WHOA!!!!! I Love My Friends' Ocs

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.

gofundme.com

Donate to Help me get Pineal Cyst Removal Surgery!, organized by Ella Collis

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The pain is caused by a Pineal Cyst. Pineal cysts are relatively common, 1-2% of the population has one, but it is not common that they cause symptoms. Few doctors on this planet even believe they do cause symptoms.

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Needless to say, I, being a disabled unemployed person, cannot afford the surgery. I should be able to have it free on the NHS but it is not routinely offered so they won't fund me getting it abroad.

I am suicidally depressed because of my chronic pain. Doctors don't care about this cyst because it's not a threat to my life. Anti-depressants can only dull the pain so much.

Can people please reblog this, no matter how small your blog is, so that it can get traction?

Some Quick Updates

Okay, last thing from me for this year and it's fitting that it's mostly with my Religion mod which was my very first Tumblr post! Happy Holidays everyone!! 🤗🎆🎇

Religion Mod (Peteran):

I fixed the issue where Sims keep getting up every 5 seconds during sermons. (so dumb, I had changed from an "&&" to an "||" at some point for some unknown reason which was the issue) They will now stay seated and listen until the sermon is over barring any motive distress.

Added speech bubbles for sermons and other interactions

Added advertising to the sermon tunings so priests will autonomously use it (if you don't want that, use the original ITUN files in my previous version)

Sims can now give Holiday Sermons (they're just regular sermons but they have a higher attraction rate for Sims to autonomously listen and can only be done during Snowflake Day and Love Day)

Sermons also now give a small job performance increase

Added skill stats for the Peteran Skill (the last two are related to features not active yet in the mod so you won't see new interactions but I've loaded them in now since I'm testing it in my game) and two skill opportunities. See image below.

Fixed the issue where the "Gossip about Churchgoer" interaction was available all the time (it's only supposed to be available after going to church) Download the updated file HERE

Smoking Mod :

Added the missing string for the vape flavors. Thanks to the anon who let me know about it.

I also believe I've finally (finally! FINALLY!) fixed the issue of the broadcaster constantly spitting null value exceptions when teens smoke outside in front of a punishable adult.

Download the updated file HERE

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!

Student Council (Afterschool Activities+)

I just played TS4 High School Years. The items are really cute but there's about 6 hours of gameplay in the whole pack, lol. But it got me thinking about how I wish we had more child and teen-specific stuff to do in TS3. Like Afterschool Activities which could have been more…active. So I started making a few active afterschool activities for teens. This is the first I'm releasing.

With this mod, your teen can join the Student Council where they can then take on different activities. They can run for office in the council and support school issues to try and make their school a better place. There are 8 different student issues your Sims can try to address, like buying new textbooks or running an anti-bullying campaign. Each one will require your Sim to get a certain number of signatures and raise X amount of funds. If you don’t do so by the deadline all the students will hate you (not really but also, yes). If you are successful, then all the students will get some kind of reward related to the campaign and it will increase your popularity. You can learn about student issues and the like through the Bulletin Board object.

There are 3 different Student Council elected positions you can run for which also have extra perks and each have their own unique interactions they can do as well so they are a bit more personality-based to the role.  There's more details in the documentation.

Download here

Credits/Thanks: @bioniczombie for the TS4 HSY Bulletin board object conversion and all their wonderful conversions. Battery TS3 Script Template Creator for making modding easier. 

You'll need NRaas Careers in order to load custom afterschool activities and of course, the Generations EP. Let me know if you run into any issues!

Future Updates/Additions: I do want to create some activities for council members to organize, like a beach clean up or school charity events. So that would be the plan for a V2. Also maybe doing a proper animation for the collect signatures interaction. I know TS4 has one, I couldn't get it to load through a social xml. It's a whole thing but yes, I'm aware Sign Autograph is not the ideal animation.

146 conversions from some of kativip’s legend series sets. In sculptures for §0.

They were made for my legacy so they’re lazy and a bit shit, the main issue being that half of them have a redundant menu for lighting options ingame 🤷 I figured someone might get some use of them so they’re being uploaded as is, feel free to change/edit what you need.

You can download everything merged or separately with shitty previews, or I’ve split them into two styles if you’re just into half.

eta: gamergirlbones has kindly made a collection file which has been added to the main downloads folder.

Download (SFS)

•Click on pictures for better quality•

All credits go to @sg5150 - Original post here

Requested by @simquiry

All my conversions are in package format and base game compatible. You can view the polycount in the .zip file. Download HERE at SFS, always ads free!  

trying to explain to dumbass tumblr users that saying they benefit from systemic oppression on a certain axis is not the same as invalidating every struggle theyve ever had in their entire life

RIP Val Kilmer 💔