Starting over after not playing for a long time

Hi! Welcome Back!

It would be very helpful if you could tell us what type of information you are interested in refreshing. Since there are so many ways to play this game, we'll need a little nudge in the right direction. Of course, here are the links to a few starter/info/help sites for both modded and unmodded play. I am certain you already know of them but they are great places to re-introduce yourself to the game.

Happy Simming!


https://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sims_3

https://www.nraas.net/community/home

https://modthesims.info/

EDIT:
Just thought of this. You could also check this thread right here on the forums for some refreshers or to learn something new! It started back in 2017 so it's quite long. ;)

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/917439/sims-3-things-you-didnt-know/p1

Thank you @mw1525

This can’t be stressed enough. NRAAS Overwatch and Errortrap has to be your first download.

OVERWATCH

The primary purpose of this mod is to act as a periodic clean up system for correcting errors and eliminating junk that accumulates over a regular play-session.

ERRORTRAP

This is a core-mod intended to catch and correct data corruption errors that can render a save-game unloadable. Any corruption errors that can not be corrected will be trapped and logged, allowing the save-game to load regardless. Unhandled script errors may be posted on the forum for review and possible repair.

These mods are intended to catch game errors so that the likelihood of a game error related crash is reduced to near negligible. The only crashes you should get after installing these mods is Error 12 out of memory. This game only reads 4GB RAM since it’s a 32 bit program. To read any more this game would have to go through a whole architecture change just so that the game would be able to access 8GB and EA would rather force us all into Sims 4 before doing that.

This is honestly the only link you'll need.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131162350

It's got everything everyone else has said and then some, all important things though.

Oh my goodness that's exactly what happened to me. I had the original Sims 3 on disks back in 2011 to 2013, however my own computer couldn't hold them. I had to uninstall over half of my packs & I only played vanilla. Then in 2018 I found out that Sims 3 packs can hold in Windows 10. And considering I already had to throw out my old Windows 7 Laptop & got a Windows 8 with an upgrade of Windows 10 Desktop I decided to risk it. Unfortunately, I foolishly gave away all my Sims 3 disks so I had to get some on through digital, because I got a little giddy over Sims 4 back in 2014. So, I got the starter pack first along with some old favorites like Ambitions & Supernatural. I thought of rebuying Into the Future but I heard that the freezing glitch on that pack never got fixed, so I'm just playing the waiting game for a Time Travel pack in Sims 4.

"SERVERFRA;c-18103887" wrote:
Oh my goodness that's exactly what happened to me. I had the original Sims 3 on disks back in 2011 to 2013, however my own computer couldn't hold them. I had to uninstall over half of my packs & I only played vanilla. Then in 2018 I found out that Sims 3 packs can hold in Windows 10. And considering I already had to throw out my old Windows 7 Laptop & got a Windows 8 with an upgrade of Windows 10 Desktop I decided to risk it. Unfortunately, I foolishly gave away all my Sims 3 disks so I had to get some on through digital, because I got a little giddy over Sims 4 back in 2014. So, I got the starter pack first along with some old favorites like Ambitions & Supernatural. I thought of rebuying Into the Future but I heard that the freezing glitch on that pack never got fixed, so I'm just playing the waiting game for a Time Travel pack in Sims 4.

What freezing glitch is caused by Into the Future?

I hope you're enjoying Sims 4.

Happy Simming

Oddly, I recently realized I played Sims 3 for a very short time when it first came out. A few years ago, I started playing Sims 4 and loved it....UNTIL I took a quick look into Sims 3 (not remembering I played before - had a brain trauma that wiped some things from my memory) and found so much more depth and personality in my Sims.
You're not alone in being amazed. :)

Yeah I’m the same, I played back when it was new and played on and off all these years. Never did mods, never bought anything from the store (I was a virus freak and was always worried about that with mods and store stuff). Now I’m annoyed I never had them from the start! Nraas is the best way to go for mods. Amazing work. I was a lurker of sims forums before but never joined them.

Glad you are back to loving the sims 3.

I have just come back to the forums after a long break. I lost my huge save file as my computer completely died. It was two and half years and I still feel annoyed about it. I am slowly trying to get back into sims after a huge break.