Very Basic & Useful Mods

Hey, here are some mods. I haven't updated this guide in... 6 years! It might(?) be outdated but you can sure as heck try it out.

How To Install Mods

Well there are some good mods, but, you need to install them to use them. Mods vary in installation method. Some mods, like lots or clothes often have "wizard" downloads. Other mods like moar interactions as seen above require a "manual" download.

Wizard

1. Download correct file from mod website. Files may come in different "flavours". Flavours are simply different versions of the mod that alter it's affects. KleptoTweaks is a good example of flavours.

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2. Use a zip file opener like WinRar or 7Zip to open the file downloaded from mod download website. Something like this should appear.

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3. Open the file to open the "wizard" installer.

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4. Open your game and enjoy!

Or, if you need to manually install a mod the steps are here.
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1. Download correct file from mod website. Files may come in different "flavours". Flavours are simply different versions of the mod that alter it's affects. KleptoTweaks is a good example of flavours.
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2. Use a zip file opener like WinRar or 7Zip to open the file downloaded from the mod download website. Something like this will appear.
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3. Go to Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 and create a folder titled "Mods". Within this folder create one folder called "Overrides" and another called "Packages". You will also need a file called resource.cfg.

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4. If the mod you have installed is a .package file, it will be placed in "Packages". If it says otherwise, it will be placed in "Overrides". Sounds simple right? It is!

5. Open your game and enjoy! A box called "Mod Scripts Found" should appear when you launch the game, this is not important unless re-installing, uninstalling, updating or patching mods.

NRaas Mods

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In my personal opinion NRaas is one of, or the best modder of The Sims 3. NRaas makes mods that drasticly improve the artificial intelligence (AI) of the computer-controlled characters. His mods cover big issues and personal pet peeves that you may have. The link to his website where you can download his mods is here. [nraas.wikispaces.com] Some of his mods are more important than others and some are unnecessary altogether. I will give my opinions on which will benefit you the most. I highly reccomend reading the Documentation/Interactions log and also the description of the mod at the top before installation and deinstalltion. You can find the download pages by clicking on the titles.

MasterController

[nraas.wikispaces.com]

MasterController is probably the most important NRaas mod because it allows control of almost all the aspects of your town and the sims, lots, and rabbitholes within it. This mod when combined with Overwatch is able to reset glitched Sims, lots and improve the performance of your game. Read the section "How To Stop Your Game Freezing/Lagging" to learn how to improve the performance and obliterate lag spikes.

Overwatch

[nraas.wikispaces.com]

Overwatch will try to find and get rid of persistent bugs created by the core game and your mods. This mod doesn't cause much lag since it doesn't have many proccesses to run, but it always runs in the background trying to find bugs, unless you disable the mod.

StoryProgression

[nraas.wikispaces.com]

StoryProgression is the best mod I have seen in a long time. This mod drasticly improves the game world by making the charcters perform actions that change their lives, improve skills, get demoted and promoted; and have relationships and families. This mod replaces the poorly programed EA story progression which does not perform the functions it says it does such as AI Sims having children. This mod can cause lag, so you need a fairly good computer to run this mod, but it's definitely worth the lag because it makes the environment much more dynamic.

Dresser

[nraas.wikispaces.com]

You have had this problem before. You can't lie. You have. Your sims grow up, and so do the others. The others get automatic outfits set, but those outfits suck. I've seen too many unfortunate Sims getting sucked into the void of overalls and t-shirts for outerwear. But... only if there was a fix... only if... BUT WAIT! THERE IS A FIX! Yes! This mod will actively check the clothing of Sims and will end the ugly wardrobe syndrome! No micro-managing needed!

ErrorTrap

[nraas.wikispaces.com]

Sometimes sims perform interactions that can't be done, or can't be reached. Sometimes this causes lag in the game and will cause lag. This mod is both good and bad at the same time. Because this cleans up lag spikes, this is great. However, if you for some reason like trapping sims (I will not judge, we have all done it), this mod is not for you.

WooHooer

[nraas.wikispaces.com]

This mod improves the relationship system very much. It changes things relating to the romantic interactions. Combined with the Kama Simtra plugin, you get a new skill for WooHooing and more interactions.

Stop The Game From Freezing/Lagging

This is for sure not a mod but it requires two and will surely help you a lot. To do this, you need Nraas MasterController and Nraas Overwatch. The links to these mods can be found under the "Nraas" section of this guide. A YouTube video explaining how to stop the game from freezing lagging is here:

How to make the game run more smoother

This section will be added onto whenever anyone get's the time to do it.

Mods That Add More To The Game

Eskin Natural Skin Enhancer

Eskin Natural is a skin enhancer that makes the skins of your characters far more detailed. It has varying levels of muscle definition and skin tone. To get the full detail of these skins you should have your graphics options on high texture quality, but this is not necessary. You can find it here.[modthesims.info]

Here are some examples of the skins:

Female:ᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚMale:
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No Crappy Bunk Beds!

Bunkbeds in Generations give you a bad night's sleep buff, so this is a pretty useful mod if you're planning on using bunkbeds.
You can find it here.[modthesims.info]

No Autonomous Computer Games

Computer games can tend to be annoying as sims would always go to the computer and play video games, which the sounds it plays are really loud so you end up selling the computer in the end, even though for it's many uses. This does not delete the option though, and you can still choose to direct your sim to play it (Ambitions, pets, showtime, or generations is required)
You can find it here.[modthesims.info]

No Intro with Maxis logo

Well this is pretty self explanitory, this mod disables the intro and maxis logo on game start. It helps the loading process go by a lot faster.
You can find it here.[modthesims.info]

Moar Interactions

Well this one is quite useful in many ways, if you don't want to keep clicking random options with chat you can just simply press one option that is either friendly, mean, romantic or funny. And it will keep the chat flowing. But there are many other things that make this mod useful so please check it out. You can find it here.[modthesims.info]

Here are some examples or the interactions:

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Time to work again - Cancel time off

Ever accidentaly taken too much time off work? Got time off because you just got married? Don't want that time off? Then, install this mod that allows you to cancel that time off! You can find it here.[modthesims.info]
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10 new CAS Sliders

This mod adds new sliders to the Create-a-Sim mode. These sliders change most of the parts of your sim's body that normally can't be modified. You can find this mod here.[modthesims.info]

Translations:
Gesichtsmerkmal - Facial Feature
Hüftbreite - Hip Width
Brustgröße - Breast Size
Taillenbreite - Waist Width

This mod is in English, but this picture is not.
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Klepto Tweaks

I think we've all had this problem - too many things to steal and not enough time to steal. This mod has various versions that increase the chances of objects being stolen from work/school, the max object value, objects stolen per day, and days to return the object. You can find this mod here.[modthesims.info]
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Generations Home Video Camera Fix

This mod slows down how fast and jerky the movement of the home video camera from Generations is. You can find it here.[modthesims.info]

Mods That Add More Challenge

In this section we will be talking about mods that will challenge the player more in the game. As with other mods, these are completely OPTIONAL.

(This section is a work in progress, expect it to be empty for a little bit.)

User Suggestions

Did we miss out on any of your favourite mods? If we did, here's your time to shine and mention them! Please no mods we have already mentioned unless they improve even more.

[Snootch]

I learned how to get The Sims 3 resource.cfg file:

https://help.thesimsresource.com/article/155-the-sims-3-resource-cfg-file

[Tymora's Rabbit]

Just wanna tell you, you don't need a mod to change your Sim's clothes.
If you just buy a dresser in the Build thingy, and then click on it, than your Sim will have the option "Plan Outfit". Click on that, and it'll take you to basically the character creation, but just for clothes. This saved my Sims from being killed for fashion... Horribleness?

[Juju✰]

excited for the more challenge mods

[Rarifruit]

Accidentally gave 2 Helpful Awards..! Whoops! At least ppl will know it's useful, and that the publisher knows it helped me..!! XD

[Vulpes]

Nrass has moved websites, https://www.nraas.net/community/Mods-List
Just thought i would put this out there for everyone

[Draco9711]

Someone make a drug mod. I would literally pay to be able to grow pot and buy, um... other stuff. PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

[Green's Gaming]

Okay, so what about the EA Store Page? Are those mods that add more to the game? I've been having some minor issues with downloading the Bakery Lot/Bakery Items and skills in the game recently. Is the EA Store Page down because of The Sims 4? The Bakery Lot Industry is also supposed to add more baking recipes to the game that your sims can bake in the Sims 3. I love baking in real life, and I wanted to add a little extra jazz to the game because I got excited when this came out for the game on the Sims 3 Exchange Page. Please help? Or lead me to a place where they can help me with downloading the proper content for that lot/additional items? Please and thank you!

[MegaDanger]

Thank you TDarkShadow, turns out my problem was two parts. I downloaded the file, but needed to use winrar to extract it. After that, I realized it needs to specifically be in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3, NOT the folder found through the steam files. Hopefully if someone else has the same issue, they will see these comments and it will help them.

[TDarkShadow]

@MegaDanger This thread is too old to get help with.
Checkout ModMySims or other forums to help you.
As for the Wizard, as you can read in this guide, you have to doubleclick the 3pack to open it.
If you can't, you haven't installed Sims 3 legit or you need a more modern mod organizer.

[MegaDanger]

Hello, I need help setting up the mods folder. I didn't see any wizard, so I created it myself in the Sims 3 folder, which for me is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 3
But I can't figure out how to create a file, or specifically how to get the resource.cfg file. Can someone help me?