~
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 Nornities 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 (the 32 bit one) 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
Thanks @rollo-rolls for tagging me, I feel so honored hehe.
Last Song: J Cole (new album) 🔥🔥
Favorite Color: Pink or Turquoise or Bright Green (sorry)
Currently Watching: Mostly K Drama shows or Anime (I did watch The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity <- you can watch)
Sweet, Savory, or Sour: savory/salty to some degree ~_~
Currently Reading: The Mouse and The Snake (～￣▽￣)～(warning its a smut book, i luv smut books) <- i would read at nite but i have another book that i can read in my hand its called "Girls Weekend" on my second book
Current Obsession: I don't really have an obsession, just going on Pinterest and men, i guess.
Last Google search: Hitomi Mochizuki Workout & Daisy Keech (trying to work out again with motivation from them)
Currently Working On: my life and trying to draw again, it's been a minute. I hope to draw my ocs in the future.
ahhh i got tagged in this by @afuzzyduckie and @marinaan so thank you cuties ᡣ𐭩 •｡ꪆৎ ˚⋅
𑣲 last song: three steps ahead - jared benjamin
𑣲 favorite color: baby pink, baby blue and mint
𑣲 currently watching: the pitt (for the first time) or book videos on youtube
𑣲 sweet, savory or sour: sour for sure! i love anything sour (and bonus points if it's sweet too!)
𑣲 currently reading: wolfsong by tj klune
𑣲 current obsession: oh god i have so so many. writing my book, playing games (sims, tarkov), converting cc, learning languages (swedish at the moment!)
𑣲 last google search: probably something book writing related that made me type "please fbi im a writer" after it!
𑣲 currently working on: learning to love myself, take care of myself and be proud of myself for the things i've achieved!
Wowww that's a surprise!
Thank you for tagging me @chumchasims!
last song: Ya Ya - Beyonce
It's been playing a lot because of my new Small World. For some reason, Cowboy Carter fit the vibe of Vila Verona (for some reason I don't know).
favorite color: Dark blue (although I always wear light-colored clothes because of my dogs)
currently watching: High Potential
sweet, savory, or sour: Savorey, because whenever I eat something sweet I want to eat it again the next day.
currently reading: I wanted to say that I'm reading a book, but honestly I've been reading more articles to bring content to the channel xD
current obsession: Tea, tea, tea, all day long. I've been doing this for over 10 years and I feel amazing! (NRG and Herbal concentrate, glutamine, creatine, Liftoff, and CR7 from Herbalife. I use all of that to fuel my brain.)
last google search: Disney detective series woman (Because I wanted to find out the name of the series in English, since it didn't come up when searching in Portuguese xD)
currently working on: Several projects, but I'm prototyping a "state" world in The Sims 3. The idea here was to create a kind of territory, with several tinyworlds scattered within a giant world, in an optimized and well-spaced way. Each city would offer unique resources, making them dependent on each other, like SimCity 2013. But it's a long-term project; I usually spend the weekend prototyping and evaluating whether it's an idea worth dedicating time to. If I conclude that it's not, it's put on hold until I find the time/inspiration to continue (if I want to or if there's demand). But I'm also working on a mod to improve and increase the frequency with which I'm invited to parties in The Sims 3.
Tagging: @l-1-z-a @sims3fiend @goldenennina @thedawning66
In the first half of 2025, dolikeyoufeel brought the sims community a highly impressive world Bobrokurwice, and Haartverd, released in the second half the year, is just as outstanding as expected. This world draws inspiration from suburbs in European countries such as Finland and the Netherlands. The town is built around complex buildings, with a beautifully crafted, realistic layout. When viewed from above, it has a Cities: Skylines vibe. The minimalist modern apartments offer sims a high-quality lifestyle. Meanwhile the lush green streets blend together perfectly, creating a calm and peaceful atmosphere that's ideal for strolling. If you have @anitmb's Mountain Bike mod installed, cycling along these spacious sidewalks is sure to be a delight.
Regarding the community lots, I particularly like the market in pic 9. It's very realistic, offers diverse activities, and even includes an underground parking lot and a small outdoor plaza. Additionally, this world uses rabbit hole rugs placed inside various buildings. These buildings also have different rooms furnished with functional objects corresponding to their purpose. If you have Zerbu's Ultimate Careers Mod installed, this feature will come in handy.
Although the world itself is small, the multifunctional buildings may be too dense and the individual lots are very large. In my test folder I only had nraas and store items installed, but I still got heavy frame drops when switching between map view and live mode (and I wasn't even using Reshade all the time). Sometimes, just dragging the mouse would cause lag. I'm not sure what performance is like for you @dolikeyoufeel but this is the only spot that's giving me trouble (maybe if i remove a few lots and make them parks or rabbit holes instead, it'll run better). Anyway, this is a small and modern world worth checking out. Thanks again to dolikeyoufeel for bringing us such an amazing creation!
I’m currently working on remaking all the npc in Sunset Valley. Trying to keep their original facial features and combine with their personalities to make them more vivid. I’m only using CC for makeup and genetics—hair and clothes are all EA default. Now is about 80% done , really hoping to finish it soon!
In TOTAL 97 package files (63 for teen/elder sims + 34 age conversions for child lifestage)
•Texture size: 1024px (gameplay friendly); NOT HQ
•Style: Semi realism/Maxis match;
•Each file has a custom thumbnail in game;
•Compressorized;
@pis3update@katsujiiccfinds@eternalccfinds@xto3conversionsfinds
Idea to make this defaults came to my mind when: 1. I wanted to make goth sim wearing WA egyptian eyeliners and ATS3 mask but mask layered over them. 2. I saw (and reblogged to my CC finds >.<) this showcase of lipstick DR by @buckleysims, but I didn't immediately notice that they had never been released. So I changed CASP OverlayPriority of WA and BG eyeliners to that higher than blushes and recreated these lipstick defaults myself and added replacement for children.
Info (lipsticks):
I used @potatobuttcheek replacement as a base so you can recolor 2 channels instead of one for AULipstickGlossy and AULipstickMatte.
This mod replaces BG lipsticks with mochi029 03, 02, Ephemera Glaze and ShojoAngel lipsSet2 - Child v2
Custom thumbnails
Use only one lipstick/eyeliner replacement at the time!
