The Sims Team has released a brand new Promotional Image celebrating No Shave November, featuring a brand new beard that’s coming with The Sims 4 Get Together!
Introducing The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager
The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager gives you more control over your game experience by letting you choose which Expansion and Stuff Packs to play with.
How to get The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager for Windows PC
The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager is included as part of the latest The Sims 3 game update, only for Windows PCs. To download the game update you will need to register your The Sims 3 game and packs on Origin using an EA Account and accept the updated End User License Agreements. This update is not available for Mac.
Registering your The Sims 3 games on Origin
You can register your disc copies of The Sims 3, Expansion Packs, and Stuff Packs on Origin by following these steps:
- Log into the Origin client using your EA Account.
(If you do not have an EA Account or need to install the Origin client, please visit https://connect.origin.com/create.- From the main menu, select “Origin” then “Redeem Product Code”.
- On the next window, enter your CD/Installation Code from your manual in the Product Code box, then click “Next”.
Downloading the latest The Sims 3 game update on Origin
After you have registered The Sims 3 and yyour packs on Origin, download the latest game update which includes the new The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager. Log into Origin and update The Sims 3 by navigating to “My Games” then right clicking on The Sims 3 tile and choosing the “Update” option.
If you have “Automatically keep my games up to date” enabled in Origin Application Settings, the update will download automatically the next time you launch Origin.
In either case, before completing the installation, you will be presented with End User License Agreements which you must accept to install the update. After accepting the End User License Agreements, Origin will update your The Sims 3 game to the latest version.
Troubleshooting The Sims™ 3 game update
If you have any problems installing The Sims 3 game update, uninstall The Sims 3 and reinstall via Origin. Origin will provide you with the latest version of The Sims 3 with no additional updates required.
If you continue to experience issues, search for a solution here at EA Help using the search box on the top right of this page or click on Contact Us to contact support.
Choosing Which Packs to Play
The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager lets you choose which Expansion and Stuff Packs to play with.
Before making your selection, install all of the Expansion and Stuff Packs you own. Only packs that you have installed will display in the Pack Selector. Once all of your packs are installed, locate the ones you want to play with, then check the checkbox next to the pack. Once you finish making your selections, press the Play button to launch The Sims 3 with the desired Expansion and Stuff Packs selected.
When choosing which packs to play with, we recommend selecting only a couple at a time. This will ensure you have the best game experience.
To help manage the packs, you can click the column headers to sort by:
- Status – Sorts by enabled and disabled.
- Title – Sorts alphabetically by title.
Installing and Uninstalling Packs
Visit Origin to install, uninstall, or purchase additional packs. All The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Packs can be found under The Sims 3 tile by selecting the Game Details option.
Backing Up Save Game Files
Making changes to the packs you play with may also affect your game save file. Specifically, if in The Sims 3 Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager you deselect packs that you have been playing with and load a game save that uses those packs, the game will replace the unloaded content with default items or remove them altogether. If you wish to keep a backup copy of the game save file for future use, locate the file in your computer’s directory and save a copy to your desktop.
The Sims 3 game save files can be found here:
Windows XP, 7, 8, and 10 – C:UsersUsernameDocumentsElectronic ArtsThe Sims 3Saves
Windows Vista – C:Documents and SettingsUsernameMy DocumentsElectronic ArtsThe Sims 3Saves
Source: EA Help
The Sims 3: New Update Coming Tomorrow! (+ New Launcher)
UPDATE: SimGuruDrake shared some details about the compatibility of The Sims 3’s latest update with Create A World Tool:
Today we will be releasing an update for PC Windows version of The Sims 3 launcher to add the new Expansion and Stuff Pack Manager. During preparation for the release we have discovered that this update is not compatible with the current version of the Create-a-World (CAW) tool. We are working on an update for this particular issue and will notify you as soon as we have one.
SimGuruDrake announced that The Sims 3 will be getting a brand new Update, featuring a new Launcher that lets you pick Expansion and Stuff Packs that you’d like to play. For more info about this update and how to install it, check out this post!
Hello everyone!
Tomorrow (November 12) The Sims 3 website will be undergoing maintenance from 9am PT. During this time you may have issues accessing the The Sims 3 website. An update will also be available via Origin for The Sims 3 on PC only, which will include a new The Sims 3 Expansions and Stuff Pack Manager.
You can find out more information about the update and the new The Sims 3 Expansions and Stuff Pack Manager in this FAQ:http://help.ea.com/article/new-launcher-for-the-sims-3/
You can prepare to obtain The Sims 3 update by updating to the latest version of Origin, you will receive the latest version the next time you launch the Origin client.
If you have Origin running:
- In the top left, select Origin
- Click Exit
- Re-launch Origin
You will automatically be updated to the latest version of Origin (Version 9.10.2.4863)
You can verify you have the latest Origin client by selecting HELP>ABOUTYou are now ready to receive The Sims 3 update tomorrow 12th November
Happy Simming!
The Sims 4 Get Together Adds Two New Skills to Master
via The Sims Blog
Pump Up the Crowd!
The Sims 4 Get Together* is coming out next month, and brings fun new ways to hang out with friends. There’s the beautiful World of Windenburg, the customisable Clubs feature (which we talked about last week), and two awesome new Skills: DJ and Dancing.
Want a deeper look into how these Skills work? Check out the video below, which walks you through the story of a Sim trying to get in good with the Spin Masters, one of the new Clubs in The Sims 4 Get Together that wants – nay, demands – its members know how to pump up the crowd and cut a rug with the DJ and Dancing Skills.
Pretty cool, right? But there’s plenty more to get excited about. The higher you level up your Sim’s Dancing and DJ Skills, the more powerful and bigger the performance.
The DJ Skill starts off with Sims learning the basics of pumping up the crowd. But the more they work, and the harder they party, the better they’ll get at getting the room on its feet. From making mix tapes to controlling the emotions of the room with the Feel the Crowd ability, the DJ Skill is an absolute must-have for anyone who wants to take over the room and turn the party up to 11. One of their advanced abilities is called Teleplosion – once your DJ has added it to their DJ Booth, the DJ can activate it to take over TVs in the room for the ultimate performance! It’s electrifying!
Dancing gets more exciting as Sims level it up, too. While Sims can already dance in The Sims 4, the addition of a Skill in Get Together lets them get much more adept at busting a move. While there are obvious upgrades, like being able to do cooler and cooler dances, there are also some more impressive feats – Sims with Dancing skill can do a Fire Dance at the Bonfire. There’s also a new Dance Floor object, where Sims can show off more dances and initiate Dance Battles. You can even show off your group’s skills with the ability to initiate a Group Dance, showing some synchronized swagger. Needless to say, high level Dance Skills let your Sims really step it up on the dance floor.
We hope you liked this peek into the world of The Sims 4 Get Together Expansion Pack, and we can’t wait to see how your Sims enjoy the new Skills when it comes out in December.
Poland: Win a Trip to The Sims 4 Get Together Event!
The Sims Poland has announced a competition where Polish residents are getting a chance to attend and meet Graham Nardone at a Sims 4 Get Together Event, held at Electronic Arts Poland. If you’re from Poland and are willing to enter this event, you can read more about it HERE! 2 lucky winners will be chosen.
It’s also worth of mentioning that this event, along with the event being held in Germany (probably some other countries too) will bring lots of new Get Together information. Both confirmed events will begin this Monday (16th of November), so you’ll want to stay tuned for the latest news and updates here on Sims Community!
Tip: DotSim
The Sims 4 Get Together: 143 Screens from the DJ and Dancing Trailer
Click on the images below to see them in bigger scale. The original Trailer can be seen HERE!
The Sims 4: First Snow Mod Now Available!
Ready for some winter fun? After days of hard work, SimCookie is bringing you The Sims 4 First Snow Mod, which redecorates all the current TS4 Worlds into a beautiful winter wonderland!
Download
The Sims 4 Tutorial: How to create Clothing Recolors
Hello everyone,
I have been asked many times to create a tutorial on how I make my recolors. I will be showing you two different and simple ways to create a recolor. We will go over clothing recoloring in this tutorial, but you may use the same methods for object recolors as well.
I will not be explaining how to export the .DDS images you will need to create your recolor in this tutorial.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the SC Social thread.
For this tutorial you are going to need the following programs:
- Sims 4 Studio(*Registration Required)
- Photoshop, Paint.net, or Gimp
- Photoshop DDS Plugin
For this tutorial I will be using Photoshop CC, but you can use any art program as long as you can create layers, alter opacity, and edit with hue/saturation.
Be sure to download and install these programs, if you have any questions on installing please ask.
In this section I will be showing you how to create a clothing recolor using the Hue/Saturation method. This is one of the most common ways to create a recolor.So, let’s get started.
1. This method is very simple. First open the .DDS image you would like to recolor.
2. For Photoshop users, you can find the Hue/Saturation adjustment on the right side of your screen under the Adjustment tab.
If you do not have it available on your screen you can also go up to: Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation
3. Now a window called Hue/Saturation will open.
There are 3 bars as pictured below.
~ Hue– Color or Shade
~ Saturation – Measures the degree to which a color differs from gray
~ Lightness – How dark or light the image appears.
4. Next, simply move the sliders for Hue to achieve the color you are wanting.
Then, change the saturation to change how vibrant the color is.
Finally, change the lightness to adjust the shadows and highlights of the item.
In this section I will be showing you how to create a clothing recolor using my own method. This is the way I create all of my recolors for all of my work. I use this method instead of the Hue/Saturation method because it eliminates any pixelation in the image.So, let’s get started.
1. First, create a new layer. Using the Spill bucket 
spill black on the image.
spill black on the image.Next, go up to the filters and select Color. This will turn the image into black/white.
(Even if your image is already black and white, do not skip this step.)
2. First, next to your layers tab, select Channels.
Then, go down to the bottom and click the box next to Alpha 1. This will cause the white background of the image to turn red.
Next, uncheck the box next to the RGB channel. This will deselect the image and leave you with a black and white image (Alpha).
3. Hold Shift + Right Click the ‘Alpha 1’ image. This will select the alpha as pictured below.
4. After your alpha is selected, check the box next to the RGB channel. This will allow you to see the texture again.
5. Next, create a new layer.
Once again, using the spill bucket spill black on the layer.
Go up to Opacity and change it to 85%. I usually use 85% but you can go anywhere between 70%-85% as long as you can see the details of the original texture. Now you have a black recolor of the item as pictured below.
5. Next, create a new layer.
6. Choose a color and use the spill bucket to cover the image.
Change the filter to Linear Light as pictured below.
Now you have a recolor! Repeat step 6 for all colors you would like.
To get different shades, play with colors!
How I achieve different vibrant shades:
Use the spill bucket with grey/white set to liner light and change the opacity to 21%.
Create a new layer, and now you can spill your color(s) you desire.
The Sims 4 Get Together: DJ and Dancing Trailer coming in 2 Days!
A DJ and Dancing trailer is coming in TWO DAYS! Subscribe here: bit.ly/20EQZfc
– The Sims
The Sims Video Spotlight: #8
Welcome back to another week of The Sims Video Spotlight, I hope everybody had a wonderful time last week and we now return to normal, non-spooky content!
The Sims 4 | Speed Build: Pearly Gates
By Triin Künnapas
Our first video today is this lovely modern house build, this does use a lot of custom content but fear not! Links to all the content used is listed underneath the download link, here.
The Sims 4 | Speed Build: Doll House
By Snow Enchanted
Our second build today is something a little different yet very creative, I think it’s the perfect house for the Dollhouse Challenge. I love this as it’s so cute and unique, Snow did such a great job!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhGFXa-Ex70
The Sims 3 | House Building: Cottontail
By SimtasticBuilder
The last build video today is this stunning Sims 3 house by one of my favourite builders, it’s so beautiful and I can’t wait to have my sims move in! It’s Autumn inspired, 4 bedrooms and placed in Appaloosa Plains. Perfect!
The Sims 4 | Create A Sim: Lucas Grant
By jessamica92
If Create A Sim videos are more your thing, here is one worth watching. I love seeing people create beautiful lady sims just as much as the next person but it is refreshing to find a good male Create A Sim.
Let’s Play The Sims 4 | Life Stories: Part 1
By Dai Sims20
For our Let’s Plays this week, we begin with one inspired by The Sims 2 Life Stories. Dai Sims has created three unique families to follow and they’re all so different that I think this is going to be such a fun series to watch and be a a part of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3eAsnp-Gdk
Let’s Play The Sims 3 | Colony 13: Part 1
By LuckyGurlB
If you like apocalyptic things, you’ll love this Let’s Play. It’s a little older but there are three seasons, the last has just finished so there’s plenty of videos to enjoy! This is not your typical Zombie Apocalypse Challenge, despite being themed very similarly – there are no rules. It begins after the first wave of the outbreak has passed, and a group of survivors have been abandoned by their government and military.
The Sims 4 | First Snow – Mod Trailer
By SimCookie
To finish up today, I thought I would spread the word a little more of something you may or may not have heard of yet. SimCookie has been making something very exciting – the First Snow mod. Our sims may now have a white Christmas! I think this texture mod is so beautiful and I can’t wait for it to be finished and released very soon, if you like what you see be sure to go and let him know what you think!
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading guys and I hope you found something great to watch – be sure to visit the creators and show them some love!
SpringSims: One Year On Youtube (An Interview)
SpringSims‘ One Year Youtube Anniversary!
Hello everyone! Today I am here with SpringSims as he celebrates his first year sharing sims related content on Youtube! I managed to spare a few moments of his time to ask him some questions about his experience.
First things first, what are some of your highlights from your first year on Youtube?
I could say so many things about what happened in the first year of being on YouTube, but I guess I would list just a few for now. Some highlights that were and still are very eventful would have to be my first room build that I ever did on my channel. When I reached that 100 subscriber mark on YouTube I was really excited that 100 people were watching my videos.
Awesome! So what has being a simmer on Youtube taught you over the past year?
Being a simmer in the YouTube community has taught me that it is always a good thing to stay true to yourself & to always have patience. A few things I have seen in the past year have taught me that originality is always the key to being an ‘awesim’ simmer in the community.
I have to agree originality is key! Now lets talk achievements, what are some of your biggest?
When I first joined You Tube, I could say that my biggest achievements would have to be when I first reached 1K subscribers. Which was pretty amazing might I say. The second one would have to be when I reached 10k just a few days ago, I thought I would never reach that number for a long time. I guess with hard work and dedication it paid off.
Congratulations! Do you have any advice for fellow simmers wanting to achieve their own goals on Youtube?
I would have to say that staying positive in your videos and originality is always the key to being a great simmer on YouTube. Well at least it worked for me, so it might work for you as well. With some recommendations for recording software I would have to say OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is the best for me and Audacity for audio recording. People often say that you need a high end computer to start simming on Youtube. I would say that is not the case, I film all my videos on a regular laptop. But pretty much overall Originality, Patience and being positive is the key.
Great advice, I definitely agree about OBS It’s free and it works! Now more on the actual game itself, what have been some of your favorite Sims 4 releases over the past year and why?
At the top of my list for my favorite sims 4 game it would have to be either Get To Work or Spa day. Get to Work is a good expansion pack because I like how we could go to work with our sims on a daily basis. My favorite career would have to be the Doctor career just because I could actually treat people like a real doctor it was a lot of fun in my opinion. With Spa Day, now that I’m getting into building in the Sims 4 I like the modern look of the colors schemes & the objects that we got. Also the yoga and Wellness skill that came with the game.
Some of Stephen’s favorite Sims 4 moments
Sul Sul everyone, if you don’t know who I am yet. I’m Stephen aka SpringSims on YouTube. I’m currently 19 years old and a college studying graphic design. I do lots of variety of Sims games on my channel such as Sims 3, Sims 4 and more to come later.
Before we say goodbye, Stephen will be holding a celebratory giveaway to give something back to all his supporters! If you would like a chance of winning head on over to his channel for more information.
The Sims 4 Get Together: Bears Club Screen
This looks like a mighty fine group for a Club! What should the name be, and what should they do?
The Sims 4: Spooky Stuff Decorating Tips
With the great choices that the Spooky Stuff pack has given us there is no reason to not go re-decorate your Sims homes for Halloween. In this article we will explore the options to decorating a custom built house in The Sims 4. We’ll start with a custom built home, you can create a spooky creeped out home for your Witchy Sims to live in, with the great variety of exterior and interior wall coverings. The best way to find all the items is to use the built in game filters by going to the right hand lower part of the screen you will see a place that says filter with an arrow next to it. Clicking the arrow will open a menu where you can pick and choose what will be shown below in the build menu. Just remember sometimes less is more but often going all out is more fun. Here I built a custom home and used the exterior wood paneling that came in the Spooky Stuff pack for the outside walls. I also chose windows that had some darker color trim on them and a large red door.
Here I built a custom home and used the exterior wood paneling that came in the Spooky Stuff pack for the outside walls. I also chose windows that had some darker color trim on them and a large red door. Then I set to work of decorating the outside yard. You can have fun playing with the size cheat and be sure to enable MOO (Moveobjects on) by opening up the ingame console and typing bb.moveobjects then press enter. This makes it possible to set things wherever you want, as I have with the ghosts and pumpkins by placing them on the roof trim. For the front porch area I placed pumpkins along the front bottom and Skeleton lanterns across the front railing. I was able to place the laterns by holding the Alt +tapping the #9 key and carefully moving them up to the level then “phasing” them into place by holding Alt and gently sliding the mouse till they were where I wanted. You can use this method to add lights that would normally be on the ground to raise them onto a table too. As I did in the photo with the ghost lamps using them as nightstand lights.
By using the resizing cheat you can make any of the decor items or centerpieces instant lawn ornaments! in the picture you can see the original size next to the enlarged items that I used to decorate the yard. To resize you hold Alt and then tap the ]/} key till it is the size you want to revert just hold Alt and tap the {/[ key. This is a great little trick…or a treat!
When creating rooms and decorating with the build mode items don’t forget you can use the new chevrom carpeting to create the look of an area rug. Also now that we can resize rugs properly play with several sizes to fit your rooms. In this dining room I have utilized the chevron carpet to make the center rug and then placed a table from the pack with chairs from the base game. I was a little disappointed they didn’t include a larger table for my Sims to dine at. I like to create a very creepy cob webbing around the walls don’t forget to add a few spiders.
A trio of shapeshifting Portraits are great to hang above a candy dish that will give even the most seasoned Sim a jump scare. The pack also features several new seating options for your Sims. There is a couch with a ghostly face on it in several colors as well as plain with no face. A matching chair can also be found with or without the ghostly face. I hope you’ve enjoyed exploring the decorative ideas shown here…let me know below in the comments how you have decorated with the Sims 4 Spooky Stuff Pack. Until then Happy Simming!!
