Loft Set By Souris (KhanySims)

Sims 3 - Resources for Storytelling & Screenshots

I am a habitual list maker, and I like to keep lists of different types of Sims 3 resources. I figured I would share!

So, here’s a list of resources, tutorials, and mods/cc that I have found to be very useful for the purposes of creating sims stories, improving my screenshots, etc.

Lighting, Screenshots & Visual Storytelling

Some great insights from various simmers for lighting, photoshoots, and visual storytelling in general:

TS3 Lighting Tutorial: Backlight Effect by @nectar-cellar

Lighting Tips for Photoshoots by nectar-cellar

Not-a-tutorial – Lighting (Basics & Outdoors) by @greenplumbboblover

Not-a-tutorial – Lighting (Basics – Indoors) by greenplumbboblover

Tips for taking screenshots by @valoisfulcanelli

Movie maker cheats guide: specific looping idles by @narisims

Not-a-tutorial – Camera shots: Part 1 by @nocturnalazure

Not-a-tutorial – Camera shots: Part 2 by nocturnalazure)

Not-a-tutorial – Dialogues: Part 1 by nocturnalazure

Not-a-tutorial – Dialogues: Part 2 by nocturnalazure

simdreams being metalinguistic about her own story thingy by @simdreams

Making Sims in TS3 by HystericalParoxysm (scroll down a few posts for interesting camera insights; for instance, I never knew you could save camera positions!)

Mods & CC

Some specific mods and cc that I think are particularly helpful for staging scenes:

Pose Player by cmomoney (I think this goes without saying, but I’m including it just to be thorough).

Lyralei’s Pose Addon (must have!).

Omedapixel’s Sims 3 Decorator Tool (must have!).

OMSP by Granthes

Murano’s Screenshot Backdrop

Buhudain’s invisible lights

SetHour Cheat mod by LazyDuchess (nice for just quickly setting the hour).

Time/Weather Change Mod by cmomoney (helpful if you need specific weather for your photoshoot; for example, changing the weather to overcast for outdoor photoshoots helps with diffused lighting).

NRaas Master Controller – probably a given, as I think everyone should already have this installed. In terms of storytelling, it’s crucial for easily moving around and editing sims when you’re setting up a scene.

NRaas Debug Enabler – useful for all sorts of storytelling/screenshot things: open and close a door, spawn/create an object, summon a meteor, trigger all sorts of events you might wish to use as part of your scene, etc.

Eca Move Objects Cheat with Hotkey – nice for quickly turning MOO on and off since you’ll be using it a lot when moving around sims.

NRaas Dresser – Nice to quickly/easily remove accessories or copy accessories to all outfits etc. (Can come in handy when you’re using poses that might involve accessories like mugs, books, pens, pregnancy tests, or whatever.)

PosterLoader by douglasveiga – Nice for setting your scene with customized family portraits and such in the background. You can also use Transmogrifier to copy the poster loader frame script to the in-game digital picture frames for a wider selection of sizes (can be a bit finicky, but S3DT can help with placement).

NRaas Story Progression – obviously useful for a million different things (I can’t imagine playing without this mod), but for photoshoots in particular it’s easy to make your sims’ needs all static.

Modified Shimrod's Camera mod by @brntwaffles (can zoom out much further, among other features)

No More Fade camera mod by Collin2 (objects won't disappear when you zoom in)

Decensor and Passion mod of course. 😉

NRaas Mover - sometimes you might need more than 8 sims in your household for a scene or you don't want to deal with "needs adult" restrictions.

All gameplay/immersion and graphic-improvement/default replacement mods will be helpful, but that's a post for another day. :)

PSD Templates/Icons/Picture Editing

Some of these were made for Sims 4 but obviously can be used for Sims 3 as well:

Notification Bubbles by @starburstshores

Thoughts and Speech Bubbles by starburstshores

Moodlet Template by starburstshores

Moodlet & Wish templates 2.0 by @simspaghetti

Career UI Template by simspaghetti

Photography Template by simspaghetti

Simstagram Story Overlay by Honeycombsims

Text Messaging Template by @kouukie

Ultimate social bunny templates by pxlverse

The Ultimate Icon Collection by @petrolstationflowers

@sims3tutorialhub has a whole section dedicated to Pictures.

@kosmokhaos has lots of helpful and interesting editing insights under her #kosmo tutorial tag.

Reshade

Another tool that probably goes without saying, but I’m including it in case anyone’s new to using it. A couple places to start:

How to install reshade for Sims 3 in 2025 (Youtube tutorial by @acottonsock)

Sims 3 reshade help - @erasabledinosaur

I don't know jackshit about g-shade so can't really say anything about it, but it seems to be another good option.

I guess that’s it for now! Like I said, I enjoy making lists, and I also wanted to show my appreciation for those who have so generously shared their knowledge and creations over the years.

By the way, if you’ve made some sort of post or tutorial related to this stuff in the past and you don’t see it on the list, it’s probably only because I didn’t know about it. 😊 🖤

Let me know if there's anything I should add!

Some tips for The Sims 3 Buy/Build

Install LazyDuchess’ Smooth Patch to alleviate lag, esp in Buy/Build and CAS.

Keep your CC merged and organized, esp your patterns, this will also alleviate a lotta lag across all modes.

When building on community lots, or any lot rlly, avoid going to the edit world menu, and just put testingcheats enabled into the cheat window, then shift+click the ground of the lot to enter Buy/Build mode. This makes leaving it to save a lot easier, with less “preparing” screens to possibly get hung up in.

Lower your settings, you don’t need any adjacent lots loaded, and you certainly don’t need super water on either. You can always switch these back on when you’re done.

While you’re at it, remove your HQ mod, and turn off your Reshade/Gshade preset, or at least turn off your depth shaders. I only ever turn on my depth shaders when I’m taking screenshots for better fps while playing. The DoF shader esp requires a lotta resources your game could be using to simulate all those 78 townie sims instead.

Save as… vs Save, I Save as… at least every third save. It’s also just good habit to keep backups.

When using the CASt tool, set down everything you plan to CASt first, then switch to a category like the wall tool to avoid eventual lag and drag when using it a lot. Love yourself. You don’t have to suffer using CASt tool in an overpopulated category like misc deco.

Utilize the clone option through testing cheats to duplicate already CASted objects, it’ll keep your design just like the dropper tool, but it’s a lot less time consuming, I promise.

Don’t be afraid to use the swatch save tool for objects you use often, esp community lot objects, as it helps to keep your aesthetic consistent. I also keep all of my favorite streetlamps, benches, and public trash bins etc in a convenient custom collection folder to speed up the process of doing multiple lots in one sitting. These handy tools are there, use them.

The issue with custom counters. They mess up sometimes, if you can’t recolor it suddenly, here’s how to fix that. Now if you can’t place down a cupboard suddenly, even though nothing’s in the way, and you’ve got moveobjects on activated, try putting it on the wall a tile over, and then try adding it to your desired spot again. Lastly if you set down counters or cupboards at a corner, and it messes up the textures, but you can still recolor it, you could do what the video I linked above does, or you could simply pull out the CASt tool, and switch it back to any of its original swatches and click the check, then feel free to recolor it as you want.

Railings will also do the “can’t recolor” trick too, but this is a simple fix, just delete it, and replace it, and you’re good.

“Oh no, I switched between buy and build mode, and now my catalogue won’t load, and I can’t click on anything at all!” Don’t panic, hit F2 and/or F3 on your keyboard, these are shortcuts for switching between them, and if you’re lucky it’ll load properly again. Should you get the bug where you load a category and it’s somehow empty, don’t fret, just click on a different category and this should fix it. Then if you get the bug where all the objects you put down disappear suddenly, sorry your game is haunted. Call an exorcist, or just reload, they might reappear if you do.

Tbh, if you run into any kind of major bugs, it’s likely a sign to either save immediately or just restart your game. These only ever show up when you’ve been at it a while ( at least for me ), therefore starting fresh wouldn’t hurt. Probably also wouldn’t hurt to check whether you might’ve installed something the game didn’t agree with by running Dashboard, or put it through the ol’ Save Cleaner.

Honorable Mention: Keep an eye on the texture sizes and poly counts of objects. I know it’s tempting to build these ultra hyperrealistic lots with clutter at every inch, but unless you’re just doing it for screenshots, or for your story, or using it very sparingly, it is not by any means recommended purely for gameplay. This is just the truth when it comes to any Sims game. You don’t want lag, or max memory crashes, or save errors? The Sims 3 is a 32bit game, that’s almost old enough to drive, be easy on it.

Muga.

Into The Future Soil Rugs With Additional Invisible Presets - default replacement

This was requested by @echoweaver (sorry it took me so long to upload!). I added a second invisible preset to all five ITF soil rugs so they are a bit more versatile. I decided against replacing the original texture with an empty one because I didn't want it to mess up pre-built houses in Oasis Landing, so instead I added a new preset. Because of that, I had to edit the .OBJD resources along with the textures, so if you're using these hiders by @bioniczombie, make sure to delete the hiders for these rugs!

Download (google drive)

Alternative download (dropbox)

Requires Into The Future. Credits to EA for the textures and meshes.

why did white people stop assassinating their own presidents... nobody wants to work anymore

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

I've been pretty quiet on here, but that doesn't mean I've stopped simming! First up I'd like to say thanks (and sorry!) to all the lovely people who've sent me messages :) I'm gonna try my best to reply to everyone asap!

For christmas I wanted to share something special - so here is the public release of the first version of my Decorating Tools mod (or S3DT)

Quick Description - This mod adds hotkeys to the game to allow you to move objects up/down, left/right and rotate in all directions, similar to T.O.O.L for TS4 PDF Guide included below!

To my wonderful patrons - thank you for your support <3 I feel bad that real life has gotten in the way of me delivering more content to you all, so I'll likely be closing it soon! If it's possible, I'll also refund the last couple of months due to my inactivity. Anyone who wants to can still donate to my Ko-Fi

MOD INSTRUCTIONS AND DOWNLOAD BELOW THE CUT

This version is compatible with icarusallsorts' Transmogrifier Mod, and until I can figure out how to script it better, my mod actually REQUIRES it in order for them to be compatible together.

If you would like a version that does not require the Transmogrifier (but is therefore incompatible) send me a message!

FUTURE PLANS: - Adapting movement depending on camera direction - Adding a UI interface for interactions and manual rotations etc. - Scaling interactions with hotkeys

Don't be afraid to reply to this post, send me an ask or a private message if you have any questions or problems. I'm also in the Creator's Cave discord, so feel free to @ me there too :) And please tag me or use the tag #S3DT if you come up with any cool ways to use this mod!

DOWNLOAD S3DecoratorTools.V1

VIEW PDF GUIDE

Thank you to @greenplumbboblover for her help with pesky matrix44's, granthes and Misukisu for laying the groundwork for this mod, and @puddingface1902 for his super helpful videos!

@pis3update

"Out in the Yard" Mini outdoor deco set

–by itssimplythesims for TS3

The poll winner from a few weeks back was indoor/outdoor decor 🏡and with the warmer weather we're having, I thought I'd convert a few things for the yard since we'll be spending a little more time outside, like hanging out with family on the patio, splashing around in the pool, or building in the sandbox with Ryan's two toddlers. 🤭

This set is a little bit of a mishmash but I found the outdoor storage bin first–the details are super nice–and then just started tacking on a few things that I thought might look nice out in...well, the yard!

Please reblog so more people can enjoy these! 🫶

Support my content! | Get the goods!

Details below! ↓

Tech Specs

For TS3

Package format | $5 | Found in Sculptures

Decor only | Not functional

Original creator credit can be found in each object's description

Everything is less than 10k polys except for the chair (~11k was the best I could do without losing integrity)

TOU | Creative Commons

OK to convert to other games.

‼️No paywalls. Must have a free option with immediate access‼️ because my creations and conversions are under the Creative Commons license and/or are paid for by me for the whole community to enjoy.

OK to include in lots or uploads.

OK to retexture, clone, or modify.

Please give me a shoutout if you use or convert them! 💗

If you like these, DM me with ideas if you'd like more backyard goodies. 😁 (I was thinking maybe garages could use some love, too...?)

@katsujiiccfinds @pis3update @kpccfinds 🫶

#ccforhayley This time featuring the “You Are A Free Cow + aminovas’s Brown Guernsey Dafult Cow Skin”; I decided to do two things, the first one was to Realize the wish of my friend mspoodle1 and the second one was to release my first item for this great simmer Hayley ♥ This has been a Beautiful campaign and I hope that she can reach the goal :]

As you see everywhere in this post, this is a Default Replacement of two things, the Milkin’ it Dairy Corral from the Store and its Cows! I could not have made it without the help of Ami, she’s GREAT!

I highly suggest you to visit my blog and download there, however if you’re an adventurous and want to take risks, go ahead and download here :] LOL

Donate to Hayley and feel the Power! Visit my Blogger — Details, Pictures, Mirror Downloads and Useful Links. Download: Milking’ it Dairy Corral Default Replacement Download: Aminova’s Brown Guernsey Dafult Cow Skin

Remember that you need the corral first! If the links do not work then you’ll have to go to blogger

Having a slightly better day today so tried my hand at converting for the first time in almost a year.

It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination since I’d forgotten most of the steps to converting but I think it’s good enough that if you guys want it I can upload it.