The Sims 3
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Developers | |
---|---|
The Sims Studio | |
Expansions | EA Salt Lake |
macOS (OS X) | TransGaming Inc. |
Publishers | |
Electronic Arts | |
Engines | |
The Sims 3 Engine | |
Release dates | |
Windows | June 2, 2009 |
macOS (OS X) (Cider) | June 2, 2009 |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | Sponsored, DLC, Expansion pack |
Series | The Sims |
The Sims | |
---|---|
Subseries of Sim | |
The Sims | 2000 |
The Sims Online | 2002 |
The Sims 2 | 2004 |
The Sims Stories (series) | |
MySims | 2008 |
The Sims 3 | 2009 |
The Sims Medieval | 2011 |
The Sims 4 | 2014 |
The Sims | |
---|---|
Subseries of Sim | |
The Sims | 2000 |
The Sims Online | 2002 |
The Sims 2 | 2004 |
The Sims Stories (series) | |
MySims | 2008 |
The Sims 3 | 2009 |
The Sims Medieval | 2011 |
The Sims 4 | 2014 |
Key points
- Strong modding community
- Lacks native vsync functionality. It is advised to force vertical sync via the graphics control panel to lessen the strain on your GPU.
General information
- The Sims 3 Official Forums
- Answer HQ for The Sims 3 at EA.com
- Answer HQ for The Sims series at EA.com (OS X)
- The Sims Wiki
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | SecuROM 7 and SecuROM PA DRM, unknown machine limit. A De-Authorization Tool is available. Dropped starting with patch 1.2.7. Later expansions add Origin DRM. |
|||
Origin | Included with EA Play. | |||
Steam | Included with EA Play (Steam). |
Version differences
- List of all different versions and regions can be found on Wikipedia.
DLC and expansion packs
Name | Notes | |
---|---|---|
World Adventures | Expansion 1 | |
Ambitions | Expansion 2 | |
Late Night | Expansion 3. Included with EA Play. | |
Generations | Expansion4 | |
Pets | Expansion 5 | |
Showtime | Expansion 6 | |
Supernatural | Expansion 7 | |
Seasons | Expansion 8 | |
University Life | Expansion 9 | |
Island Paradise | Expansion 10 | |
Into the Future | Expansion 11 | |
High-End Loft Stuff | Stuff pack 1. Also known as Design and Hi-Tech Stuff in Europe Included with EA Play. |
|
Fast Lane Stuff | Stuff pack 2 | |
Outdoor Living Stuff | Stuff pack 3 | |
Town Life Stuff | Stuff pack 4 | |
Master Suite Stuff | Stuff pack 5 | |
Katy Perry's Sweet Treats | Stuff pack 6 | |
Diesel Stuff | Stuff pack 7 | |
70s, 80s, & 90s Stuff | Stuff pack 8 | |
Movie Stuff | Stuff pack 9 |
Microtransactions
Type | Notes |
---|---|
Cosmetic | SimPoints are spent on additional clothing and furniture. |
Currency | Real money is exchanged for SimPoints which are spent in the Sims 3 Store. SimPoints are not available to be earned in-game. |
Unlock | Stuff Packs are sold which consist of additional clothing and furniture. Additionally, other maps and gameplay elements are sold piecemeal on the Sims 3 store. |
Essential improvements
Patches
- Patch 1.67.2 are the latest patch available.
- The patch notes can be found here here.
Skip intro videos
Skip intro videos[1] |
---|
Download and install this mod. |
SMAA injector
- Universal fix for most D3D9 and later games. Should provide better anti-aliasing especially with objects that use alpha effects e.g. hair and foliage; the default FSAA implementation unfortunately does not cover such effects.
Bypassing the launcher
Rename the executable[2] |
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|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | |
macOS (OS X) | |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/47890/pfx/[Note 1] |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves |
macOS (OS X) | ~/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Saves |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/47890/pfx/[Note 1] |
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Origin | ||
OneDrive | Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers. | |
Steam Cloud |
Video
Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | |||
Multi-monitor | Use The Sims 3 FOV tool. HUD Position Affects Gameplay. | ||
Ultra-widescreen | Vert- scaling.[3] | ||
4K Ultra HD | UI does not scale with resolution and is extremely small in 4K. | ||
Field of view (FOV) | Use The Sims 3 FOV tool. | ||
Windowed | |||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | |||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS | |||
High dynamic range display (HDR) | See the glossary page for potential alternatives. |
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | |
Mouse acceleration | No mouse acceleration. | |
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support |
Controller types |
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Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | ||
Surround sound | Up to 5.1 when zoomed in. | |
Subtitles | No intelligible dialog. All in-game dialog uses the fictional Simlish language. | |
Closed captions | Sound effects accompanied by visual effects. | |
Mute on focus lost | Can be turned off |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
Czech | ||||
Traditional Chinese | ||||
Danish | ||||
Dutch | ||||
Finnish | ||||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Greek | ||||
Hebrew | ||||
Hungarian | ||||
Italian | ||||
Japanese | ||||
Korean | ||||
Norwegian | ||||
Polish | ||||
Portuguese | ||||
Brazilian Portuguese | ||||
Russian | ||||
Spanish | ||||
Swedish | ||||
Thai |
Issues fixed
- You can find various fixes in this Steam Community Guide .
- Many performance issues can be fixed with mods. These include Overwatch, ErrorTrap, Traveler, Mastercontroller and DebugEnabler
Poor performance
Turn off online functionality |
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|
World Adventures Region Error
- Incorrect Region Codes can be fixed with a simple registry tweak.
World Adventures Region Error[citation needed] |
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Region Codes
|
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 9 | |
Shader Model support | 2.0 |
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows | |||
macOS (OS X) | Not compatible with macOS Catalina |
Mods
- The Sims 3 attracts a large modding community, allowing further customization features. Unfortunately, even properly designed mods could increase the chances of crashes and errors in the game. Mods have a major impact on loading time and stability, and should be used with discretion if you are having issues with the game.
- AwesomeMod - A large compilation of mods and small tweaks. More information can be found at The Sims Wikia and Matywikka (archived)
Mod resources
- The Sims 3 Exchange - The official website for sharing user-made content (sims, households, clothing and etc.). The website uses the Sims 3 launcher to download and install custom content. Both the exchange and Sims 3 launcher require the same account.
- Mod The Sims - Also hosts mods for The Sims 2 and The Sims 4.
Tools
Official
- These tools were created by EA and are hosted on the games official website.
- Create a World (Beta)
Unofficial
- More tools can be found here
Better performance
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | XP SP2 | Vista, 7, 8.1 |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz P4 Pentium D 2.6 GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz |
Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz Intel Pentium D 2.6 GHz |
System memory (RAM) | 1 GB | 1.5 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 7.1 GB | 32 GB (with all DLC) |
Video card (GPU) | ATI Radeon 9600 series GMA 3 series 128 MB of VRAM Shader model 2.0 support |
- VRAM requirements do not apply to integrated GPUs.
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | ||
Operating system (OS) | 10.5.7 (Leopard) | |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Core 2 Duo | |
System memory (RAM) | 2 GB | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 7.1 GB | |
Video card (GPU) | ATI Radeon X1600 Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT Intel Integrated GMA X3100 128 MB of VRAM |
- VRAM requirements do not apply to integrated GPUs.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (47890) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.
References
- ↑ Verified by User:Aaronth07 on 2019-10-10
- ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1697342394
- ↑ Anyone here playing Sims 3 on 3440x1440 ? - last accessed on 2020-05-30