Looks like I'm shallow.. «123...Next Go

Saviourofpotatoes

Hey guys, so I've been a huge Sims fan since the first was released 17 years ago (geez, I just tallied that up and now I feel aged) I've played 1, 2 and 4 -skipped 3 because I had a huge break and by the time I came back 4 was all the rage- but quickly became bored of it so I'm giving 3 ago because I've heard so many great things but I can't get through creating my sim; the clothing/hair choices are so slim it's hard for me to fall in love with my sims! I was wondering if you guys rely on CC or do the more choices arise with every pack? I've currently got late night, seasons, ambitions and town life stuff; I really want to get into this game but CAS is so dry I'm finding it hard to adjust. This post isn't meant to offend anyone, I'm not dissing the game at all because I haven't played it enough to truly have an opinion, I'm just wondering what everyone else thinks of the clothing/hair choices.

Thanks guys, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this!

Purrdalecki

Did you try using create a style? Click the little paintbrush palette in the corner of the big box where all the clothes are shown in and then click on a clothing you want to recolour... You have to be wearing it, I think, Idk. Choose a pattern, click on the circles of colour next to it and choose your colours from the colour wheel.

I don't have any cc but I think I have a majority of the packs. It also helps to download nraas and disable filters for outfits, that way you can unlock all the possible outfits for every category of clothes (i.e you can wear formal clothes to bed, if you wanted to.) I did this and I feel I have more choice but Idk if that means townies will go around in like swimwear to formal things or anything else like that.

To do the nraas thing, you gotta download it first and then:
Go into live mode.. Idk if that's needed but it's what I did... Click anywhere... An Nraas button will come up, click it.
Then go:
MasterController>Settings>CAS>Disable Clothing Filter and go from there. You have to do it to each individual clothing category, I didn't do it to the riding outfits bc I don't think should I should interfere with that Idk what it is but it's not a clothing category in CAS soo.

I don't think I like sims 3 clothes all that much bc of the style of it but the styling tool helps. Like the clothes are cool but I'm not in love with them.

TreyNutz

Every EP comes with more hair and clothing choices. Many (maybe all) of the SPs do as well. There's also the Store content.

I have some CC hair and clothing but not a great deal. I find really good CC hard to find and prefer 'maxis match' CC which limits my options.

I played TS2 for a long time, but honestly don't remember much about the CAS selections available. Haven't played TS4 at all yet. I'm pretty ok with the EP, SP, and Store content in that I can almost always find something that will work for me.

SimplyJen

Base game alone is not enough clothing in my opinion but I can manage with the color wheel+patterns. Yes, EPs and SPs add more clothing. There's also TS3 store but I don't think you can watch ads for free points anymore. If you don't mind using custom content, there are plenty of options out there. Installing mods/custom content in TS3 has a few more steps than TS4 so you will need to follow this guide here: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Installing_Sims_3_Package_Files/Setup_and_Files

What do I mostly use for clothing? EA content from packs and the store. Lana CC Finds is a good site to find all kinds of custom content. Here are the Sims 3 clothing tags: http://sssvitlans.tumblr.com/Clothing & Shoes Sims 3

Saviourofpotatoes

Thanks for the tips guys, I didn't see the colour wheel etc. I loved the Sims 2 and even though the clothes weren't the best they had a lot of choices but I did own every single pack, I love the look of Sims 4 but it bores me and I've had to mod the hell out of it just to play an hour so I really want to fall inlove with 3 because there's so much to do, I'll be investing in more packs (can't believe I haven't got pets yet)

I'm finding the camera controls really difficult too, I'm sure once I'm used to them everything will fall into place. Appreciate the input guys

SimplyJen

If you're planning on buying more packs, Steam will likely have another 75% off sale for Sims 3 packs during holiday sales. All though you can't mix Origin and Steam. Only one of them can you buy a code and register it to the other so hopefully someone can give you more info on this. I can't remember the details.

Here is a guide I found on Create-a-style tool:
http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/info/create-a-style.php

JoAnne65

Since you have Ambitions, be aware there may be hairstyles you haven't seen yet. Not sure how many there are, but this male hairstyle for instance only shows up when you use the stylist station.



It happens to be one of my favourites.

p.s. I believe this one is hidden in that station as well.



It looks kind of Audrey Hepburn, I love it but at the same time always forget I even have it.

CravenLestat

@JoAnne65 You are right those are locked,but can unlock with the unlockoufits cheat.

The one you mentioned and a few other locked QTs

Saviourofpotatoes

All your sims look amazing I need to remember that it's a 7 year old franchise so the graphics will take some getting used to although I'm glad that my laptop -at the moment- is running it beautifully, we'll see how that goes after I splurge. They're selling the packs quite cheap in my local second hand shop and I'm a fiend for bingeing on EPs etc.

Sims 3 is so daunting, it seems jam packed and my eyes don't know where to go and I haven't even got 3 EPs yet! Seesh.

Saviourofpotatoes

Also, what packs would you guys recommend I buy next?

CravenLestat

@Saviourofpotatoes These are recent pics of mine full on vanilla no skins or nothing, I did not even make these sims they are townies and the hair clothing is EA.Our old game does not look so bad.Zero credit goes to me for the sims I did not do anything but kidnap a townie and put Sims 3 store/expansion/Stuff pack clothes on them,

Saviourofpotatoes

@CravenLestat Oh wow, looks like I better get pack splurging then! What pretty sims, I suppose it's because I haven't got a lot of packs as of yet so my game is feeling a bit bare.

CravenLestat

Saviourofpotatoes wrote: »

@CravenLestat Oh wow, looks like I better get pack splurging then! What pretty sims, I suppose it's because I haven't got a lot of packs as of yet so my game is feeling a bit bare.

Get this too @Saviourofpotatoes it will change your life.Part of the sims game is not some outside download, we can make our own clothing,furniture,wallpaper,comforters etc etc patterns.And can share them with others.


https://www.thesims3.com/game/tools/pattern

Rukola_Schaaf

@Saviourofpotatoes

for widened gameplay i would recommend World Adventures & Into the Future
for prettier everyday Seasons' great

& there are some stuff packs which have some great additions, in fact nearly all stuff packs have something great in them
also
did you notice the TS3 store ?
make yourself familiar with this thread (link below)
Daily Deal (DD) Rotation and Sales Help - Continuation of September List <<<
it helps to keep the store prices low
you can get some of the store content on discs meantime as well

Mikezumi

@Saviourofpotatoes When I wanted to see what hair and clothes each EP or SP contained I always checked HERE. Have fun with TS3. It really is a great game even though it has been around for a while

Saviourofpotatoes

@CravenLestat I've just downloaded it and I'm reading more into it, something like that will have me lost for hours! Thank you for all the great advice.

@Rukola_Schaaf I'll keep an eye out, although I've installed mostly disc; noob question but if I was to download online as well - for example from Origin- would the games merge or would I have to stick to disc only? I was thinking World Adventures and pets -or- supernatural next, knowing me I'll get all three aha.

@Mikezumi Great link, I'll be sure to take a look through that before future purchases. Thanks!

I have to say, what a lovely side to the forums. Everyone seems so passionate and helpful about Sims 3, it's a breath of fresh air. Thanks for all your input guys, I'm downloading the rest of the packs I have at the moment and will be sure to order more aha.

edit: said fresh of breath air, aha I prefer it that way if you ask me!

Mikezumi

@Saviourofpotatoes Off the top of my head, I would say that Diesel Stuff and Master Suite are my favourites.

Saviourofpotatoes

@Mikezumi I can see there's also Sims 3 create a sim? Is that a pack purely designed to put more items in CAS?

Mikezumi

I think that was something that people could use before they got the game to create sims. I could be wrong because I never tried it. I am sure someone else will know the answer. @CravenLestat is pretty smart about that stuff.

Saviourofpotatoes

@Mikezumi Ah! Okay, I'll probably just stick to investing in main packs for now with lots on content as far as clothing etc goes, so far I haven't even dipped my toes in and already the world seems amazing. I had no problem with activities and things to do, it was purely about how my sims looked because I like to have pretty Sims; I can't wait to get stuck in. Sims 4 is pretty but it lacks so much in gameplay and so far the packs are actually quite infuriating.

Rukola_Schaaf

@Saviourofpotatoes
Origin & discs, it's little tricky
depends on if you want to stick to being independend disks only player or if you are ok with download content as well
in general both mix, no problem
but there is a difference in patch level
i play on 1.67, which most older players probably prefer & i have managed to avoid Origin for TS3 but i have it easier oc to do so, i play since day 1
if you register packs on Origin, then you'll have to update the game to patch 1.69 & that brings certain problems with it, but maybe those are not really significant to you, since you start out first with TS3

& yes, this side of the forums is way friendlier & calmer,
might have to do with the game itself which is little more mature than TS4 itself & that's probably why i prefer to play TS3

Mikezumi

I have been playing since the game came out and, although I have all the SPs installed, I am still slowly adding the EPs because I like to savour what each one brings in my own slow, old lady pace I played the base game only for a long time and never found it boring but I know some people need more to keep them amused.

Then there's mods and CC! There's so much out there (unfortunately a lot is vanishing too because the creators have moved on) that you could lose days just looking for stuff.

Saviourofpotatoes

@Rukola_Schaaf I think I'll stick to buying disc second hand for now, I can pick them up for pretty cheap and I agree, this side does seem more chilled, I've read some debates between S3/S4 fans and things seemed to get heated usually. I just enjoy exploring games, unfortunately 4 burned out quite easily and 3 has enough packs to keep my addiction going (honestly I'm terrible, once I start buying I can't stop until my boyfriend holds an intervention for me)

@Mikezumi To be honest, I've trying to keep away from CC aside from maybe a few, cool game mods. Sims 2 and 4 I've wasted so many hours looking for CC to water down my shallow ways that I forget to play the game sometimes, I'm going to follow your methods and really explore Sims 3; I'm sure it'll keep me occupied for a long time, there's so many packs it's great. Oh my, I can't wait to have a horse.

Mikezumi

@Saviourofpotatoes You might find a few mods that can be found HERE will help keep your game running smoother and getting rid of problems before they potentially corrupt your saves. I recommend Master Controller, Overwatch, and Error Trap.
It's always a good idea to not keep saving over the same file. Choose "save as" often - you can always delete the older saves to make room as needed. I also recommend that instead of saving when closing to save first then close without saving.

If simpoints came with your purchase of the base game you should also check out the store. Use this thread to maximize what you can get from your simpoints.

Saviourofpotatoes

@Mikezumi I've just downloaded what you've advised, I'm playing on a laptop so I'm used to saving over old files. I'll be sure to keep on top of it, there's so much in this game no wonder it lags at times. - Touch wood - I haven't seen massive lag, yet, but I haven't downloaded many packs nor have I played long enough so fingers crossed it continues to run well.

SimplyJen

If you're on patch 1.69, Origin will require all packs to be registered to the same account. Used game copies will most likely already be registered so you won't be able to register it to your account.

To stay on patch 1.67 (or below) without Origin, you need a physical base game copy printed before 2012. The cover looks like this. All packs must be physical copies as well.

Some packs are more demanding than others. Seasons is one of those packs. If you're not sure what your computer can handle, you can always stop by the Sims 3 tech section for advice.