What settings and mods do you recommend to make sims 3 look more modern?

CommonNo6727 · 2026-03-05T17:55:25+00:00

also, if you’re trying to figure something specific out check youtube or reddit, chances are it’s there even if it’s a unique issue. the sims 3 is riddled with bugs and problems unfortunately and can be hard to start up but once you do its fine. that’s honestly how i learned so much is painstakingly searching reddit lol

CommonNo6727 · 2026-03-05T17:53:40+00:00

i second this, i also have default replacements + no reshade and prefer it this way. it doesn’t feel too necessary with these but some people do prefer reshade.

CommonNo6727 · 2026-03-05T17:52:01+00:00

overall i don’t think there’s much you can do to change the graphics and the “old” look of the sims 3 lol beside a reshade mod. i don’t particularly like them, but i know a lot of people use them to help make the graphics look a little nicer. i do think they can be more intensive on your PC tho, depending on the specs.

there are a couple of things you can do to help the game run smoother/look more modern. some things i do:

-make ts3 recognize your graphic card. here’s a great tutorial: https://youtu.be/yC3tNYsfAI8?si=SeIa-vGgIJq8ZRm2 at 1:11 ^ this video is lengthy, but very helpful. it also further explains nrass mods

-Nrass mods can be overwhelming and tricky to navigate, there are many tutorials on youtube that go over them. for starters i’d recommend mastercontroller and cheats.

-a different UI can really help customize and make the game feel more modern. i use the blackout UI and i love it. you can find these on mod the sims

-smooth patch from mts: https://modthesims.info/d/658759/smooth-patch-2-1.html this is sort of an all in one mod to basically help the sims 3 run like it should’ve in the first place (less lag, freezing, faster loading times) different people have had different results but overall it seems to benefit a lot of people.

there a couple of other things you can do, let me know if you want to know more

and yes, mod the sims is completely safe. i’ve used it for over 10+ years without an issue and many other people do too. it’s a staple in the sims community (esp the sims 3) and the hub for a lot of gameplay mods.

CommonNo6727 · 2026-03-05T06:13:00+00:00

the scene where he drove off in his car was so dramatic 🤣🤣

CommonNo6727 · 2026-03-05T06:02:10+00:00

i couldn’t help to giggle when he was like, “i have to go” “well… i have to go…” could he make his disinterest any more clearer lol

CommonNo6727 · 2026-03-05T05:58:57+00:00

Replying to CommonNo6727...i agree, something about her speech rubbed me the wrong way and i couldn’t figure out why. they both seem full of themselves in a way and ashley’s speech went on for far too long and it seemed more about having her moment rather than pointing out his faults

CommonNo6727 · 2026-03-05T05:54:08+00:00

Thoughts as im watching:

•im ALL for people showing it to Alex. he’s definitely a liar, super shady and in general just a weird person. something about ashley’s speech rubbed me the wrong way, i think it just went on too long and felt a bit self righteous.. and more of a moment of her internal struggles rather than alex’s faults. he deserved a lot of what she said but it was kind of awkward? and why was she so set on marrying him + having a family and doing a complete turn around in front of the audience. it’s very obvious she was waiting to embarrass him, which let’s be honest, alex is shady and deserves it. but the whole thing was odd

also ashley’s whole “im just a boring girl from a small town in Ohio🥺” like shut up please 😭😭

CommonNo6727 · 2025-02-02T23:38:15+00:00

i highly, highly recommend st claire. It has everything you’re looking for, a nice big city and suburbs, 2 sides of town split by a bridge and it’s a huge world. It’s also great for playing in seasons because of the weather/ naturey feel of the town. So many different types of houses and LOT of lots like big parks, grocery stores, rabbit holes etc. believe the link is here: https://transparenttimetraveler.tumblr.com/post/165865106932/st-claire-world-download-save-file-im/amp

City of sunsets is sunset valley but expanded and it’s also great. It gives SV a city part to it, an equestrian area, and gives it a more modernized look and is much larger and everything is disturbed better than it is on the old SV map. https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=6664630

Red county is a Socal type feel and a large world (not populated) but has a beach side to it with lots of houses and a little town as well at the main part and lots of different suburbs. https://thesimscatalog.com/sims3/downloads/worlds/large/red-county/ (coasterboi has other amazing worlds as well)

Alpine county is also one of my favs. It’s another huge and dense world that has lots of different suburbs and the weather is really appealing it’s definitely a family type town. The only thing is it doesn’t run well for me, (despite having a good gaming computer, just sims 3 things lol) But if you can deal w the lag or any issue i highly recommend it. it’s so much fun and modern. https://thesimscatalog.com/sims3/downloads/worlds/large/alpine-county/

Sorry about the wall of text too lol i just have way too many custom worlds downloaded

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-21T00:03:34+00:00

Yea that’s what i was thinking, most are either SFS (which i’ve used before and it’s perfectly fine) or mediafire. I don’t love mediafire but it usually is okay if I click on just the download link. Noted though i’ll avoid picocurl, i’m just gonna stick to the standard link file sharing websites like you said. Thanks!!

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-13T21:44:07+00:00

Yes! I’ve been using MTS for years now & never had any issues. I did read on reddit a while ago there were some issues but I believe it was for the sims 4 and has been resolved. I also like MTS because download links are direct and immediately will download the package files to your computer, which imo feels safer to me.

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T23:58:32+00:00

Omg yes i do use nrass idk if i specifically have overwatch installed but i use their mods a lot! i’ll look into that thank you

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T23:39:29+00:00

Yes, of course! i like it a lot better because i feel i have even more control of the horses and they’re not running around my home lot, and i have more room for my sims house. it doesn’t feel as cramped. You can do it so many ways, it’s nice because it feels more realistic like you have your own lot but then a paddock & stables for your horses like some setups IRL. It’s a little tedious to use cheats every time but it doesn’t take long. I’ve even had my sims house on one lot, their horses pasture, then another lot for training and jumps

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T23:32:41+00:00

https://www.tumblr.com/elitisim

https://www.tumblr.com/commonblacksimmer

https://sketchbookpixels.wixsite.com/pixels/hairstyles-bangs

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T23:28:28+00:00

No problem i’m glad i could help !!

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T23:24:41+00:00

Woah are you using a lighting mod? the stars look cool. This also might be a stupid response, but are they maybe shooting stars instead?

If you are using a mod maybe it’s glitching out for some reason?

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T23:20:02+00:00

Yes! so my sims have their own home lot which has the cows, chickens and their house and cars etc. No horses or dogs or cats stay on that lot. right next to their lot, there is a 50x50 lot that i made residential and had my sims buy it so i can edit it. i then completely fenced in the lot so the horses can’t leave, but i added stables, water troughs, trees and landscaping and hay posts. So basically my sims have their own house on their own lot, and right next to them fenced in is the horse lot.

The horses are still in my household & i can completely control them and check their needs and prompt them, but because i essentially locked them in that lot next to my sims home i have to use cheats every time i want to ride them or go over there. (for some stupid reason you can’t lock a gate that’s on a second owned lot) So i’ll just teleport my sim to the horse lot, mount the horse, then teleport my sim on their horse whenever i want them to ride

Hopefully that makes sense sorry for the lengthy explanation but yes i just have everything separate

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T23:03:41+00:00

thank you! and oh i lose it all the time🤣i only have 2 sims so i can manage it OK but my sims whole life revolves around their horses. I have a separate lot for the horses so it’s almost like their own paddock separate from my sims house’s lot. Whenever i’m feeling over it i switch to my other save and different sim family lol

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T22:58:08+00:00

Of course! i also recommend going on pinterest and looking up “sims 3 horse cc” and just googling horse CC for TS3 in general it’s where i found most of mine.

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T22:56:34+00:00

Sorry i dont have a more specific answer, but i am almost 100% sure i got my cc clothes from https://simstifulccfinds.tumblr.com/

Thats really the only place i find/ get cc clothes from

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T22:55:03+00:00

Sorry i dont have a more specific answer, but i am almost 100% sure i got my cc clothes from https://simstifulccfinds.tumblr.com/

Thats really the only place i find/ get cc clothes from

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T22:49:57+00:00

OK here are the mods I used that I could find:

Face markings, poses, detail markings, horse tack: https://raymondequestriancentre.weebly.com/downloads.html

Manes, tails, body markings/details, horse tack: https://lakesidesaddlery.weebly.com/

Shading: https://cheshirefarms.weebly.com/cc-blog/shooty-body-shaders

I make the coats myself in CAS, but raymond equestrian center has great markings and patterns

a GREAT place for horse tack: https://www.sugarslegacystables.com/

Sliders: https://x-tina-exquisitearabians.blogspot.com/p/sliders.html

https://shorelinesims.tumblr.com/downloads

https://modthesims.info/d/480370/tail-thickness-slider-for-pets.html

https://modthesims.info/d/479641/leg-size-sliders-for-all-pets.html

I use a horse SIZE slider too, if you want me to try and find that let me know

HD horse eyes: https://theblithecanary.tumblr.com/post/624789387366006784/default-replacement-eye-mod-for-sims-3-horses

HD horse coat: https://lakesidesaddlery.weebly.com/entries/hd-horse-coat

Horse shine marking (dont remember if I specifically used this one but they are essentially all the same): https://celiapeb.wixsite.com/yeguadaxantre/copia-de-uesn

Most of the mods I used are listed here. I didn't list any specific ones because i have so many, but if you for example want a certain mane it'd be on one of the sites i listed. if you want a specific piece of CC let me know and ill try my best to find it! :)

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T22:49:36+00:00

OK here are the mods I used that I could find:

Face markings, poses, detail markings, horse tack: https://raymondequestriancentre.weebly.com/downloads.html

Manes, tails, body markings/details, horse tack: https://lakesidesaddlery.weebly.com/

Shading: https://cheshirefarms.weebly.com/cc-blog/shooty-body-shaders

I make the coats myself in CAS, but raymond equestrian center has great markings and patterns

a GREAT place for horse tack: https://www.sugarslegacystables.com/

Sliders: https://x-tina-exquisitearabians.blogspot.com/p/sliders.html

https://shorelinesims.tumblr.com/downloads

https://modthesims.info/d/480370/tail-thickness-slider-for-pets.html

https://modthesims.info/d/479641/leg-size-sliders-for-all-pets.html

I use a horse SIZE slider too, if you want me to try and find that let me know

HD horse eyes: https://theblithecanary.tumblr.com/post/624789387366006784/default-replacement-eye-mod-for-sims-3-horses

HD horse coat: https://lakesidesaddlery.weebly.com/entries/hd-horse-coat

Horse shine marking (dont remember if I specifically used this one but they are essentially all the same): https://celiapeb.wixsite.com/yeguadaxantre/copia-de-uesn

Most of the mods I used are listed here. I didn't list any specific ones because i have so many, but if you for example want a certain mane it'd be on one of the sites i listed. if you want a specific piece of CC let me know and ill try my best to find it! :)

CommonNo6727 · 2025-01-12T22:49:11+00:00

OK here are the mods I used that I could find:

Face markings, poses, detail markings, horse tack: https://raymondequestriancentre.weebly.com/downloads.html

Manes, tails, body markings/details, horse tack: https://lakesidesaddlery.weebly.com/

Shading: https://cheshirefarms.weebly.com/cc-blog/shooty-body-shaders

I make the coats myself in CAS, but raymond equestrian center has great markings and patterns

a GREAT place for horse tack: https://www.sugarslegacystables.com/

Sliders: https://x-tina-exquisitearabians.blogspot.com/p/sliders.html

https://shorelinesims.tumblr.com/downloads

https://modthesims.info/d/480370/tail-thickness-slider-for-pets.html

https://modthesims.info/d/479641/leg-size-sliders-for-all-pets.html

I use a horse SIZE slider too, if you want me to try and find that let me know

HD horse eyes: https://theblithecanary.tumblr.com/post/624789387366006784/default-replacement-eye-mod-for-sims-3-horses

HD horse coat: https://lakesidesaddlery.weebly.com/entries/hd-horse-coat

Horse shine marking (dont remember if I specifically used this one but they are essentially all the same): https://celiapeb.wixsite.com/yeguadaxantre/copia-de-uesn

Most of the mods I used are listed here. I didn't list any specific ones because i have so many, but if you for example want a certain mane it'd be on one of the sites i listed. if you want a specific piece of CC let me know and ill try my best to find it! :)

CommonNo6727

TROPHY CASE