Custom Music - You want it? This is how «12...Next Go

T_Neumann

Quite a few threads I found can't work out how to get custom songs being played instead of the likes of Dexter Freebish or young Dr Dre... it's really quite easy, heres how!

*Please note this will only work if you select 'custom music' , it appears there is no way to get to make custom radio stations*

Step One

Make sure you have mp3 files on your computer, they must be mp3, nothing else will work. If you need to convert, download a file convertor, there's many out there, the one I used was this: http://www.nch.com.au/switch/

Step Two

Don't like Dexter Freebish, or Ladytron? You need to delete them, notice that there's two custom music folders. There's one in 'my documents/Electronic Arts/The sims 3/ Custom Music' delete all the music out of that one. But that won't just do, because it will always load up the songs in the database. For the other music folder, you need to go to Program Files/TS3/GameData/Shared/Nonpackaged/Custom Music and delete all the songs you don't want on there!

Step Three

Simply copy and paste your mp3's into the custom music folder (the one in my documents) and away you go, when you select custom music on your sim's music system you will hear your own tunes. Enjoy

(Apologies to those who knew all this - probably most of you!)

PhatePhoenix

I, for one, didn't know this. So, thank you.

randa23_1999

And I didnt know either so thanks for the great post :P

kduv8

absolutely amazing and helpful post! Thank you so very much friend!!!!!!

ValiantOne

Agreed, a most helpful post!

NOTE: Admins, this needs a sticky....

mca88

Can't you guys just run Media Player in the background? All custom music, all the time, and it works better than music in game, higher bitrates etc.

knazzer

And if anyone is still in doubt all the info is in the "Readme" including cheats that come installed with the game I must be a boring person am i the only one who reads these things hehe...

Stormkeep

mca88 wrote:

Can't you guys just run Media Player in the background? All custom music, all the time, and it works better than music in game, higher bitrates etc.

Don't think your sim gets moodlets from songs playing in media player...

SimGuru_BGY_11

Hi there!

Thanks for posting this information - it's helpful to all of us Simmers that love custom music!

-Big Guy-

Browse007X

This is awesome! I figured this out rather quickly!

PROBLEM: Sometimes my custom music never plays... anybody else having this issue?

NingK

Thanks! Now maybe I will play Sims 3 more often but I am still rather attached to all my custom content in Sims 2

sanata12311211

HELPPP!! i managed to delete the ones in ' my documents ' perfectly, but the ones under '' my computer '' non packaged etc. says its a readme file only and wont delete! helpp

serda23

You are my hero. Thanks especially for including the mp3 converter info! :thumbup:

Kaity

What would be cool is if you could change the custom music path.

All my music is already ripped to mp3's and stored on one of my hard disks (and backed up onto another storage device).

It seems pretty silly to have to duplicate it all once again just for the sake of one game, so if I could point Sims 3 at my personal music folder, and if it could read sub-dirs, I would be very happy.

Kaity

Browse007X

Kaity wrote:

What would be cool is if you could change the custom music path.

All my music is already ripped to mp3's and stored on one of my hard disks (and backed up onto another storage device).

It seems pretty silly to have to duplicate it all once again just for the sake of one game, so if I could point Sims 3 at my personal music folder, and if it could read sub-dirs, I would be very happy.

Kaity

What was awesome is in The Sims 1 you could post a shortcut to the music file and it would hunt them down for you! I know this didn't work in TS2 but havn't tried in TS3!

My radio is still having issues though! It stops working sometimes and plays nothing! What is the deal??? All my songs are mp3 files so I don't know what is up! Any ideas?

Zetawilk

Enough props, you rapscallions, I've got further questions!

Though it feels like it's important to mention that deleting the provided custom music isn't necessary to make your own custom music work. It just removes them from being queued on your Sims' Custom Music station. Why throw away any music that you paid for, seriously?

But here's the question to address: I've moved my own mp3s into the Custom Music folder already, but it's just way too quiet when it plays. Stop here--I already know you can change the stereo object's personal volume! Even so, the music is too quiet when compared with the music provided by the Sims 3 installation. It's really jarring to just turn up my speaker volume enough, because those car horns and alarm clocks are really obnoxious when you do. I've already tried messing with the in-game options sliders, but the real issue is comparing the inherent volumes of one mp3 to another.

I've tried Amplifying the songs using Audacity, but they still don't seem as loud as the Custom Music provided with the Sims 3. I just miss the days of Sims 1 when all we needed was to make a SHORTCUT of the mp3 file. No need to take up even more space on the old hard drive, eh wot?

adensem

Man that is great, but the only down side is the "rigged for entire house" does not quite work XD I have to be by my stereo to hear it, whereas with the default music you can hear anywhere. I plan to just buy another sound system to compensate since my sim makes like 4K+ a day ^^

Missaaliyah812

You shouldn't need to delete anything under MY COMPUTER, once you've deleted it from under MY DOCUMENTS, it won't play in your game.

Simmerd80

Dies this work for itunes? All my music is in the Itunes library. Am I able to put some of those songs into the Sims 3 custom? I know I can't do it with WMP..

ccorrea

Simmerd80 wrote:

Dies this work for itunes? All my music is in the Itunes library. Am I able to put some of those songs into the Sims 3 custom? I know I can't do it with WMP..

Yes, as long as the songs that are on your iTunes that you want in the game are mp3s.

If you're downloading from the Apple store, though, you're prob. downloading mp4s.

Don't worry, you can turn your mp4 into mp3s through iTunes. Simply go to preferences and set 'mp3' as default (instead of AAC), then select the song you want from a playlist and go to Advanced > Turn selection into MP3.

Go into your iTunes library folder and then copy and paste those MP3s into the custom music folder of Sims 3

Simmerd80

ccorrea wrote:

Simmerd80 wrote:

Dies this work for itunes? All my music is in the Itunes library. Am I able to put some of those songs into the Sims 3 custom? I know I can't do it with WMP..

Yes, as long as the songs that are on your iTunes that you want in the game are mp3s.

If you're downloading from the Apple store, though, you're prob. downloading mp4s.

Don't worry, you can turn your mp4 into mp3s through iTunes. Simply go to preferences and set 'mp3' as default (instead of AAC), then select the song you want from a playlist and go to Advanced > Turn selection into MP3.

Go into your iTunes library folder and then copy and paste those MP3s into the custom music folder of Sims 3

Oooh thank you! The only thing is, I tried to do what you say but I do not have that option in my preference folder to turn the mp4 to mp3's. I looked all over in my Itunes tab. I have it up right now...and if you do not mind, maybe you can give me some step by step instructions? I looked into the info of all my songs, from music I uploaded and bought from the store. They all seem to be mp4s....

CorgwnArmada

Browse007X wrote:

This is awesome! I figured this out rather quickly!

PROBLEM: Sometimes my custom music never plays... anybody else having this issue?

Sometimes? How about never?

I really miss the "Next song" option...

ccorrea

Simmerd80 wrote:

ccorrea wrote:

Simmerd80 wrote:

Dies this work for itunes? All my music is in the Itunes library. Am I able to put some of those songs into the Sims 3 custom? I know I can't do it with WMP..

Yes, as long as the songs that are on your iTunes that you want in the game are mp3s.

If you're downloading from the Apple store, though, you're prob. downloading mp4s.

Don't worry, you can turn your mp4 into mp3s through iTunes. Simply go to preferences and set 'mp3' as default (instead of AAC), then select the song you want from a playlist and go to Advanced > Turn selection into MP3.

Go into your iTunes library folder and then copy and paste those MP3s into the custom music folder of Sims 3

Oooh thank you! The only thing is, I tried to do what you say but I do not have that option in my preference folder to turn the mp4 to mp3's. I looked all over in my Itunes tab. I have it up right now...and if you do not mind, maybe you can give me some step by step instructions? I looked into the info of all my songs, from music I uploaded and bought from the store. They all seem to be mp4s....

Go to Edit > Preferences from the top menu bar. Under the 'General Tab' find the 'When you insert a CD' option.

Click on the 'Import Settings' button and change the default from 'AAC' to 'MP3.'

Now, click on the song you want to convert to MP3 and click on the 'Advanced' menu at the top of the iTunes screen (next to 'Store' and 'Help'). You should see the 'Create MP3 version' option available (but make sure you have the song selected first).

Also, I'm not sure if this works on MP4s that have DRM. The iTunes store is DRM free now, so any newly purchased songs should be OK.

Simmerd80

ccorrea wrote:

Simmerd80 wrote:

ccorrea wrote:

Simmerd80 wrote:

Dies this work for itunes? All my music is in the Itunes library. Am I able to put some of those songs into the Sims 3 custom? I know I can't do it with WMP..

Yes, as long as the songs that are on your iTunes that you want in the game are mp3s.

If you're downloading from the Apple store, though, you're prob. downloading mp4s.

Don't worry, you can turn your mp4 into mp3s through iTunes. Simply go to preferences and set 'mp3' as default (instead of AAC), then select the song you want from a playlist and go to Advanced > Turn selection into MP3.

Go into your iTunes library folder and then copy and paste those MP3s into the custom music folder of Sims 3

Oooh thank you! The only thing is, I tried to do what you say but I do not have that option in my preference folder to turn the mp4 to mp3's. I looked all over in my Itunes tab. I have it up right now...and if you do not mind, maybe you can give me some step by step instructions? I looked into the info of all my songs, from music I uploaded and bought from the store. They all seem to be mp4s....

Go to Edit > Preferences from the top menu bar. Under the 'General Tab' find the 'When you insert a CD' option.

Click on the 'Import Settings' button and change the default from 'AAC' to 'MP3.'

Now, click on the song you want to convert to MP3 and click on the 'Advanced' menu at the top of the iTunes screen (next to 'Store' and 'Help'). You should see the 'Create MP3 version' option available (but make sure you have the song selected first).

Also, I'm not sure if this works on MP4s that have DRM. The iTunes store is DRM free now, so any newly purchased songs should be OK.

Hey thanks it worked. Your right thought, the DRM protected files will not convert. Grrr, not even sure why they even had drm protected songs anyway since your ipod can only be authorized on 5 different computers and any song you get from one immediately gets erased when put into another. I haven't bought any recent songs so majority of my music has DRM unless its from a CD...
Thanks for you help! I really appreciate it.

DawnPickering

Thank you i hope it works could not find second folder i must be really dumb :oops:

blunote00

Helpful Thread OP. I have a similar thread under General Discussion. Never thought about posting it in under Technical Discussion.:roll: Anywho... For those of you with iTune issues this converter may help you out. I use this only for my downloaded songs from iTunes.

m4a-to-mp3-converter
http://www.maniactools.com/soft/m4a-to-mp3-converter/

blu